To symbolise the harmony of different religions with nature, with one another and with the larger Singaporean community, Senior Minister Mr Goh Chok Tong will be the Guest of Honour at a tree-planting ceremony together with Singapore’s religious leaders at Stamford Green, Fort Canning Park, on Saturday 19 July 2008, 8.15 am – 10.30 am.

Senior religious leaders from various religions in Singapore including the Baha’i Faith, Buddhism, Christianity, De Jiao, Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Sikhism, Taoism and Zoroastrianism will be present.

Stamford Green is the gateway to Fort Canning Park and is situated right next to the National Museum of Singapore. The trees that will be planted will form a permanent landscape at Stamford Green as an enduring symbol of our history and peaceful co-existence, and a tribute to our legacy of religious harmony.

The event is organised by the Inter-Religious Harmony Circle (IRHC), and supported by the National Steering Committee on Racial and Religious Harmony and the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports. .

In conjunction with the spirit of the event, the IRHC has produced a storybook entitled “In Harmony with Nature”. The stories are contributed by Singapore’s religious communities, and centre on shared value of all major religions to care for nature. The books will be distributed to schools, libraries and other community organisations.  

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Annex A

The Inter-Religious Harmony Circle

The Inter-Religious Harmony Circle (IRHC) is an informal network which guides efforts to promote the Declaration on Religious Harmony and the spirit behind the Declaration. 

2          The Declaration affirms the importance of, and Singaporeans’ commitment towards, religious harmony. It is a basis for Singaporeans to reflect on religious harmony, and what should be done to achieve it.

We, the people in Singapore, declare that religious harmony is vital for peace, progress and prosperity in our multi-racial and multi-religious Nation.   We resolve to strengthen religious harmony through mutual tolerance, confidence, respect, and understanding.   We shall always                         Recognise the secular nature of our State,                         Promote cohesion within our society, Respect each other’s freedom of religion, Grow our common space while respecting our diversity, Foster inter-religious communications,   and thereby ensure that religion will not be abused to create conflict and disharmony in Singapore.

Members of the Inter-Religious Harmony Circle

Mr Chan Soo Sen	IRHC Chairman
Mr Daniel Chu	The Baha’i Community of Singapore
Venerable Seck Kwang Phing	Singapore Buddhist Federation
Rev Father Colin Tan	Roman Catholic Church
Mr Lim Khay Tham	National Council of Churches, Singapore
Rev (Dr) Quek Kiok Chiang	Singapore Council of Christian Churches
Mr Raja Ram Bawajee	Hindu Advisory Board
Mr Rustom Ghadiali	Inter-Religious Organisation
Mr Ashvin Desai	Singapore Jainism Religious Society
HJ Mohd Ali Hj Atan	Islamic Religious Council of Singapore, MUIS
Mr Daljeet Singh	Sikh Advisory Board
Mr Winson Choo Hong San	Taoist Federation, Singapore
Mr Lee Kim Siang	Thye Hua Kwan Moral Society

Annex B

The Inter Religious Harmony Circle’s Publications

The Inter Religious Harmony Circle (IRHC), since 2005 had initiated a series of story books to allow different religious communities to share stories that illustrate common values. Previous titles include “Colours of Harmony” in 2005, “Colours of Love” in 2006 and “A Giving Heart” in 2007. The stories in these books revolve around love, harmony and giving, and showing how these values can bridge the divide between human beings. “In Harmony with Nature” is the fourth in this series of story books, teaching children to treasure, and to be in harmony with nature. The print volume for this year is 20,000.