Tuesday November 21, 12:17 PM
By this time next year, Singapore could be a platform where leading
international religious authorities come together to seek and
promote greater understanding of each other's faith.
Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong personally discussed this possibility
with the Secretary of State of the Holy See, Cardinal Tarcisio
Bertone at the Vatican City on Monday.
The suggestion of an inter-faith dialogue was first mooted in June
in Singapore during the visit of a special envoy from the Holy
See.
This is SM Goh's second official visit to Vatican City.
And it comes at a momentous time in a troubled era, when a clash of
ideas between religious extremists and the rest of the world is
presenting a very real threat to global stability.
2006 marks 25 years of formal diplomatic relations between
Singapore and the Holy See.
In celebration, the Vatican sent special envoy Cardinal Renato
Raffaele Martino to visit Singapore in June where he met the Senior
Minister.
It was at that meeting that Singapore and the Vatican decided they
would work together to promote peace and inter-faith harmony in the
world.
SM Goh said: "We initiated the Asia-Middle East dialogue, that's
the result of our concern that there could be misunderstanding
between the Middle East and other parts of the world. Singapore
believes we have a rather good understanding, because we have
Muslims and we are living in a Muslim region. But people in other
parts may not have such a good understanding.
"And then the worry is that misunderstanding may lead to clashes
between Islam and other religions, which is unnecessary. This is
actually a follow up of the Asia Middle East dialogue, this is more
focused, this is on religion whereas Asia-Middle East dialogue is
for economic, social, political and so on."
The plan Mr Goh proposed to the Vatican is to gather four or five
eminent international scholars from various other religions, like
Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism, for an inter-faith dialogue in
Singapore.
SM Goh said: "The objective is not to criticise anyone, not to
criticise the radicals and the fundamentalists, It's simply to get
a positive understanding of people of different faiths. The
cardinal was very supportive, he asked me to flesh out the idea,
and then to send him the paper, to work on it. There's no hurry,
maybe sometime in 2007 or 2008, we can have this dialogue at a high
level. This is the plan which the cardinal supported."
The Silver Jubilee of good ties between Singapore and the Vatican
saw the commemorative release in Singapore of a book, and limited
edition coins and stamps.
But, if this Singapore initiative of an interfaith meeting takes
off as planned, it could prove a truly memorable quest for dialogue
launched out of 25 years of good relations between Singapore and
the Holy See. - CNA/ch
