Ahead of the historic visit of Pope Francis to Singapore next week, as part of an Asia-Pacific tour, an Indian-origin Singapore youth named Shukul Raaj Kumar is celebrating a “blessed opportunity” to engage face-to-face with the pontiff.
Kumar is part of a panel that will interact with Pope Francis at an inter-religious meeting at the Catholic Junior College, as reported by The Straits Times. The Pope’s visit to Singapore is from September 11 to 13, and the panel discussion is slated for the third day.
Sharing the news about his role at the pontiff’s event, Kumar wrote in a Facebook post this morning: “Deeply grateful for this blessed opportunity to meet Pope Francis. The preparatory period has allowed me to go deeper in learning about him, and how he has truly been a remarkable force of bridging communities within society, and truly engaging with the rawness of their lived experiences to grant them the peace and empowerment they seek. Can’t wait for [September] 13th!”
His Facebook account informs that the young PIO has studied International Relations, with a Certificate in the Comparative Study of Religions in Plural Societies at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, and that he finished this course last year.
ST reported that the panel discussion with Pope Francis “will be attended by more than 600 participants, with the majority being young people from more than 50 schools and inter-faith and religious organisations”.
The Singapore-based news daily said that Kumar was a contributor “to inter-faith dialogue in Singapore and abroad” and that he, at present, served as the chief co-ordinator of the Inter-Religious Organisation youth wing, which had 134 young people from 10 religions. It added that in his professional career, Kumar was an “assistant manager in SGTech, a trade association for Singapore’s tech industry”.
In the ST interview, Kumar said that being selected as a panellist for this pontiff event was “a huge honour”. He added, “Of course, I want to do it full justice.”
His Facebook page has a series of posts on Kumar’s inter-faith activities and involvement in youth empowerment programmes.
One of the recent posts said: “On 1 September 2024, our Inter-Religious Organisation, Singapore @iroyouthwing was invited by the People’s Association Youth Movement (PAYM) to set-up a booth in White Sands Shopping Centre and engage with over 200 youths from various Youth Networks, cause-based groups and other youth-based organisations.
“It was a joy to connect extensively with other curious and passionate youths, and share more about our activities, while also exploring opportunities for new meaningful collaborations.”
Even as he promotes inter-faith harmony, Kumar does not hesitate to speak out when he sees clear attempts to destroy that harmony.
In early August 2024, after the shocking violence in Bangladesh and the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government, what followed was a string of serious hate crimes against the minority Hindus in Bangladesh committed, allegedly, by the country’s majority Muslim population.
On August 29, in a Facebook post, Kumar said: “The situation in Bangladesh transcends being a Muslim, Hindu, or even a purely Bangladeshi issue; it reflects a broader, troubling rise in hostility between groups. For us in Singapore, this serves as a crucial reminder to resist becoming adversarial towards one another and to ensure that none of us are drawn into such horrific acts.”
In August 2023, a year before the Bangladesh turmoil, Kumar was part of a support group that backed a “pilot effort” to “introduce and include migrant worker brothers in the religious harmony engagements in Singapore”.
For this, a team from the Hope Initiative Alliance organised a visit to the Harmony in Diversity Gallery, developed by the Ministry of Home Affairs in collaboration with community partners and organisations like the Inter-Religious Organisation.
Its website said: “The Gallery aims to promote an appreciation of Singapore’s rich religious diversity. It hopes this will foster a spirit of give and take, mutual respect and understanding, necessary to nurture and strengthen the religious peace and harmony we enjoy today.”
A group of “20 migrant worker brothers from ES Group Holdings” joined this visit to the gallery, according to a Facebook post published by Nazhath Faheema, Director of Development & Community Relations at Hope Initiative Alliance, and shared by Kumar on his own page.
Coming from Myanmar, India, and Bangladesh, and “working as steel welders, grinders, pipe fitters and other construction-related professions in Singapore”, these workers were part of all major faiths: Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, and Christians.
Sharing this memory on August 21 this year, Kumar wrote: “Ever-grateful for the insights and perspectives that life has taught me through my meandering but beautiful journey towards recognising and manifesting my best self.”
