SINGAPORE – A law that consolidates existing statutes to preserve racial harmony while providing for additional safeguards will come into operation on Sept 15.
At the same time, a new Presidential Council for Racial and Religious Harmony (PCRRH) will begin its inaugural three-year term, replacing the previous Presidential Council for Religious Harmony.
The Maintenance of Racial Harmony Act was passed by Parliament on Feb 4, 2025, and empowers the Government to issue restraining orders (ROs) against individuals involved in making content that prejudices Singapore’s racial harmony.
It also introduces a community remedial initiative, which gives those who have committed less egregious race-related offences a chance to mend community ties in lieu of prosecution.
In a statement on Sept 14, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said the new law strengthens Singapore’s ability to preserve racial harmony, respond effectively to emerging threats, and safeguards the city-state’s multicultural society against malicious foreign influence.
The Act takes close reference from the existing Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act (MRHA) which, besides providing for powers to issue ROs, requires religious groups here to comply with leadership restrictions and to declare foreign funding and affiliations with foreign groups.
The racial harmony law means that some 300 clan and business associations here to be designated as “race-based entities” are subjected to similar disclosures. MHA said it will guide designated entities on their reporting requirements ahead of their first reporting obligation in April 2028.
At the Feb 2025 debate over the law, then Law and Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam told Parliament that the best evidence for how the authorities were likely to use the new powers was in their use of the MRHA, which was enacted in 1990.
Shanmugam noted that no orders had been issued under the MRHA to date, but the legal framework meant everyone understood what was not allowed in Singapore.
“That gives you an indication of how the Government approaches these powers. The important thing is to have the powers, but also to be very, very careful and judicious in how you use them,” he said then.
Under the new law, the Minister for Home Affairs can issue ROs against individuals who produce, distribute, or communicate content that prejudices racial harmony.
A person issued an RO could be prohibited from from communicating or distributing specified material and to take all reasonably practicable steps to ensure that such material is no longer available to the general public in Singapore, among other things.
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