11 October 2003

SPEECH BY MR CHAN SOO SEN, MINISTER OF STATE FOR EDUCATION & COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT AND SPORTS AT THE MDIS-OCU GRADUATION CEREMONY 2003 ON SATURDAY, 11 OCTOBER 2003, AT 1400H AT CONRAD CENTENNIAL SINGAPORE, 2 TEMASEK BOULEVARD

Dr Bernie Patterson, Provost and Vice-President for Academic Affairs of Oklahoma City University

1. It gives me great pleasure to join you today at the Management Development Institute of Singapore-Oklahoma City University Graduation Ceremony. My congratulations to the 99 graduands who will be admitted into the Master's and Bachelor's degrees, and the 567 graduands who will receive the Advanced Diplomas, Diplomas and Professional Certificates.

2. We have often heard it said that we begin our formal education with 3 Rs - Reading, wRiting and aRithmetic. These 3Rs were critical in helping us make the baby steps towards learning in our early years in school. With the firm foundation, we graduate to honing other skills, acquiring new knowledge and learning different experiences. Let me share with you another set of 3 Rs to take us beyond the school years. These 3 Rs are essential for thriving in this rapidly changing economy buffeted by challenges and opportunities. They are Resilience, Resourcefulness and Responsibility.

3. First - Resilience. Resilience is a quality that enables a person to look adversity in the face, grit his teeth and persevere on. It is what is needed to help a person stay the course, come what may. It keeps a person trying and doing his best, and perhaps is best summarised as the "Never say die" attitude. This is particularly important in this time of economic slowdown and globalisation where challenges and obstacles present themselves in ways that you might not have imagined possible.

4. Second - Resourcefulness. It is about innovative and creative thinking, and having an enterprising spirit. It will enable a person to adopt a positive and flexible mindset in dealing with difficult situations. Resourcefulness is especially vital in this rapidly changing economy where there are no fixed formulae for success, and where each person will need to push new frontiers and chart his own destiny. A resourceful person will be able to see that in the challenges that lie before him, there are opportunities waiting to be seized. As described in the Chinese term for crisis, 危机 (weiji), where opportunity (ji) sits side by side with crisis or danger (wei), a resourceful person will be able to turn the difficult situation to his advantage.

5. Third - Responsibility. It is the trait that causes a person to be committed to himself, his family, society as well as country. A responsible person recognises that the individual cannot exist apart from society and that he has obligations and responsibilities to the community. Responsibility is what will motivate a person to be civic-conscious and contribute to the betterment of his community and country. Not just working for self, but also working for society is what will give him a sense of purpose and identity.

6. It is my wish for you that all of you will gird yourself with the 3 Rs: Resilience, Resourcefulness and Responsibility, as you take on the challenges of the rapidly innovating world economy.

7. I would like to once again congratulate graduands on the completion of one leg of a journey and wish you all the best in your future endeavour.