Source: Channel Newsasia

In an exclusive interview with current affairs programme Bicara, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Masagos Zulkifli discusses the threat of terrorism and the role of the Government in religious and racial issues.

SINGAPORE: Religion must be practised in context and Muslim scholars here understand how certain religious teachings should be taught in Singapore’s context, said Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Masagos Zulkifli.

In an exclusive interview with Malay-language current affairs programme Bicara, Mr Masagos discussed the threat of terrorism in Singapore as well as the danger of preachers who impart divisive teachings. Mr Masagos was speaking in response to Minister for Home Affairs and Law K Shanmugam’s recent speech on the issue of terrorism and security of Singapore.

Q: Minister Shanmugam’s speech on the issue of terrorism and security of Singapore – among other things – also raised the issue of the Muslim community growing somewhat more distant from the others, which is viewed as one of the threats to Singapore. As former Second Minister for Home Affairs, can you help to clarify what does the Government mean by this?

Masagos Zulkifli: If we examine the speech, we know that Minister Shanmugam recognises that the Singapore Muslim community is a model community that we can be proud of. This is an important context of the speech, that he recognises the Malay/Muslim community has been able to live together with other communities through thick and thin without causing any conflicts, though they may arise from time to time. This is an important context which we have to bear in mind of the speech.

But today, there are new external threats, especially the Islamic State ideology that has influenced many of our young people – through social media – to do one or two things. First, to join them to form an Islamic State in Syria, Iraq, and if they are not able to go there, then they can cause mischief or perform some killings to create troubles by doing whatever they can in their respective countries.

So, we are concerned, in case Singaporeans do not understand about these new threats which may influence some people easily. They might be influenced to undertake violent acts without understanding that we have been able to live with each other in harmony.

If you look at the threats in the last two years, they have become bigger over time. In the past, it was only radical ideology that the radicals wanted to spread to their friends, whether through social media and so on. Today we see a situation where acts of violence are becoming more common in cities – like the Paris attacks, and more recently, the attack on our neighbours in Jakarta. And we should not rule out the possibility that it could happen here.

We have already arrested several young men who had been influenced and wanted to go to Syria or Iraq to join the fight with Islamic State, but they obviously wanted to conduct acts of violence including on our Prime Minister and the President. This shows that radical ideology has been able to sow the seeds of violence that can be used to manipulate a minority in the community to conduct the acts of violence which can undermine the harmony in our country.

Q: Speaking of the “seeds of violence”, the Government has also picked up on some young Muslims who now think it is wrong to greet others by saying “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Deepavali”, as they consider it un-Islamic. We are also told there are also those who believe that it is wrong to recite the National Pledge or sing the National Anthem. Surely these are just symptoms of a problem. What is the larger problem here?

Masagos Zulkifli: The Malay/Muslim community has all along been guided by our local scholars. Despite the various problems that arise from time to time, we can solve them by taking into account the interest of our society, our religion and at the same time, we can build a developed country together with other people.

Now we begin to see influences that can come to our country through social media and so on, and this has been widespread in our society. If we look at some of the features of these influences which are disturbing, among those is the belief that we should create a situation or environment which is so pure and perfect, resembling utopia. And this is something imposed on us to implement it hastily.

For example, if in the past we can have a meal together with others without thinking of what to eat, now some of us begin to isolate ourselves – they do not want to eat with other people because they do not eat halal food. But, thank God, through the guidance of our local scholars, we know that this is not right.

Similarly, on the issue of the threats of radical ideologies that have come through social media and have influenced some of our young people, we need our local scholars to address them so that the young people know what to accept and what to reject.

Q: How effective are our local religious scholars in tackling negative foreign influences?

Masagos Zulkifli: We are fortunate that we are able to produce our own scholars through our local madrasahs. This is important. If they come from foreign countries, even from Mecca or Medina, they may also carry contexts or cultures that may not be suitable for the life and needs of the Muslims here.

Religion must also have its contexts and many of our scholars from the local madrasahs and guided by other local ulamas, they understand better how certain religious teachings should be taught in our context.

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