Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act
(CHAPTER 167A)

(Original Enactment: Act 26 of 1990)

REVISED EDITION 1991
(1st March 1991)
An Act to provide for the maintenance of religious harmony and for establishing a Presidential Council for Religious Harmony and for matters connected therewith.
[31st March 1992]
PART 1
PRELIMINARY
Short title and commencement
1.  This Act may be cited as the Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act and shall come into operation on such date as the Minister may, by notification in the Gazette, appoint.
Interpretation
2.  In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires —
“Council” means the Presidential Council for Religious Harmony constituted under section 3;
“Presidential Council for Minority Rights” means the Presidential Council for Minority Rights constituted under Part VII of the Constitution of the Republic of Singapore;
“publication” includes any newsletter, journal, periodical, book, film, videotape, audio tape or any written, pictorial, aural or printed matter containing any audio or visible representation which by its images, form, shape or sound or in any other manner is capable of suggesting words or ideas, and every copy and reproduction or substantial reproduction of any publication;
“religious institution” includes a church, cathedral, chapel, sanctuary, mosque, surau, temple, synagogue or other place of worship;
“religious group” includes —
(a)any company or other body corporate incorporated under the Companies Act [Cap. 50] or any other written law for the purpose of promoting any religion, religious worship or dealing with religious affairs or practising, conducting, teaching or propagating any religious belief; and
(b)any body of persons, whether or not registered as a society under the Societies Act [Cap. 311], whose object is the promotion of any religion, religious worship or the practice, conduct, teaching or propagating of any religious belief.