Issuing fatwas in the name of the state: reshaping co-optation through religious decrees in Singapore

My thesis examines state-religious relationship in secular authoritarian Singapore by analysing fatwas (Islamic religious decrees). In particular, I focus on the role of ‘official’ fatwas in negotiating against state and state-linked interests. The prevailing narrative concerning authoritarian Southeast Asian states like Singapore is that they closely regulate realms of contestation in order to preserve state dominance. As the state co-opts potential challengers (including religious ones) within its fold, religious bureaucracies are reduced to instrumentalised nation-building projects. Using this body of literature as a starting point, I argue that these authoritarian measures lead to several unintended consequences for the state. The co-optation of religious institutions – through the establishment of a religious bureaucracy – results in fatwas being given sufficient legal-bureaucratic authority to affect state decisions. As the role of the religious bureaucracy is broadened to oversee more religious matters, it also results in the expansion of fatwas’ authority in the legal system. These developments entrench the role of fatwas in state and legal structures, an ironic outcome for the self-declared secular state. My argument is developed in case studies of Singapore fatwas in three areas: (1) state policies, (2) court judgements, and (3) a recent legal enactment on religious teachers. These cases test the extent of fatwas’ legal-bureaucratic capacity to negotiate state demands, and also reveal the significance of their traditional-societal role. My research draws upon confidential state fatwa minutes of meetings, interviews with muftis, as well as archival research of key documents. Through the analysis of fatwas’ function in relation to state bureaucracy and the legal system, my research contributes unique insights into the negotiation of religious demands in a modern state. It also expands the application of policy feedback – which discusses the impact of policies on politics – to examine an understudied constituency of state bureaucracy: religious institutions. The ultimate outcome of this state-religious negotiation is conceptualised in what I refer to as Statist Islam