It was a great feeling today as the Chamber welcomed members back at Suntec for our first in person event in 2021. And it was indeed a great privilege for us to invite our Distinguished Speaker Mr. Pritam Singh, Leader of the Opposition to discuss with us the recent well publicised topic on racism, nativism and xenophobia.

In Mr. Singh’s keynote address, he pointed out that xenophobia and nativism will not go away completely, and the forces of xenophobia are cancerous for a multi-racial and multi-cultural state. Everyone’s concerted effort and support in the community will be needed to address these problems. Singapore should be a place that xenophobia should be rejected, nativism is addressed through progressive legislation, foreigners feel welcome, business can hire the talent they need, and locals are protected.

An engaging Q & A session moderated by Chairman of SICC Mr. Per Magnusson followed Mr. Singh’s address which covered a broad range of topics. We would like to thank Mr. Singh for spending the morning with us and sharing his candid views.