SINGAPORE: Societies cannot survive, let alone thrive, without the social glue that bonds people together, said President Halimah Yacob on Tuesday (Sep 6) at the International Conference on Cohesive Societies (ICCS).
In her opening address at the second edition of the global interfaith event, she noted that the pandemic – and how it has deepened fault lines across the world – serves as a reminder that social cohesion is a necessary condition for collective security.
“National resilience and stability are the result of people working together towards a common cause, united in the face of challenges and threats facing a country,” she added.
“Cohesive societies do not exist spontaneously. They are borne of choice and conviction. The pandemic has reinforced this.”
It was Mdm Halimah who first came up with the idea for a gathering to discuss faith, identity and cohesion back in 2018.
The inaugural ICCS, organised by the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) think-tank and supported by the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY), took place in June 2019.
This year’s conference will be held at Raffles City Convention Centre from Tuesday to Thursday and attended by more than 800 participants from close to 40 countries, including religious leaders, policymakers and civil society practitioners.
Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong is expected to speak on the last day.
ICCS 2022 will examine the same issues as before but through the lens of lessons from the pandemic.
The pandemic was a public health crisis with serious social implications, said Mdm Halimah on Tuesday.
“In a period of heightened social anxiety, tensions rose and in certain cases triggered hate, bigotry and xenophobia. This descended into violence in some places, with reports of hate crimes against persons of Asian ethnicity who were blamed for the spread of the virus,” she said.