SPEECH BY RADM LUI TUCK YEW, MINISTER OF STATE FOR EDUCATION, MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, AT THE RACIAL HARMONY DAY CELEBRATION IN EVERGREEN SECONDARY SCHOOL, ON FRIDAY, 20 JULY 2007, AT 0800 HRS

SPEECH BY RADM LUI TUCK YEW, MINISTER OF STATE FOR EDUCATION, MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, AT THE RACIAL HARMONY DAY CELEBRATION IN EVERGREEN SECONDARY SCHOOL, ON FRIDAY, 20 JULY 2007, AT 0800 HRS

It is my pleasure to be at Evergreen Secondary School this morning, and to be able to join you as you commemorate and celebrate Racial Harmony Day.

Some of you may have read the book entitled “Schindler’s List” or even watched the movie. I would like to use this story to illustrate some lessons in racial harmony. This story is about a German by the name of Oskar Schindler. During World War 2, he ran a factory in German-occupied Poland that produced ammunition for the German army. In his factory, Jewish Europeans provided the labour that Schindler needed. At that time, the most brutal concentration camps for the Jews were found in Poland. After witnessing a German raid on a Jewish ghetto, Schindler became determined to do everything in his power to save the Jewish workers in his factory. He hired more workers than he needed; and his Jewish workers were fed, and none was beaten or killed. His factory became an island of humanity amidst the destruction and loss of lives. Later on, he rescued even more Jews from concentration camps when he drew up a list of about a thousand Jews with non-existing jobs, and at great risk to himself, convinced the German army that they should not be exterminated as they were vital to the war effort.* (* Materials from the Jewish Virtual Library, A Division of the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise)

What can we learn from the life and times of Schindler that is of relevance today? Of course, we now live in harmonious time, very different from wartime Europe. Our different races live peacefully together, and everyday we go to school, work and play in multi-racial schools, workplaces and other public places.

There are three key learning points that we can draw from this story. The first is Schindler’s ability to look beyond racial and religious differences. He saw that the Jews he protected were just as deserving of respect, dignity and life as other humans. This is a basic quality that we must never lose if we are to be truly human ourselves. Every one of us, regardless of our race or religion, deserves respect, dignity and life. We must look beyond our differences and focus on our common, unique identity as Singaporeans, and every Singaporean counts.

The second learning point is that we should never dismiss our power as individuals. Schindler reached out and rescued the Jews when it was not fashionable to do so. Despite huge pressure and risks, he did what he felt was right. His reaching out to others of a different race and religion was truly life-giving in nature. The peace we enjoy in our multi-racial, multi-religious society lies in our hands. As individuals, each of us must contribute to this harmony by learning to relate to people of other races, to embrace differences, and more importantly, to look for commonalities that make us uniquely Singaporean.

The third point is a broader one. Our human history shows that we can never take racial harmony for granted. The peace and harmony we enjoy today in Singapore did not just happen. In the 1960s, racial riots left an indelible mark in Singapore’s history. Many of us may not have lived through them but I am sure the memories are still fresh in the minds of many older Singaporeans such as your grandparents. Having learned from our past, we have committed to do our best to enhance racial harmony in our society. We have indeed come a long way as our people become culturally more sensitive and respectful of all races. We must continue to look at what more we can do as individuals and as a society, in order to strengthen the multi-racial fabric of our nation. In the face of increasing threats to security around the world, it is even more important for our people of different race and religion to rally together in order to endure challenges.

In Singapore, we have reinforced the importance of racial harmony in schools by designating 21 July as Racial Harmony Day. The theme for this year’s celebration is “Harmony Talks”. Through this theme, we hope that schools would provide platforms for students to engage in quality conversations and deeper interactions with one another so as to strengthen mutual understanding and cohesion.

Our students today are different from those in the past. They are more exposed to a wide range of experiences, more confident, vocal and technologically savvy, and want to be engaged in a different way. Schools are therefore faced with the challenge of making NE more meaningful and relevant to the students. To help students relate better to NE, schools need to have a good understanding of their students and customise NE activities to suit their needs, profiles and interests. I want to commend the efforts of Evergreen Secondary School in this regard. For this year’s Racial Harmony celebrations, activities have been customized for students from different levels. The lower Secondary students participated in Community Bonding Games where they learn to communicate with peers from different races and work together to achieve a common goal. The upper secondary students participated in a specially designed lesson to learn about the Ethnic Integration Policy in our public housing estates. Secondary 3 students also had the opportunity to participate in the Harmony Bazaar, held in conjunction with the President’s Challenge, which gave them a hands-on, experiential learning experience in enterprise and service while raising funds for charity. Through all these various experiences catered to the different levels, we can better engage the heads, hearts and hands of our students. When our students are more engaged in NE, we can then better cultivate in them a deeper sense of belonging and emotional rootedness to Singapore.

We should not just think of Racial Harmony issues only in the month of July. Beyond today and beyond this week, we should continue to proactively build bonds with one another. Schools have done much to provide the opportunities for students to learn and experience the importance of racial harmony through classroom learning, Co-Curricular Activities, and programmes such as Learning Journeys and CIP. These efforts must be sustained throughout the year. I encourage schools to involve families and the community in their efforts to foster racial harmony. Schools can draw on the experiences and expertise of the alumni and parent support group to enhance their programmes so as to give the students more meaningful NE experiences.

What then for the individual students? I think it is important for students to seize the opportunities provided by the common space in school and make a special effort to reach out to others. For a start, in order for each of us to be more inclusive, I think that in a multi-racial group, we can all speak English. This is an important signal that we are willing to involve everyone in conversation. Let’s not just share the same canteen. We can eat together at the same table, and enjoy our conversation and friendship with each other. Remember, strengthening racial harmony and enriching our own lives in the process, can start with you and I.

On this note, I would like to wish everyone a meaningful Racial Harmony Day. Thank you.