INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MUSLIMS IN MULTICULTURAL SOCIETIES
SINGAPORE – 14th – 15th July 2010 – The Senior Minister of Singapore, Mr. Goh Chok Tong was the guest of honour at the International Conference on Muslims in multicultural societies at Grand Hyatt Hotel, Singapore. In his keynote address, he expressed his view that religious pluralism will increasingly be the norm of the modern world. This diversity in beliefs presents societies with new challenges. He commended MUIS (Majlis Ugama Islam Singapore) for organising the conference with the Oxford University, the Department of Malay Studies in NUS and the National Centre for Excellence for Islamic Studies in the University of Melbourne.
Among the speakers were Ust. Fatris Bakaram, Deputy Mufti of Singapore, Imam Feisel Abdul Rauf, Imam, and Chairman of Cordoba Initiative, New York, USA, Prof. Tariq Ramadan, Professor of Contemporary Studies, University of Oxford, UK, Prof. Sherman A. Jakson of University of Michigan, USA, Prof. Reuven Firestone of Jewish institute of Religion, USA and other speakers of various disciplines.
There were about 200 delegates coming from various countries like USA, UK, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, China, Germany, India, Japan, Korea, Philippines, Mynamar, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore. RISEAP’s members, associates and friends were also present namely Australian Federation of Islamic council, Japan Muslim Federation, Korea Muslim Federation, Islamic Religious Affairs Council, Myanmar.
The two-day conference was made up of five sessions - 1. Past, Present and future of multiculturalism, 2. Challenges and vision for contemporary Muslims, 3. Islam thoughts and reform, 4. Institutions and practises 5. Contributions of Muslims to societies. There were also country papers on Canada, Taiwan, The Philippines, Italy and Thailand and Australia.
Prof. Tarik Ramadan who was the conference convenor closed the conference by summarizing the various presentations by the speakers of different backgrounds. While it was difficult to single out one primary outcome from the conference, nonetheless, the challenges of each country where Muslims are residents somewhat differ (say Singapore, Switzerland, France, Canada, Norway, etc) and must be resolved with wisdom and care.
