Speeches
Speech by Dr Ng Eng Hen, Minister for Education and Second Minister for Defence, at the Racial Harmony Day Celebrations at 11.00 am on 21 July 2010 at New Town Secondary School
Ms Yeoh Chee Yan
Second Permanent Secretary
Mr Seah Bak Kheow
Chairman, School Advisory Committee
Mdm Gracia Lim
Chairperson, Parent Support Group
Mdm Neo Lay Wah
Principal, New Town Secondary School
Colleagues, Ladies and Gentlemen
Boys and Girls
Good morning
It gives me great pleasure to join you at New Town Secondary School to commemorate Racial Harmony Day.
Every year, schools in Singapore commemorate Racial Harmony Day on the anniversary of the worst racial riots in Singapore’s history. We do so to remind ourselves that racial harmony does not develop spontaneously. Residents of different races and religions living side by side peacefully here cannot be taken for granted. Building social cohesion is an on-going endeavour.
Challenges to Racial Harmony Today
Generations ago, our forefathers uprooted themselves from their home countries and settled in Singapore. While there were periods of communal tension in our history, over time, we forged a shared destiny, common spaces and identity. Each generation will have to face this same challenge. Disparate groups, both among old and new citizens, shaped by different perspectives and aspirations in life must continually integrate to retain social bonds that forge a nation.
Singapore is a cosmopolitan city plugged into the global economy and the ability to understand, appreciate and work with people from different cultures will be an increasingly important skill. The most natural place to learn to do so is in school. Your classmates from different countries bring different perspectives which can enrich your learning experience. It starts with making friends. This is a two-way process and I hope that both local and international students in our schools will make an effort to reach out and get to know each other.
For Singaporeans, schools are an important common space for nation building where people of different backgrounds can interact and build a sense of common values and identity. As in the real world, social networking sites on the Internet present opportunities to unite or divide. Just this year, three youths were arrested by the police for posting disparaging remarks about another race on Facebook. Such inflammatory incidents can potentially cause ill-feelings. While the youths have since apologised to the respective parties and learnt a precious lesson, all of us must also play our part in condemning and rejecting extreme views which are propagated. This way, we reduce the chance that individuals can become radicalised.
As part of our efforts to inoculate our youths from undesirable influences on the Internet, schools have implemented cyber wellness programmes since 2007. Students are taught to be discerning about online content, and to seek guidance from their parents and teachers should they encounter any inappropriate materials which propagate extreme views. The recent detention of a young self-radicalised Singaporean is a timely reminder of the roles that students, schools and parents can play to reject such views and reduce the likelihood that our youths may be influenced by extremist propaganda over the Internet.
Finally, we need to remain united and vigilant in safeguarding our own security. In May this year, the Indonesian police found during a raid on an extremist group there, plans to target Orchard MRT Station. We have to be vigilant all the time, but these extremist groups only need to succeed once. We must do our utmost to prevent such attacks but also prepare for the aftermath, if they ever happen.
The Community Engagement Programme – Everyone Has a Role
The nation-wide Community Engagement Programme (CEP), launched by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in 2006, seeks to do just that. CEP aims to build up our society’s ability to cope with emergencies, so that we can stay united and recover quickly in the aftermath of any crisis. Every Singaporean has a part to play in whether we remain cohesive and resilient as a society.
I would like to commend the teachers in New Town Secondary School, who have worked to advance the CEP effort in schools. They have put in much effort into developing special lessons, such as the one I was shown earlier, to enhance students’ capacity to respond calmly in times of crisis and facilitate a quick return to normalcy. Various lesson packages, ranging from how to introduce CEP messages through the use of animation clips to how to pack a Ready Bag in preparation for emergencies, have been carefully put together in this educational resource pack, which will be distributed to all schools around Singapore.
This collective effort by the school, cluster and their community partners is a good ground-up initiative to develop common educational resources to engage our youths in CEP. Such initiatives also reflect that government policy alone can only do so much. Hand in hand, we can achieve much more.
Conclusion
This year’s Racial Harmony theme – Embracing Diversity, Building Community – conveys the important role each and every one of us can play in embracing different cultures and traditions as part of our common identity and in building an open and cohesive society.
As we participate in today’s Racial Harmony Day activities, let us take the time to reflect on this underlying message and remind ourselves of the role we each play in maintaining the precious peace and harmony that we enjoy in Singapore.
I wish you all a meaningful Racial Harmony Day. Thank you.