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CSHGs focus on helping the lower-income group within their own community; through educational programmes, social services and worker training assistance. The Government gives financial grants to these organisations to run these programmes. More information on CSHGs, i.e. Mendaki, Association of Muslim Professionals (AMP), Singapore Indian Development Association (SINDA), Chinese Development Assistance Council (CDAC) and Eurasian Association (EA) can be found on these websites.
Statistics on race and religion, and information on Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura (MUIS), the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore and the Administration of Muslim Law can be found on these websites.
Advisory bodies for Muslim, Hindu and Sikh issues:
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Hindu Advisory Board/Hindu Endowments Board (Tel : 62963469) |
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Sikh Advisory Board (Tel: 62999234) |
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MUIS (Tel : 62568188)
www.muis.gov.sg |
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The Government has accepted the Declaration on Religious Harmony, as prepared by the Working Committee set up in October 2002 to develop the document, in consultation with the main religious groups in Singapore.
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| Background |
SM Goh Chok Tong unveiled a draft Code on Religious Harmony on 14 Oct 2002 and invited views from the religious groups and community leaders. The document was intended to outline the principles that will help to further strengthen inter-religious confidence in Singapore.
Mr Chan Soo Sen, the then Minister of State, Prime Minister's Office and Ministry of Community Development and Sports was given the task of preparing the Code. He formed a Working Committee comprising Members of Parliament of different religions. The Committee members were:-
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Dr Ong Chit Chung |
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Mr Inderjit Singh |
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Mr R Ravindran |
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Mr Ang Mong Seng |
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Dr Ong Seh Hong |
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Mr Ahmad Khalis bin Abdul Ghani |
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Mr Gerard Ee |
Consultation exercise Over four months (Nov 02 to Feb 03), the Committee consulted the various national bodies of all major religious groups in Singapore, including:
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Hindu Endowments Board |
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Inter-Religious Organisation |
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MUIS |
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National Council of Churches of Singapore |
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Roman Catholic Church |
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Sikh Advisory Board |
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Singapore Buddhist Federation |
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Singapore Council of Christian Churches |
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Taoist Federation, Singapore |
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Other religious groups including the Thye Hua Kwan Moral Society and the Red Swastika Society |
The Working Committee also considered ideas from the public received through letters, emails, and the media.
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The Working Committee used the draft Code on Religious Harmony presented by SM Goh at a briefing to grassroots and community leaders in Oct 2002 as the initial discussion document. The discussion was initially conducted with the religious bodies individually. A draft was then prepared, and representatives of all the religious bodies were invited to go through the draft together. The atmosphere throughout the many sessions of consultation has been characterised by goodwill, openness, and sincerity. The draft, which incorporated the views of all, was then submitted to the IRCC National Steering Committee, before final submission to the Government in Feb 2003.
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Declaration on Religious Harmony
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One of the changes agreed on during the discussion was to call the document a Declaration on Religious Harmony, rather than a Code. This is in keeping with the spirit of the document, which is a product of a bottom-up consultation process involving all major stakeholders. It is thus a declaration by all residents in Singapore to safeguard religious harmony.
The Declaration, in all official languages as enclosed, affirms the values that have helped to maintain religious harmony in Singapore; and serves as a reminder of the need for continued efforts to develop stronger bonds across religions in Singapore.
The Declaration is not a legal document. However, it serves as a basis for Singaporeans to regularly reflect on the state of religious harmony from time to time, and the steps we can take to deepen our ties and understanding with other communities.
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Inter-Religious Harmony Circle
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The consultation exercise brought together national bodies of all religious groups in Singapore, and
provided opportunity for the groups to work together. There was a consensus that this valuable network should be preserved as a
consultation forum to guide efforts to promote the spirit of the Declaration. Each national body that played a part in working out
the Declaration nominated a representative and an alternate, and formed an Inter-Religious Harmony Circle (IRHC). This is a Harmony
Circle that propagates the Declaration to the community in appropriate ways. MOS Chan Soo Sen will facilitate the work of the IRHC.
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The IRHC members are as follows -
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| Organisation |
Main Representative |
Alternate |
| Hindu Endowments Board (HEB) |
Mr Rajan Krishnan
Chairman,
Hindu Advisory Board |
Mr Mohan Das Naidu
Member, Hindu Advisory Board |
| Inter-Religious Organisation (IRO) |
1) Mr Daniel Chu, (Bahai)
Treasurer, IRO 2) Mr Rustom Ghadiali,
(Zoroastrian)
Council Member, IRO |
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| Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura (MUIS) |
Mr Syed Ahmad bin Syed Mohamed
Assistant Mufti |
Mr Hj Mohd Ali Hj Atan
Mosque Executive Chairman |
| National Council of Churches of Singapore (NCCS) |
Bishop Dr Robert Solomon
President, NCCS |
Mr Daniel John
Graduate Christian Fellowship |
| Roman Catholic Church |
Friar John Paul Tan
St. Mary of the Portiuncula |
Fr Patrick Goh
Church of the Holy Family |
Sikh Advisory Board
(SAB) |
Mr Surjit Singh Wasan
Chairman, Sikh Advisory Board |
Mr. Kirpal Singh Mehli
Vice President,
Central Gurdwara Board |
| Singapore Buddhist Federation (SBF) |
Venerable Sik Kwang Sheng
Secretary-General, SBF |
Mr Tan Yew Beng
Secretary, SBF |
Singapore Council of Christian Churches
(SCCC) |
Rev Dr Quek Swee Hua
Executive Committee Member, SCCC |
Elder Joshua Lim
Hon. Legal Advisor, SCCC |
| Taoist Federation,Singapore |
Mr Winson Choo Hong San
Secretary-General,
Taoist Federation |
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| Organisations that worship 5 religions (Wu Jiao) |
Mr Lee Kim Siang
Chairman, Federation of Moral Missions and
Thye Hua Kwan Moral Society |
Mr S C Fong
Director,
Red Swastika Society |
| Singapore Jainism Religious Society (SJRS) |
Mr Ashvin Desai
Committee Member, SJRS |
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IRHC has proposed that Singaporeans reflect on the Declaration during the week of the Racial Harmony Day (21 July) every year. For this year, the week would be from 20 to 26 July 2003. This is appropriate, since the message of the Declaration is also very relevant to Racial Harmony Day. The IRHC members will, through their network of places of worship, incorporate reciting and teaching of the Declaration into their activities during the week.
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The Working Committee hopes that the Declaration on Religious Harmony, which was derived through extensive consultations and overseen by IRHC, will become a living guide to help us build upon our strong foundation of religious harmony in Singapore.
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| The Declaration in the four official languages can be downloaded here:
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