SINGAPORE: A social media publish involving faith from former Temasek Holdings CEO Ho Ching gave rise to some sturdy reactions from netizens, a number of of whom questioned the factors she made.
Mdm Ho, who can also be the spouse of Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong, posted a screenshot of a chart from Our World in Information of the variety of individuals primarily based on faith.
She identified that in 2020, there have been extra Christians (2.3 billion) than every other spiritual adherents, adopted by Muslims (2 billion), however that “apparently” there have been 1.9 billion individuals who professed no faith.
Hindus accounted for 1.2 billion individuals, adopted by Buddhists (320 million) and different religions (170 million).
“Jews had been 15 million, coming in at 0.2% of the worldwide inhabitants. Jews haven’t but recovered to pre-war ranges. The Holocaust is estimated to have killed over 6 million Jews, or about 1/3 of the pre-war inhabitants, principally killed in Europe,” she famous.
Mdm Ho additionally identified how the Jewish inhabitants progress has slowed, other than a minority of Orthodox Jews who are inclined to have bigger households.
She then added the half that many commenters took exception to: “Absolutely, we will make area for this tiny minority group to dwell in peace and safety, as a substitute of looking for all kinds of excuses to attempt to demonise them as a way to extinguish this tiny group which has contributed disproportionately to the progress of our civilisations over the centuries and millennia?”
What commenters are saying
The remark that set off a moderately heated dialogue got here from a Fb person who acknowledged “the horrors of the Holocaust or the suitable of Jewish individuals to dwell safely and peacefully,” however introduced up current actions from Israel.
“Compassion loses credibility when it’s utilized selectively,” they added.
As this has been a extremely polarising concern, particularly since October 2023, others sprang to current opposing views, defending Israel.
One other Fb person, nevertheless, wrote, “Mdm Ho, being a minority doesn’t excuse and qualify one to be a violent bully within the current.”
Others argued for a extra nuanced tackle the difficulty, asking to not conflate faith and nationhood.
“The scale of a spiritual group has nothing to do with whether or not a state, ideology, or political challenge deserves safety,” a commenter wrote, opining that they discovered the publish to include a “sloppy argument.”
Some, in the meantime, pointed to Singapore’s historical past of fine relations with Israel. /TISG
Learn additionally: ‘We let our insecurities hit out at others’: Ho Ching on racism towards Indians in Singapore
