Singapore proposes new racial harmony law granting powers for restraining orders

Restraining orders and a community remedial programme are among measures that the government is proposing to consolidate and strengthen their powers to deal with threats to racial harmony.

The Maintenance of Racial Harmony Bill was introduced in parliament by Minister of State for Home Affairs and for Social and Family Development Sun Xueling on Tuesday (Jan 7).

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said in a press release that the new Bill takes "close reference from existing legislation" such as the Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act (MRHA) and Penal Code.

Former Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced this Bill in his National Day Rally speech in 2021, saying then that it would signal that racial harmony is equally important to society as religious harmony, which had a dedicated piece of legislation since 1990 with the MRHA. 

The key proposals are closely aligned with the MRHA, according to MHA.

The new Bill empowers the Minister for Home Affairs to invoke restraining orders against those involved in the "communication, production or distribution of content that prejudices the maintenance of racial harmony in Singapore".

Noting that "offensive content can go viral very quickly" and may cause "widespread and irreparable harm to social cohesion", MHA said that the government must have the levers - such as the proposed RO - to deal with them "swiftly and pre-emptively".

Failure to comply with the RO is an offence. 

Those who violate a RO could be jailed for up to two years, a fine of up to $10,000, or both. 

The Home Affairs Minister can also offer offenders a community remedial programme, where once successfully completed, it can be taken into account on whether they are prosecuted for race-related offences under the Bill.

Responding to media queries, MHA said that they will provide more details on the content of the remedial programme at the second reading of the Bill. 

"Racial incidents not only impact the victim, but also damage the ties between different racial groups in Singapore," said MHA. "Criminal prosecution alone will not be able to repair community ties."

Similar to Community Remedial Initiative (CRI) in the MRHA, the ministry said that the CRI for Racial Offences (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," said the ministry.

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chingshijie@asiaone.com