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Protests may start out well-intentioned but are often ‘hijacked’, putting police in ‘dilemma’: Shanmugam

Broadcast United News Desk
Protests may start out well-intentioned but are often ‘hijacked’, putting police in ‘dilemma’: Shanmugam

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Shanmugam said that in addition to false information, hate speech, foreign interference and underlying socio-economic issues such as jobs and housing were also factors that triggered the protests in the UK.

“Singapore will not allow this to happen,” the minister said, noting that Singapore is trying to “prevent this from happening through a well-designed legal framework and policies that prioritise the maintenance of law and order”.

Firstly, Singapore has various laws to address these potential issues.

In addition to the Public Order Act’s regulation of protests, there is also the Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act (MRHA) to prevent incitement to racial and religious hatred, including taking a tough stance on hate speech.

“Because when people are repeatedly exposed to hate speech … underlying biases and stereotypes build up and eventually lead to violence. We see this happening around the world. So we will not allow it to happen and we will take action,” Mr Shanmugam said.

He said authorities had “not taken extreme action” since the Racial Discrimination Act was passed in the 1990s and amended in 2019. He added that the number of people who fell foul of the law was “very small”, with only 199 cases related to race and religion in the past five years.

His department will also launch Maintenance of Racial Harmony Act It aims to consolidate existing laws dealing with issues such as race.

In addition, Singapore has also enacted laws specifically to deal with false information and foreign interference, namely the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) and the Foreign Interference (Countermeasures) Act (FICA).

Altogether, this legal framework forms a “shield” that protects Singaporeans from unlawful practices occurring elsewhere.

“It’s not that Singaporeans are inherently different, or that they are different from the start. But our framework acts as a shield,” Mr Shanmugam said.

“Beyond that, the few that have been passed … we have authorized law enforcement to prevent them from precipitating riots, to prevent them from developing into something more serious. So the result has been that there have been no riots, no racial attacks, no lawless behavior — the kind of things that you’ve seen.”

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