Singapore minister calls for collaborative way forward on Mahatma Gandhi's lines

A Singapore minister has invoked Mahatma Gandhi to call for a collaborative way to build a future that remains connected, respectful of all peoples and cultures.

Addressing an international conference on South Asia, Josephine Teo, Second Minister for Home Affairs, cited Gandhi's quote "The future depends on what we do in the present".

Commenting further on the quote, Teo said "Let this be a call for all of us to act in a collaborative way today, to build a future that remains connected, and that is respectful of all peoples and cultures."

Teo went on to illustrate how Singapore is managing as a multi-racial society amidst divisive discourse exacerbated by the internet and social media which have become one of the most intractable challenges.

Such discourse now traverses national boundaries with great ease. This has profound implications for politics everywhere, added Teo who is also Minister of Manpower.

Among the forces that can threaten societal cohesion, race and religion are probably the most potent, she told delegates at the 13th International Conference on South Asia organised by the Institute of South Asian Studies, a think tank at the National University of Singapore.

Teo listed out early South Asian settlers in Singapore with Naraina Pillai, who incidentally arrived from India in the same year as Stamford Raffles landed in 1819.

Pillai started work as a government clerk but later became an entrepreneur and community leader.

He is credited with establishing Singapore's first Hindu temple, the Sri Mariamman Temple, which still stands today on as one of the oldest temples in the Central Business District.

Another pioneer was Hunmah Somapah, a prominent landowner who lobbied the colonial government of his time to make Deepavali (Diwali) – the Hindu Festival of Light – a public holiday in Singapore.

"This is a country where every language, culture and religion has its place," stressed Teo from early beginning to multi-racial and multi-cultural society.

In terms of ethnicity, Singapore is becoming more diverse, even though Malays, Indians and Chinese still make up more than 95 per cent of over five million population.

The Minister cited a Pew Research Center report which has Singapore as the most religiously diverse country in the world.

Regardless of the differences, every Singaporean knows that "we want to be one people, one nation, one Singapore", underlined the Minister, adding that prayers are held at every major event with representatives from 10 religions by the Inter-Religious Organisation.

While the internet and social media have opened up great opportunities for economic growth and development, they are also easily exploited as instruments to sharpen divisions in society.

Social media has enabled misinformation to spread rapidly and widely, resulting in greater polarisation along the social fault lines, said the Minister.

Citing a number of disturbing cases both in Singapore and abroad, she said "we must safeguard our status as a secular democracy. Singapore upholds the separation of religion and state.

"This means that the government, in policy and in law, does not favour or endorse one religion over another. Likewise, religion does not influence government decisions."

Elaborating, Teo stressed that this does not mean the Government has no role in the matter of religion.

"Government plays a major role in ensuring that there are common spaces where people of all religions can interact and communicate equally, without the denigration of other religions, which could foment distrust, hatred and violence against other religions," said the Minister.