The Singapore’s Constitution: Forging Unity Among Singapore’s Sunni and Shia Muslim Community.
Islam in Singapore is not monolithic. It consists of variegated school of thoughts which includes Sunni as the majority and Shia which forms 1% of the local Muslim community. These differences are well mitigated by Article 15 of the Republic’s constitution which safeguards the rights for any individual to adopt and practice any belief system (Constitution of the Republic of Singapore, 1965). To further supplement social cohesion, the Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act (MRHA) prohibits individuals from stirring hatred and hostility against any religious groups (Singapore Legal Advice, 2019). Despite the differences in certain practices and sectarian beliefs of Islam, the Singapore Muslim community unites through the essence of the republic’s constitution of Article 15 and MRHA, which ensure the freedom to profess any beliefs and instilling religious harmony across religious groups.
The Administration of Muslim Act (AMLA), a component of the nation’s legal system promulgated in 1966, unites and facilitates the religious rights of all Muslims regardless of any intra-differences (Saat, 2018). AMLA manifests itself through 3 different institutions: the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (MUIS), Syariah Court and Registry of Muslim Marriages (Saat, 2018). Despite the intra-differences in certain aspects of Islam, all Muslims are guaranteed the same treatment by the act. The Syariah Court, for instance, ensures all marriage, divorce, inheritance, custody rights will be heard equally with no discrimination against any sects. In addition, MUIS which governs the overall affairs of the Muslim community initiated the Asatizah Recognition Scheme (ARS) as a mandatory requirement scheme and ethical code for religious preachers to fulfill (Baharudin, 2019). This effort hopes to deter and prevent any inappropriate radical teachings of Islam that could affect the social fabric of the community and sectarian division. Importantly, this scheme does not only apply to the Sunni majority preachers but inclusively includes the minority Shi’ite preachers as well in promoting harmony between the two (Mahmud, 2017). This shows that despite the sectarian differences, all Muslims are guaranteed the equal treatment by the religious institutions.
Consequently, the essence of the constitution ensures room for representation for minority like Shia, which constitutes 1% of the local Muslim community to be represented in MUIS (Office of International Religious Freedom, 2019). Historically, with the cooperation of Sunnis and Shi’ites, MUIS was founded in Singapore with the prominent local Shi’ite lawyer, Mohamed Javad contributed as the legal adviser (Alatas, 2017). The opportunity to be represented equates to the opportunity to be heard and partake in any decision-making process which contributes to religious harmony. Furthermore, Sunnis and Shias continue to collaborate and share Sunni mosques as well as iftar during Ramadan. Despite the differences, the two groups collectively come together denouncing any radical acts affecting social cohesion in Singapore (Office of International Religious Freedom, 2019).
Further, the elements of paternalism in legislative acts in MRHA and Article 15 encourages different sectarian beliefs to collaborate for the common good. The strict law enforcement of jail terms and fines, as stipulated in MRHA, are pivotal in limiting ethnic and religious sensitivities to its minimum (Singapore Legal Advice, 2019) (Jaipragas, 2020). In addition, the laws would indirectly encourage religious leaders and followers to find common ground dealing with their differences. This can be seen by efforts from MCollective, a ground-up youth initiative together with Ba’alwie Mosque, organizes dialogues and gatherings for Sunni and Shi’ites to understand and collaborate with one another (Zhou, 2019). While the laws enforced in Singapore are seen harsh in the naked eye, it provides the fundamentals for social cohesion initiatives to be initiated for the betterment of the society.
To conclude, the essence of the constitution through Article 15 and MRHA ensure the freedom to profess any beliefs and instilling religious harmony in every religious group. Despite the differences in Sunni and Shia, the constitution unites the Muslim community by guaranteeing equal treatment of religious rights, ensuring representation opportunity and becoming source for harmonious collaboration of different sectarian beliefs.
References
Advice, S. L. (2019, November 20). Guide to Singapore’s Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act. Retrieved from Singapore Legal Advice: https://singaporelegaladvice.com/law-articles/singapore-maintenance-of-religious-harmony-act/
Alatas, P. S. (2017, October 15). Anti-Shi’ite Hate Speech and Managing Sunni-Shi’ite Relations in Singapore. Retrieved from The Karyawan: https://karyawan.sg/anti-shiite-hate-speech-and-managing-sunni-shiite-relations-in-singapore/
Baharudin, H. (2019, February 12). Parliament: More than 4,000 accredited Islamic religious teachers in Singapore. Retrieved from The Straits Times: https://www.straitstimes.com/politics/parliament-more-than-4000-accredited-islamic-religious-teachers-in-singapore
Freedom, O. o. (2019). Singapore 2019 International Religious Freedom Report. Washington DC: United States Department of States.
Jaipragas, B. (2020, June 20). Singapore’s strict laws alone cannot ensure racial cohesion: President Halimah Yacob. Retrieved from South China Morning Post: https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/3015276/secret-singapores-social-harmony-lies-fine-balance-constant
Mahmud, A. H. (2017, January 1). A Singaporean in Iran: Life in a Shi’ite seminary. Retrieved from The Straits Times: https://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/a-singaporean-in-iran-life-in-a-shiite-seminary
Saat, N. (2018). Fulfilling the Trust. Singapore: World Scientific.
Singapore, C. o. (1965, August 9). Constitution of the Republic of Singapore. Retrieved from Refworld: https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6b5054.html [accessed 6 December 2020]
Zhou, T. (2019, October 20). Building interfaith trust: Building intra-faith trust through open dialogue. Retrieved from The Straits Times: https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/building-intra-faith-trust-through-open-dialogue
