ACTIVITIES TO CLOSE RELIGIOUS AND RACIAL DIVIDE (Monitoring progress)

Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Shoon asked the Acting Minister for Community Development and Sports in view of the importance of closing the religious and racial divide with activities such as the Inter-Racial Confidence Circles and more diverse ethnic representation at grassroots activities and youth groups, (a) whether his Ministry is monitoring the progress of these activities and (b) what are the criteria used to monitor them.

The Acting Minister for Community Development and Sports (Assoc. Prof. Yaacob Ibrahim): Mr Speaker, Sir, I am happy to note that the Government, schools, grassroots, and non-governmental organisations have taken pro-active steps to build bridges and promote understanding between the various communities. For example, MOE has formed a committee to promote broader and deeper inter-racial mixing and understanding in schools. The Muslim Religious Council (MUIS) will foster greater understanding about Islam and the Muslim community through goodwill visits, dialogues and activities with grassroots and other organisations. A strong network of informal links between the respective agencies and community organisations enable efforts to be coordinated and experiences to be shared.

With the establishment of the Inter-Racial Confidence Circles (IRCCs) and the Harmony Circles, these would be important vehicles to catalyse action on the ground and to contribute to the building of trust and confidence. To guide and coordinate these efforts, we have set up a National Steering Committee for the IRCCs. The National Steering Committee can play a useful role to monitor and integrate the efforts of various organisations, both through the formal committee process as well as dialogues and sharing.

Mrs Yu-Foo asked about the criteria for monitoring progress in fostering racial harmony. The building of trust and confidence among the different races and religions is a continuous process. Organisations such as the People's Association do monitor the participation rate of various communities. This serves as a broad indicator of our integration efforts. However, what is important in fostering racial harmony is not to set rigid success indicators. Rather, we must see constant conscientious efforts to strengthen our social cohesion.