Speech by Mr Masagos Zulkifli BMM, Senior Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Education, at the Racial Harmony Day Celebration in Greenridge Primary School, on Friday, 20 July 2007, at 8.45 am

SPEECH BY MR MASAGOS ZULKIFLI BMM, SENIOR PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, AT THE RACIAL HARMONY DAY CELEBRATION IN GREENRIDGE PRIMARY SCHOOL, ON FRIDAY, 20 JULY 2007, AT 8.45 AM

1. I am delighted to be here in Greenridge Primary School this morning to celebrate Racial Harmony Day. This year, three schools play host to MOE officials and senior management at their RHD celebrations. This is an encouraging indication of grounds-up initiative and ownership from the schools.

2. The theme for this year’s RH Day is “Harmony Talks”. This theme reflects the importance of deep conversations and quality interactions in developing understanding of one another’s culture and religion. When members of different race and religion understand and appreciate one another better, there will be greater trust and unity among our people. This is certainly not something we can take for granted. Many of us have not personally experienced the 1960s racial riots but our grandparents may still remember them. We must learn from this painful experience and work hard to ensure that our people from different race and religion respect one another and live together peacefully.

3. Schools are the common spaces where students learn, play together and build lasting friendships that go beyond their primary schooling years. Hence, schools and teachers play an important role in providing opportunities for students to interact through fun and meaningful learning activities. To better engage our students and help them better relate to issues affecting Singapore, teachers can use different mediums to create a range of experiences to interest and spark their imagination. I am happy that I will be seeing a good example of this at today’s celebration in Greenridge Primary where students learn important lessons on racial harmony through a specially designed video clip, an online learning platform, short skits and games. I understand that these learning activities, which are aptly themed ‘Learning in Harmony’, have been specially designed by the teachers to engage their students to better understand our heritage, and appreciate the different cultures and customs that are uniquely Singapore.

4. The innovative spirit of the teachers here in Greenridge is also an example of teachers taking ownership and embarking on innovation and experimentation to design resources and activities to engage their students deeper in NE. As educators, we can impact our students’ NE experience through the way we interact with them and the activities and resources we create to deliver NE. The Funtastick Harmony Programme package produced by the teachers in Greenridge Primary teaches the values of cohesion, care and concern in an experientially engaging way so that the learning points will be more memorable for students. The core group of teachers who started the journey of customising resources for their students since 2005 has sparked innovation amongst other teachers to improve the content and delivery of NE, inspiring and motivating them with their passion in NE.

5. Bonding among the stakeholders in education is also important to ensure that values are reinforced and our students are developed holistically. Through events such as today’s RH celebration, students, teachers, parents and members of the community come together to interact and experience different sights, tastes and colours that are familiar to Singaporeans. Schools, parents and the community complement one another in reinforcing the message that when there is understanding and respect for our cultural and religious diversity, we can live together in harmony and Singapore will continue to prosper and strive.

6. Today’s celebration is also special because we are celebrating the launch of the storybook for children titled ‘A Giving Heart’. This is the third in a series of storybooks published by the Inter-Religious Harmony Circle or IRHC. The IRHC, chaired by Member of Parliament, Mr Chan Soo Sen, comprises leaders from major faiths in Singapore. The IRHC has produced storybooks for children with universal values of the different religions since 2005. This year’s storybook, ‘A Giving Heart’ is filled with stories and fables that exhibit the values of sharing and giving, compiled from the major religious communities in Singapore. This will be a useful resource for teachers. We want to congratulate the IRHC for their efforts in this area

7. I am happy to note that Greenridge Primary, which was awarded the prestigious Lee Kuan Yew NE Award in 2005, is committed to making NE meaningful for its students. I encourage the school and the teachers to continue to innovate and experiment with new initiatives, and to collaborate with the parents, the alumni and the community to leverage on their experience and expertise to make NE alive for your students. I would also like to encourage you to take the lead to inspire other schools and teachers in their NE efforts.

8. I would like to end with a poem by Ila Parvin. This poem brings out the point that members of different races and religions must stand together, bonded as one people. Otherwise, we would be vulnerable and fall prey to external forces trying to cause division and confusion in our society.

            Once upon a time there lived a merchant
            He had five sons who were his descendants
            They asked their father for their own share
            Cos congestion of space they couldn't bare
            The wise father laid a bet
            So that in future they don't regret

            He asked his sons each stick to get
            Which he would use for his bet
            The father told his son, "Break these."
            And they broke each one with perfect ease
            The father gathered the sticks from each
            And tied a bundle to make them teach
            The bundle of five was so strong

            No one was able to break that bond
            They tried and tried and tried again
            It wasn't possible, it was a pain
            This is a moral we must recall
            United we stand divided we fall.

10. Indeed, when we stand united as one people, seeing each one of us as Singaporean and not as an Indian, a Malay, Chinese or Eurasian, we become stronger like the bundle of five sticks and we can succeed.

11. I wish everyone here a meaningful Racial Harmony Day celebration. Thank you.