For more info on ICCS 2022, please refer here: www.iccs.sg

We have many identities. Faith, ethnicity, culture, nationality – all intertwining and defining us as individuals. How can we unite despite our differences? How do we form bonds and bridge divides?

It is a pivotal time for conversations, as the world emerges from a pandemic where polarisation and social isolation have come to the fore. Through the theme “Confident Identities, Connected Communities”, The International Conference on Cohesive Societies (ICCS) 2022 will set the stage for the world to re-examine our multiple identities and the connections with our communities, covering the key aspects of faith, identity and cohesion.

We will also cast a spotlight on youth as future leaders in an increasingly digitalised world and their immensely important role in fostering social cohesion.

Special Presentation: Perspectives on Social Cohesion

Setting the stage for ICCS 2022 plenaries and breakouts, the Special Presentation addressed how differences in culture, beliefs and value systems, alongside the many identities we have as individuals and groups, impact social cohesion. Perspectives from Southeast Asia and globally are aired in the discussion.

Speakers

• Prof Lily Kong
  President, Singapore Management University
• Prof Katherine Marshall
  Senior Fellow, Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs; and Professor of the Practice of Development, Conflict and Religion, Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University

Moderator

• Prof Farish Ahmad-Noor
  Professor of History at the University of Malaya

Plenary 1: How Faith Can Bridge Divides

This plenary seeks to critically examine the reasons for the rise and endurance of social polarisation due to ideological or religious beliefs. With a stronger understanding of these divides and the reasons behind them, we hope that some of the lessons gleaned can be applied to foster inter-religious peace and harmony in plural societies both across the region and well beyond. Specific lessons from faith traditions will be shared.

Speakers

• Dr Sadhvi Bhagawati Saraswati
  Secretary-General, Global Interfaith Wash Alliance
• Lord, John Alderdice
  Member, House of Lords, WestMinister
• Imam Uzair Akbar
  Imam, Holland Park Mosque, Australia
• Venerable Shi You Guang
  Abbot and President, Samantabhadra Vihara; Secretary-General, Singapore Buddhist Federation

Moderator

• Dr Kumar Ramakrishna
  Professor of National Security Studies; and Provost’s Chair in National Security Studies

Plenary 2: How Diversity Can Be Harnessed for the Common Good

This plenary will seek to address the tools and concepts to understand a world marked by super-diversity, that is the existence of highly complex and heterogeneous societies. It will raise questions about how to talk about identities and with people of different and overlapping identities, as well as to appreciate the complex but important role the intersectionality of identities plays in forging social cohesion.

It will discuss the way that our belonging and identity overlap across issues such as gender, class, race, nationality, religious and worldview, both as individuals and as groups.

Only by understanding complex interconnections and interdependencies between individuals and social systems can we increase our social capital and create opportunities for individuals in society to form deep bonds across differences, towards a common good.

Speakers

• Mr André Azoulay
  Adviser to H.M. King Mohammed VI of Morocco; President of the Executive Committee, Foundation for the 3 Cultures and 3 Religions (Sevilla)
• Professor Yoshiko Ashiwa
  Professor, Anthropology and Global Studies; Founding Director, Institute for the Study of Peace and Reconciliation, Hitotsubashi University
• Dr Iyad Abumoghli
  Director, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Faith for Earth Initiative

Moderator

• Assistant Professor Jack Meng-Tat Chia
  Assistant Professor of History and Religious Studies, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, National University of Singapore

Plenary 3: How Technology Can Be Leveraged to Foster Mutual Trust

This plenary will ask, given that we know digital platforms can create echo chambers and be used for divisive ends, how can we employ them to promote social cohesion? People’s identities are part of this, including their religious identities, but practical examples of how cohesion is built online and with technologies such as social media is central to this plenary. Looking from different global angles and focusing on areas such as community-building, preventing and countering violent extremism, and mapping global peacebuilding, this session will seek to show how online platforms may be beacons of cohesion and hope, rather than division and hatred.

Speakers

• Mr Jasvir Singh
  Founding Chair of City Sikhs, United Kingdom
• Professor Patrice Brodeur
  Associate Professor, Institute of Religious Studies, University of Montreal, Canada; Senior Consultant, International Dialogue Centre (KAICIID), Lisbon, Portugal
• Dr Shashi Jayakumar
  Senior Fellow and Head of Centre of Excellence for National Security (CENS) at S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS)

Moderator

• Dr Terri-Anne Teo
  Lecturer in the Politics of Race and Ethnicity, Newcastle University, United Kingdom

Speeches

Opening Address by Her Excellency Halimah Yacob, President of the Republic of Singapore, on 6 September 2022.

Special Address by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State, Holy See, on 6 September 2022.

In Conversation with Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, on 8 September 2022.

Closing Remarks by Mr Edwin Tong, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth, on 8 September 2022.