20 July 2002

ADDRESS BY RADM TEO CHEE HEAN, MINISTER FOR EDUCATION & SECOND MINISTER FOR DEFENCE AT THE RACIAL HARMONY GAMES DAY ON 20 JULY 2002 AT TAMPINES JUNIOR COLLEGE @ 8.30 AM

Racial Harmony Day falls on 21 July. All our schools celebrate Racial Harmony Day as a day when we appreciate Singapore's racial cohesion. It is also a day for reflection and an opportunity to recall and learn from the events of the racial riots we experienced in 1964. Racial Harmony Day emphasizes the importance of maintaining peaceful relations amongst our various racial groups and reminds us that we must never take the racial harmony we enjoy for granted.

2 In the recent past, we have witnessed a number of inter-racial and inter-religious conflicts, both in the region and beyond. They are grim reminders of how critical but difficult it is to build and sustain a harmonious society out of diversity. In Singapore, we have continued to enjoy peace and stability. But, this has not come about by a stroke of luck. Neither is it a given. The peace and stability that we enjoy today is the result of years of efforts in strengthening our tolerance and understanding of the various races. We will have to continue to work hard on it. Indeed, our task has become even more challenging now that the global environment has made the centrifugal pull of race and religion much more potent.

3 Ours is a country that can be characterised as 4 overlapping circles, held together by strong social bonding. We must see beyond our race and religion, and keep on renewing and strengthening the social glue that binds us. Where we can enlarge the common space amongst the different communities, we should do so. At the very least, we should strive to maintain the common space that we now enjoy. The protection of the common space will help provide unity in diversity and be a bulwark against any forces that may attempt to drive wedges between our communities and pull us apart.

4 Schools, with their wide outreach to our children in their formative years are important institutions where social bonding takes place. There are already many activities and programmes in schools to promote racial understanding. National Junior College, for example, has adopted an integrated approach to consciously expose students and staff to different cultural activities. Non-Chinese students in NJC are exposed to Chinese calligraphy, while the Chinese and Indian students learn the art of ketupat weaving, and the non-Indian community participated in the Rangoli Competition. Such on-going efforts which can also be found in other schools are commendable and should certainly be sustained.

5 Nevertheless, there is scope for us to further deepen and broaden inter-racial mixing and understanding in our schools. The cultural tolerance and racial harmony we enjoy cannot be taken for granted. Merely being tolerant of each other's culture is not good enough. To strengthen our social glue, we must move beyond tolerance to appreciation and understanding. Through this understanding we should search for and build upon the underlying common aspirations we have as Singaporeans to bond and unite us.

6 We should discover that deep down inside we are more alike than we are different, and that we can and will work towards a shared vision for the future.

7 Through activities that encourage pupils of different races to live, learn and play together, such as camping and uniformed group activities, schools can help pupils to break out of their comfort zone, learn to face challenges and overcome difficulties together, and develop strong bonds that transcend ethnicity.

8 To gradually increase the common space, schools must provide our children with a set of common experiences and shared values, so that they will come to identify themselves as Singaporeans. By focusing on our collective aspirations and common destiny, we will learn to look beyond the differences that exist among us and see the commonalities that bind us. Over time, the amount of overlap in the four circles will grow but at a pace that our communities are comfortable with.

9 The home plays an equally important role in inculcating racial understanding. Parents are critical partners in this process of educating their children to appreciate and respect other cultures. They can help to strengthen the schools' efforts and be powerful role models for their children. The impact of our efforts will be much greater if the messages from schools are reinforced at home. I am therefore happy to note that some Parent Support Groups are already actively partnering schools in strengthening racial harmony and understanding. During the Mooncake Festival in Admiralty Primary School, for example, the parent volunteers not only bought halal mooncakes to share with the pupils but they also helped to explain the significance of this festival to the other parents at the event. Many of these parent volunteers are themselves non-Chinese but they had learnt about the Mooncake festival from their previous years of involvement in the school celebration.

10 The Committee on Strengthening Racial Harmony in Schools (CSRHS) chaired by Parliamentary Secretary, Mr Hawazi Daipi, was set up this year to promote broader inter-racial understanding and mixing. The Committee has organised this Games Day to show how through games, we can promote Racial Harmony. I wholeheartedly support this. Playing together, competing in the right spirit, taking knocks from each other, cheering each other on, congratulating the winners, and encouraging the losers, these are all ways in which we can break down barriers and strengthen the bonds and friendships between us. I am sure as you enjoy the games together with friends from the different races, you will learn not to take our social stability for granted and discover the importance of "Harmony in Diversity".