21 peace ambassadors appointed to build bridges across faiths

Ms Haziqah Shariman, 19, was taken aback when a woman on the other end of a call said "your English is very good for a Malay", during her internship at a call centre earlier this year.

"It's one thing to face casual discrimination in your everyday life, but it was my first time facing this in a professional setting. It got me thinking if I will just be seen as a Malay for the rest of my life," said Ms Haziqah.

The Institute of Technical Education graduate was one of the 21 peace ambassadors appointed by President Halimah Yacob yesterday at an event organised by youth-led interfaith initiative Roses of Peace (ROP) at the Amara Singapore.

The third batch of ambassadors, aged 19 to 36, were appointed for a year to build bridges across faith communities and champion ground-up peace-building initiatives. They will also be trained in digital media advocacy and public speaking skills to better facilitate interfaith and intercultural discussions among young people.

Ms Haziqah said she will focus on discussions on casual discrimination in her capacity as a peace ambassador. "I hope to break the norm of racial stereotyping because such comments, no matter how trivial, show a root of racism within us," she noted.

Yesterday, Madam Halimah lauded ROP for establishing safe platforms where young people can have open discussions on racial and religious issues, through workshops, forums and conferences.

Since it started in 2012, ROP has engaged more than 3,000 youth volunteers from diverse faiths, and distributed more than 50,000 roses with messages of peace.

Madam Halimah noted that in the face of new threats and challenges arising from misinformation spread through social media platforms, more of these ground-up efforts are needed to complement government-led programmes as they are "more agile, nimble and are able to quickly rally support".

While current efforts at building cohesion are commendable, she said, there is room to deepen the conversations.

"There is also scope to engage more deeply and meaningfully, while being fully cognisant of the fact that there are some beliefs and principles which each faith holds so deeply that it will be simplistic to think that they can be overcome through open discourses alone," she added.

In such situations, people should focus on the common good and prioritise peace and harmony, she said.

Madam Halimah highlighted the case of a self-radicalised 16-year-old Singaporean student who was detained last month for planning to attack two mosques here and kill worshippers. "It is a reminder that we must be vigilant and proactive in our efforts to combat these threats and keep up our efforts in engaging and educating one another," she said.

Yesterday, the newly appointed peace ambassadors attended an interfaith dialogue titled Faithfully Yours. It was led by Chief Rabbi of Singapore Mordechai Abergel, Habib Hassan Al-Attas of Ba'alwi Mosque, and Bishop Terry Kee, vice-president of the National Council of Churches of Singapore.

They highlighted the importance of respecting the different faiths and religions in Singapore, espousing the notion that even if people are not fully aligned in their beliefs, they can still be courteous towards one another and show understanding.

ROP founder Mohamed Irshad, 31, said the ambassadors will attend a "peace-athon" over two weekends in June to brainstorm a project that will promote interfaith peace and racial harmony, which they will implement in the second half of the year.

"My hope for this batch is that they can reach out to the younger audience because they're young and they speak the same lingo."