Social harmony does not require silos

I thank Mr Wong Shih Shen for pointing out that we must cultivate a wider concept of harmony than racial harmony for the 21st century (“Beyond race, let’s cultivate social harmony”; Sept 8, online).

He is mistaken, however, about the stresses of public engagement. It may be stressful for some but is a requisite for a healthy civil society.

The solution is to set up rules of engagement or even a platform for engagement in sensitive issues such as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights.

Instead, Mr Wong suggests the new American policy of creating safe spaces for different groups in society, similar to the traditional practice of creating reservations for Native Americans.

The assertion that religions have places of worship that allow people to practise their faith freely repeats the American and European misconception that freedom of worship is freedom of religion.

The latter, however, includes the ability to express one’s religious conscience in a public square, as strictures on daily life are a component of many religions, including the non-evangelistic ones.

An example of the implications of Mr Wong’s perception is that restaurants would not have to serve halal food because it would already be served in mosques.

In preserving social harmony, we must be careful not to slip into an implicitly segregationist attitude whereby the secular space, instead of remaining a common space, effectively transforms into the private space of the non-religious.