Sowing seeds of harmony from young

by Tan Mabelyn, Poh Yijia , Sharon Zheng Xuelun (River Valley High School), SG United Journalists

This is the third part in the series where youth participants of the National CEP Dialogue 2010 penned down their thoughts on issues related to CEP. Sharing their thoughts in this commentary are SG United Journalists from River Valley High School.

THERE is this interesting trend to note -- Singaporeans of today are becoming more religiously assertive, especially youths who have been taking on an increasingly active role in their religion. This is positive since more Singaporeans have found their faith, creating an ever stronger and deeper sense of identity and belief.

However, while these youths are religiously active, it could be observed that there seems to be a comparatively lack of active efforts by them to help maintain social harmony. Those who are religiously assertive at a young age will presumably take on leadership roles in their faith in future. Thus, it is important to foster bonds of trust and understanding in us from young.

As young adults, we believe in the paradigm-shifting ability of good camps. We have attended various camps in the past, such as the Outward Bounds Singapore programme and the Annual Bicultural Camp organised by MOE, and found this to be true.

Camps that promotes social harmony can be conducted for youths of different religions. Youths would be able to learn more about the importance of social harmony through camp activities such as introduction to various religions, talks, teambuilding activities and performances.

Such camps will not be an end in themselves, but instead the starting point of a journey for the youths to work towards a more closely-knitted community, characterised by the celebration of diversity. With the emergence of social-networking platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, keeping in touch and continual exchange of ideas have been made much easier, and campers would be able to join their hands together in promoting mutual understanding.

Our proposal aims to find and mantain the right balance between religious freedom and social harmony. Sowing seeds of harmony from a young age will help bear fruits of understanding and acceptance, resulting in a well-knit and strong social fabric.