SINGAPORE - Race continues to be a fault line. While recent surveys show that levels of trust and harmony between people of different races remain high, discrimination and lack of sensitivity are also concerns.

An upcoming forum to be held at NUS' University Town this Sunday (Nov 3) will discuss how social media has had an impact on these issues and whether it can play a role in addressing them.

The forum is organised by interfaith group Roses of Peace, in partnership with the National University of Singapore's (NUS) Department of Communications and New Media, and The Straits Times.

It is supported by OnePeople.sg, a national body that seeks to strengthen racial and religious harmony.

Titled Regardless of Race - The Dialogue III (The Impact of Social Media), the event follows two earlier forums held in September.

The first saw participants discuss racism as well as the Chinese-Malay-Indian-Others framework, and the second included a dialogue with Home Affairs and Law Minister K. Shanmugam on race relations.

Organisers say the forum is part of efforts to get more Singaporeans involved in honest, open conversations on tough issues surrounding race in the light of shifting norms and new challenges, and explore how such sensitive issues can be discussed.

The panellists at this Sunday's forum are NUS political science and communications and new media undergraduate Shriya Sharma; Roses of Peace volunteer Jimmy Sia, who works in the tech industry; NUS communications and new media Adjunct Associate Professor Adrian Heng; and Straits Times news editor Zakir Hussain.

The forum will be held at UTown's Ngee Ann Kongsi Auditorium from 10.30am to 1pm.

Those who are interested can sign up at https://tinyurl.com/ror-thedialogue