Speech by Mr Masagos Zulkifli, Senior Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Education, at the Opening Ceremony of the Racial Harmony Day Anchor Event at Innova Junior College on Saturday, 22 July 2006, at 8.30 am

SPEECH BY MR MASAGOS ZULKIFLI , SENIOR PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, AT THE OPENING CEREMONY OF THE RACIAL HARMONY DAY ANCHOR EVENT AT INNOVA JUNIOR COLLEGE ON SATURDAY, 22 JULY 2006, AT 8.30AM

Distinguished guests,

Colleagues,

Student participants,

Ladies and gentlemen

Good morning.

1 It is my pleasure to join you this morning at Innova JC for Racial Harmony Day 2006. To start us thinking about what racial harmony is, let me start off with a story.

2 There was once a king who sent his two sons on a mission to find out what people in the neighbouring kingdom were like. When they came back, the first son shared how the neighbouring people were different from his own people: how they looked different with their flat noses and small mouths, ate different with food cooked in spices unique to the land, spoke different with their unique dialects. The king thanked his first son for his insights and turned to his second son for his observations.

3 The second son looked a bit hesitant as he started out, “Father, I didn’t realize we were supposed to look for differences. What I noticed was how similar our neighbours were to us. Like us, they work hard to earn a living and try to give their children the very best. Like us, they love football, love a good joke and love their food. Like us, they are kind to the poor and care for the sick and elderly. Like us, they make loyal friends.” The king asked his second son how he managed to find out so much. The son replied, “I made friends with them.”

4 How is this story related to racial harmony? Like the two sons in the story, we can focus on how different we are from people of other races. Or, we can choose to appreciate how the same we all are. On the surface we may appear different and in Singapore, we have come a long way in learning to appreciate the unique customs and traditions of the different races. This is good as our differences are what make us unique and are an important part of who we are.

5 But if we choose to look beneath the surface, we will realise how the same we are. We are all human beings with hopes, dreams and struggles, who can feel the same depths of joy and sadness. If we look at the different communities, whatever the ethnic group, we will find common values like honesty, hard work, and filial piety. If you have friends of other races, I am sure you will find even more in common -- common interests, likes and dislikes and the many experiences which you share.

6 I would like to say more about the importance of having friends of other races. As king’s second son did in the story I shared, take the many opportunities you find in school -- in class, CCAs, CIP, camps, etc -- to make many friends of other races. Without friendship, we will always look at people of other races superficially. Once you become friends, things will be different as you learn to trust one another, depend on one another and even defend one another. This friendship “glue” is really the key to racial harmony.

7 This year’s Racial Harmony Day theme is “Tuning in to HarmonyLIVE!”. There are many ways to look at this interesting theme. First, let me focus on “tuning in”. The picture that comes to mind is that of a radio, allowing us to tune in to different channels -- to listen to classical music, pop music, local news, world news and talk shows. All of us are like radios; we can choose to tune in to the positive about others, or the negative. HarmonyLIVE is also about living racial harmony out in everyday life. Today, we will be witnessing harmony in action on the basketball courts, soccer field and the different locations where students from all schools have fun together.

8 Today is just one day. What happens tomorrow and the days after are what is more important. For every student here, remember to use the many opportunities in school to make many friends of other races. Learning to relate with others across race, language and religion is important on a personal level, but also when you go to work. It is also important for the future of multiracial Singapore.

9 Schools will continue to play a crucial role in providing a positive environment for friendships across races to blossom. Like what we will experience today, this can be done through sports and games. It can also be done through conversational language classes. MOE has just trained a number of Secondary 3 Higher Chinese students from Cedar Girls, Crescent Girls and Raffles Girls School during the June holidays, to conduct Conversational Chinese classes this term for non-Chinese students from 13 primary schools. This is part of the new Conversational Mother Tongue Languages (MTL) Programme to promote the learning of conversational MTL in Primary Schools. The distinctive feature of this programme is that student trainers take on the role of teachers in teaching Conversational MTL in the classroom. The objective of the programme is to teach interested students how to speak simple Mandarin or Malay which they can use in everyday situations to make friends. The corresponding Conversational Malay Programme will be rolled out later this term. This programme to teach Malay comprises Secondary student trainers from Pasir Ris Crest Secondary School and Riverside Secondary. These student trainers will be working in pairs to teach students from selected primary schools in the north and east zone.[1]

10 Schools are not alone in the quest to promote racial harmony. Today, we have some of our partners in education, MCYS, South East CDC, NEXUS, National Heritage Board, Singapore Discovery Centre to showcase their resources and activities in promoting racial harmony. Several NE award-winning schools have also put up exhibits to share their best practices in racial harmony. There is much we can learn from one another on how to do things better especially in fostering understanding and friendship across race and background.

11 Parents also play an equally crucial role as parents greatly influence how their children view other races. With the Community Engagement Programme, there will be many activities and programmes organised by the larger community to strengthen inter-racial bonds. Parents, you may want to consider bringing your children to the various grassroots activities to help them experience our multi-racial society and get to know more people of different races in your neighbourhood.

12 Besides racial harmony, we are also committed to maintaining religious harmony in Singapore. Following the success of last year’s inaugural storybook ‘Colours of Harmony’, the Inter-Religious Harmony Circle or IRHC is launching a second storybook entitled ‘Colours of Love.’ The objective of the book is to share with our young and old, the messages of love, compassion and kindness, which are values central to the heart of all the major religions in Singapore. These books have been distributed to all primary schools. I am happy to launch this book today.

13 Finally, I want to take this opportunity to thank the various schools and their partners in the community for their enthusiastic and generous support for this event. I also want to specially thank the students from the Junior Colleges, Integrated Programme schools, Polytechnics and ITE who have volunteered much time and effort to be group leaders at this event, and more importantly, be role models of harmony in action for their young charges. You have indeed contributed a major part to HarmonyLIVE.

14 In conclusion, I would like us to remember that racial and religious harmony is an ongoing journey; we can never say we have arrived as there will always be room for us to become better friends and better countrymen, regardless of race and background. Racial and religious harmony is a whole community effort; everyone has a part to play, no matter how small, in becoming “one united people”, undivided by race, language or religion.

15 On this note, I wish you all a wonderful time at this event.

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[1] These student trainers have received 10 hours of prior training and will be working in pairs to teach a class of 15 to 20 primary 5 students.