The Partial Secularisms of Singapore’s Muslim Minorities: Arbitraging Model Citizenship and (In)Complete Selves at the Margins

Abstract

This article argues that the secular should be understood as a partial construct that is selectively deployed by individuals to structure everyday encounters with difference. The partiality of the secular is pronounced in Muslim minority contexts, in which Muslims must negotiate varying degrees of ontological incompatibility between their religious and nonreligious selves. How religious and secular understandings of “model” citizenship are negotiated throughout the spaces and aspirations of everyday life can provide insight into the partiality of the secular, and how such partiality can create difference where there might otherwise be unity. We illustrate these ideas through an empirical exploration of Singapore’s Muslim minorities. In Singapore, the Muslim population is primarily Malay, but includes non-Malay cohorts as well. Bangladeshi migrant workers form an important minority, as their visa status precludes them from becoming Singapore citizens, and thus removes them from the direct secular structuring of the state. In the mosque, the interfacing of Singaporean Muslims on the one hand, and Bangladeshi Muslims on the other, yields important insights into the assertions of citizenship, and the negotiation of selfhood, that occurs at the religious margins of a state-defined secular society.

本文认为, 世俗应该被理解为具有片面性的理念, 人们有选择地实践世俗、构建差异化的日常体验。世俗的片面性在穆斯林少数群体中很明显。穆斯林必须在宗教自我和非宗教自我之间, 调和不同程度的本体不相容性。在日常生活的空间和期望中, 如何调和对“模范”公民的宗教理解和世俗理解, 使得我们能够洞察世俗的片面性及其如何在一致中制造差异。通过对新加坡穆斯林少数民族的实证研究, 我们阐述了这些观点。在新加坡, 穆斯林人口主要是马来人, 也包括非马来人。孟加拉国移民劳工是重要的穆斯林少数群体；因为签证原因, 这些移民劳工无法成为新加坡公民, 从而被直接排除于参与构建国家世俗。新加坡穆斯林和孟加拉国穆斯林在清真寺中的交流, 有助于理解国家界定世俗社会所产生的宗教弱势群体的公民身份认定和自我调节。

En este artículo se argumenta que lo secular debe entenderse como un constructo parcial desplegado selectivamente por la gente para estructurar los encuentros cotidianos con la diferencia. El carácter parcial de lo secular es pronunciado en contextos de minoría musulmana, en los que los musulmanes deben negociar grados variados de incompatibilidad ontológica entre sus yo religiosos y no religiosos. Según el modo como se negocien por todo lado las concepciones religiosa y laica de la ciudadanía “modelo”, los espacios y aspiraciones de la vida cotidiana pueden proporcionar una visión clara de la parcialidad de lo secular, y cómo esa parcialidad puede generar diferencia donde de otro modo podría haber unidad. Ilustramos estas ideas por medio de una exploración empírica de las minorías musulmanas de Singapur. Allí, la población musulmana es principalmente malaya, aunque también incluye cohortes no malayas. Los trabajadores bangladesíes constituyen una minoría importante de carácter inmigrante, por cuanto su estatus de visado les impide expresamente convertirse en ciudadanos singapurenses, removiéndolos así de la capacidad de estructurar directamente el Estado. En la mezquita, la interacción entre los musulmanes singapurenses, por un lado, y los musulmanes bangladesíes, por el otro, brindan significativas perspectivas sobre la afirmación de la ciudadanía y la negociación de la identidad, que ocurren en las márgenes religiosas de una sociedad secular definida por el Estado.

Key Words:

• margins
• model citizenship
• Muslim minorities
• partial secularisms
• Singapore

关键词:

• 弱势群体
• 模范公民
• 穆斯林少数民族
• 片面世俗主义
• 新加坡。

Palabras clave:

• ciudadanía modelo
• márgenes
• minorías musulmanas
• secularismos parciales
• Singapur

Notes

1 Although the negotiations that exist at the secular–Islamic interface are evinced throughout the world, our focus is on Muslim minority contexts in which the secular is more likely to play a structuring role. Arguably, the reverse dynamic plays out in the Islamic world, where the structuring role of Islam might give rise to situations of “partial religiosity.”

2 The 2015 General Household Survey shows that Singapore comprises Chinese (74.3 percent), Malay (13.3 percent), Indian (9.1 percent), and other (3.2 percent) ethnic groups, and Buddhist/Taoist (43.2 percent), Christian (18.8 percent), Muslim (14.0 percent), Hindu (5.0 percent), none (18.5 percent), and other (0.6 percent) religious groups (SingStat 2015).

3 The Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act (MRHA) authorizes the state to “take action against any religious group or institution that carrie[s] out subversive activities under the guise of practising religious belief” (cited in Kadir 2004, 362).

4 Statistics pertaining to migrants in Singapore are opaque. We know that in December 2019, 293,300 foreigners were employed in the construction sector (Ministry of Manpower [MOM] 2020), but no breakdown is provided in terms of nationality, age, or religion.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Orlando Woods

ORLANDO WOODS is Associate Professor of Geography and Lee Kong Chian Fellow in the College of Integrative Studies, Singapore Management University, 188065 Singapore. E-mail: [email protected]. His research interests span religion, infrastructure, and cities in South and Southeast Asia.

Lily Kong

LILY KONG is Lee Kong Chian Chair Professor of Social Sciences in the School of Social Sciences, Singapore Management University, 188065 Singapore. E-mail: [email protected]. Her research interests span religion, the creative and cultural economies, and cities in East and Southeast Asia.