More than 50 years of closed-door discussions have brought the issue of Muslim women being prohibited from wearing hijab in uniformed professions “nowhere”, said Singapore People’s Party (SPP) member Khan Osman Sulaiman.
In a Facebook post on Tuesday (9 Mar), Mr Osman said that Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs Masagos Zulkifli’s reply to Workers’ Party Member of Parliament, Faisal Manap on the issue “reveals what the Malay community can expect to see in the next decade with regards to the issue”.
Mr Osman critiqued Mr Masagos’ statement that allowing the donning of the tudung “would introduce a very visible religious marker that identifies every tudung-wearing female nurse or uniformed officer as a Muslim”.
“There are many teachers in school wearing the headgear. Did any of the parents refuse their children to be taught by a teacher wearing the tudung?” Mr Osman questioned, adding that President Halimah Yacob — the head of state — herself wears a hijab.
“It has been more than 50 years since Singapore has gained independence. The formulation of discriminatory and racist policies by the PAP government went unchallenged within its own party.
“The Malay community went from economically self-sufficient during British colonial rule, to being at the bottom of the economic status by the virtues of discriminating policies,” Mr Osman said.
On top of such policies coming into force, Mr Osman said that Singapore has “Malay MPs and Ministers continually justifying discriminatory practices by this government”.
He then questioned if surveys have been carried out to study whether “people would demand to be served by a specific race/religion in any of our public services such as healthcare, law enforcement or immigration officer as quoted in Mr Masagos’ reply”.
“I refuse to believe that the majority of Singaporeans are intolerant of harmonious co-existence between different religions in the workforce or society. It is the old backward PAP mindset that is hindering the society to fully embrace religious diversity,” said Mr Osman.
Merely stating that a ‘large’ segment of the community has been consulted is “not enough”, he said.
“The community at the receiving end of this unjust policy needs more transparency with regards to the issue. 50 years behind closed-door discussions has brought it nowhere,” Mr Osman added.
Stressing that Singapore is “as good as its weakest link”, he warned that the failure to “fully utilise our human capital” by barring Muslim women from wearing the hijab in uniformed professions could prevent the nation from forging ahead as a unit.
“I hope Singaporeans outrightly reject the actions of this government and demand for more accountability,” Mr Osman concluded.
