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A recipe for Singapore: A dash of religion and concern for the planet

Most faiths teach us to care for the environment. We can bring these religious traditions together in a common cause that will also strengthen Singapore.

In Singapore, we can tap the common refrain among different faiths to care for mother earth, says the writer.

ST PHOTO: KUA CHEE SIONG

Harvey Whitehouse

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On June 24, 2025, President Tharman Shanmugaratnam delivered

the opening address

to delegates at the International Conference on Cohesive Societies (ICCS) in Singapore. During his presentation – subsequently published in The Straits Times – he argued that multicultural societies have traditionally been conceived as a quilt composed of many individually distinctive patches that create a beautiful effect when stitched together. However, when factors such as polarisation or economic inequalities put pressure on the quilt, the stitches can come apart.

The President argued that Singapore should strive to create a stronger fabric – for example, something more like a tapestry in which many threads of different colour are woven together to create a single integrated textile that cannot so easily be torn apart at the seams. What would it take to create such a material?

A recipe for Singapore: A dash of religion and concern for the planet

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