Civic Multiculturalism in Singapore by Terri-Anne Teo

Author:Terri-Anne Teo [Teo, Terri-Anne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9783030134594

National Identity

The position of Muslims was further constrained by conceptions of a Singaporean-Muslim identity as moderate and therefore aligned with multiracialism , rendering any ‘other’ form of Muslim expression vulnerable to domination by a state-sponsored majority norm. Representations of moderate Islam and the Singaporean-Muslim citizen permeated the headscarf affair with the rehashing of Singapore’s identity as a multiracial yet secular nation. In 2002, then-Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong asserted that the headscarf ban would remain, based on ‘what it means for racial integration and interaction between the communities’ (Lee 2003).

After the 2013 forum where questions about the headscarf ban resurfaced, Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean stated that the ‘Government understands these community perspectives, but the Government also has the responsibility to balance all these different community requirements, and keep in mind what we need to maintain overall social harmony’ (Chan 2013). In 2014, he reiterated that ‘by disallowing variations [for uniformed services] for religious reasons, we visibly uphold the secular nature of the Government and reassure citizens that they will receive key services fairly and impartially regardless of race or religion’ (Mokhtar 2014). Underlying these statements is a familiar iteration of multiracial claims, which is that the governance of Singaporean society is led by the need to ensure integration through the management of ‘quasi-secular’ spaces. In other words, the coexistence of racial and religious groups can only prevail if groups and individuals comply with established, permitted behaviour.

Within the state’s formulaic conception of multiracialism are demarcations of how citizens should or should not act, and how society should or should not be. The logic of multiracialism resonates with Muhammad Nasir’s observation that ‘what is to be construed as religion… and the way it is tackled, is governmental. This means that the power guaranteeing religious freedom has to mark religiosity as a problem’ (Nasir 2016: 882). In the context of religion in Singapore, citizens are expected to practise moderate behaviour, and equal treatment is ensured through a ‘quasi-secular’ state that preserves the sanctity of public spaces from issues deemed racially and religiously contentious. As I have shown, the ideal Singaporean-Muslim citizen is identified by their moderate behaviour, as prescribed by the state. Behaving otherwise contradicts Singapore’s national and civic identity.

The governance of the Singaporean-Muslim citizen echoed throughout iterations of the headscarf affair, where the desire for Muslim religious expression was posed in opposition to integration, in a society that valorises narratives of multicultural nationalism. Referring to the headscarf affair of 2002, current-Prime Minister Lee (then-Deputy Prime Minister) said in an interview with Berita Harian, a Malay language broadsheet, that ‘[a]t the root of the problem is how to balance the wish of a Muslim minority to assert its distinctness and its religious identity against the desire of the country to integrate the Muslims into its society’ (Lee 2003). A decade later, current-Prime Minister Lee responded to the critiques of uniform policies by asking: ‘what sort of society do we want to build in Singapore’, cautioning that the introduction of any

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