Introduction
After a gap of four years, the annual Asian Humanism Conference returned to Singapore in 2019. Whereas previous conferences focused on humanism, on the public day of this year’s conference, 6 July 2019, the exploration of relations between communities with different belief systems took a central role.
In Singapore, the most religiously diverse country in the world, no single religion significantly dominates over the others in terms of the number of adherents. This makes the dynamics between different religious groups, as well as the political management thereof, very different compared to the countries in the region. In contrast, the delegates from India, Philippines, Malaysia, and Taiwan, all hail from polities that have one religion largely dominating the others. This made the conference an excellent opportunity for all hosts and guests to share and learn from one another’s contrasting experiences.
Tan Tatt Si: Welcoming Remarks
Tan Tatt Si, the president of the Humanist Society of Singapore, started the public day of conference by noting that Singapore, with its obsession with trying to be the best in many aspects, may exude a certain sense of security. Yet, ironically, this mentality also exposes the country’s insecure position. In an increasingly fast-paced and globalised world, Tatt Si reminded that a country should be able to laugh at itself and laugh with itself, just as a confident person must be able to find peace with himself or herself, before being able to find peace with others.
Tatt Si also emphasised the diversity of challenges that people of different countries face. This variance cannot be solely attributed to the influences of different dominant religions; they are also caused by the differing dynamics between the various social classes and castes by country. By highlighting some of the achievements of the AsWG member groups mentioned during the meeting the day before, Tatt Si inspired the attendees to cross-learn, experiment, and even consider adopting the strategies raised.
Tatt Si concluded his address with stressing the importance of the common space and the common values that bind diverse societies together. He expressed his view that a society’s virtuousness can be measured by how it treats its weakest and smallest — something that religious scriptures would agree with. Finally, between people, friendship should have no conditions: what is a religion, or for that matter, a god, between friends?
(Read the full text of Tatt Si’s speech here.)
Anthea Indira Ong: Opening Address
The bubbly Nominated Member of Parliament, Anthea Indira Ong, was the keynote for the public day, and she did not let the audience down. She led willing participants in the audience though a series of breathing and meditation exercises before her presentation.
In line with her speech entitled Starting from the Lowest Common Denominator, she also addressed an important question — how can we transcend our beliefs and faiths?
Anthea talked about the difference between our beliefs, which are our assessments of reality, and facts. Our beliefs and assumptions influence how we see the world, as well as how we behave. For instance, the obsession with having male descendants in many Asian cultures has a profound social impact.
Differences between values systems can cause divisions in society, Anthea noted. The real world provides countless examples of struggles between young and old, rich and poor, and one religion versus another. Our lives are also affected as society’s values are in a state of flux. For instance, attitudes towards hierarchical relationships seem to be changing. So does society’s stance towards the debate on traditional values versus secular-rational values, as well as the contention between survival versus self-expression.
In the digital age, rather of exposing people to a diverse range of perspectives, algorithms that maximise engagement tend to instead exploit our confirmation bias, as well as encourage the polarisation of views within echo chambers. Insulated from differing outlooks, our underlying populist, narrow-minded, and even tribal instincts can be amplified by social media, and we get increasingly entrenched in our preexisting views. An increased level of fear of, and prejudice against “the other” could be the unfortunate result. In contrast to traditional face-to-face interactions where body language is more readily observable, nuances of beliefs can be lost online, and the hasty stereotyping of others is made even easier.
Whereas tribalism gave us a sense of belonging and helped us identify threats from those outside our clans, when taken to the extreme, it becomes a battle of “us versus them”. Anthea explains, when we do not understand other groups, we fear them, regard them as threats to our survival, attempt to control them, and even attack them. Such was the basis for the horrific genocides and instances of ethnic cleansing that previous generations had the misfortune of witnessing.
Nonetheless, Anthea remained hopeful that our common humanity and love can be the common denominator that binds us together. She encouraged us to listen to other viewpoints outside of our bubbles of like-minded people.
Anthea concluded her speech by reading a magnificent poem by Rumi – Only Breath.
(Read the full text of Anthea’s speech here.)
Siti Noor Mastura: Four Daughters
Unfortunately, the Conscientious Singaporean of the Year 2018, Siti Noor Mastura, had a severe case of food poisoning the day before the conference. Fearing this would cause embarrassment to the organisers, she graciously informed HSS the afternoon before. While it was still deemed preferable to have her as a speaker, sadly, on the morning of the conference, she was still too ill to be away from her home.
With both HSS and Noor puzzled over how to break this news to the members of the audience, who were clearly anxious to see and listen to her in person, an idea was born. Understanding that her condition might require her visit the restroom at unpredictable times, the organisers decided to conduct an online conference call which was then shown live over the PA system.
The sound of a phone ringing filled the conference room. A few tense seconds later, a hesitant sounding voice went, “hello?” The audience broke into smiles and relieved laughter. The eagle had landed.
In the two minutes or so that Noor was over the air, she apologised for her absence. The audience sympathised with her condition, and wished her speedy recovery. In lieu of this no-show, Tatt Si took the opportunity to lightheartedly have Noor commit for a future engagement. This exchange, brief as it might have been, nonetheless gave the Noor a face and a personality. This helped make the subsequent dramatic reading of Noor’s speech, entitled Four Daughters, become very personal.
Shamina, a long time HSS volunteer, proceeded to read Four Daughters on Noor’s behalf. In Four Daughters, Noor illustrated the roles society imposes on women through her personal experiences with her family. It is not a piece that is critical of religion — Noor herself is religious and is sufficiently confident in her faith. She remains hopeful for the generations of daughters that the future will bring.
Shamima concurred with the many brilliant points raised in Four Daughters, and drew many parallels with her own personal experiences as a woman. Whereas Noor was not physically with us, she certainly made the impact of her message felt.
(Read Four Daughters here.)
Panel Presentation & Discussion: Inter-Belief & Inter-Activity
The panellists included Nazhath Faheema, founder of hash.peace, Manisha Mahajan of CEBF India, and Danielle Hill of Young Humanist International Asian Working Group, Philippines. Tan Tatt Si, the moderator, occasionally gave his opinions on humanism in the Singapore context.
As the crowd was predominantly non-religious, it was not surprising that most questions were directed at Faheema. The curious members of the audience posed intriguing queries on the balancing of faith and gender roles, as well as the handling of potential conflicts between moderates and fundamentalists within each religion.
As the key representative of YHI in Asia, Danielle summarised her findings on the state of humanism in the region. To the delight of the audience, she highlighted the various interfaith activities that are being organised in the region.
Manisha’s contribution to the panel was also enormous. She showed that the path towards eradicating blind faith is fraught with mortal danger, but the rewards when lives improve are well worth the effort. Getting legislation based on reason passed is her forte. Her efforts have moved from just focusing on municipal or state level, to the federal level in India.
Tatt Si pointed out that the challenge for interfaith initiatives will always be getting the other 99% of the population not in the room to recognise the need to find common space. Moreover, society as a whole needs to realise having a fixed, dogmatic stance on divisive issues is a hindrance to true understanding. He concluded that while humanists should employ a scientific approach when thinking and cite reason and evidence, certain cold, hard facts could sometimes be delivered using a soft and warm approach. The grim alternative would be to run the risk of pushing opposing camps further into their corners.
Woon Chet Choon: Handling Offence
Woon Chet Choon runs a consulting firm that trains many employees in multinational companies, based both locally and overseas. His extensive knowledge in human resources, strategic planning, and team building is three decades in the making.
An open and confident communicator, he tackled the topic of Handling Offence straight on. He explained that what constitutes as offensive or not often lies in the mind of the beholder. For instance, offensive gestures vary considerably from place to place. Interpreting what other cultures consider as innocuous as offensive, or vice versa, could foster an us-versus-them attitude. Using the Hofstede Cultural Dimensions Model, Chet Woon briefly explained the domains where the cultural values of two or more groups could potentially clash. He explored how different cultures differed on to what extent individuals should be allowed to be indulgent, versus being restrained by social norms. His captivating explanation of various theories and relevant examples within a span of about 30 minutes certainly impressed the audience.
In the second part of the workshop, Chet Woon narrated The Alligator River Story. The attendees of the conference were tasked to rank the characters in the story from the most to the least favourite. Surprisingly, despite hearing the same story, the members of the audience differed greatly on how they ranked the characters. This observation showed that even when a group of people are given identical facts, different perceptions may arise among individuals. Through reasoned discussion, the participants learned from the views held by one another.
To wrap up the workshop, Chet’s emphasised society’s need for both diversity and conformity. Using the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Model, Chet went through the five approaches to deal with conflicts in general: compete, collaborate, compromise, avoid, and accommodate. Ideally, a Rogerian strategy should be employed — one where there is true understanding, where the common ground is emphasised, and where the perception that both sides of the debate share similar moral standards is encouraged.
Jamilah Lim & Sze Jianyue: Fake News, Media and Communications
Xue Jianyue and Jamilah Lim co-presented this interesting and informative portion of the conference.
Jianyue shared his experience in handling fake news. News today, he explained, should ideally be both factual and interesting to read. For NGOs that want to promote their respective causes, this is especially important. When posting news articles on their websites and on social media, it can be very challenging to find and post news articles that are simultaneously factual and interesting, at a constant and sustainable rate. Members of an NGO may fall prey to their confirmation biases, and fall into the trap of proliferating fake news that aligns ideologically with their agenda. Nonetheless, when the falsehoods are exposed, such a strategy backfires, and the NGO’s credibility is undermined.
Jianyue, having worked with HSS since its formation, was able to collect a huge data set the popular posts on the HSS Facebook page. He shared his findings on what types of content tend to attract readers. He also shared the results of a POFMA-related study of the factualness of HSS’ Facebook posts. Jianyue conclued his section by advising others on how to distinguish fake news from genuine news, and the importance of resisting the urge to promote untruthful but ideologically-convenient material.
Jamilah expounded on how content management and marketing should be conducted. Clearly an expert in this area, she explained her sensible strategy in an eloquent and refreshing manner. Her advice was certainly particularly valuable for the foreign delegates who run their fledgling humanist organisations.
Excursion to the Asian Civilisation Museum
As part of the InterActivity part of the conference, some 23 delegates, both local and foreign, took part in the excursion to the Asian Civilizations Museum. Transport was arranged. The museum guide gave an educational and enjoyable tour of the museum’s exhibition on Faith and Belief. The stunning exhibits on the religious practices of South Asians and Southeast Asians certainly impressed the attendees.
As the memorable day’s programme drew to a close, everyone posed for a photograph in front of the museum before parting ways. The event organisers thanked the participants, and look forward to them participating in future AHCs as well.
