National Day Rally: New law to signal importance of racial harmony in Singapore

Janice Heng

Published Sun, Aug 29, 2021 · 01:03 PM

A NEW Maintenance of Racial Harmony Act will bring together the government's existing powers to tackle racial offences and include measures to promote reconciliation, in a move to signal the overriding importance of racial harmony in Singapore, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in his National Day Rally speech on Sunday.

Devoting a third of his speech to the thorny issue of race relations, Mr Lee noted recent racist incidents that came to prominence on social media.

Several of these targeted Indians. Mr Lee said such sentiment might have been because of the large number of Indian work pass holders here, or because of the Covid-19 Delta variant that emerged in India. But it is illogical to blame the latter on Indians, he said, and Singaporeans must not let frustrations spill over to affect racial harmony.

Instead, the real issues must be addressed: managing work pass numbers and concentrations, and improving border health safeguards.

The solution to racism is to change social attitudes, he said, and legislation can play a role by sending a signal and nudging people to do better.

Existing laws against serious racial offences such as hate crime or causing racial enmity are scattered across different pieces of legislation, such as the Penal Code and Sedition Act, and focus on crime and punishment rather than "persuasion and rehabilitation".

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The government thus intends to pass specific legislation on racial harmony, in the form of the Maintenance of Racial Harmony Act.

This will bring together the government's existing powers to deal with racial issues, and will add "softer, gentler touches" such as the ability to order an offender to make amends by learning about the other race and mending ties.

Noting the similar Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act, he added that though none of its punishments have had to be invoked, the existence of the Act alone has helped to restrain intolerance.

While Singapore's policies on race and religion will evolve with the times, Mr Lee said they should do so based on the country's own needs and not trends abroad. Adjustments should be made cautiously, with time taken to discuss, ensure understanding, and build a consensus.

One example is the government's stance on not allowing the tudung to be worn in certain contexts that require uniforms, such as at schools, in the armed forces, and among nurses in hospitals.

Wearing the tudung has become increasingly important for the Muslim community, reflecting a worldwide trend, said Mr Lee. While the government understands this, it is cautious about how the visible change could affect relations between ethnic groups.

In 2014, when there was intense discussion on the tudung issue, Mr Lee met Muslim leaders to hear their views and lay out the government stance while noting then that government policy in the healthcare sector was not set in stone.

Since then, the government has been watching the situation closely and assessed that Singapore is ready for the change, he said. Thus, from November, Muslim nurses in the public healthcare sector will be allowed to wear a tudung with their uniforms if they wish to do so.

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