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As Chair of REACH, Senior Minister of State Tan Kiat How said at the Singapore Perspectives conference in January: “If we do not talk about differences, friction will escalate.” The key word is talk \u2013 talking to, not past each other, and without assuming the worst about the other.<\/p>\n
This is how social capital is built. At the same conference, IPS Director Janadas Devan spoke of the “retreat into insularity” we are witnessing everywhere: the reluctance to trust or interact with anyone different from ourselves.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The consensus conference was a small act of resistance against that retreat. As Mr Devan reminded us, “No person, no group, no nation even, can exist other than in a web of relationships.” For four weekends, 24 people chose to stay in that web together.<\/p>\n
Singapore is not yet polarised the way some other societies are. That is the fruit of decades of patient and quiet work of institution-building, of a shared commitment to keep talking even when it is hard.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The question is whether we continue to strengthen that foundation, especially on topics where the heat runs high. This pilot suggests we can.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n