Yoga is unifying experience, says Singapore minister

Singapore multi-racial society's celebrations of yoga and other Indian traditions underscore the growing bilateral relation the city state has with India, a senior Singaporean minister said Sunday.

The remarks by S Iswaran, Minister of Communications and Information as well as Minister of Trade Relations, came during an event to mark the 5th International Yoga Day at the West Coast Community Centre.

"It is openness with which we in Singapore approaches yoga and many other cultural, linguistic and heritage traditions that are part of our Singapore tapestry," said Iswaran.

"At the same time, it (yoga) also underscore the relationship that we have with India which goes back centuries. The yoga underscores the bilateral relations between India and Singapore," said Iswaran, a veteran in handling India-Singapore bilateral ties.

Yoga is celebrated by the people from very diverse backgrounds globally, observed the Singapore Minister.

"Yoga is a unifying experience and it is one that we in Singapore identify with very closely," stressed the Indian-origin minister, applauding the Indian High Commission in Singapore and the local communities and societies for coming together to jointly host this year's yoga day across the city state.

Elaborating on the success of Yoga Day celebration here, India's High Commissioner to Singapore, Jawed Ashraf, noted: "Once again, Singapore has shown why it is such a successful and a great nation because it has always open itself to the world.

"Singapore is open to the ideas, to the currents of thoughts, cultures and traditions and makes its own, weave it into an incredibly beautiful Singaporeans identity and, as always happen, comes out with the best, said the envoy while addressing one of the 200 sessions held in 132 centres across Singapore.

Thanking various groups supporting the High Commission's yoga observation day, Ashraf said: "People have come across their identities and boundaries for a common cause."