Space for expressing Gaza solidarity ‘narrower’ – Students

The narrow space for campus protests over issues such as the conflict in Gaza will be restricted even more by Singapore’s proposed new law on the ‘Maintenance of Racial Harmony’ according to Singaporean students and alumni. Pro-Palestine student groups in Singapore pointed to “alarming aspects of this bill which can easily be used against activists and independent voices”.

The bill first outlined by then prime minister Lee Hsien Loong in 2021, to “collect together in one place all the government powers to deal with racial issues”, was released in limited form for public consultation in April. It is expected to be passed by Singapore’s parliament this year.

Some 40 students and alumni “of many different races” from Nanyang Technological University (NTU), National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore Management University (SMU), Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD), Polytechnics and Institutes of Technical Education walked peacefully to the Ministry of Home Affairs on 7 June to deliver 40 letters opposing the proposed bill. Some wore T Shirts that said: “There are no more universities in Gaza”.

A joint statement issued this week by the Singaporean Campaign for the Academic Boycott of Israel and Students for Palestine — an inter-university coalition of Pro-Palestine student groups — said the bill will give the government “the power to indiscriminately clamp down on any acts that may be deemed to ‘threaten the racial harmony’ of Singapore”.

The statement read: “We do not believe that the establishment of more laws and harsher punishments are effective in eliminating racism.

“We agree that it is important to strike a balance between keeping public discourse free from hateful or offensive speech, and allowing space for legitimate discourse, private communications, and remarks made in good faith.”

Referring to some parts of the proposed bill made public, the statement said: “However, we are concerned that the vagueness of these definitions leaves the government with unlimited discretion to repress any discourse or actions which might be conveniently defined as ‘racial’ in nature.”

Similar laws, which the new bill will subsume if it passes, “have been used against people who wish to openly discuss, expose, and analyse racism as it exists,” they said.

“We believe that the introduction of the bill will be detrimental to peaceful efforts by the people of Singapore to raise awareness on domestic and global issues of concern. Now more than ever, as students around the world are calling for the liberation of Palestinians from decades of occupation and violence, we, the students of Singapore, also rise up to reject censorship and state repression,” they explained.

Restrictions on Gaza protests

Singapore has close diplomatic, trade and security with Israel, but has its own significant Muslim population, as well as neighbouring Muslim countries Malaysia and Indonesia which do not recognise Israel.

Singapore authorities have repeatedly warned that public assemblies related to the Israel-Hamas war are banned, including in the city’s sole ‘Free speech area’ known as Speakers Corner in Hong Lim Park. The Singapore Police Force (SPF) and National Parks Board on 18 October 2023 announced that events and public assemblies would not be permitted, citing ‘safety and security reasons’.

The SPF statement said: “The peace and harmony between different races and religions in Singapore should not be taken for granted, and we must not let events happening externally affect the internal situation within Singapore.”

SPF added “given the sensitivity of the topic and the volatility of the situation overseas, there is a real risk that such events could give rise to public disorder”.

SPF also issued an advisory against wearing symbols linked to the war. Affixing posters, placards or other documents including stickers on any properties without permission also constitutes an offence.

Reducing opposing voices

Ian Chong Ja, associate professor of political science at National University of Singapore noted the actual draft text of the bill is not yet available. So, “it is more difficult to make a precise determination of whether and, if so, how, a new law will affect academic freedom.”

However, in the current context of the Gaza conflict, “the concern is that the law can reduce the voicing of opposition to the policies of the Israeli state or a specific Israeli administration into an issue of race and religion, which then invites heavy-handed state intervention in Singapore”, he told University World News. Laws already exist in Singapore on the ‘Maintenance of Religious Harmony’.

“There has already been some apparent linkage between religion and race with criticism of Israel in public by voices that are supportive of the policies of the Israeli state or successive Israeli governments,” Chong noted.

Students also highlighted this, saying in their statement: “We have seen that nearly all actions bringing light to the genocide in Gaza and calling on our government to take further actions against Israel are often treated as threats to Singapore’s racial and religious harmony.”

They pointed to participants in “Steadfast for Palestine”, a solidarity event held indoors on 2 February, and described as “an invitation only event held within a private space” after police indicated they would refuse permission for any event open to the public, were investigated under the existing Penal Code for eliciting “racial tensions”.

This was “despite the racial diversity of the crowd and the lack of discrimination or elicitation of hate against any ethnic group,” the student groups noted in their joint statement.

At the time, students said police had used existing laws on race and religion against people peacefully protesting about a humanitarian crisis.

Already Singapore’s Straits Times newspaper reported that the conduct of the group delivering the letter to the ministry on 7 June was being “scrutinised for possible offences” by police.

But the pro-Palestine students were also concerned about particular aspects of the proposed law which stipulate “enhanced penalties” against those deemed to have urged violence against other groups on the grounds of race.
The student groups noted that “urging violence” was unclear, and pointed to the police statement about “Steadfast for Palestine” that had said that the phrase “from the river to the sea” is associated with calls for the destruction of the state of Israel.

New ‘restraining orders’

The proposed bill also gives the Minister of Home Affairs (MHA) the power to issue restraining orders (ROs) to prevent production or distribution of any content such as publications, social media posts, pamphlets, etcetera, which the minister deems could destabilise racial harmony.

Students pointed out this could be done without having to establish criminal conduct, making it easier for the minister to take action against individuals.

“The ROs cannot be appealed against in a court of law and are only subjected to review by a Presidential Council composed of members selected by MHA itself. This is a clear conflict of interest and provides the Minister unilateral power in using this bill to restrict freedom of expression,” the statement said.

NUS’s Chong noted: “The concern is that rather than teach about tolerance, the law can afford the state more means to control discussion through the use of restraining orders.”

He added: “such tools can end up erring too much on the side of caution or the sensitivities of groups opposed to discussion, possibly because they do not like to hear views that challenge their own”.

There are proposed channels for recourse for the restraining orders, but the concern is that these may prove too onerous for ordinary individuals to practically use, according to Chong.

Alternative student activities

Amid the current restrictions in Singapore, students have organised teach-ins and ‘sit-outs’ calling for Singapore universities to cut all ties with Israel.

At Nanyang Technological University (NTU), students organised a teach-in called ‘Ponteng for Palestine’, where students sat out of their classes – Ponteng is a Malay word for ‘skipping class’ – for self-study and discussions on the situation in Gaza.

At NUS, students organised several ‘Picnics for Palestine’ which included readings of Palestinian poetry.

During the Yale-NUS convocation last month, 43 students showed support for Palestine by wearing wristbands or draping keffiyehs – the cotton scarf regarded as a symbol of Palestine – over their gowns. The class student speaker spoke in support of Palestine during her speech.

In March Students at NTU put up posters within bathrooms, which they said was “a desperate attempt to reach fellow students and spread awareness of NTU’s ties with Israel,” according to the pro-Palestine students’ statement. The posters claimed the university used tuition fees to fund Israel in the war in Gaza.

“The posters were not authorised and were removed by campus security,” said NTU in a press statement on 5 March, and said that a police report was made.

“Even peaceful and educational actions like these, which earnestly call on our universities to cut ties with the genocidal state of Israel, will be threatened,” if the Maintenance of Racial Harmony bill becomes law, the students said.

“We are disheartened that we cannot make ourselves heard even among fellow students. We are not extremists. We have a range of views on the conflict, and we are able to discuss these among each other, they added.

“Silencing open debate is more likely to make young people angry that they cannot openly show empathy and concern with the people of Gaza,” they explained.

Singapore context

However, Mathew Mathews, head of the Social Lab, Institute of Policy Studies at NUS’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy said the situation “won't be any different” with the new law. “The restrictions related to having protests in Singapore especially over issues related to race or religion have been around for a long time,” he told University World News.

“Obviously there are some people who would prefer a much freer space where everyone expresses what they feel about issues the way they like to do that, like what you see on campuses all over the world. However, the majority of Singaporeans understand that there will be major problems for societal cohesion if we allow such free expression,” noted Mathews, an expert on race, religion and immigrant integration.

He added, the new laws would also include avenues for community reconciliation.

"What is being proposed [in the bill] is more comprehensive – it also provides for newer ways to deal with situations where people may have done or said something which wounds people of another racial group.

“There are already laws which deal with hate speech, or remarks which are inflammatory, and which can disrupt public order, or which brings enmity between groups.

“But increasingly, society needs to find ways to also deal with breaches in racial harmony which are less grievous, but which also hurt (and can have longer term impacts) and there needs to be measures which are better suited for these,” he said.