The COVID-19 pandemic has not only triggered a global health crisis with the ensuing global economic downturn, but also a social awakening episode which disproportionately impacts and further marginalises certain communities. The increased intensity of indulgence in social media and the internet revealed inter alia increased in racist and xenophobic sentiments, and the lack of concern and compassion for the disadvantaged and those with disability.

The internet era poses a complex phenomenon. With the proliferation of social media where facts, fiction, fallacies and falsehoods flow freely into mobile devices, peoples must consciously ensure that technology help bring societies up, instead of breaking them down.

In plural societies, especially one as Singapore where society is squeezed within a small land mass, security mechanisms and community cohesion efforts cannot afford to be thwarted, dented or adulterated by angst, animosity, anxiety or agony facilitated by falsehoods or fear-mongering, stirred or spurred by malice, mischief or misguidance.

Additionally, given the volatility of geopolitics, there is an urgent need to adopt a constructive and whole-of-society approach to better counter the ever-evolving narratives of terrorism, radicalism, extremism and exclusivism.

Another critical area which is severely affecting the socio-economic development of Asian societies is the increasing frequency and intensity of natural disasters, especially hydrometeorological ones, particularly due to climate change.

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