Blind allegiance to leaders fraught with peril

I refer to the report “Religious leaders must champion integration: Shanmugam” (Feb 2).

There are perils of blindly relying on leaders, including religious ones. Blind allegiance led Japanese fighter pilots to carry out kamikaze attacks and American soldiers to use napalm on civilians during the Vietnam War.

Blind allegiance to Jemaah Islamiyah motivated a few Muslim Singaporeans to attempt violence here. Blind allegiance to the Coalition of the Willing destroyed Iraq. And blind allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) has caused havoc in the Middle East.

The issue is that everyone has self-interest in mind and thus we must not take any leader’s words at face value. We must use our intellect before accepting any views.

In the case of Muslims, we must vet Islamic speeches and not imbibe them so blindly as to end up in Syria, fighting alongside IS.

The Islamic stand is to pledge allegiance only when a leader enjoins what is good.