A CASE FOR CONSTRAINED POLITICAL MERIT-MAKING: BUDDHISM, POLITICS, AND PHILANTHROPY IN SINGAPORE

Abstract

Studies on Buddhism and the state in Singapore from a comparative political perspective are sorely lacking, with Christianity and Islam being more popular subjects of study. Worse still, scholars of religion and the state in Singapore have often proceeded with the state-centric lens of control and co-optation. While state intervention is indeed an important factor shaping religion in Singapore’s context, I contend that religious actors, particularly Chinese Mahayana Buddhists, have exercised more agency than present authors give them credit for. Adapting the theory of “political merit-making” from the anthropological study by Robert Weller, Julia Huang, Wu Keping, and Fan Lizhu, I argue that the amicable relations between Buddhism and the state of Singapore is a result of constrained political merit-making efforts of the Buddhists in two areas, namely in philanthropy and support for multiculturalism. The significance of this thesis should not be understated. Firstly, it heeds Jack Chia’s call for a refocus on the hitherto neglected “South China Sea Buddhism” and is the first study on Singapore’s state-Buddhist relations in the field of comparative politics. Secondly, by using Buddhist source materials and interviewing key Buddhist leaders, it moves away from state-centred approaches and recentres the narrative of state-religion relations in Singapore to the religious actors themselves. Finally, the thesis proves that religious activism need not be antithetical to religious harmony in a plural society.