Ms Yap Ching Wi (left) hopes to establish a Singapore chapter of the Charter, started by British author and religious scholar Karen Armstrong. --ST PHOTO: MUGILAN RAJASEGERAN
IT only takes a spark to spread the message of love, and a group of local civil society activists is doing just that.
Sparked by an international campaign called The Charter for Compassion, the local movement aims to promote values such as compassion, mutual respect and tolerance.
The group, concerned about society polarising, was also partly spurred by what happened at the Association of Women for Action and Research (Aware) recently.
'The Aware episode has thrown up issues like engaging each other in public, and if there are differences, how do we deal with it without going to the state to resolve it? These are new developments for our society,' said Ms Yap Ching Wi, 39, a social worker and honorary secretary of Aware.
'The more we can learn how to mediate and resolve, the more mature we'll grow,' she added.
The women's advocacy group hit the spotlight when it was taken over by a group of new members who claimed it was promoting homosexuality. The 'new guard' executive committee was later thrown out in an extraordinary general meeting attended by an estimated 3,000 members.
Ms Yap hopes to establish a Singapore chapter of the Charter, started by British author and religious scholar Karen Armstrong.
The local arm would be in the form of a network of individuals rather than a new organisation.
Its other founding members include San Francisco-based Dr Tan Chong Kee, who founded the now defunct online forum, Sintercom; Mr Alvin Tan, artistic director of theatre group The Necessary Stage; and Mr Jolovan Wham, executive director of transient worker help group, Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics (Home).
Ms Armstrong, who wrote seminal works like A History Of God and The Battle For God, launched the charter to promote a more harmonious world through compassion - a core principle in every religion.
