Forum on impact of social media on racial trust and harmony

An upcoming forum to be held at NUS' University Town this Sunday will discuss how social media has impacted racial trust and harmony and whether it can play a role in addressing them. PHOTO: ST FILE

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 will discuss how social media has impacted 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 which seeks to strengthen racial and religious harmony.

Titled Regardless of Race - The Dialogue III (The Impact Of Social Media), the event follows two forums held last month.

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 dealing with 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 The Straits Times news editor Zakir Hussain.

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

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

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on October 30, 2019, with the headline Forum on impact of social media on racial trust and harmony. Subscribe