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  • Home
  • About RSIS
      • Introduction
      • Building the Foundations
      • Welcome Message
      • Board of Governors
      • Staff Profiles
        • Executive Deputy Chairman’s Office
        • Dean’s Office
        • Management
        • Distinguished Fellows
        • Faculty and Research
        • Associate Research Fellows, Senior Analysts and Research Analysts
        • Visiting Fellows
        • Adjunct Fellows
        • Administrative Staff
      • Honours and Awards for RSIS Staff and Students
      • RSIS Endowment Fund
      • Endowed Professorships
      • Career Opportunities
      • Getting to RSIS
  • Research
      • Research Centres
        • Centre for Multilateralism Studies (CMS)
        • Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies (NTS Centre)
        • Centre of Excellence for National Security (CENS)
        • Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies (IDSS)
        • International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research (ICPVTR)
      • Research Programmes
        • National Security Studies Programme (NSSP)
        • Studies in Inter-Religious Relations in Plural Societies (SRP) Programme
      • Future Issues and Technology Cluster
      • [email protected] Newsletter
      • Other Research
        • Science and Technology Studies Programme (STSP) (2017-2020)
  • Graduate Education
      • Graduate Programmes Office
      • Overview
      • MSc (Asian Studies)
      • MSc (International Political Economy)
      • MSc (International Relations)
      • MSc (Strategic Studies)
      • NTU-Warwick Double Masters Programme
      • PhD Programme
      • Exchange Partners and Programmes
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      • Financial Assistance
      • Meet the Admissions Team: Information Sessions and other events
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      • Asia-Pacific Programme for Senior Military Officers (APPSMO)
      • Asia-Pacific Programme for Senior National Security Officers (APPSNO)
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      • Terrorism Analyst Training Course (TATC)
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        • Books
        • Bulletins and Newsletters
        • Commentaries
        • Counter Terrorist Trends and Analyses
        • Commemorative / Event Reports
        • IDSS Paper
        • Interreligious Relations
        • Monographs
        • NTS Insight
        • Policy Reports
        • Working Papers
        • RSIS Publications for the Year
      • Glossary of Abbreviations
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        • Journal Articles
        • Edited Books
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        • External Publications for the Year
      • Policy-relevant Articles Given RSIS Award
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    • RSIS
    • Publication
    • RSIS Publications
    • Interreligious Relations (IRR) Issue 20 – Defeating the Scourge of Terrorism: How Soft Law Instruments in Singapore Can Develop Societal Trust and Promote Cooperative Norms by Eugene K.B. Tan
    • Annual Reviews
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    Interreligious Relations (IRR) Issue 20 – Defeating the Scourge of Terrorism: How Soft Law Instruments in Singapore Can Develop Societal Trust and Promote Cooperative Norms by Eugene K.B. Tan
    Eugene K.B. Tan

    01 October 2020

    download pdf

    Abstract:

    The maintenance of a ‘moderate, mainstream’ Muslim community as a bulwark against the fraying of harmonious ethnic relations has become a key governance concern in multiracial, multi-religious societies post-9/11. In light of the global concern, and often paranoia, with diasporic Islam, Islamic religious institutions and civil society have been portrayed in the popular media as hotbeds of radicalism, promoters of hatred, and recruiters for a “conflict of civilisation” between the Muslim world and the modern world. Singapore has taken a broad-based community approach in advancing interreligious tolerance, including a subtle initiative to include the putative Muslim civil society in advancing the understanding of and the promotion of a moderate brand of Islam in Singapore. This tacit process of regulation (top-down, intra-community and inter-community), while effective, is ultimately conditioned and constrained by the unique governance context in Singapore where the state maintains a zero-tolerance approach to interreligious tension and conflict. However, the trouble with the primacy of a hard law, coercive, top-down approach is that it arrogates to the state and policymakers the power to control and define the “problem.” This paper examines Singapore’s counter-terrorism approach, one that still predominantly employs hard law but increasingly values the role of soft law and the imperative to mobilise society, especially people of faith. The challenge in keeping the counter-terrorism policy on an even keel is not to see religion primarily as a fault-line but instead to harness the power of faith to entrench religious freedom, respect and dignity for diversity.

    Categories: Interreligious Relations / / Southeast Asia and ASEAN

    Last updated on 22/02/2021

    Abstract:

    The maintenance of a ‘moderate, mainstream’ Muslim community as a bulwark against the fraying of harmonious ethnic relations has become a key governance concern in multiracial, multi-religious societies post-9/11. In light of the global concern, and often paranoia, with diasporic Islam, Islamic religious institutions and civil society have been portrayed in the popular media as hotbeds of radicalism, promoters of hatred, and recruiters for a “conflict of civilisation” between the Muslim world and the modern world. Singapore has taken a broad-based community approach in advancing interreligious tolerance, including a subtle initiative to include the putative Muslim civil society in advancing the understanding of and the promotion of a moderate brand of Islam in Singapore. This tacit process of regulation (top-down, intra-community and inter-community), while effective, is ultimately conditioned and constrained by the unique governance context in Singapore where the state maintains a zero-tolerance approach to interreligious tension and conflict. However, the trouble with the primacy of a hard law, coercive, top-down approach is that it arrogates to the state and policymakers the power to control and define the “problem.” This paper examines Singapore’s counter-terrorism approach, one that still predominantly employs hard law but increasingly values the role of soft law and the imperative to mobilise society, especially people of faith. The challenge in keeping the counter-terrorism policy on an even keel is not to see religion primarily as a fault-line but instead to harness the power of faith to entrench religious freedom, respect and dignity for diversity.

    Categories: Interreligious Relations

    Last updated on 22/02/2021

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    Latest Book
    Interreligious Relations (IRR) Issue 20 – Defeating the Scourge of Terrorism: How Soft Law Instruments in Singapore Can Develop Societal Trust and Promote Cooperative Norms by Eugene K.B. Tan
    Abstract:

    The maintenance of a ‘moderate, mainstream’ Muslim community as a bulwark against the fraying of harmonious e ...

    more info