Religious leaders in Singapore will in future be held to higher standards for offences related to religious harmony in Singapore.

This is one of the changes proposed as part of several amendments to the Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act (MRHA) tabled in Parliament on Monday, Sep. 2.

Penal Code religious offences folded into MRHA

Currently, both the Penal Code and the MRHA have provisions that safeguard religious harmony.

Under the updated regime, Penal Code offences that pertain to religion will be consolidated under the MRHA.

The offences will cover acts that:

1. Incite violence on the basis of religion, or against a religious group or its members;
2. Incite feelings of enmity, hatred, ill-will or hostility against a religious group; and
3. Insult the religion or wound the religious feelings of another person

For the first offence of inciting violence on the basis of religion, given its seriousness, the offence will apply equally to everyone.

Offenders are liable for imprisonment of up to 10 years, or a fine, or both.

Lower thresholds for religious leaders

However, for the other two offences, namely

• incitement of hostility against a religious group, and
• insulting the religion of another person,

the identity of the offender will make a difference.

For persons who are not religious leaders, the act in question (online post, for instance) must risk disturbing public peace before it is deemed to be an offence.

On the other hand, because religious leaders are deemed to wield greater influence and reach over religious matters, the element of risk of disturbing public peace is not necessary to make it an offence.

The MHA says this is because any offensive remark or action they take is likely to cause more harm than that of an average person.

These offences carry a penalty of up to five years' imprisonment, or a fine, or both.

2x penalties for all offences found to have been religiously motivated

Another change that will be made to the MRHA is that if any crime is found to have been religiously-motivated, the applicable punishment will be doubled, instead of the existing 1.5-fold application of sentences.

The only crimes this will not apply to are those that carry the death penalty or life imprisonment.

Extra-territoriality clause

The MRHA will also be updated with an extra-territoriality clause.

With the prevalence of digital media, it is easy for individuals to disrupt religious harmony in Singapore while abroad.

Hence, these offences are likely to apply even if they occurred overseas, as long as they were targeted at a group or a person in Singapore and had an impact on Singapore.

Top photo via Inter-Religious Organisation Facebook page