Everything Also Complain

From ‘Divide between religious and non-religious a key challenge’, 4 Sept 2011, article by Joanne Chan, Today

Singapore is not “immune” to the growing rift between those who are becoming increasingly religious and those who are the opposite. And more will need to be done to “enlarge and defend the common space” for Singaporeans, said Acting Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports Chan Chun Sing.

Noting that the world is “seeing greater religiosity on one end of the spectrum and non-religiosity on the other end”, Major-General (NS) Chan said that such forces threaten to pull society in opposite directions.

“The fast pace of development will inevitably mean that many will seek to find their anchor in race or religion,” he said.

“However, we hope that as people become more conscious of one’s race and religion, they will not turn inward or become more exclusive towards others of different races or religions.”

And those who do not subscribe to any religion should continue to be open and receptive to those who do, he added.

“We must remember to not plant stakes on the ground to circumscribe other’s actions. But on the other hand, we must constantly work to enlarge and defend the common space that we all enjoy today,” he said.

The use of the word ‘religiosity’ in political rhetoric is relatively recent, and may be viewed by some as a euphemism for ‘fanaticism’, especially pertaining to the rise of Islamic zealotry in the 9/11 era. For the record, both ‘religiosity’ and ‘fanatic’ were used by LKY himself in the same article (Drift to terror, 1 June 2002, Today) in response to the threat of infiltration of the country by terrorist cells like Jemaah Islamiyah (JI)

(SM Lee): My original concern was over the growing separateness of our Muslim community, as Singaporean Muslims tended to centre their social and extra-mural activities in their mosques instead of in multi-racial community clubs.

What came as a shock was that this heightened religiosity facilitated Muslim terror groups linked to Al Qaeda to recruit Singaporean Muslims into their network.

…These (JI members) are religious fanatics.

A little more than a year later, it was up to his son, then DPM Lee Hsien Loong to piggyback on the same buzzword by calling on MUIS to keep an eye on the community (Muis must guide religiosity, says DPM, 25 Nov 2003, Today) in light of ‘increased religiosity’ among Muslims in Singapore and elsewhere, using the tudung saga as an example. Typical of our PM and unlike his paranoid father, Lee Hsien Loong was careful not to tread on F-words like ‘fundamentalism’ and ‘fanatic’, but it’s clear by now which ethnic group would be under the Government’s watchful eye, and ‘religiosity’ would be viewed as a precursor to radical Islam, and hence begins the use of fear-mongering rhetoric to keep one’s multiracial flock from straying off the path of our ‘common spaces’.

The escape of Mas Selamat in 2008 ignited another round of anti-religiosity talk from Lee Hsien Loong when he became PM, losing none of the nervous steam he inherited from the father. Speaking at the ‘closed-door’ ISD 60th Anniversary dinner (Old threats and new, 9 Sept 2008, Today):

(Lee Hsien Loong): The apparent effortlessness of our racial harmony is deceptive. It requires constant tending behind the scenes…especially so at a time when religiosity is growing.

…The most crucial and delicate relationship currently is that between the Muslim and non-Muslim communities.

One would expect a ISD Dinner and Dance to be as enchanting as a night at a funeral wake, but here is our PM giving his private army a pep-talk and a thumbs up for their nabbing of suspect terrorists, and again spreading the warning about rising religiosity like it was a viral plague. At this point, you can’t be any further convinced  that ‘religiosity’ in politico-speak has and always will be linked to Muslims. Not to feel left out, former PM Goh Chok Tong had to enter to fray (SM:Guard against religious enclaves, 3 Aug 2009), fresh from the wake of violent clashes between Uighur Muslims and Han Chinese in Xinjiang:

…Mr Goh pointed out that the Government sees religion as a positive force in society, giving ‘spiritual guidance to help us cope with a fast-changing world’.

However, rising religiosity may lead people, unwittingly, to form religious enclaves, unless a conscious effort is made to continue socialising with people of other faiths, he said.

If such religiosity ‘encroaches on our common secular space, or worse, the practice of other religions, (it) must result in a push-back by others’.

In the same year, DPM Wong Kan Seng also spoke on the above ethnic clashes (Be mindful of racial, religious fault-lines, 2 Aug 2009, ST), though he should have been more ‘mindful’ on domestic matters like keeping his detainees behind bars after Mas Selamat’s escape a year earlier.

We must not let increased religiosity or religious practices among our people create fault lines that will disrupt our social stability, especially when race and religion are closely intertwined in Singapore.

He added that the Government’s key approach towards managing race and religion matters is to build common spaces in schools, communities, workplaces and national service. These common spaces must remain secular, he said.

Why is Major Chan Chun Sing bringing this up all of a sudden? Has the ISD brought any ‘fanatics’ to justice recently? Has a bomb attempt at Yishun MRT been thwarted? Why rev up an old thorny nugget and make everyone fidget uncomfortably in their seats just when President Tony Tan has sworn to ‘unify’ all Singaporeans? What in heaven’s name is ‘non-religiosity’? Do you mean atheists, or people who are religious but don’t overdo it? This statement, a commendable cut-n-paste job from previous speeches (‘stakes’ instead of fault-lines/enclaves), is like announcing how chickens are slaughtered in the middle of a BBQ party. If religiosity has been ‘rising’ for the past 10 years, why haven’t we succumbed to civil war by now? Does the PAP have to drill into our heads about the threats to religious harmony every single time violence erupts in the Muslim World? Why the relative silence on right wing Christian fundamentalism (can I use the word ‘religiosity’?)  in the wake of the brutal Norway attacks then? DPM Teo Chee Hean referred to it as ‘extremism’, which is a far cry from religiosity though synonymous with JI’s activities, but tactfully avoiding any reference, or maybe even pooh-poohing the remote possibility of any zealot gun-totting Christians in our midst.

Maybe Major Chan has been hanging around the Lees a bit too much lately, and taking advantage of the upcoming 10th year anniversary of 9/11 to gently remind Singaporeans who the murderers were on that fateful day, at the same time hopeful that educating us on ‘religiosity’ would resonate happily with our PM, his father and the Emeritus so that they won’t have to unleash another  anti-terrorism package again this year.   With current and former DPMs and PMs speaking out on religious tensions to date, perhaps Chan, barely a year-old politician, is venturing into shoes too big for him to fill too soon. Thank you for your concern, Major, but tell us something we don’t already know.Time to Sing a different tune, dude.

Filed under: 2000s, 2011, Politicians, Religion, Violence | Tagged: chan chun sing, discrimination, islam, Lee Hsien Loong, Lee Kuan Yew, MM Lee, muslims, Politicians, Religion, SM Goh Chok Tong, teo chee hean, Violence, wong kan seng | Leave a Comment »