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Journal of Intercultural Communication (“IBUNKA”) Vol. 23, April 2022 Faculty of Intercultural Communication, Hosei University The issues of social inclusion of ex-Muslims ―From the context of multi-ethnic and multi-religious Singapore― ICHIOKA Takashi1 Abstract This paper analyses the difficulties which are experienced by ex-Muslims in Singapore with regards to their social relationship. The authors’ interviews with ex-Muslims in Singapore revealed that they experience serious difficulties in terms of their relationship with their family as well as the members of the Muslim community. They cannot avoid stigmatisation and exclusion by some members of the community because of their appearance of Malays, most of whom are Muslims. The paper concludes that the difficulties experienced by ex- Muslims stem from not only religious belief of Muslims but also Singapore society’s belief that all the Malays should be Muslims. Key Words: Singapore, ex-Muslim, apostacy, social inclusion, multi-ethnic and multi- religious society Introduction This paper analyses the difficulties which are experienced by ex-Muslims of Singapore (Hereinafter referred to as “ex-Muslims.) with regards to their social relationship, and thus considers the challenges for promoting their social inclusion under a unique context of multi- ethnic and multi-religious society of Singapore. The background of this research is that recently ex-Muslims are becoming visible and * The original text is written in Japanese language. Footnotes which indicate prior researches written in Japanese language are omitted. 1ICHIOKA Takashi, PhD, is Professor, Ryutsu Keizai University (The University of Distribution Economy) and Lecturer, Hosei University Graduate School of Intercultural Communication. 1 has become a issue of debate. Internet media and other sources has reported that ex-Muslims experience difficulties. It is reported that an ex-Muslim was kicked out of his home by his parent and that other ex-Muslims live heavily stressful lives in hiding their apostasy. Apostasy from Islam (Hereinafter referred to as “apostasy”.) has been studied in religious studies from the viewpoint of Islamic doctrine. On the contrary, this paper constitutes a sociological study which considers the challenges concerning their social inclusion. Difficulties which are experienced by ex-Muslims in their exchanges with the people surrounding them are considered as social exclusion. This study is carried out by analysing the results of the interviews which the author conducted with ex-Muslims of Singapore in 2020 and 2021. Erving Goffman’s theory of stigma is utilized for this analysis. Ex-Muslims are considered as the people on whom stigma, an undesired attribute, is imposed. This study focuses on their “passing” strategy which they adopt in order that their less desirable attribute is not uncovered. Then it analyses the social relationship concerning the stigma which derives from their status as ex-Muslims under the context of multi-ethnic and multi-religious society Singapore so as to present the challenges for Singapore to be more inclusive to ex-Muslims. Few academic researches cover the social difficulties experienced by ex-Muslims. One of such few researches which was conducted by Simon Cottee, studied ex-Muslims in the Western societies through the interviews with them2. The author understands that the students of local universities have conducted another few unpublished research on ex-Muslims of Singapore. Only few articles on a local research magazine and internet media discusses the issue of ex-Muslims of Singapore. Therefore, this study constitutes one of the few sociological researches which considers the difficulties experienced particularly by ex-Muslims of Singapore. It reveals the real situation of and the challenges for ex-Muslims of Singapore, which have not been paid sufficient attention to. It also explores how a unique social context of the multiethnic and multireligious society Singapore affects their situation and their responses to that. 1. Apostasy from Islam in Singapore (1) Ethnic and religious composition of Singapore Singapore has become a multiethnic and multireligious society due to massive immigration from Southeast Asia, China and South Asia as a result of colonisation by the British Empire. As of 2020, Singapore residents consist of 74.3% Chinese, 13.5% Malays, 9.0% Indians 2 Cottee, Simon (2015) The Apostates: When Muslim Leave Islam, London: Hurst & Company. 2 and 3.2% “Others”3 in terms of ethnic groups. The government of Singapore has been promoting its racial and religious harmony policies under its strict control in view of the face that the nation has gone through some racial conflicts in 1960s when the nation attained independence, and in order to maintain social stability as the requisite for economic development. Even in recent years, the government continues to emphasise the necessity of racial and religious harmony to its citizens, being concerned that religions can be social fault lines under the current global religious resurgence. In terms of religion, Singapore residents consist of 31.1% Buddhists, 18.9% Christians, 15.6% Muslims, 8.8% Taoists, 5.0% Hindus, and others. Religious resurgence has been obvious in Singapore, as seen from the increasing popularity of mega churches. On the other hand, the percentage of the non-religious residents has increased, reaching 20.0% for the first time in 2020. Residents has shifted from the religions regarded as “illogical” and “irrational” such as Taoism to the religions regarded as “logical” and “rational” such as Christianity and Buddhism”4. These can be understood as major changes in attitude toward religions of the Singapore residents. (2) Ex-Muslims becoming visible As previously mentioned, Muslims account for 15.6% of the residents. Ethnic composition of Muslim is as follows: 82.0% Malays, 13.0% Indians, 2.8% “Others”, and 2.2” Chinese. Conversion to Islam has traditionally been phrased as “Masuk Melayu”, namely, “Enter Malay” in Malay language, in the Malay world of maritime South Asia including Singapore. This means that Malays have been identified with Muslims. Such a common understanding still prevails in the modern Singapore. However, Muslims includes members of ethnic groups other than Malay as described above. In addition, not all the Malays are Muslims since Malays include 98.8% Muslims, 0.61% Christians, 0.37% “non-religious”. A small number of Christians of Indonesian origin are included in Malays. Indians include 57.3% Hindus, 23.4% Muslims, 12.6% Christians. 13.0% of Muslims are Indians and 23.4% of Indians are Muslims. These numbers cannot be neglectable. Muslims can be Indians and Indians can be Muslims. Most of Malays are Muslims. However, the proportion of “non-religious” Malays has been increasing from 0.05% in 2000 and 0.23% in 2010 to 0.37% in 2020, although it is still a small number. The number of “non-religious” Malays amounts to 1,640 among 3 Ethnic and religious composition mentioned in this paper is based on the figures in the Census of Population 2020. Chinese, Malays and Indians refers to persons of Chinese origin, Malay or Indonesian origin, and South Asian origin, respectively, according to the glossary of terms and definitions of the 2020 population census. (Department of Statistics Singapore (2021) Census of Population 2020.) 4 Chee, Kiong Tong (2007) Rationalizing Religion: Religious Conversion, Revivalism and Competition in Singapore Society, Leiden & Boston: Brill, 78-83. 3 approximately 450 thousand Malays. Although it is not clear what religious attitude these “non-religious” Malays have, ex-Muslims whom the author interviewed with believes that such data indicates that the number of ex-Muslims has been increasing. The exposure of ex-Muslims in the media became visible in late 2010s. For example, an article in 2017 on an internet media depicted a story of a young ex-Muslim boy who was kicked out of his home by his mother to become homeless because of his apostasy5. Another research magazine article in 2018 described how ex-Muslims had left Islam and what their mental distress was like during the process based on the interviews with several ex-Muslims6. Another article on another internet media in 2019 showed that ex-Muslims hid apostasy for fear of possible responses by their family and such situation exacerbated their mental distress, based on the interviews7. The fact that increasing exposure of ex-Muslims does not necessarily proves an increase of ex-Muslims. However, it cannot be doubted that recently ex-Muslims are becoming visible and has become a issue of debate. (3) Meaning of apostasy in Islam and treatment of apostasy in Singapore Interpretations of apostasy differ depending on the time and places. Even theological views of the definition of apostasy differ. With regards to punishment for apostasy, a dominant interpretation had stated that an apostate shall be punished by death penalty in the premodern period. In the modern period, some interpretations provide that an apostate can only be punished by the God in the afterlife, not by human in this world8. However, some countries impose the death penalty on apostates. In Malaysia, which is located adjacent to Singapore and has had close relationship with Singapore, the possibility of apostasy has been denied by the past judicial judgements, although freedom of religion is recognised in the Constitution. Singapore has incorporated the Islamic law in its national legal system, using the Malaysian system as reference. The Islamic law is applied to some part of civil affairs such as marriage and inheritance for Muslims. Muslims in Singapore are allowed to leave Islam only by submitting a document which 5 Wong, Jurian (2017) “6 Years Ago, He Left Islam for the Streets”, Rice, 22 September, 2017. (http://www.ricemedia.co/6-years-ago-he-left-islam-for-the-streets/, accessed on 7th January, 2022.) 6 Nabilah Mohammad (2018) “ A Conversation with Ex-Muslims”, The Karyawan, 15 October, 2018. (http://karyawan.sg/a-conversation-with-ex-muslims/, accessed on 7th January, 2022.) 7 Fasiha Nazren (2019) “ Despite rising numbers of atheistic S’poreans, this ex-Muslim remains closeted”, The Mothership, 22 September, 2019. (https://mothership.sg/2019/09/singapore- atheist-ex-muslim/, accessed on 7th January, 2022.) 8 Abdullah Saeed and Hassan Saeed (2004) Freedom of Religion, Apostasy and Islam, Ashgate: Aldershot, UK, 88-98. 4 indicates their will to do so, to MUIS (Islamic Religious Council of Singapore) 9. Apostasy under this procedure automatically takes effect based on the will of the applicant concerned. The possibility of apostasy shall not be judged in this process. Naturally, apostate will never be punished. Since different legal systems for marriage and inheritance are applied to Muslims and non-Muslims under Singapore's legal system, whether a person is Muslim or non-Muslim shall be confirmed. It is thought that the submission for leaving Islam is a kind of administrative procedure for this purpose. In this study, “ex-Muslim” refers to “a person who thinks that he or she has lost Islamic belief and therefore is not a Muslim anymore.” As discussed later, the majority of ex- Muslims have not gone through the official procedure for leaving Islam because they want to hide their apostasy to their family. This study categorise such persons as ex-Muslims since they experience the similar difficulties as those who have gone through the procedure for leaving Islam. MUIS, the Islamic legal authority in Singapore, issued an official statement on its interpretation of the Islamic law on apostasy issue in 2019. This statement argues that “The treatment of apostasy as a crime punishable by death came about later during the period where Islam gained political ascendancy. As such, the act of apostasy was not treated as a purely theological issue, but as an act of treason.” It concludes that “The sin of leaving the religion is purely between the individual and God and hence worldly punishments do not apply in a situation where treason does not exist”, while emphasising the concept of religious freedom in Islam10. This statement by MUIS seems to have an intention to mitigate the stigma imposed on ex-Muslims. Regardless of the above response by MUIS, some Islamic religious scholars in Singapore do not support the concept of religious freedom in Islam. An Islamic religious scholar stated in a research magazine article that apostasy “is undoubtedly grave sin” and that Muslims can “remain compassionate and gracious in our reaction to help and rehabilitate” apostates as they do so for “those whom committed other sins and immoral acts such as drug abuse, pregnancy out of wedlock, teen offenders and those who are caught in crime due to poverty.” According to an author’s informant who worked for a local research institute, such a statement is considered as a “balanced” opinion and accepted by many of the Muslim community members. Under this situation, ex-Muslims would not be recognised and treated with respect. Even though apostasy is not criminalised in Singapore, apostasy is still regarded as a grave 9 MUIS is the acronym of “Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura”, the Malay language name of the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore. 10 Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (2020) Freedom of Religion & Apostasy in Islam, Irsyad (Religious Advisory), January 2020. (https://www.muis.gov.sg/- /media/Files/OOM/Irsyad/English/Freedom-of-Religion-and-Apostasy-in-Islam.pdf, accessed on 7th January, 2022.) 5 sin and stigmatised in the Muslim community there. Because of that, apostates experience serious difficulties as seen in the above sources in the media and in the results of author’s interviews. Some of them continue to hide their apostasy from their family for fear of being kicked out of their homes: others are excluded for the reason of their apostasy. 2. The method of the interview with apostates (1) The purpose of the interview The author conceived an idea to conduct interviews with ex-Muslims in order to understand their real situation and analyse the difficulties they experience with regards to their social relationship. The author was worried that ex-Muslims might be declined the author’s request of interview because many of them keep their apostasy a secret. However, the author happened to have an opportunity to contact with an administrator of the Facebook group of the Council of Ex-Muslims of Singapore (CEMSG)(Hereinafter referred to as “administrator), an ex-Muslims’ network on the internet. It was fortunate that the administrator offered the support of this study and volunteered to invite ex-Muslims to be interviewees. This study had not been realised without the help of the administrator. As a result, the author was able to interview with nineteen infromants through internet from 2020 to 2021. (2) Methodology of the interview The administrator invited ex-Muslims to accept the author’s request of interview through the post on the Facebook group of the CEMSG and individually contacted some ex-Muslims. With the help of the administrator’s cooperation, the author was able to interview eight and eleven informants in 2020 and 2021, respectively. The interviews were conducted from March to May in 2020 and in September 2021. Because of the entry restrictions due to COVID-19, all the interviews were conducted online. Email was used for the interview in 2020. Zoom was used in 2021 because all the informants preferred it in 2021. Semi-structured interview, in which interviewees answer follow-up and probing questions after they have answered a list of questions prepared in advance, was adopted as the method. In the interviews via emails, the author exchanged emails with the informants. However, the follow-up questions were not answered by three out of eight informants. In the interviews via Zoom, duration of the interviews were approximately from an hour to an hour and a half. Additional short interviews were conducted via WhatsApp as necessary. The list of questions were as follows: (a) Sex, age, race, academic record and profession, (b) Reason for and timing of leaving Islam, (c) Whether your family members or friends know your apostasy, (d) How they responded when they knew your apostasy, (e) Experience of stigmatization, (f) Other difficulties as apostate, (g) Exclusion from the Singapore society, (h) Advantage of CEMSG, (i) Any other topics to add. 6 3. The results of the interview with apostates (1) Profile of the informants With regards to sex, fourteen were male, four were female, and one was “non-binary” out of the nineteen informants. Two out of fourteen males identified themselves as “gays”. The average age was 28.8 at the points of interviews. The youngest was 20 years old and the oldest was 59. With regards to race, sixteen were Malays and three were Indians. Fifteen (79.0%) held or were studying to obtain diploma or other academic title higher than that. This figure was higher than 48.3%, the percentage of the same academic record. (2) Reason for and timing of leaving Islam, religious orientation, and formal renouncement of Islam With regards to timing of leaving Islam, most informants told that they could not clearly specify the timing. Sixteen informants answered that they had started to doubt Islam or lost their belief in their teens. Five out of them answered that they did so by around fifteen years old. The author received varied answers on the reason for leaving Islam. Fifteen stated that they had become unable to believe the teaching of Islam. Some mentioned that they cannot support the concept of “hell” in which those who do not follow the teaching of Islam will be punished in the afterlife. Others were critical about “gender inequality”, “intolerance against other religions”, and “intolerance against sexual minorities” in the teaching of Islam 11 . Six informants stated that they had become unable to believe in the existence of the God. Four stated that the teaching of Islam contradicted scientific truth. (Some informants gave more than one answers.) Three sexual minorities were included out of 19 informants (two gays and a non-binary). Only one out of them answered that he had left Islam because his sexual orientation is inconsistent with Islam. Most of the informants had left Islam because of their own principles. With regards to religious orientation, most informants answered that they were atheist or agnostic. Only two converted to Christianity. We need to understand that some ex-Muslims can be converts to other religions, not only atheists or agnostics. As for official procedure for leaving Islam, only three out of nineteen have gone through that. Fourteen answered that they had not done so. Eight explained the reason was that they hid their apostasy to their family. Two explained that the reason was that they would not be able to inherit their parents’ property under the Islamic law if they left Islam. Out of the fourteen informants who had not gone through the official procedure, six confessed that they thought of officially leaving Islam in the future. They mentioned that the timing of officially 11 This paper does not aim to discuss whether such statements by the informants are correct. 7 leaving Islam would be when their parents pass away or when they become financially independent enough to live separately with their parents. It was found that many of the informants had not gone through the official procedure for leaving Islam even they had already lost their belief in Islam, for the reason that they did not want their family to know their apostasy. Nearly half of such informants thought of officially leaving Islam in the future. (3) Status of their practice in Islam Most of the informants had stopped the practice of Islam. Some stopped praying. Some stopped fasting in Ramadan. Some ate “non-halal food” or drank alcohol. Some answered that they even ate pork. The informants thought they did not have to follow the Islamic teaching since they did not believe in Islam any more. However, it would cause a problem to stop the practice of Islam when they hide their apostasy to their family. As for prayer, even some Muslims do not pray. These Muslims are regarded as “non- practicing Muslims”, not “apostates”, as long as they do not express that they left Islam. An ex-Muslim can pretend to be a “non-practicing Muslim” even though they do not pray. However, the informants told the author that they neither ate halal food nor drank before their family in case they hid their apostasy. Because eating halal food and drinking are regarded as serious offence, the informants behave carefully so that they family do not know their apostasy. (4) Relationship with their parents Seven informants answered that they had confessed their apostasy to their parents or their parents happen to know their apostasy. Ten answered they hid their apostasy to their parents. How their parents had responded after they knew their children’s apostasy vary. Some parents had accepted that. Other parents had understood that their children did not believe in Islam any more, but still believed that their children were only “losing their way” and would be back to Islam. The informants told the author the reason why they hid their apostasy to their parents. Five said that their fear they would be kicked out of the home if their parents know their apostasy. Four said that they did not want to harm or sadden their parents. Four out of five who feared of being kicked out answered that they would inform their parents of their apostasy when they would become financially independent and leave their homes. In reality, one out of them had been threatened by his parent to force him out if he left Islam. A high proportion of the informants hid their apostasy to their parents. However, they were not necessarily successful in hiding that. Some informants had been suspected of apostasy by their parents. One of them had been beaten up by his parent when some proof was found by his parent. Another kept something which can be proof at somewhere other than his room because his parent would often search in his room. 8 Many of the informants who hid their apostasy to their parents were in a tough situation. However, their situation vary depending on their living conditions. An informant told the author that it was a suffocating and lonely life to hide apostasy, pretend to be a Muslim, and live with his family. Another informant informed that she did not live such a hard life because she lived in a university dormitory, being separated from her family. Parents’ religious orientation is a major factor which has a significant effect on ex-Muslims’ lives. If parents are particularly religious, that exacerbate ex-Muslims’ stress for the fear of disclosure. (5) Relationship with their friends Five informants stated that they let their close friends know their apostasy while hiding that to their parents. Seven of the informants answered that their friends accepted the fact and remained good friends to them even after they knew the secret. On the contrary, three informants told the author that their confession had damaged the friendship. An informant was ostracized, and verbally and physically bullied by his friends after he disclosed his apostasy to his friends in a secondary school. Another informant stated that all of his friends had got furious and stopped talking with him after he told them that he had converted to Christianity. If many of friends for an ex-Muslim are non-Muslims, such problems can be avoided. Since an informant studied in a university, where many of his friends were non-Muslims, he was never worried for discrimination. Another informant, who is a university student, too, had no issue for disclosing that he is an atheist even among Muslims because his university had an open environment with students from a wide variety of backgrounds. (6) Difficulties which ex-Muslims experience in the relationship with Muslims Difficulties which ex-Muslims experience in the relationship with Muslims are discussed here based on the results of the interviews. The informants ate non-halal food (including pork) and drank outside of their homes. They did not think they had to obey the Muslim’s rules because they did not think they were Muslims any more. If they do so in their private rooms in the university dormitories, that does not cause any problem. However, when they do so at hawker centres12, it is highly probable that causes some problems. An informant had been overtly insulted and spit at before the public by an elderly Muslim when he had drunk beer in a hawker centre. At another time, he had been cursed with the word that he would go to hell. Muslims surrounding him sometimes gazed at him or murmured each other. Another informant was very much worried about how elderly Muslims react against him when he ate non-halal foods. On the other hand, some informant had experienced no such hard experience. Although he was sometimes cautioned by very pious Muslims by saying “It’s a non-halal food”, nothing 12 Likes of food courts. 9 would happen only if he answered “I know”. The informants’ observation on to what extent they face a risk of a scolding or an insult in public spaces differs. Some informants observed that the situation had become better compared with the past. Other informants opined that they should be careful with elderly Muslims but did not have to be worried about young Muslims. In any case, it must be true that ex-Muslims are aware of a risk for being harassed or insulted in public spaces such as hawker centres to greater or lesser degrees. Apart from food, name can be another issue. An informant who had converted to Christianity used his Christian name at his workplace. When he introduced himself there, elderly Muslim men sometimes expressed anger against him, saying “Did you really leave Islam?”, “You are mad”, “Never talk to me”, and so force. Some young Muslims did not care, but it was usual that he was made fun of. The administrator told the author that ex-Muslims are regarded as social deviants and treated as traitors to the Muslim community. According to the administrator, an ex-Muslim is often portrayed as a miserable, saddened and depressed person who cannot seek help to anybody. An informant explained that since the Muslim community maintained unity through Islamic faith, apostasy was tantamount to denial of membership. As mentioned above, apostasy constitutes an undesired attribute which is not consistent with the society’s expectations, namely, a stigma. And then apostates, on whom such a stigma is imposed, are harassed and insulted as “abnormal”. (7) Difficulties which ex-Muslims experience in the relationship with non-Muslims Next, difficulties which ex-Muslims experience in the relationship with non-Muslims are discussed here based on the results of the interviews. The informants told the author that non-Muslims did not insult ex-Muslims. However, the informants did face some issues in the relationship with non-Muslims. Most of the ex-Muslim are considered to be Malays, who are judged as Malays from their appearances such as skin colour and shape of the face. Not only Muslims but also non- Muslims get surprised when they know these ex-Muslims are not Muslims despite the fact that they are Malays. Therefore, these ex-Muslims have to explain to even non-Muslims that not all the Malays are Muslims every time. This problem occurs particularly in the situation related to food. An informant told the author that he was often stopped at the doorstep of the restaurant which serve non-halal foods. He is told “You must be a Muslim” by the restaurant staff in such occasions. He also encounters similar reactions when he buys wine at a supermarket. Another informant who converted to Christianity was cautioned by a canteen staff that he ordered non-halal food. Even though he explained to her that he was not Muslim, she did not believe that. After a long conversation, she understood at last that when he showed her his cross worn under his clothes. Outsiders may think these are not serious problems compared to the exclusion of ex- 10 Muslims by Muslims. However, since such problems very often occur, ex-Muslims are repeatedly required to make excuses. Sometimes they spend much time for this process. The informants showed strong dissatisfaction about this situation. (8) The role played by the network of ex-Muslims Ex-Muslims’ network began to form in Malaysia and Singapore from around 2010. As one of these networks, the CEMSG, which was established in Singapore in 2015, has been functioning as a forum in which ex-Muslims communicate each other and a platform which share information with ex-Muslims and disseminate opinions to the wider society. The author asked the informants whether they have communicated with other ex-Muslims and what they thought are the significance of the CEMSG. Ten informants answered that they had communicated with other ex-Muslims through the networks such as the CEMSG. With regards to the significance of the CEMSG, some informants replied that it provided them with mental support. It meant that they could feel that they were not alone although they underwent hardship in the relationship with their family. Some told that they could release their stress when they talked with other ex-Muslims. Others told that they could have a feeling of “community”, being connected through the network. The administrator thought that the CEMSG had been playing a great role in providing a comfortable space for the ex-Muslims who hid themselves and could not appear at the public spaces. The administrator explained that an important mission of the network is to provide ex-Muslims with mental and emotional support because some ex-Muslims face mental and physical abuse by their parents. The CEMSG’s Facebook page is set open to every internet user so that ex-Muslims can easily find and access it. Because of that, the CEMSG has been attacked by some Muslims who react against the ex-Muslims who show their presence even on the internet. It has experienced threat requesting to stop its activities, DOSS attacks (cyber attack by access concentration), reports to the internet service provider, and so force in the past. 4. The stigma imposed to ex-Muslims and their responses to that (1) Stigma as context This study analyses the stigma imposed to ex-Muslims by utilizing Erving Goffman’s theory of stigma. The results of the interviews from the ex-Muslims show the context in how ex-Muslims are imposed stigma in the public spaces. Since the ex-Muslims think they are not Muslims any more, they perform behaviors which are prohibited by the Islamic teaching, such as eating non-halal foods and drinking alcohol drinks in the public spaces. Then some Muslims who observed such ex-Muslims’ behaviors scold or insult them, thinking that they abandoned their Islamic faith although they should have been Muslims. The stigma, an undesired attribute that they have left Islam, is imposed 11 to these ex-Muslims. They are insulted because of this stigma. Muslims do not impose the stigma to non-Muslims performing behaviors which are prohibited by the Islamic teaching. However, Muslims do impose the stigma to those who “should be Muslims” for performing such behaviors. The issue is, why these ex-Muslims are recognised as those who “should be Muslims”. The reason is they have “appearances like Muslims”, that is, appearances of Malays. Because almost 99% of Malays are Muslims and a common understanding that all the Malays are Muslims is widely accepted, it is assumed that such ex-Muslims who have appearance of Malays “should be Muslims”. Since they perform behaviors prohibited by the Islamic teaching despite that they “should be Muslims”, stigma will be imposed to them. Erving Goffman states that an attribute of a person does not necessarily constitute a stigma. Stigma depends on the context of social relationship. For example, some jobs cause a person without the expected high education to conceal this fact. However, other jobs can lead a person who have a higher education to keep this secret, lest they be marked as failures13. Similarly, from the viewpoint of the context of social relationship, it is not problematic at all for non-Muslims to drink at hawker centres, of course. However, ex-Muslims who drink at hawker centres are stigmatised as “apostates” for drinking and therefore insulted because it is assumed that they “should be Muslims”. Goffman analyses the behaviors which are performed by the persons who have invisible undesired attributes which can constitute stigmas and carry a risk of disclosure. Such persons often employ a variety of strategies to conceal the attributes or inform other persons of the attributes in the way that the other persons are not embarrassed. According to Goffman, one of the strategies is “passing” in which a person which has an undesired attribute control information in order to conceal the attribute by information control. Examples of passing are as follows:14 - A sexual minority person laughs with other persons when jokes are made about “queers”. - An unmarried woman pretends to be married when she meets her unmarried friends. - A hard of hearing uses unapparent correctives. If it is not assumed that ex-Muslims “should be Muslims”, they will not be stigmatised even when they drink at hawker centres. However, they cannot avoid this situation. They cannot employ a strategy of passing by conceal their identity as those who used to be Muslims. (2) Strategy of passing The author stated that ex-Muslims cannot employ a strategy of passing. However, some of 13 Goffman, Erving (1963) Stigma: notes on the management of spoiled identity, New York: Simon & Schuster, p. 3. 14 Ibid., pp. 73-104. 12 the ex-Muslims can actually employ the strategy. Indian ex-Muslims can “pass”. As mentioned in 1 (2), Indians account for 13.0% of Muslims and Muslims account for 23.4% of Indians. It is not uncommon that a Muslim is an Indian and that an Indian is a Muslim. However, there is a common understanding that Muslims are Malays and Indians are Hindus. An Indian informant stated that she was not stigmatised at all even when she had non-halal foods at hawker centres. No one thought she “should be a Muslim” because she had different appearance from Malays. This is how she avoid stigmatisation. She can “pass” by concealing her identity as person who used to be a Muslim. We might understand that she can “passes” utilising her appearance which is different from Malay’s. The author’s interviews showed that some ex-Muslims employ their own strategies for passing. Two examples are introduced below. The first informant told that he was cautioned when he ordered char siu (roasted pork) noodle at a hawker centre. No doubt it was a non-halal food. Then he told the staff that he was not Malay. The staff believed him and cooked the noodle for him. His skin colour and shape of the face was similar to that of Chinese or Japanese. He usually spoke English, not Malay language and his English had no Malay accent. It was why the staff believed him. As explained in 3 (7), an informant who converted to Christianity had difficulty in convincing a canteen staff that he was not Muslim. The first informant avoided a problem by telling an untruth because he thought it was troublesome to spend much time to convince the staff that he is Malay but not a Muslim. He had had little experiences of being scolded by elderly Muslims. He thought the reason was his appearance and tone of speaking. The second informant, who also converted to Christianity, mentioned that he used his Christian name at his workplace. He had an appearance of typical Malay. Naturally, people at his workplace easily recognise him as Malay and thought that he “should be a Muslim” and he left Islam to convert to Christianity. In spite of this situation, he pretended to be “born non-Muslim” before Muslims by telling them that he was of mixed race, that is, non-pure Malay). He told the author that because a part of his name sounded like the one used in an East Asian country, he sometimes made others believe that he has an East Asian origin. Ex-Muslims want to avoid stigmatisation by Muslims and troublesome conversation with non-Muslims. In order to do so, it is desirable for them to employ passing strategy in which they conceal that they used to be Muslim. Indian ex-Muslims can easily “pass”. Malay ex- Muslims in general cannot easily pass because of their appearances. However, some Malay ex-Muslims employ their original passing strategy by claiming their false backgrounds based on their appearance or name similar to non-Malay’s. 5. Ex-Muslims under the context of multi-ethnic and multi-religious society Singapore Singapore is a multi-ethnic and multi-religious society in which people from a various racial and religious background live together, who account for only 15% of residents, must 13 live harmoniously with the people from other religious background and even without religion. However, at least some of the Muslims stigmatise the people who left Islam to become non-religious or to convert to other religion, and insult them as “abnormal”. Although a born non-Muslim is not problematised, a born Muslim who left Islam is problematised. They are scolded, insulted and ostracised. Such a treatment should be regarded as social exclusion from the standpoint of ex-Muslims. This social exclusion occurs partly because “passing” to conceal that they used to be Muslims cannot be employed. The reason why passing cannot be not employed is that, for Malay ex-Muslims, who are majority of ex-Muslims, their appearance function as a marker of Malay, and therefore it can be assumed that they used to be Muslims. The more fundamental issue is that Malay is identified with Muslim and that being apart from this common understanding is deemed as social deviation. In Malaysia, “Malay” ethnic group is defined by three elements: Islamic faith, Malay language, and Malay custom. In contrast, any ethnic group including “Malay” has not been clearly defined. “Malay” means the people who have Malaysian or Indonesian origin in the population census. Therefore, Christians who have their origin in the Christian-dominant area of Indonesia are included in Malay. Singapore has introduced Group Representation Constituency system for the Parliament election to promote representation of ethnic minorities. Under this system, “person belonging to the Malay community” is only defined as “any person, whether of the Malay race or otherwise, who considers himself to be a member of the Malay community and who is generally accepted as a member of the Malay community by that community”. 15 Nevertheless, a common understanding that Malay is identified with Muslim continues to prevail. The good example is a traditional Malay phrase “masuk Melayu” which literally means “enter the Malay community” but actually has a meaning of “convert to Islam”. Graphics in the government statistics represent Chinese, Malays and Indians in red or orange, green, and purple, respectively. Since green is a symbol colour of Islam, it is clear that Malay is identified with Islamic faith even in the official documents produced by the government. Several informants argued that the equation of Malay with Muslim was a root cause of the problem. The first informant among them claimed that such equation led to exclusion of ex- Muslims. The second informant expressed this notion as “stereotyping”. The third informant argued that it should be recognised that some Malays did not believe in Islam and some Malays performed religious practices as their cultural habit in reality. He had been expressing this idea on the internet to promote understanding the diversity in the Malay community. These informants argued that non-Muslims did exist in the Malay community and such diversity should be recognized in the Singapore society. Conclusion 15 The article 27A (8) of the Parliamentary Elections Act 1954. 14 It is not clear how many ex-Muslims exist in Singapore. Some part of Singaporeans, particularly highly educated young citizens, seems to have become critical of religion. Some have doubt about religion and some become distant from religion. The percentage of non- religious people has been increasing. It seems unlikely that only the Muslim community is immune to this trend. Outsiders might think that stigmatisation of ex-Muslims cannot be such a serious issue in Singapore, a multi-ethnic and multi-religious society. However, this study revealed that ex- Muslims actually experience significant difficulties in the relationship with their family and the Muslim community. They face a risk of a scolding or an insult in public spaces. The equation of Malay with Muslim is a root cause of the problem. Since many of ex-Muslims are identified as Malay because of their markers, that is, their appearance, they cannot employ a strategy of passing to avoid problems. Apostasy is negatively treated as “deviation” and “sin” in the teaching of Islam. However, social exclusion of ex-Muslims is not only an issue within the Muslim community but also an issue which is related to the concept of Malay and Muslim in the Singapore society. It would not be probable that the Muslim community would change their religious belief on apostasy. However, the official discourses which firmly connect specific ethnicity and religion and thus exacerbate stigmatisation against ex-Muslims could be changed. In modern societies, insult and ostracisation against the citizens who left their former religion must be regarded as social exclusion. Many of ex-Muslims go through serious mental disorders such as loss of their original identity when they leave Islam. In addition to that, they encounter even harder difficulties when they are excluded by their family and the Muslim community. These people must be included in the society from the viewpoint of human rights. The exclusion of ex-Muslims is primarily a matter of Muslims’ religious belief. At the same time, it is also a matter of how the Singapore society can recognise and accept diversity beyond traditional common understanding in the Singapore society. 15