Public invited to give feedback on newly proposed racial harmony laws

Source: The Straits Times
Author: David Sun

SINGAPORE - Public opinion is being sought on the new Maintenance of Racial Harmony Bill that will be introduced by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in 2024.

The proposed laws will consolidate and review race-related offences from existing laws, introduce restraining orders (ROs) against content harmful to racial harmony, and introduce safeguards against foreign influence through race-based organisations.

In a release on April 16, MHA said both racial and religious harmony were important for Singapore.

It said: "Singapore's racial and religious harmony is of paramount importance, and arguably an existential issue for our society. We have invested significant effort since independence - through legislation, policies, institutions and other measures - to preserve this harmony."

It added that for religious harmony, a key measure was the Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act (MRHA) which was enacted in 1990 and amended in 2019.

The most recent amendments to the MRHA criminalised conduct that harms religious harmony, provides safeguards against foreign influence in religious organisations, and allows a person who has committed offences against religious harmony to repair ties in lieu of prosecution.

MHA added the same objectives of the MRHA regarding racial harmony serve as the motivation for the newly proposed laws.

The first aspect of the new Bill is the porting over and reviewing of race-related offences from existing laws.

These include offences under the Penal Code which deal with threats to racial harmony, like acts which wound the racial feelings of any person, promote enmity, hatred or ill will between racial groups, or which are otherwise prejudicial to inter-racial harmony.

In September 2023, a local rapper was jailed for six weeks for trying to promote feelings of ill will between different racial and religious groups in Singapore. He had made several online posts between July 2019 and March 2021 comparing races and religions.

To deter race-based violence, the new Bill proposes a new offence for acts that urge violence against groups or their members on the grounds of race.

An example given by MHA is a racial supremacist urging violence against people with disabilities - even members of their own race - on the grounds of "racial purity".

The proposed penalties will take their cue from existing penalties under the Penal Code.

The second aspect of the Bill deals with content prejudicial to racial harmony.

It will enable the Minister for Home Affairs to make ROs against the production or distribution of content that prejudices the maintenance of racial harmony in Singapore.

A person or entity who commits this can be issued an RO and be restrained from being involved in the communication or distribution of specified information or material; addressing a specified audience on a particular subject; and holding office in an editorial board or a committee of a specified publication.