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SINGAPORE – Live music during worship services will resume at 16 religious organizations starting Oct. 3 as part of the latest round of easing pandemic restrictions.
A pilot test will also be conducted for worship services that will have up to 250 people, Culture, Community and Youth Minister Edwin Tong announced on Saturday (September 26).
Speaking after a visit to the Central Sikh Temple, Mr. Tong said that live music is an “integral part of how the faith is celebrated and practiced.”
“That will be piloted in a variety of different religions, and we will see how it works and then we will decide what the learning points are, how we can scale and then if the situation in Singapore is the way it is or improving, then we can move from there.” said Mr. Tong, who is also Second Minister of Law.
He provided details on how more religious activities could safely resume following Wednesday’s announcement of further easing of Covid-19 measures.
The organizations involved in the live music pilot were selected after consultation with members of the National Steering Committee on Racial and Religious Harmony, according to the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY).
Under the pilot, up to 10 musicians or singers will be allowed on stage, with a maximum of five people unmasked at a time. If the singing takes place indoors, only two can be unmasked.
While all masked individuals should be kept one meter apart, the unmasked ones should be kept 2 meters apart.
There must also be at least 3 meters between the singers and the congregation. If the height of a stage places them in a higher vantage point, an even greater safety distance is recommended.
The congregation must remain masked during worship services and cannot sing, although it can give spoken responses.
Health Minister Gan Kim Yong had said on Wednesday that starting October 3, all religious organizations will be able to conduct congregational and other worship services for up to 100 people, double the limit for services performed by most. of religious organizations today.
On Saturday, Mr. Tong said that congregational services should be divided into two zones of up to 50 people each.
For places with more structured services, such as churches, mosques and gurdwaras, the two zones should be separated by a physical partition or barrier, with separate entrances and exits or staggered entrance and exit times for each zone, MCCY explained.
Places with more transient worship environments, such as Buddhist, Taoist, and Hindu temples, should ensure that there are no crowds or crowds of worshipers in common areas and in prayer rooms, that they do not mix between groups, and that there is a safe distancing among the faithful.
Existing limits for other activities will be maintained, including 30 people for funeral-related activities and 50 for religious classes.
Faith-based organizations wishing to participate in the pilot program to increase audience limits to 250 can apply beginning October 3, provided they have first conducted safe and consistent worship services for 100 people.
Mr. Tong said that the previous pilot to increase the quota from 50 to 100 was good and there were no major difficulties in implementing it, so the authorities decided to implement it on a larger scale.
“Thus, keeping a distance, but allowing for more meaningful interaction and engagement with members of the congregation,” said Mr. Tong.
He added that some organizations have expressed interest in the 250-person pilot. There is no limit to the number of religious organizations that can participate in the pilot. Organizations that apply will be evaluated based on their facility design and how they can safely manage crowds, among other considerations.
Baljit Singh, chairman of the board of Central Sikh Temple, which is among the top 16 religious organizations in the live music pilot program, welcomed the move as a gradual return to normalcy.
“First of all, music is a very integral part of Sikhism, the Sikh way of life itself,” he explained.
He said that when the circuit breaker arrived, the temple switched to live streaming of songs, so that the faithful could still hear, but it was nothing like singing live itself.
“We are extremely grateful to have reached a stage where we can, in a gradual and calibrated way, recover the singing live, so that a higher level of normality returns again,” he said.
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