Stakeholders Consultation Process for Upcoming Maintenance of Racial Harmony Act
Ministry of Home AffairsSpeakers
Summary
This question concerns the proposed Maintenance of Racial Harmony Act, specifically Mr Sharael Taha’s queries on stakeholder consultation, avoiding a litigious culture, and ensuring legitimate prosecutions. Minister K Shanmugam stated that MHA and MCCY will engage community leaders and groups across all racial groups in preparation for the new legislation. He explained that the Act will serve as guardrails, introducing non-punitive, mediatory measures to restore relations as an alternative to criminal punishment for certain acts. Regarding enforcement, the Minister noted that AGC will assess the sufficiency of evidence and public interest when deciding whether to prosecute cases. Parliament will ultimately set the criminal thresholds in the new Act, providing an opportunity to review laws and determine appropriate legal boundaries for racial offences.
Transcript
72 Mr Sharael Taha asked the Minister for Home Affairs with regard to a proposed Maintenance of Racial Harmony Act (a) who are the stakeholders that will be involved and consulted on during the drafting of the Act; (b) how will the Ministry consider the concerns of the different communities without creating a litigious culture; and (c) how will the Ministry ensure that only legitimate cases are being investigated and prosecuted.
Mr K Shanmugam: MHA and MCCY will be engaging community leaders and groups across all racial groups in preparation for the new Maintenance of Racial Harmony Act. We are working on the engagement plans and will share more details when ready.
The Member asked how we would address the concerns of the communities without creating a litigious culture. Laws by themselves cannot make people get along with one another or like one another. However, they can help to lay out what our society considers right or wrong.
The new Act will act as guardrails for our racial harmony. Besides criminalising acts that clearly seek to promote enmity between different racial groups and undermine our racial harmony, the Act will introduce softer, non-punitive measures that allow the offender a chance to mend relations or understand the offended party’s perspective better. This is important as there could be situations where it would be more helpful to focus on mediating and restoring relations rather than punishing the offender.
The Member asked how we would ensure that only legitimate cases are investigated and prosecuted. As with all offences under the law, AGC will decide on whether a case should be prosecuted by making an assessment on the sufficiency of the evidence gathered by the law enforcement agencies and on whether it is in the public interest to do so. That said, Parliament decides on where to draw the line as to what actions should be considered criminal, through the laws that it passes. This new Act will give us an opportunity to review our laws on race and determine the appropriate threshold to set.