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International Islamic University Malaysia
Department of Usul al-Din and Comparative Religion
The heat of Islamophobia has steadily marched into the tiny island of Singapore. This research thus looked into the phenomenon of Islamophobia by collating the reported cases of the subject, its factors and its impacts on the perspective of local Singaporeans. It also took into account the Malay-Muslim problems in Singapore and sought to see if they had contributed to the emergence of the phenomenon in the country. Data were collected through survey questionnaires from Muslim and non-Muslim Singaporeans, local news reports, online postings and library research. The findings showed that Singaporeans acknowledge the existence of Islamophobia in their country and that it began to manifest after September 11 and the JI (Jemaah Islamiyah) arrest. Singaporeans understand Islamophobia as the feeling of fear and discomfort towards Muslims and following that, unfortunately, series of events carrying five different characteristics of Islamophobia have been reported. The characteristics of Islamophobia that had been observed in Singapore are prejudice, physical harassment, verbal abuse, vandalism and exclusion. While undertaking the research on the cases of Islamophobia, elements of Islamophobia were seen in the statements of the authority. Besides physical attack, some Singaporeans were also not hesitant to use offensive words against fellow Muslim countrymates in both offline and online interactions. Despite hypothesised factors such as Muslims' parochial mindset, deprecative attitude, and sectarian diversity, the findings failed to conclude in relation to any of these factors due to non-Muslim respondents' lack of understanding towards Islam or Muslims. Ironically, that analysis led this study to deduce that one of the leading factors of Islamophobia in Singapore, is the inadequacy of knowledge of other religions, in this case non-Muslims lack of understanding towards Muslims or Islam. Sensitive matters like religion are rarely being discussed among Singaporeans, although a majority of them showed comfortability working with people of other religions on a daily basis. The media is another leading factor that is responsible for the emergence of Islamophobia in the country. Sadly, the other factor is that Singaporeans are impressionable, where they very easily can turn another person's negative perception as their own. As for the impacts of Islamophobia, the findings discovered that the problem is affecting more Muslims than non-Muslims. The impacts upon Muslims are categorised into hate crimes, psychological distress and unequal treatment. As for non-Muslims, despite the favourable findings for all three probable impacts, namely suspicion, insecurity and religious bias, the unfavourable ones, albeit minimal must not be taken lightly. This study thus requires attention and brings value to the study of social sciences in relation to Islamophobia in the case of Singapore.
Thesis (MAIRKUD)--International Islamic University Malaysia, 2018.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 95-103).