Hypothesising a simpatico relationship between multiculturalism and religious extremism : the case of Singapore

The concept of ‘multiculturalism’ may have been the bane of Angela Merkel, David Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy’s political terms, but it is one of the very few ideas that receives bipartisan consensus and has been hailed as a bulwark against terror in Singapore. This dissertation commences by calling...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Poh, Rachyl Wan Ting
Other Authors: Mohamed Nawab Bin Mohamed Osman
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: 2019
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10356/77241
_version_ 1826120468557463552
author Poh, Rachyl Wan Ting
author2 Mohamed Nawab Bin Mohamed Osman
author_facet Mohamed Nawab Bin Mohamed Osman
Poh, Rachyl Wan Ting
author_sort Poh, Rachyl Wan Ting
collection NTU
description The concept of ‘multiculturalism’ may have been the bane of Angela Merkel, David Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy’s political terms, but it is one of the very few ideas that receives bipartisan consensus and has been hailed as a bulwark against terror in Singapore. This dissertation commences by calling for multiculturalism to be taken off its pedestal and probes into a possible simpatico relationship between multiculturalism and religious extremism. In doing so, the dissertation first peruses current literature to reveal the lack of meaningful research performed on the possible correlations between these two concepts in Singapore. Thereafter, using insights obtained from an exploratory primary research and Antonio Gramsci’s theory of cultural hegemony, this dissertation argues that multiculturalism has become an unquestioned, hegemonic ideology in Singapore, resulting in the manifestations of Chinese privilege and Islamophobia. It follows this opinion by demonstrating how these cultural phenomena have exacerbated the alienation and discrimination of the Malay-Muslim community in Singapore. By complementing existing research about religious extremism with available public data about Singaporeans detained under the Internal Security Act, this dissertation further posits that the experiences of alienation and discrimination aggravate religious extremism in Singapore. It then concludes by contemplating the policy implications of its findings and possible future research opportunities.
first_indexed 2024-10-01T05:17:15Z
format Thesis
id ntu-10356/77241
institution Nanyang Technological University
language English
last_indexed 2024-10-01T05:17:15Z
publishDate 2019
record_format dspace
spelling ntu-10356/772412020-11-01T08:21:06Z Hypothesising a simpatico relationship between multiculturalism and religious extremism : the case of Singapore Poh, Rachyl Wan Ting Mohamed Nawab Bin Mohamed Osman S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies University of Warwick DRNTU::Social sciences::Political science The concept of ‘multiculturalism’ may have been the bane of Angela Merkel, David Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy’s political terms, but it is one of the very few ideas that receives bipartisan consensus and has been hailed as a bulwark against terror in Singapore. This dissertation commences by calling for multiculturalism to be taken off its pedestal and probes into a possible simpatico relationship between multiculturalism and religious extremism. In doing so, the dissertation first peruses current literature to reveal the lack of meaningful research performed on the possible correlations between these two concepts in Singapore. Thereafter, using insights obtained from an exploratory primary research and Antonio Gramsci’s theory of cultural hegemony, this dissertation argues that multiculturalism has become an unquestioned, hegemonic ideology in Singapore, resulting in the manifestations of Chinese privilege and Islamophobia. It follows this opinion by demonstrating how these cultural phenomena have exacerbated the alienation and discrimination of the Malay-Muslim community in Singapore. By complementing existing research about religious extremism with available public data about Singaporeans detained under the Internal Security Act, this dissertation further posits that the experiences of alienation and discrimination aggravate religious extremism in Singapore. It then concludes by contemplating the policy implications of its findings and possible future research opportunities. Master of Science (Strategic Studies) 2019-05-21T13:48:17Z 2019-05-21T13:48:17Z 2019 Thesis http://hdl.handle.net/10356/77241 en 117 p. application/pdf
spellingShingle DRNTU::Social sciences::Political science
Poh, Rachyl Wan Ting
Hypothesising a simpatico relationship between multiculturalism and religious extremism : the case of Singapore
title Hypothesising a simpatico relationship between multiculturalism and religious extremism : the case of Singapore
title_full Hypothesising a simpatico relationship between multiculturalism and religious extremism : the case of Singapore
title_fullStr Hypothesising a simpatico relationship between multiculturalism and religious extremism : the case of Singapore
title_full_unstemmed Hypothesising a simpatico relationship between multiculturalism and religious extremism : the case of Singapore
title_short Hypothesising a simpatico relationship between multiculturalism and religious extremism : the case of Singapore
title_sort hypothesising a simpatico relationship between multiculturalism and religious extremism the case of singapore
topic DRNTU::Social sciences::Political science
url http://hdl.handle.net/10356/77241
work_keys_str_mv AT pohrachylwanting hypothesisingasimpaticorelationshipbetweenmulticulturalismandreligiousextremismthecaseofsingapore