Muslim nurses in Singapore’s public healthcare sector will be permitted to wear the tudung with their uniforms if they choose to, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in his National Day Rally speech on Sunday (29 Aug).
The tudung, said PM Lee, has become an increasingly important marker of religiosity among many Muslim women and for the Muslim community at large — in tandem with a general pattern observed globally, in the Southeast Asian region, and in Singapore itself.
Over the last few decades, more Muslim women here have worn the headgear, both in social settings and at the workplaces, he noted.
However, PM Lee said that the status quo must be preserved for other uniformed services such as the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) and the police force, as they are impartial and secular arms of the State.
Members of such uniformed services must always be seen as enforcing laws “without fear or favour”, which can be expressed through the wearing of “the same uniform”, he said.
For students in schools, the need to ensure that all of them wear the same uniform is grounded in the importance of stressing their similarities and minimising their differences “so they can build bonds in their early years that will shape their attitudes”, said PM Lee.
PM Lee’s announcement comes months after the tudung issue was thrust into the spotlight once again, becoming the subject of debate in Parliament and in the public sphere for months after the matter was previously raised by Workers’ Party Member of Parliament (MP) Faisal Manap as far back as 2017.
Background on the tudung issue
Mr Faisal, an Aljunied GRC MP, had asked the Government in Parliament again on 8 Mar whether it would reevaluate its ban on the religious headgear for women working in uniformed services, stating that the rule has prevented many Muslim women from taking up such roles.
Allowing nurses to wear the hijab at work, thus, could expand the local pool of nurses, he illustrated.
Minister-in-charge for Muslim Affairs Masagos Zulkifli reiterated the Singapore government’s secular stance on the issue of allowing Muslim women to wear the tudung in uniformed professions such as nursing and the police force.
The sensitive nature of such issues necessitates “closed-door discussions” and consultations with the community, said Mr Masagos during a debate in Parliament on the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth’s budget for Muslim affairs for the upcoming financial year.
Mr Masagos in his response said 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”.
“This has significant implications: We do not want patients to prefer or not prefer to be served by a Muslim nurse, nor do we want people to think that public security is being enforced by a Muslim or non-Muslim police officer.”
“This is what makes the decision difficult and sensitive,” said Mr Masagos.
It would be difficult to achieve compromise under the weight of “public aggressive pressure”, which is why a closed-door approach must be maintained when discussing such matters, said Mr Masagos.
Dr Maliki on 8 Mar had expounded on Mr Masagos’ views on the Government’s secularist standpoint, saying that uniforms are meant to project neutrality and a common identity.
In the case of nurses and other public healthcare workers, he said that a uniform “underscores” the concept that such professionals “provide impartial care regardless of race or religion”.
He also cited the opinion of Ahmed Al-Tayyeb, the grand imam of the world-renowned Al-Azhar University, who had advised Muslim women to not leave their jobs solely out of being prohibited from wearing the hijab due to workplace requirements.
Mr Faisal had asked why opposition MPs such as himself are not included in closed-door discussions concerning such matters.
Dr Maliki replied that “whether Mr Faisal Manap participates in these sessions or not, I think the most important thing is a large segment of the community has been consulted and we continue to consult them”.
Mr Faisal highlighted that Muslim policewomen and nurses in countries like Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom are now allowed to wear the hijab in their respective countries while serving.
Mr Masagos responded that there are “many things that other countries do that we do not do”.
“We are Singaporeans; we will do what is good … If you want to do something that they like, we must also then do what we don’t like that they do. I don’t think we want that either. We do what is good for us, our community, and our nation,” he added.
“In public, we are careful of how all of this is discussed. So, on tudung, Minister Masagos said in Parliament that the Government is empathetic, and the matter is being discussed. What does he mean when he says the Government is empathetic?
“It is that we understand the feelings of those who wish nurses to be allowed to wear the tudung. It is to signal flexibility. He didn’t say no,” he added.
Responding to a question from Ustaz Mohd Hasbi Hassan, co-chairman of the Religious Rehabilitation Group (RRG) on updates regarding the outcome of the Government’s consultations on the issue, Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam on 23 Mar reiterated the position he expressed in a meeting in Aug last year.
“I told you very frankly: We can see good reasons why nurses should be allowed to wear tudung if they choose to do so. I said this was being discussed internally.
“And after that, our view is there is likely to be a change and we are also consulting with the community before we make a change,” he said at the quarterly engagement session with RRG at Khadijah Mosque in Geylang in March.
Mr Shanmugam also said that the matter has also been discussed with the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (MUIS), adding that the views offered by MUIS “have been very helpful”.
He stressed that both he and Mr Masagos had both stated the Government’s position in the meeting in Aug last year.
“But because he was speaking in Parliament, in public, he had to be more general, whereas I could be more direct with you, in private,” Mr Shanmugam said, addressing Ustaz Hasbi.
