Abstract
Singapore can be described as a sea-port that became a city-state. In the process it has successfully managed religious and ethnic diversity through the use of law to regulate society and to manage religion. Inheriting English common law, Singapore has managed legal pluralism and religious diversity through state agencies, such as MUIS (Islamic Religious Council of Singapore), that seek to modernise the Shari’a, and through the Religious Harmony Act. It has also facilitated Muslim education and family life, strictly controlled religious sites through urban planning, limited aggressive evangelism, rejected ‘shapeless multiculturalism,’ and modestly supported neo-Confucian ‘rule of virtue.’ The chapter explores whether recent political changes will lead to a modification of Singapore’s ‘soft authoritarianism’ and evolution of its policies on diverse religions.
Aspects of this analysis of Singapore first appeared in Nasir, K. M. and B. Turner (2013), Governing as Gardening: Reflections on Soft Authoritarianism in Singapore. Citizenship Studies, 17(3/4), 339–352.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Ahmad, I. (1970). Developments in the marriage laws in Malaysia and Singapore. Malaya Law Review, 2, 257–276.
Ahmad, N. A. (2012). The Islamic legal system in Singapore. Pacific Rim Law and Policy Journal, 21(1), 163–187.
Anderson, J. N. D. (1959). Islamic law in the modern world. New York: New York University Press.
Burke, E. (1955). Reflections on the revolution in France. New York: Liberal Arts Press.
Burke, E. (1993). Speech of Edmund Burke Esq., on moving his resolutions for conciliation with the colonies. In I. Harris (Ed.), Burke: Pre-revolutionary writings (pp. 206–269). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Butcher, J. G. (1979). The British in Malaya 1880–1941: The social history of a European community in colonial South-east Asia. Kuala Lumpur/New York: Oxford University Press.
Case, W. (2002). Politics in Southeast Asia. London/New York: Routledge Curzon.
Chang, K.-S. (1999). Compressed modernity and its discontent: South Korean society in transition. Economy and Society, 28(1), 30–55.
Clarke, K. M. (2009). Fictions of justice: The International Criminal Court and the challenge of legal pluralism in Sub-Saharan Africa. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Ehrlich, E. (2001). Fundamental principles of the sociology of law. New Brunswick: Transaction.
Furnival, J. S. (1948). Colonial policy and practice: A comparative study of Burma and the Netherlands India. New York: New York University Press.
Geertz, C. (1983). Local knowledge. New York: Basic Books.
Griffith, J. (1986). What is legal pluralism? Journal of Legal Pluralism, 24, 1–55.
Han, F. K., Ibrahim, Z., Chua, M. H., Lim, L., Low, I., Lin, R., & Chan, R. (2011). Lee Kuan Yew: Hard truths to keep Singapore going. Singapore: Straits Times Press Books.
Hooker, M. B. (1975). Legal pluralism: An introduction to colonial and non-colonial laws. Oxford: Clarendon.
Hooker, M. B. (1984). Islamic law in Southeast Asia. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Imelda, S. (2011, April 30). GE: MM Lee defends PAP’s record on helping Singaporeans cope with cost of living. Chanelnewsasia.
Judt, T. (2010). Ill fares the land: A treatise on our present discontents. London: Penguin.
Kamaludeen, M. N., Pereira, A. A., & Turner, B. S. (2009). Muslims in Singapore: Piety, politics and policies. New York: Routledge.
Kwa, C. G. (1998). Studying Singapore before Raffles. In S. H. Alatas (Ed.), Malay/Muslim and the history of Singapore (pp. 12–37). Singapore: Centre for Research on Islamic and Malay Affairs.
Lindsey, T., & Steiner, K. (2012). Islam, law and the state in Southeast Asia (Singapore, Vol. II). London: I.B. Taurus.
Macmillan, H. (1972). Pointing the way 1959–6. London: Macmillan.
McCarthy, S. (2006). The political theory of tyranny in Singapore and Burma: Aristotle and the rhetoric of benevolent despotism. Abingdon: Routledge.
Owen, R. (2004). Lord Cromer: Victorian imperialist, Edwardian Proconsul. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Peerenboom, R. (Ed.). (2004). Asian discourses of rule of law: Theories and implementation of rule of law in twelve Asian countries, France and the US. London: Routledge.
Phang, A. B. L. (1990). The development of Singapore law: Historical and socio-legal perspectives. Singapore: Butterworths.
Stoler, A. L. (1989). Making empire respectable: The politics of race and sexual morality in 20th century colonial cultures. American Ethnologist, 16(4), 634–660.
Taylor, J. G. (1983). The social world of Batavia: European and Eurasian in Dutch Asia. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.
Thio, L.-A. (2004). Rule of law within a non-liberal ‘communitarian’ democracy: The Singapore experience. In R. Peerenboom (Ed.), Asian discourses of rule of law: Theories and implementation of rule of law in twelve Asian countries, France and the US (pp. 183–224). London: Routledge.
Trocki, C. A. (2005). Singapore: Wealth, power and the culture of control. London: Routledge.
Weber, M. (1978). Economy and society: An outline of interpretive sociology (2 Vols). Berkeley: University of California Press.
White Paper. (1991). Shared values. Singapore: Singapore National Printers.
Zakir, H. (2011, March 8). Malay integration: MM stands corrected. The Straits Times.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Turner, B.S. (2015). Soft Authoritarianism, Social Diversity and Legal Pluralism: The Case of Singapore. In: Possamai, A., Richardson, J., Turner, B. (eds) The Sociology of Shari’a: Case Studies from around the World. Boundaries of Religious Freedom: Regulating Religion in Diverse Societies, vol 1. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-09605-6_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-09605-6_5
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-09604-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-09605-6
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawSocial Sciences (R0)