In her inaugural address at the recent opening of Parliament, President Halimah Yacob reminded Singaporeans that "nurturing a distinct Singapore identity, a sense of common destiny transcending our individual racial and religious identities, is still a work in progress".

In his response, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong cautioned against "external forces that could exploit fault-lines like race, language and religion and pull Singaporeans in different directions" and that these had grown stronger.