Mumbai : Taking pride of the fact that Singapore as a country has managed to keep religious harmony, Consul-General of Singapore in India, Ajit Singh stated the country witnessed its last racial riots in 1964. He goes on to state that the country has constantly engaged with it minorities and that has worked in the country favour.
Singh, who was speaking at Rotary Club of Bombay’s session, said, “Today, Singapore has become the poster child for national integration.” He further added, “Today, Singapore citizens define themselves as Singaporean, then Singaporean Chinese, Singaporean Malay, Singaporean Indian. We have created a nation that has a common mission to make better of our lives and families.”
The country has been inculcating the feeling of national pride, right from the early childhood. He added that Singaporean are constantly made aware of the value system that is created through Singapore pledge and it is recited even today. Singh emphasised that it was the founding fathers that helped the country achieve what it has achieved.
He added, “We need to make sure that the minorities feel that they were protected and they find a place in Singapore. It is important to ensure that minorities are comfortable.” The country has a national level committee that looks into every bill before it is passed. The committee makes sure that the right of the minority in the country is protected.
He strongly believes that this approach has helped their economy. He stated that it is the responsibility of the country to help poorer communities of the country to grow.
English language has been the binding language for the country although the country allows the students to learn their mouth tongue as the second language. Apart from secular educational policies, Singapore has a housing policy which encourages mixing of various communities.
In today’s time and age, Singh believes that social media and use of freedom of expression to hurt sentiment of various communities, are on rise and can harm social harmony.
He further added that Singapore has not solve all the problem but has been able to tackle major issues through constant effort. Every country will have to contantly upgrade their policies to maintain religious harmony, stated Singh.
A SPEAKER SERIES BY ROTARY CLUB OF BOMBAY
