SMU Dean of Students and Professor of Sociology (Practice) Paulin Tay Straughan shared her views in an article about how port cities have thrived on a capacity to take in, hold, negotiate, and make the most of the inherent ambiguity of engaging with multiple, different viewpoints – even if the dominant polity may not. Prof Straughan pointed to the growing social diversity and increasingly common phenomenon of bi-cultural and mixed heritage families in Singapore. She said it is time to encourage regular "safe conversations" that are broader, more inclusive, and oriented towards the future: about what Singapore and being Singaporean means – and what we want them to mean. This involves accepting our ideas about who we are as subject to inquiry, negotiation and evolution, not cast in stone.