A committee has been established to enhance safeguards for minors in religious settings such as mosques, madrasahs, and Islamic education centres, while maintaining the open and welcoming environment of these institutions. The announcement was made in Parliament on September 8, with the formation detailed further on September 30 by the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY) and the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (MUIS).
The Committee to Strengthen Safeguards in Religious Settings will focus on reviewing governance and safeguarding frameworks, including staff and volunteer screening, interaction protocols with minors, and mechanisms for reporting and escalating concerns. The committee aims to ensure children and young people can safely access religious guidance across formal, informal, and online platforms.
The review follows a sexual abuse case involving a 37-year-old self-styled religious influencer who abused two young brothers he met at a mosque. The offender was not employed or volunteering at the mosque but was a regular congregant who engaged informally with youths. The man was sentenced in August to 27 years and 10 months in prison and 24 strokes of the cane. MUIS has since implemented several enhancements to youth protection guidelines, including improved closed-circuit television coverage, staff training to identify suspicious behavior, and developing a common safeguarding framework across mosques.
The committee is chaired by Associate Professor Razwana Begum of the Singapore University of Social Sciences and Ustaz Fathurrahman Dawood, executive director of the education division at Andalus Corporation. It also includes seven other members with expertise in areas such as child protection, policing, psychology, education, governance, and Islamic guidance. The committee will report to Acting Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs Zayy Mohamad and is expected to submit its recommendations by the end of 2026.
Zayy emphasized the committee’s open approach, noting that it will engage mosque boards, community members, organisations, and institutions to identify gaps and improve processes. The review aims to take a preventive stance, addressing systems, culture, and practices that can surface concerns early, as well as response measures when risks are identified.
Razwana noted that the committee will build on existing national safeguarding policies and is not conducting an investigation but rather seeking to understand current measures and how to strengthen them. One key aspect under consideration is improving public education, including raising parents’ awareness and educating youths about the dangers of harmful online content, which is seen as a whole-of-society effort.
Public feedback is being invited through an online form, and committee findings will subsequently be shared with the community. MCCY and MUIS indicated that lessons learned from this review could inform safeguarding improvements in other religious settings beyond the Muslim community.