The Maintenance of Racial Harmony Bill, and the Constitution of the Republic of Singapore (Amendment) Bill were introduced by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) for First Reading in Parliament today, January 7, an official news release stated.
“Since the early years of our independence, Singapore has come a long way in building a cohesive multi-racial and multi-religious society,” it said.
In 2021, then-Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced in his National Day Rally speech that the Government would introduce specific legislation on racial harmony, to consolidate the Government’s existing powers to deal with racial issues, strengthen Singapore’s ability to deal with threats to racial harmony, and signal that racial harmony is equally important to its society as religious harmony, which has had a dedicated piece of legislation since 1990 — the Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act (MRHA).
The new harmony bill takes close reference from existing legislation, i.e. the MRHA and Penal Code. The scope of unacceptable conduct regarding race relations will remain substantively the same as today.
The key proposals — which closely align with the MRHA — relate to the introduction of a Restraining Order regime to deal with content prejudicial to racial harmony, a community-based approach to dealing with racial incidents, and safeguards to prevent race-based entities from being used as vectors of foreign influence.
“We have consulted widely with members of the public, including community leaders, online and in person. We also conducted an online poll to understand public sentiments towards racial harmony in Singapore and the proposed Bill. The large majority of those consulted supported the proposals in the Bill,” the release from MHA read.
Establishment of the Presidential Council for Racial and Religious Harmony
The harmony bill will replace the Presidential Council for Religious Harmony (PCRH), established under the MRHA, with the Presidential Council for Racial and Religious Harmony (PCRRH). The PCRRH is independent of the Government and will perform the same functions as the PCRH, but with an expanded scope to cover race-related matters as well. These functions are:
(a) To consider and make recommendations to the President on Restraining Orders (ROs) made under the Bill, or the MRHA; and
(b) To consider and report to the Minister or Parliament on matters affecting the maintenance of racial and religious harmony in Singapore, that are referred to it by the Minister or Parliament.
The PCRRH will consist of a chairperson and at least 10 but not more than 20 other members, who are to be appointed by the President if he concurs with the advice of the Presidential Council for Minority Rights (PCMR). Appointments to the PCRRH must seek to ensure that it comprises representatives from all major racial and religious communities in Singapore, and persons who have distinguished themselves in public service or community relations in Singapore.
Introducing restraining orders against content prejudicial to racial harmony
The harmony bill will enable the Minister for Home Affairs to make ROs against persons involved in the communication, production or distribution of content that prejudices the maintenance of racial harmony in Singapore. This is similar to the RO regime in the MRHA.
Specifically, a racial content RO under the Bill may do one or more of the following:
(a) Prohibit a person from communicating or distributing specified information or material;
(b) Prohibit a person from addressing a specified audience on a specified subject;
(c) Require a person to take all reasonably practicable steps to ensure that any specified information or material is no longer available to the general public in Singapore;
(d) Prohibit a person from printing, editing, assisting, or contributing to a specified publication; and
(e) Prohibit a person holding office in an editorial board or a committee of a specified publication.
The RO takes immediate effect once issued, similar to the RO under the MRHA. Offensive content can go viral very quickly and may cause widespread and irreparable harm to social cohesion. To counter this, the Government must have the levers to deal with such egregious content swiftly and pre-emptively. Failure to comply with the RO is an offence.
The issuance of ROs will be subject to safeguards, like those in the MRHA. All ROs will be reviewed by the PCRRH, and are subject to confirmation by the President. The person issued an RO will be able to make representations to the PCRRH.
Porting over and updating race-related offences
To consolidate and strengthen the Government’s powers to maintain racial harmony, Penal Code (PC) offences relating to race will be ported over and updated under the harmony bill. These offences cover acts that:
(a) Incite enmity, hatred, ill-will or hostility against a racial group;
(b) Insult, vilify, denigrate, threaten or abuse another person on the basis of race; and
(c) Incite violence on the basis of race, or against a racial group.
The scope of the offences under the harmony bill is substantially the same as what is currently covered in the PC. Some updates will be made to align the language, penalties, and defences under the Bill with the equivalent provisions in the MRHA. For example, like the MRHA, provisions under the harmony bill will apply even if the conduct occurred overseas, as long as the offence was directed towards a person or group in Singapore. While it may be difficult to enforce offences extra-territorially, this signals our commitment to protect our racial harmony, even when the threat originates from overseas (e.g. via social media).
Introducing the Community Remedial Initiative for racial offences
Racial incidents not only impact the victim, but also damage the ties between different racial groups in Singapore. Criminal prosecution alone will not be able to repair community ties. The Bill will therefore provide for a Community Remedial Initiative (or CRI-Race) under which the Minister for Home Affairs may establish community remedial programmes for persons who have engaged in conduct prejudicial to racial harmony to take remedial action for their conduct.
The satisfactory completion of a community remedial programme can be taken into account by the Public Prosecutor in deciding whether to prosecute a race-related offence under the harmony bill.
The CRI-Race will provide an alleged offender the opportunity to learn from and make amends for his racist conduct, thereby soothing communal tensions and repairing ties between the communities. That said, the CRI-Race will not be offered if the offence is egregious. In such a case, the alleged offender will be recommended for criminal prosecution, to send the right signal that such conduct will not be tolerated.
Introduction of safeguards against foreign influence
Singapore is vulnerable to external actors exerting malicious foreign influence to exploit race or undermine our racial harmony, to achieve their agenda. Organisations that promote the interests of a racial group or sub-group are potential entry points for such influence.
The harmony bill will introduce safeguards against this. They are largely similar to those under the MRHA. However, a key difference is that the safeguards in the harmony bill will apply only to race-based entities that are designated by a competent authority, unlike the MRHA which applies the safeguards to all religious groups.
Race-based organisations are a much larger and more diverse group, and it is neither necessary nor desirable at this juncture for such safeguards to apply to all race-based organisations.
An entity may be designated if the competent authority is satisfied that:
(a) Its primary or other objects, purposes or activities includes representing or promoting the interests of, or discussing any issue relating to, any race; and
(b) Designation is deemed necessary or expedient to pre-empt, prevent or reduce any foreign influence that may undermine racial harmony in Singapore.
Race-based entities will be notified in advance of the competent authority’s intent to designate them, and will be allowed to submit representations to the competent authority as to why they need not be designated, before a final decision is made on their designation.
Designated race-based entities may apply to the competent authority to cancel their designation, and may also apply to the Minister for Home Affairs for exemptions from some, or all, of their obligations under the Bill.
Upon designation, race-based entities will be subject to baseline foreign influence measures, namely:
(a) Requirements to disclose:
(i) Foreign and anonymous donations accepted;
(ii) Foreign affiliations; and
(iii) Their leadership composition.
(b) Requirements to comply with leadership restrictions, to ensure that:
(i) More than half of the entity’s governing body is comprised of Singapore Citizens; and
(ii) Responsible officers of the entity are Singapore Citizens or Singapore Permanent Residents.
For a start, clan and business associations linked to the Chinese, Malay and Indian races will be designated under this harmony bill. MHA had conducted engagements with representatives from these race-based entities and they understood the need for the baseline measures. MHA will be reaching out to them again in due course on the designation process.
The Minister for Home Affairs will also be able to impose stepped-up measures against specific race-based entities, through the issuance of foreign influence ROs, to pre-empt, prevent, or reduce foreign influence that may undermine racial harmony, and present a threat to public peace and public order in Singapore. These foreign influence ROs can:
(a) Prohibit an entity from accepting donations from a specified foreign principal, or any anonymous donation;
(b) Require an entity to return or dispose of any donation from a specified foreign principal, or any anonymous donation;
(c) Prohibit an entity from forming or maintaining an affiliation with a foreign principal; and/or
(d) Prohibit an entity from appointing or retaining any individual as a member of its governing body.
These foreign influence ROs are subject to the same safeguards as racial content ROs; i.e. they will be subject to review by the PCRRH, and must be confirmed by the President.
Related amendments to the constitution
To give effect to the Presidential safeguard against the issuance of ROs under the Bill, the Constitution (Amendment) Bill will make amendments to the Constitution, to allow the President to act in his discretion in:
(a) Deciding whether to act on the PCMR’s advice on appointments to the PCRRH; and
(b) Confirming, cancelling, or varying an RO in cases where the PCRRH’s recommendation and Cabinet’s advice differ.
The Constitution already contains similar provisions in respect of ROs under the MRHA, and those provisions are being extended for the purposes of the harmony bill.
“This Bill signals our strong resolve to strengthen our racial cohesion and remain united as one people. It strikes a balance between keeping public discourse free from hateful speech, while allowing space for legitimate discourse. It also complements other deliberate policies and concerted efforts by the Government and community to promote racial harmony, such as Racial and Religious Harmony Circles which help to maximise our common space,” the MHA said.
“The Government will continue to encourage, facilitate and maintain space for responsible and well-intentioned discussions and activities about race. However, speech and conduct that threaten our racial harmony will not be tolerated,” it added.
