Dr Samar, Prof Croucher, Kieren, honourable guests, ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,

Good afternoon. Time flies, and here we are, heading towards the end of the conference, ready to return to our positions and take on yet more challenges in our pursuit of equality, hopefully with new ideas, new insights, new methodologies gathered from our illustrious speakers, panellists and moderators over the past two days. Indeed, they’ve generously shared their knowledge, experience and expertise with us, and for that the EOC is deeply grateful. Let’s give them a big applause, everyone.

I must also extend my gratitude to the APF for co-organising this conference with us. It has been a great pleasure working with you, and this event wouldn’t be possible without your kind support and valuable input.

My thanks go to my colleagues at the EOC as well. I know it’s not exactly easy to put together a regional conference. Thank you for your hard work and making it happen.

I’m sure every member of the audience would find different parts of this conference particularly impactful or relevant to their work. I had some reflections of my own, and please allow me to elaborate a bit on those thoughts.

I think it’s become clear now that we cannot talk about equality without talking about poverty. Whether it’s the persevering Pakistani men toiling away at manual jobs in Hong Kong, the limping, depressed elders living hand-to-mouth in South Korea, or the young, resilient women striving for self-sufficiency in embattled Afghanistan, we continue to see in humankind a shared, uncompromising aspiration for a better life, a more dignified, fulfilling existence. But without economic empowerment, we can never bring that aspiration to fruition.

Indeed, sometimes we tend to speak of equality as an end in itself, which is gravely misleading. Our ultimate vision is for everyone to realise their full potential, to thrive and flourish, and we must begin by lifting them out of impoverishment. That’s why education, employment and social support services must come into play, and why government intervention and redistribution of wealth can be the right thing to do at the right time in the right place, whether in the form of laws, policies or incentive schemes.

Also, I must stress that while equality is a noble ideal, it’s also a complex issue, interwoven with larger social and economic forces. When we attend a diversity-themed, MNCs-sponsored gala dinner that charges 3000 US dollars a table, for example, do we have the everyday struggles of grassroots women at the back of our minds? When we rush to condemn sexual offenders and predators, are we fighting against all the taboo, conservatism and negativity around sex with the same level of commitment? When we say over and over again that it makes business and PR sense to embrace diversity, are we diluting the message that it’s simply the moral thing to do? These are uncomfortable but necessary questions we need to keep asking ourselves, if we want to stay grounded instead of slowly drifting away from the values we uphold and the people we set out to empower.

Last but not the least, we cannot make true progress without engaging those who disagree with us. Every society is a cacophony of ideologies. Preaching to the choir may make us feel good, but it will get us nowhere. For every female victim of date rape, there’s always a man siding with the perpetrator and saying he was being led on. For every new immigrant settling foot in our city, there will be a defiant right-winger lamenting the erosion of our local culture. For every leave of absence a pregnant or disabled employee takes, there will be a complaint from a co-worker who’s asked to share the work.

Sometimes our “opponents”, so to speak, have genuine concerns and legitimate fears. Sometimes they don’t. But almost all the time, we find it easier to look away, we pick our battles and dodge the difficult questions, we refuse to engage. We must stop doing that. We must debate and rise above binaries. We must let ourselves be questioned, challenged, embarrassed even, because it’s only going to help us refine our arguments, bolster our advocacy and make ourselves more relevant. We won’t make new enemies, but we may make some new allies.

In that spirit, I wish that there will be more occasions in the future for us to get together, enlightening each other with stories of the ups and downs of our journeys towards equality. This conference was definitely a good start, and once again I thank you all for being part of this wonderful exchange. Thank you very much.