09 Mar 2017
Mr President,
The HRC is meeting during difficult and uncertain times. In many countries, there is deep discontent with the impact of technology and globalisation. Social compacts are unravelling, and inequality affects almost all societies.
We now live in a world of fragmented echo chambers – we hear what we want to hear, we talk to the people who think and talk like us, and we ignore what we do not want to hear and what we do not agree with.
The result is the spreading of radicalism, a sharpening of exclusive identities, and a shallowing of discourse where diverse perspectives are ignored.
Singapore is a small, multi-racial and multi-ethnic island state. Maintaining social and religious harmony is of paramount importance for us since our independence in 1965.
The social cohesion and good relations between different communities in Singapore did not happen by chance, but by deliberate choices and policies.
First, we ensure equality under our law and equality of opportunities.
Second, we accept and celebrate our diversity while building an overarching Singaporean identity.
And third, while there is considerable ethnic, religious diversity, we work actively to keep as large a common space as possible for all Singaporeans.
But we do not adopt a laissez-faire approach and hope that everything will fall into place just because there are norms and laws.
The Government takes an activist approach and works closely with the people and community to ensure religious and racial harmony.
For example, housing and urban planning policies are designed such that people live together and no ethnic enclave develops.
Our political system is designed to ensure that minorities will always be represented in Parliament.
Last year, our Parliament amended Singapore’s Constitution to ensure that racial minorities in Singapore have a chance of being elected President.
We have a framework of laws that does not allow anyone to denigrate other religious or ethnic groups by exploiting the constitutionally protected right to freedom of speech and expression.
The Government engages ethnic and religious leaders at the national and community levels through the National Steering Committee on Racial and Religious Harmony and community organisations like the Inter Racial and Religious Confidence Circles.
Our community and religious leaders have also stepped forward to counter the spread of extremist ideologies that breed hate and violence.
Crucially, each community in Singapore was prepared to accommodate others and not insist on the primacy of its language, race or religion.
While we are aware that our system of governance and policies may not conform to what other countries are doing, our view is that nobody has a monopoly of virtue or wisdom.
Unless we can accept that, accept our differences – differences in values, differences in outlook, differences in how human rights are realised – and cooperate and prosper together, it will be very difficult to overcome the challenges I mentioned earlier.
Last year, we organised the 6th Istanbul Process meeting in Singapore. It was a practitioner-oriented event that brought together community leaders, religious leaders, civil society and government officials to exchange best practices and policies for promoting religious tolerance and strengthening resilience in the context of HRC resolution 16/18.
We look forward to continue working with and learning from other delegations on how we can collectively overcome the challenges of today and tomorrow in pragmatic ways to best protect the rights of our peoples.
Thank you Mr President.
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