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I am a Practitioner of 'The 7e Way of Leaders' where a Leader will Envision, Enable (ASK for TOP D), Empower, Execute, Energize, and Evolve grounded on ETHICS!

Monday, July 24, 2017

Daily Lessons from Life 24 July 2017 - Racial & Religious Harmony is a MUST!

"Singapore must strengthen trust between different faiths amid terror threat: PM Lee

SINGAPORE: Racial and religious conflicts abroad can affect the perceptions and attitudes of people in Singapore, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong warned on Monday (Jul 24), calling on community and religious leaders to continue their efforts in strengthening trust between the different faiths.

Mr Lee made his comments at a dialogue with more than 300 participants from various faith and community groups on the subject of terrorism.
Speaking at the start of the closed-door session, Mr Lee highlighted key concerns with the increasingly frequent attacks in the West, as well as the continued threat of the Islamic State (IS) militant group in the Middle East as well as in Southeast Asia.
He noted how Singaporeans who have become self-radicalised were motivated by conflicts in the Middle East, and the extremist ideologies of the Islamic State (IS) militant group.
In June, AETOS auxiliary police officer Muhammad Khairul Mohamed was detained under the Internal Security Act for planning to fight in Syria. His colleague, Mohamad Rizal Wahid, was put under a restriction order for supporting Khairul.
Earlier that month, infant-care assistant Syaikhah Izzah Zahrah Al Ansari was detained for planning to join IS.

Commenting that the recent arrests were not the first, Mr Lee added that they would not be the last.
An attack in Singapore by foreign terrorists would be one thing, he said. "But if we are attacked by Singaporean terrorists - our own citizens attack our own country - I think the psychological impact will be much worse."

Mr Lee also drew attention to extremist and exclusivist religious teachings entering the mainstream in countries elsewhere. These include teachings that reject accommodation with other faiths, he said."

This is ONE issue that I TOTALLY agreed with PM Lee! In fact, any reasonable and rational human being and Singaporeans would have to agree that 'without racial and religious' harmony, there is NO WAY that the foundation upon which prosperity is built, stability, will exist!

As a human being, especially a human being living in materially successful Singapore, most have their skins in keeping harmony, and hence stability so that they can go about making money, for some never enough while for some just enough!

Of course, when it comes to something so powerful as 'religion', especially when the 'religion' promises rewards that are BEYOND what the material world can provide e.g. heaven and the mysterious, and oft disputed, claim of having dozen of virgins, men and/or women, await for those who kill non-believers, the talk of 'if you don't have stability, you will not have the foundation to build prosperity on earth' SIMPLY has NO attraction at all!!

The monitoring of 'out-of-bound' writing and speeches (sermons included) is a necessary evil. Hopefully should it be abused to suppress political disagreement or diversity of thoughts.

We just have to deal with EACH discovery on a case-by-case basis and NOT stereotyped a religion or a community. As we ALL know and had experienced it: "that even in the closest family, there are members who will have such strong view of a certain issue or cause that they will act drastically opposite of the majority.' For that, early detection and informing the anti-terrorism activity to the proper authorities early has to be the NORM!

Peace to all and guard our 'out-of-bound' guidelines of: no attack on others' religion and race!

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