The Straits Times says

Religious harmony in times of change

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The Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act (MRHA), which allows the Government to act against those sowing discord among religious groups, has achieved its purpose in possibly the best of ways: The Government has never had to invoke its powers under the legislation since its inception in 1990. The deterrent effect of the law has made its severe presence quietly felt in a multi-religious and multiracial society which cannot afford to be taken apart by extreme interpretations of any faith that galvanise its more impressionable members to attack the beliefs and practices of another religion. Religious freedom is a cherished part of the Singapore Dream, but its boundaries cannot transgress those of social harmony to turn the centrifugal pursuit of combative religious ends into a national nightmare.

Singapore is a secular state which does not prefer one faith over another, but which levels the social playing field for all religions to coexist in the comfort of trust. The MRHA represents the legislative edge of the seriousness with which Singapore takes secularism. Given the importance of the Act, it is necessary to update it in the face of new threats that have emerged since its adoption almost three decades ago. The terror attacks in the United States in 2001 inaugurated a most unhappy phase of contemporary religious history. In spite of the military defeat of Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, terror metastasised into the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which wreaked havoc on the everyday coexistence of Middle Eastern life before it was subdued. The ISIS goal of establishing a global caliphate energised and turned thousands of excitable volunteers, often with families in tow, into warriors who migrated to its wartime territory for a final showdown with the rest of the world.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on November 17, 2018, with the headline Religious harmony in times of change. Subscribe