Group Representation Constituency (GRC)

A Group Representation Constituency (GRC) is an electoral division that combines a group of constituencies and is contested by a group of candidates from the same party or independent candidates. Each group must field a member of a minority racial community, either from the Malay community or from the Indian and other minority communities. A GRC, thus, differs from a Single Member Constituency (SMC), represented by a sole candidate. The primary purpose of the GRC scheme is to ensure the representation of ethnic minorities in Parliament.

The Malay Community Committee and the Indian and Other Minority Communities Committee are constituted before general elections to scrutinise minority GRC candidates and determine whether they belong to their respective communities. அ

The People’s Action Party (PAP) was founded on a multiracial basis, and its membership has always been multiracial. However, after being in power for nearly three decades, the PAP Government observed in 1988 “a voting trend which showed young voters preferring candidates who were best suited to their own needs without sufficiently being aware of the need to return a racially balanced party slate of candidates”. It feared that Parliament might someday be entirely made up of Chinese. Therefore, it set up a Select Committee (SC) to study the proposed GRC scheme in January 1988. 

The SC was tasked with determining public support for the scheme and considering all other proposals to ensure multiracial representation in Parliament. It was chaired by the then Speaker of Parliament, Tan Soo Khoon. The two Indian representatives on the committee were S Jayakumar, then Minister for Home Affairs and Second Minister for Law, and S Chandra Das, a Member of Parliament.

The SC received 96 public submissions -- 50 supporting the GRC scheme and 28 supporting the need to ensure a multiracial Parliament, but with other ideas and proposals. Submissions from the Chinese and the minorities revealed a heightened interest among the latter. The Chinese, who then constituted about 76% of the population, accounted for only 37% of the submissions. The Malays, who comprised approximately 15% of the population, made up 20% of the submissions, while the Indians, who accounted for only about 7% of the population, submitted 37% of the submissions. 

A small minority of Chinese representatives expressed concern that entrenching the rights of minorities in Parliament would give minorities undue leverage over political parties. It was felt that the new scheme conferred undue concessions at the expense of the majority community. However, the PAP Government held that in a multi-racial society, the majority could not avoid making allowance for the minority communities so that they did not feel threatened or alienated and that the GRC was the solution. 

A key concern for the Malay community was that the GRC provision, specifically for Malays, might make the community appear weak in the eyes of non-Malays.  When an earlier version of the GRC scheme, proposed in 1982, suggested pairing a Malay candidate with a non-Malay candidate to enhance their electability, it drew negative reactions from the Malay community. In fact, the highest-ranking Malay in the Cabinet at the time, Dr Ahmad Mattar, Minister for Social Affairs, was not in favour of the idea and expressed his reservations to Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong. However, the PAP Government decided to proceed with the GRC proposal in 1988, convinced that such provisions were necessary.  

For the Indian community, the most vexing issue was that it was “lumped” together with “Other Minority Communities” and not separately recognised, as was the Malay community. Many representations were received from individuals and organisations that Indians should be given specific recognition in the definition of “Other Minority Communities”. 

The Tamil Language Council (TLC), one of the more active representatives on behalf of the Tamil community, argued that the provision for the Indian community should mirror that of the Malay community, with separate identification as a minority community, rather than being classified as part of the “Other Minority Communities”. 

The Singapore Tamil Teachers' Union (STTU), another representative, expressed regret that Indians were not considered a separate community in the proposed scheme. It also argued that Indian candidates representing the Indian community must be able to converse in Tamil to demonstrate the government’s commitment to its multilingual policy. Tamils have always been the overwhelming majority within the Indian community.

V T Arasu, speaking for the TLC, was questioned explicitly by the SC on two key issues. First, he was asked if he would accept a clause mentioning "Indians and other minorities" instead of a separate clause for Indians, similar to the one for Malays. Arasu responded in the affirmative, acknowledging that this would address the interests of the Indian community. Second, he was asked if, as requested by STTU, the Indian candidates in GRCs must know Tamil. Arasu responded that he “would expect the community to throw up enough talents and so by virtue of that there will be more Tamil-speaking candidates. But I would not insist that one should speak Tamil as a pre-condition because then that will lead to other problems.” 

Lee Kuan Yew, then Prime Minister, explained that Singapore could “always find strong enough Indian candidates to overcome the disadvantage of being from a minority ethnic group. But it is difficult with the Malays.” He also shared that the original proposal did not cover the Indians and that when there was an “Indian reaction”, Deputy Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong amended the proposal to include Indians as another minority. 

The GRC scheme was legislated on 27 May 1988 after obtaining presidential assent to the amendments to the Constitution of the Republic of Singapore and the Parliamentary Elections Act. 



For more information
“Team-MP bill gets presidential assent,” The Straits Times, 1 June 1988, 1. (From NewspaperSG)
Ong, C. C. et al. “GRC is the best way of doing it,” The Straits Times, 13 January 1988, 10. (From NewspaperSG)
“Team MPs: The key features,” The Straits Times, 11 May 1988, 12. (From NewspaperSG)
“PM and Chok Tong first discussed bill in ’82,” The Straits Times, 12 January 1988, 10. (From NewspaperSG)
“GRCs for next general election,” The Straits Times, 15 June 1988, 1. (From NewspaperSG)
“Group Representation Constituencies,” Singapore Infopedia. Accessed 11 June 2025. https://www.nlb.gov.sg/main/article-detail?cmsuuid=55ce6567-039d-412f-96b7-c704fe8b5983  
“Group Representation Constituencies are legislated,” Singapore Infopedia. Accessed 11 June 2025. https://www.nlb.gov.sg/main/article-detail?cmsuuid=3828e9b9-f9e5-4943-874a-bbb7fef19104 
Group representation constituencies : a summary of the report of the Select Committee. Singapore: National Library Board, 1988. (Call no.: RSING 324.63095957 SIN) https://www.nlb.gov.sg/main/book-detail?cmsuuid=45e9940f-8ca5-4c00-9245-9077a1b8fcfd 
“Types of Electoral Divisions,” Elections Department of Singapore, last updated 1 February 2025. https://www.eld.gov.sg/elections_type_electoral.html 
Tham Yuen-C. “GRC system used for benefit of PAP and should be abolished, say PSP’s Leong Mun Wai and Hazel Poa,” The Straits Times, 6 July 2023. https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/politics/grc-system-used-for-benefit-of-pap-and-should-be-abolished-say-psp-s-leong-mun-wai-and-hazel-poa 
Chia, Priscilla. “Revisiting the GRC system’s ‘guarantee’ of minority representation,” Academia SG, 1 June 2021. https://www.academia.sg/academic-views/revisiting-the-grc-systems-guarantee-of-minority-representation/ 

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The information in this article is valid as of August 2025 and correct as far as we are able to ascertain from our sources. It is not intended to be an exhaustive or complete history of the subject. If you have any feedback on this article, please submit here.