Public feedback sought on newly proposed racial harmony laws

Areas include safeguards against foreign influence, restraining orders against harmful content

- David Sun

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 statement on April 16, MHA said both racial and religious harmony are 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." A key measure to deal with religious harmony 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 that 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.