YSA members visit the Harmony Centre and join the Iftar

In an immediate response to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s call to grassroots and community leaders to work with the newly launched Harmony Centre to carry out increase meaningful inter-faith activities, YSA led a group of young Sikhs and non-Sikhs on a visit to the Harmony Centre on 18 October 2006. This was the first visit by any youth organisation to the Centre.

The young visitors held discussions with representatives of the Centre on the teachings of Islam and the work of Muslim scholars, with the aim of generating greater understanding and awareness of the Muslim community, its faith and works. The participants were also taken for a guided tour of the Centre, following which they joined the Muslim congregation in the Iftar.

Prime Minister Lee, at the opening of the Harmony Centre on 7 October 2006, had stated: “We need to foster more interaction between the different races and religions. We cannot force this, but we must do our best to encourage it. Singaporeans need to know one another, socialise together, and make friends [with those] who belong to different races and religions… This is the way for Singaporeans to understand one another, widen the common ground which we all share together, and so strengthen racial and religious harmony.”

The team’s visit was a follow up to the Prime Minister’s call and aimed at closer contact through dialogue to engender greater harmony and cohesiveness amongst the young, so as to foster among all the people of this r multi-racial and multi-religious island State.

The event’s aims went parallel with YSA’s mission to prepare up young citizens ready to face the world with an understanding of issues of common concern to all ethnic groups and fostering friendships across these groups, so that they continue to remain engaged with the rest of the Singapore society and the global community.