Singapore legislation

Clause 39

of Maintenance of Racial Harmony Bill

Clause 39

Offences relating to urging violence on basis of race

(1)

A person (X) commits an offence if —

(a)

X engages in conduct urging one or more persons to use force or violence against a person (Y) in Singapore;

(b)

X does so knowing that force or violence is likely to occur; and

(c)

X does so because of any general or specific belief about race (such as a belief about Y’s race).

(2)

A person (X) commits an offence if —

(a)

X engages in conduct urging one or more persons to use force or violence against a group of persons in Singapore (called in this subsection the target group);

(b)

X does so knowing that force or violence is likely to occur; and

(c)

X does so because of any general or specific belief about race (such as a belief that the target group is distinguished by race or a belief about the race of any person in the target group).

(3)

A person (X) commits an offence if —

(a)

X engages in conduct urging one or more persons to use force or violence against a group of persons in Singapore (called in this subsection the target group); and

(b)

in doing so —

(i)

X identifies the target group as being distinguished by race, or by race and some other characteristic; and

(ii)

X knows that force or violence is likely to occur.

(4)

For the purposes of subsections (1)(c) and (2)(c) —

(a)

it is sufficient that X’s belief about race is a substantial ground for X’s conduct;

(b)

it does not matter whether X has any other ground for X’s conduct; and

(c)

it does not matter whether X’s belief about race is correct or incorrect.

(5)

For the purposes of subsection (3)(b)(i), it does not matter whether X’s identification of the target group is correct or incorrect.

(6)

For the purposes of subsections (2)(c) and (3)(b)(i), a group of persons is distinguished by race if —

(a)

all of them belong to the same race; or

(b)

all of them do not belong to a certain race.

(7)

A person who is guilty of an offence under subsection (1), (2) or (3) shall be liable on conviction to a fine or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years or to both.

Read in full context — Maintenance of Racial Harmony Bill →