以下是读者推荐 2024年6月8日 WE,THE CITIZEN 的贴文（英中版）：
Students tell MHA exactly
what they think about a proposed racial harmony bill
KIRSTEN HAN
Have you sent in your feedback to the Maintenance of Racial Harmony Bill? Yesterday afternoon, a group of university students (and alumni) submitted theirs in a big way: by delivering their responses in person to the Ministry of Home Affairs.
I followed the group of about 40 as they walked from Novena MRT to MHA's headquarters at New Phoenix Park. Everyone had a letter; some had composed and printed out long reflections, while others had written their thoughts out by hand to demonstrate their sincerity. Some changed into T-shirts (or slipped tops over their existing outfits) saying, “THERE ARE NO MORE UNIVERSITIES IN GAZA”.
These students—from NTU, NUS, SMU and more—are united in their horror at the violence that has been inflicted upon Gaza, and determined not to sit idle. Some have participated in actions within their campus, such as a teach-in cheekily named Ponteng for Palestine, where NTU students skipped classes to do self-study on the history of Palestine instead. Someone in that same university put up posters in the toilets calling out NTU's Israeli links and collaborations（https://www.instagram.com/wakeupsingapore/p/C4BAIxsR4WG/?ref=wethecitizens.net&img_index=1）. NUS students have also organised Picnics for Palestine, coming together to read Palestinian poetry. 43 students from Yale-NUS's class of 2024 found different ways to express their solidarity with Palestine during their graduation ceremony, and later published a statement online（https://www.instagram.com/sgacadboycott/p/C73DTrNtsvt/?ref=wethecitizens.net&img_index=1）. Some parents might be keeping their kids in Singapore rather than let them go off to American universities（https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/campus-protests-at-elite-us-colleges-cause-singapore-students-to-reconsider-going-there?ref=wethecitizens.net） where, God forbid, they might get involved in protests; they might be shocked to find that students in local tertiary institutions haven't been passive either. (Admittedly, students in Singapore haven't been subjected to the police violence some of their counterparts in the US have had to deal with—all of which, in turn, pales in comparison to the brutality Palestinians their age are currently facing in Gaza.)
“Students are realising that the natural reaction to seeing death on this huge of a scale, mutilated bodies, houses reduced to rubble… we need to feel something. That's a natural response, but we were [previously] conditioned to do otherwise,” said R, an NTU student who'd delivered a letter to MHA. “I think we've broken through the conditioning that silenced our natural responses.”
The proposed Maintenance of Racial Harmony Bill—which, based on the limited information we have, will likely double down on existing laws related to promoting ill-will or hostility between racial groups, plus introduce the power for the Minister for Home Affairs to issue restraining orders—is a cause of concern for these young activists because they've seen how existing legislation has been used. As they write in their press statement（https://docs.google.com/document/u/0/d/1jAtyu0SuIgEHnDjCIifF3Kp48rm49yknzVwfx5i-X1M/mobilebasic?ref=wethecitizens.net&pli=1）:
We have seen that nearly all actions bringing light to the genocide in Gaza and calling on our government to take further actions against Israel are often treated as threats to Singapore's racial and religious harmony. Participants in Steadfast for Palestine, an event held within a private space, were investigated under the Penal Code for eliciting “racial tensions” despite the racial diversity of the crowd and the lack of discrimination or elicitation of hate against any ethnic group. In fact, event attendees echoed calls against the ongoing ethnic cleansing of Palestinians—a clearly anti-racist stance.
The students are especially alarmed by aspects of the proposed law that would provide enhanced penalties for the urging of violence against other groups on racial grounds, and the introduction of restraining orders that can be issued without first establishing that criminal conduct has occurred. The first, they say is worrying because it's unclear what constitutes “urging violence”. “For example,” they write, “the police statement about Steadfast for Palestine had said that the phrase ‘from the river to the sea' is associated with calls for the destruction of the state of Israel.” The students also expressed discomfort with how the power to issue restraining orders would give the minister “unilateral power in using this Bill to restrict freedom of expression”.
Readers of this newsletter will know that such actions aren't without risk in Singapore; it's possible that some, if not all, of those who went to MHA today could be called up at some point in the future for investigations under broad laws like the Public Order Act. Despite that, they believe in the importance of collective action and are sensitive to any threat to the already tiny space Singapore and Singaporean institutions allow for activism and organising. “Students believe in the power of the student movement,” R said. “If the bill passes, well-intentioned acts will be suppressed to a large extent.” They're worried it could be a “nail in the coffin for a large and vibrant student movement for Palestine”.
I took the previous photos, but these are from the students.
When they reached MHA's headquarters, two students went in to deliver the letters to the mail room. Umar, one of the students who went in, said that “it went surprisingly well” and that they'd made it clear to the officer in the mail room that they wanted to deliver their letters to the Minister for Home Affairs. The officer couldn't promise them that the minister would read the letters, but the key point is that they were handed over to MHA—the ball is now in MHA's court how they'd like to respond.
学生们明确地告诉内政部他们拟议中的种族和谐法案的看法
韩莉颖（人民呼声论坛 译)
请问，您对拟议中的《种族和谐法案》回馈了妈？
2024年6月8日，一群大学生（包括校友）浩浩荡荡地集体前往内政部递交了有关《种族和谐法案》的回馈书。
参与递交《种族和谐法案》回馈书的大学生人数约40名左右。我跟随着他们从诺维纳地铁站步行到位于新凤凰山的内政部总部。他们每个人手上都持有一封信。他们当中有些人撰写和打印成长篇文件、有些人把自己对法案的意见撰写成信件以展示自己对法案回馈意见诚挚看法、有些人在自己的外衣上穿了印有‘在加沙地带已经没有大学了’的文化衬衫。
这群大学生是来自南洋理工大学、新加坡国立大学、新加坡管理大学，更多的参与者一致对加沙地带巴勒斯旦人民遭受血腥的暴力情况感到忧虑——加沙已经遭受重创，我们绝对不能坐视不管、不过问。
他们当中一部分人已经在校园里参与了（声援加沙地带巴勒斯旦人民）相关的活动。比如一位厚颜无耻地为巴勒斯坦命名为“Ponteng”的教员。一部分人在大学校园的厕所里张贴了‘南洋理工大学与以色列有联系和合作’。耶鲁-国立大学的学生们也同时组织了‘巴勒斯旦野餐会’，他们一起朗读有关巴勒斯旦人民的诗篇。43名耶鲁-国立大学2024年毕业生在毕业会上采取了不同的方式展现自己与巴勒斯旦人民团结在一起。过后他们一起发表了一篇联合声明；一些家长可能会把孩子留在新加坡，不让他们到美国深造，因为上帝禁止他们参与在美国的（声援巴勒斯旦人民、反对以色列种族灭绝）抗议活动。他们可能会感到惊讶，新加坡的大学生在大学范围内并非处于状态（实事求是的说，新加坡大学生并没有像美国的大学生一样遭受警方的暴力镇压，与他们同龄的加沙地带巴勒斯旦人民遭受到悲惨处境相比，这简直大巫见小巫）。一位写信给内政部的不具名的R大学生说；‘目睹巴勒斯旦人民如此规模的被屠杀和尸体残缺不全、房屋被炸成废墟，学生们的反应是自然的行动。但是，过去我们是不习惯这么做。我想，我们已经突破压抑我们自然反应的条件了。’
拟议中的《种族和谐法案》是似乎是比目前正在实施的相关法令更加助长了种族之间产生的互相恶意或敌意情绪，同时扩大了内政部长的权利——可以发出限制令——这是针对年轻社运活跃分子的。因为正如他们在发表的联合声明，他们已经考到目前正在实施的相关法令的被使用里所阐述的：我们看到了（声援加沙地带巴勒斯旦人民）所有的行动几乎都是焦距在反对以色列在加沙地带的种族灭绝暴行。我们呼吁政府在新加坡对待威胁种族与宗教和谐的政策一样，在未来采取行动反对以色列在加沙地带对付巴勒斯旦人民的暴行。（我们）在私人场所举行‘与巴勒斯旦人民坚定站在一起’的聚会，出席聚会的人群来自各个不同种族族群，但是仍然被当局在因‘担心引发种族紧张关系’下，援引《刑法》对我们进行调查。事实上，这个聚会不存在着有族群的（种族）歧视或仇恨情况。事实上，参与聚会出席者发出清晰的共同声音——反对以色列正在加沙地带进行清洗巴勒斯旦人民——这是一个极其明确的反对种族主义的立场！
学生们对拟议中的某部分条款特别警戒，法令针对为使用以种族主义为基石使用暴力反对其他族群的行为施以严厉的惩罚。同时，引进了可以在未能确定有关的行为是否已经触犯涉嫌刑事行为前就发出限制命令的条款。一开始，他们说，担忧因为有关条款在宪法约定下未能明确‘使用暴力’的定义。‘例如’，他们写到，“警方发表有关于巴勒斯旦人民团结在一起提到的这段话‘从河流到海洋’是与摧毁以色列国的声明”。同时，学生们也表达了自己感到不舒服的是，法案赋予了部长发出限制令的权利是无限的权利，是压制自由表达言论。
读完这份新闻报导，读者们现在将会知道，学生们的这些行动在新加坡是不会产生任何危险的。可以预见，今天前往内政部递交信件的学生们当中的部分人（不是全部）可能会在诸如《公共秩序法令》下被警方传召问讯协助调查。尽管如此，学生们相信集体行动的重要性，同时，他们对于新加坡人和新加坡政府就能够进行活动和组织的空间已经很狭窄的情况下的任何出现的情况都很敏感。R同学说，‘假设拟议中的《种族和谐法案》被通过，那么，具有善意的行动将会面对无限的压制’。他们感到忧心的是，这可能是‘把一场支持巴勒斯旦人民的大规模、充满活力的学生运动如把钉子钉棺材上。
当学生们抵达内政部时，两名学生进入收信室投递了他们的信件。其中一名进去递交信件名叫乌玛的学生说：‘整个过程进展顺利’。他们明确地告诉收信室值勤官员，他们要把信件递交给内政部长。接待官员告诉他们，他无法确定部长会阅读这封信。重要的一点是，他们负责将这封信交到部长手里——球已经在内政部脚下了，他们将要如何回复。