Update to Religious and Racial Harmony legislation

Currently Section 298 of the Penal Code criminalises words and gestures with deliberate intent to would the racial or religious feelings of any person. It reads as follows:

Uttering words, etc., with deliberate intent to wound the religious feelings of any person.
298. Whoever, with deliberate intention of wounding the religious feelings of any person, utters any word or makes any sound in the hearing of that person, or makes any gesture in the sight of that person, or places any object in the sight of that person, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year, or with fine, or with both.

The proposed amendments are as follows:

Amendment of section 298
38. Section 298 of the Penal Code is amended —
(a) by inserting, immediately after the word “religious”, the words “or racial”; and

(b) by inserting, immediately after the word “person” in the 5th line, the words “, or causes any matter however represented to be seen or heard by that person”.
New section 298A

39. The Penal Code is amended by inserting, immediately after section 298, the following section:
“Promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religion or race, and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony

298A. Whoever ––
(a) by words, either spoken or written, or by signs or by visible representations or otherwise, promotes or attempts to promote, on grounds of religion or race, disharmony or feelings of enmity, hatred or ill-will between different religious or racial groups or communities; or
(b) commits any act which is prejudicial to the maintenance of harmony between different religious or racial groups or communities, and which disturbs or is likely to disturb the public tranquility,
shall be punished with imprisonment which may extend to 3 years, or with fine, or with both.”.

These amendments are meant to strengthen our laws against those who promote enmity between different racial and religious groups on grounds of religion or race and those who utter words or gestures with deliberate intent to wound the racial or religious feelings of any person. It also provides for greater prosecutorial discretion, the scope of existing the section 298 will be expanded to cover the deliberate wounding of the racial feelings of a person.

Just like the UK Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006, the new section 298A covers the deliberate promotion by someone of enmity, hatred or ill-will between different racial and religious groups on grounds of race and religion. Both sections will cover online transmissions, which is crucial when one considers the fact that such transmissions have a much wider impact than those in a face-to-face or documentary form.

The Government have indicated that situations such as the expression of a testimony of conversion from one religion to another on a personal website will not be caught under the new provisions. Although it would appear that these provisions are not going to be a threat to evangelism, according to the speech by Senior Minister of State, A/P Ho Peng Kee on 22 October 2007, “it is one thing to preach to a person who is interested to hear your views… it is quite another to try to convert a person to your religion by denigrating his religion, especially when he has no desire to be converted.”

Once again, these provisions underscore the need for sensitivity and respect for race and religion, especially in a multi-racial and multi-religious society such as Singapore. These provisions are certainly a move in the right direction for Singapore. Interestingly, none of the religious establishments, as far as I’m aware, have made a big deal about these changes (unlike in the UK). Perhaps we have more confidence in the Government’s ability to deal with such situations responsibly than the Brits do (of course a more cynical view would be that all the religious groups were sidetracked by the issue of s377A and didn’t even notice or consider the above provisions. But I think that this is highly unlikely.).