Singapore Government Press Release,Media Relations Division, Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts, MITA Building, 140 Hill Street, 2nd Storey, Singapore 179369

Tel: 6837-9666

SPEECH BY DR YAACOB IBRAHIM, MINISTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT AND WATER RESOURCES AND MINISTER-IN-CHARGE OF MUSLIM AFFAIRS AT THE PEOPLE’S ASSOCIATION MALAY CO-ORDINATING COUNCIL’s (MESRA) TALK “UNDERSTANDING ISLAM” ON 25 JANUARY 2006 AT 7.50PM

Speaker of Parliament Mr Abdullah Tarmugi

Fellow Members of Parliament

Mr Mustaffa Abu Bakar

Chairman of MESRA

Haji Alami Musa

President MUIS

Mr Harbans Singh

President, Inter-Religious Organisation of Singapore

Community, and Grassroots Leaders

Honoured Guests

Ladies and Gentlemen

Allow me to begin by thanking MESRA for inviting me this evening to join you for the talk on “Understanding Islam”. This is a useful talk that has been put together with the help of MUIS as part of efforts to promote better understanding of the cultures and beliefs of our communities. I am therefore happy to see leaders from our various communities and grassroots organizations here today. It is a testimony to our trust and togetherness that are fundamental to the survival and success of Singapore and all of us as Singaporeans.

The London bombings of 7 July, 2005

I visited the UK recently, and took the opportunity to meet some key figures in the people sector. I met political leaders, civic groups, inter-faith leaders, academics and youth social workers. I wanted to understand how they coped with the 7 July incident after four young British men, one of them just 18 years old, blew themselves up in the underground train system and on a double-decker bus, killing more than 50 people.

Some of us here may have followed up on the aftermath of the tragedy over radio and cable TV. The emergency authorities were calm and collected while working under tremendous pressure. I found out they could do so not because they were not shocked. Many had their own family members to be concerned with. But because they had gone through many drills on how to cope with such incidents, they were able to help Londoners get life back to normal in the shortest possible time.

I was also impressed with the strong links across the leaders of the faith groups. They had started building these linkages in the ‘80s. And so after the bombs went off, they were able to rally their people together and have good sense prevail. The leaders had grown in confidence, appreciated each other’s faith, and stood up for each other. So for example, when the Church of England saw that a provision in the proposed Terror Bill gave Police the powers to close down mosques that had terror suspects among their congregation, the Church group objected. They reasoned that it was more appropriate for the police to deal with the suspects, not with the mosques that are places of worship to large numbers of Muslims.

But despite the staunch support of multiculturalism across the British society, hate crimes against Muslims increased six-fold after the July 7 bombings. The shock and tension was greater, because the terrorists had been British, who grew up in England and spoke with British accents. Even though the British faith leaders had worked at enhancing multi-faith links since the 80s, when the bombing did take place, pockets of tensions still flared up, with accusations flying in different directions, even within the Muslim community. In other developed countries, where Muslims are in the minority and sometimes mainly immigrant, it is becoming more common for them to face accusations, even when incidents do not involve them at all. So we cannot be complacent about our situation in Singapore. While we weathered the challenges of the 2002 JI episode well, we cannot assume that if and when a bomb does explode here, and lives are lost, our communal relations will not be affected significantly. In other words, we cannot take the present harmonious relations for granted.

Lessons for Malay/Muslim Community in Singapore

The lessons I have learnt from the visit to London prompted me to reflect if a similar incident can happen here in Singapore. We have successfully crippled the JI operations in Singapore. But can we be sure that the Malay/Muslim community here especially the youth whom terrorist cells seem to target are safe from deviant teachings and influences? In a world where there are virtually no borders as a result of the internet, and with extremist groups still operating in the region and beyond, we can never be sure. The four British Muslims who blew themselves up on 7^th July last year were local-born and had appeared well-integrated into the wider British society. We cannot let down our guard as the threat of terrorism and its abuse of Islam remain worldwide. It is a 21^st century phenomenon that threatens the spirit of Islam and the good name Muslims have established for nearly 14 centuries.

Hence, when I returned to Singapore, I met informally with small groups of Muslim leaders to share with them my findings and observations. I wanted their sense of how our community can learn from London’s experience, and what we can do to prepare ourselves. I also wanted to get their feedback to the various measures we have and further intend to put in place to minimize the chance of such an incident occurring in Singapore. I was happy to receive their strong support. They were unanimous in wanting to do something constructive and long-term now, and not wait for a bomb to go off.

One key finding for me, gained through my interactions in London, is that the four youths who set off the 7 July bombs were “empty vessels”. They had little knowledge of Islam, and deep down were nursing a sense of alienation from society. They started wanting to find out more about Islam and to do something in response to the seeming injustices that they felt Muslims were facing across the world. They, like other Muslims, were affected by events in Palestine, Iraq, Chechnya and Afghanistan. But they could not find answers from community elders whom they could not relate to and they channelled their disenchantment through what was termed as “backroom” avenues. The opportunity to use them as pawns was sensed and seized by terrorist groups and the misguided youths blew themselves up, killing many other innocent lives. We too have young Muslims in Singapore wanting to learn more about Islam and the troubles facing the world. Our leaders agree that we should help them manage such issues in the proper context.

The feeling of sympathy among local Muslims for Muslims in dire conditions elsewhere is to be expected. This is just like the concerns that our Chinese Singaporeans had for the plight of Chinese Indonesians a few years ago, and Indian Singaporeans have for the events in India and in Sri Lanka. These concerns are legitimate. We are humans and not machines. But what we should be concerned with is the response that results from such concerns. We should always safeguard everything that is precious to us here – our racial and religious harmony and the well-being and safety of all Singaporeans – and never let anyone exploit such feelings of sympathy to get us to support a violent cause. Hence it is important that we help our communities towards understanding the fundamental importance of good race and religious relations and find safe and legitimate ways of expressing these concerns. Prayer sessions for peace and even humanitarian efforts to provide basic needs such as water, food and other essential items can prove to be fulfilling ways of expression of concerns.

I also found out that for many years foreign preachers had been allowed to preach in a hate-filled way in some of the mosques in London. Community leaders in London told me that immigration authorities should not have been overly liberal in allowing hate preachers who imported their personal political grudges from their homeland into Britain. Hence it is important that our religious teachers here continue our long-standing tradition of teaching Islam in a progressive and contextualized manner. Foreign speakers must continue to be screened to ensure that they do not upset the balance we have achieved here in Singapore.

I was also informed by the Muslim community leaders in Britain that no one was debunking the deviant teachings and ideas peddled by these preachers. They were given a free rein. The British experience has been that people ignored rather than engaged radical ideas. Such ideas should not be allowed to fester and take root. We must not allow this to happen here in Singapore.

Our Fundamentals are right

As I began to reflect on the lessons I have learnt from my London trip and what this all means for us, I am thankful that here in Singapore we have gotten our fundamentals right from day one. Indeed we would not be here sitting and talking about this today had we not got our fundamentals right. We have been able to do so because from day one, the Singapore Government decided on two fundamentals – multiracialism and meritocracy. Multiracialism means all Singaporeans have room to practice their faith, and treat each other with respect. For Singapore to be strong and stable, all communities – big and small – must feel equally at home. The government runs the country impartially. Meritocracy means we recognize and reward people not because of who their parents are, or on account of their race or religion, but what they have to offer. But ours is not an extreme meritocracy, where the winners take all and the have-nots suffer in silence or worse still, slide down a vicious cycle. Ours is tempered with compassion so that those who need help get help, so that they too can progress as Singapore moves ahead.

From day one we have worked hard to bring people of all cultures and social status together. In a previous visit to England, I saw ghettoes, where people lived in misery and distrusted the system. I sensed that these could serve as potential recruitment grounds for race-based street gangs as well as extremist groups. Here we don’t have any. In Singapore, people of various cultures and faiths live next to each other, work together, do NS together. Our children go to the same schools and share the same playgrounds. Such a lifestyle has become part of our lives. Our lower income groups are not abandoned. Instead, they are helped through various measures to become self-reliant and for their children to remain and do well in school. More paths have opened up for youth who are not academically inclined to succeed in creative and technological fields.

All our communities are doing well. For example, the Malay/Muslim community has seen its educational and living standards go up in tandem with our nation’s progress. We have a vision of a Community of Excellence. We have strong institutions – MUIS to lead our religious life and Yayasan Mendaki and other Malay/Muslim organisations such as Jamiyah, PPIS, 4PM, Muhammadiyah Association, AMP and many others, to lead in uplifting our community through education. We have a collective body in the Community Leaders Forum to bring together our many volunteer organizations to take up and resolve key concerns of the community together.

Our Chinese, Eurasian and Indian communities share similar experiences. Indeed the leaders of self-help groups – CDAC, Eurasian Association, Sinda, and Yayasan Mendaki keep in close contact with one another. The staff learn from the experiences from one another and do many projects together, drawing together in the process, their key clients – low-income families that are uplifting themselves through education. We have prospered and grown over the past four decades or so, regardless of our race or religion.

These are fundamental positions that we must continue to re-affirm. In fact for the Malay/Muslim community here in Singapore, our continued participation and engagement in the mainstream of Singapore will be one important safeguard against our community being isolated and eventually lagging behind other communities.

MUIS – SHAPING THE RELIGIOUS LIFE OF THE MALAY/MUSLIMS

We are fortunate that we have in our community various institutions that can help to shape and guide the community. MUIS is a key institution for Muslims here in Singapore. Its mission is to facilitate the progressive, adaptive, and contextualized religious life of Singapore’s Muslim community. If from time to time any small groups should form and develop mistaken sympathies for deviant teachings espoused in other parts of the world, MUIS needs to reach out to them and set them right. Thus MUIS can help to ensure that all Singaporeans firmly share our common understanding on the importance of safeguarding and strengthening racial and religious harmony in our society. But apart from this, MUIS must do many other tasks, to minimize the risk and prepare for the untoward. Let me explain.

Strengthening inter-faith linkages

We are reinventing our mosques, so that they are more relevant to their congregations, for example by becoming more youth-friendly, and also so that they are well-connected to other religious institutions like churches and temples; as well as community organizations like the citizens’ consultative committees, family service centres, schools and the community centres. The experience of Britain and other societies shows that we cannot let-up on building inter-faith linkages

To enhance understanding of Islam among people of all faiths, MUIS itself is embarking on a programme that includes this evening’s talk and question-and-answer session, organized by MESRA but supported by MUIS. With better understanding of one another’s faiths our comfort level will be enhanced further. I have also asked MUIS to consider how we can strengthen inter-faith linkages by working with other religious communities, for example in the form of an inter-faith platform that can promote cooperation across various faiths and facilitate discussions on issues that have a bearing on our multireligious society.

Endorsing foreign preachers before they speak here

MUIS and our mosques have always been careful about self-styled religious teachers coming from abroad to work up a local audience, complementing the government’s vigilance over foreign preachers in general. Foreign preachers have to gain MUIS’s endorsement first. This will help us avoid the experiences of London.

Improving linkages with religious teachers and students

Beyond this, in the last few years, MUIS has improved its links with religious teachers and with students studying abroad. My interactions in Britain affirmed the importance of having a strong, united religious fraternity to guide the people. The religious fraternity must be well-connected to the pulse of the community. And the people must know whom to turn to for help.

To promote the interests of our Muslim religious teachers, MUIS has been working with PERGAS (Singapore Islamic Scholars and Religious Teachers Association) on the Asatizah Recognition Scheme that recognizes their qualifications and areas of expertise and makes these available to the public. The system also helps their advancement through scholarships, and supports visits to key national institutions, and talks and discussions with world-renowned Muslim leaders.

Students going abroad for further religious education are also given good advice on their choice of overseas institutions, provided with official letters of support, and kept updated on what is going on in Singapore, through periodic seminars and internships when they are on holiday here.

Reviewing religious education

My visit to London also made me realize the importance of having every Muslim understand the fundamentals of Islam from young. With a clear understanding of the fundamentals of Islam and how we apply it in Singapore’s multiracial, multireligious context, our youth should be able to recognize and call the bluff of anyone trying to seed hatred or discord in the name of religion. I was therefore happy that MUIS has been reviewing the part-time religious education curriculum to make it more age-specific, varied and interesting to students from pre-school to adults, so that teachings of Islam get through in a manner that the students are ready to understand. The values we impart through Islamic teachings have not changed, but our methods and materials have to change if we are to keep the interest of our young. Otherwise, they risk missing out on the fundamentals and subsequently being led astray by someone disguising himself as an expert in religion.

Helping Malay/Muslims debunk deviant teachings and ideology

To help all Malay/Muslims address extremist ideology, MUIS will explore disseminating specific knowledge that addresses the distortions of the Islamic concepts such as jihad and the place of Muslims in secular societies, through mosques and Malay/Muslim organizations.

Here, the work done by the religious teachers in clearing misconceptions of Islamic concepts like jihad has received good support from Singapore Muslims. These efforts to create communication and discussion platforms have to be sustained and broadened to involve even more people including our youth, so that the voices of deviant groups which use media like the internet to push their cause, never get a receptive ear here.

Stating what we are and being confident in ourselves

Capping these measures is the Singapore Muslim Identity project. Essentially, the Singapore Muslim Identity project came about through consultations within the Muslim community, and seeks to recognize and crystallize what we stand for as Singapore Muslims. This is important as no two Muslim communities across the world are exactly alike even though key tenets of the religion are shared by all Muslim communities. The project also helps us debunk calls from dangerous self-serving foreign groups that attempt to divide the world into Muslim and non-Muslim, or claim that Muslims can only live in a Muslim-majority nation. Such calls never had any relevance in the modern world, and indeed in the history of Islam. We must prevent such calls from being echoed within Singapore by individuals mistakenly sympathetic to them.

Indeed, while MUIS’ measures have strengthened the practice of Islam in Singapore, they have also further reduced the possibility for Islam to be misused by deviant individuals. To the Singapore Muslim community’s credit, the Singapore Muslim Identity project as well as the many ways in which we facilitate religious life in a multiracial multireligious society with a secular government has caught the attention of many countries abroad.

Muslims committed to playing their role

The Singapore Muslim Community will continue to strengthen our belief in Islam and forge stronger bonds with fellow Singaporeans. We must leave no room for anyone to believe that violence against the innocent can be tolerated in Islam, or for that matter, any religion. Indeed that is the duty of not only Muslim Singaporeans but of all Singaporeans.

The clear statements by our Muslim leaders in condemning terrorism after the September 11 attacks, and again after the JI arrests, sent a strong signal right from the start. It was a critical move in maintaining the trust between Muslims and people of other faiths here. The Mufti’s continuing position on condemning terrorism has set the tone for all our asatizah (religious teachers). And the Religious Rehabilitation Group has performed a sincere, selfless role in helping to rehabilitate the detainees and educate the community against terrorist ideology. The Aftercare Community Group comprising Yayasan Mendaki, Masjid Khatijah, the AMP and the Singapore Malay Journalists Association has been helping to support the families of the detainees. These religious and community leaders have rendered valuable services to Islam and Singapore.

I am glad that Singaporeans of other faiths have been supportive of the efforts put in by Muslims here and elsewhere in this ongoing effort to extinguish terrorism. It will be a long haul, but the Muslims here will do everything within our ability to combat it, and to oppose and correct the erroneous beliefs that lead people to commit terrorist acts.

A STRONG AND CONFIDENT MALAY/MUSLIM COMMUNITY

A strong and confident Singapore Muslim community is an important and vital part of Singapore’s multi-racial, meritocratic and harmonious society. Indeed if any community feels that it does not have a place here in Singapore then this would immediately undermine our country. Like their fellow Singaporeans, Malay/Muslims want to live a good life, see their children do well in school and become doctors, engineers, lawyers, teachers, be gainfully employed and well-respected. Like other Singaporeans, they want to retain their culture, traditions and be able to practice their faith in the context of a secularly-governed, multi-racial, and multi-religious Singapore. The principles of multi-racialism and meritocracy are key to achieving and maintaining our common desire of a harmonious Singapore. I can therefore categorically state that the Singapore Muslim community remains committed to these principles and we will defend and protect our nation alongside fellow Singaporeans. All of us – regardless of our language, race or religion, income or social status – have a part in the vision of a peaceful, prosperous, and harmonious home we call Singapore.

CONCLUSION

Indeed the security landscape is an evolving one. We have to put in all the necessary systems in place and do drills to increase awareness and vigilance. But ultimately it is the people that count - every Singaporean must decide what is good for Singapore. The Singapore Muslim community has made that decision that we will continue to do our best to protect Singapore from any threat. We will keep our house in order.

It may not be common knowledge to all but the JI arrests came at the back of information related to the authorities by a Muslim Singaporean. He had the right instincts to sense that something potentially dangerous could happen from the goings-on he observed. He could have ignored it. But in his mind the safety and security of Singapore was of prime importance. And he made a timely tip-off to the authorities that saved us all.

Let all Singaporeans work together to keep our home safe and secure for ourselves, our friends and families, and enjoy happiness, prosperity and progress for many more generations to come. Thank you.