Today-Sept 6
Singapore has the highest level of social cohesion compared to other countries from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), followed by Thailand and the Philippines, a survey has found. The study, titled Southeast Asian Social Cohesion Radar, was conducted by adjunct senior fellow Jolene Jerard, senior analyst Vishalini Suresh and Associate Professor Paul Hedges from the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies at the Nanyang Technological University from Feb 10 to April 6. It was the first of its kind to be conducted in Southeast Asia, with previous research conducted in Europe. The report stated that social cohesion refers to “the state of affairs in which there are stable interactions among members of a society that take place in various domains of human associate life”. The researchers surveyed a total of 1,000 thought leaders — 100 from each of the 10 ASEAN member states, which were defined as “individuals who possess domain expertise in academia, the public sector, businesses, civil society and religious organizations where they would be in positions that influence public opinion”. Data was collected anonymously via an online 20-minute survey and where an online survey was not possible, a telephone survey was done instead. The questionnaires were made available in nine languages, including English, Bahasa Indonesia, Malay, Thai and Vietnamese. The overall level of social cohesion in Southeast Asia was at 69 per cent. This was reflected by the percentage of those who saw social cohesion overall as “strong”, the report stated. The level of social cohesion in Singapore was found to be “the highest in the Southeast Asian region”. Countries that fared the highest in the social relations domain were Singapore (97 per cent), Indonesia (87 per cent) and Thailand (83 per cent). The three countries that had the weakest social relations were Brunei (74 per cent), Myanmar (76 per cent) and Cambodia (78 per cent). Read more at: https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/rsis-survey-thought-leaders-finds-singapore-has-highest-level-social-cohesion-among-asean-member-states-1985016
