Mr Steven Chia, Chairman of the 39th YMCA PESA Organising Committee 2026, and Director, YMCA of Singapore,
Mr Kenneth Tan, President, YMCA of Singapore,
Ms Wu Mei Ling, General Secretary & CEO, YMCA of Singapore,
Members of the Organising Committee,
Colleagues from the Ministry of Education,
Judges,
1.Our very commendable speakers and their supporters, all the eloquent people on stage who have demonstrated not just wonderful oratorical skills, but their ability to write and compose. As Mr Kenneth Tan was saying, it is harder to write a short story than it is an essay.
Introduction
2.This is a great celebration of the achievements of our prize winners, the winners of the 2026 Plain English Speaking Awards competition, or PESA.
3.It is a ceremony that I have been looking forward to, partly because I have not had a chance to attend it before and was wondering what it would be like. It ended up being entertaining, interesting, moving, emotional, and educational – I suspect not so different from the experiences of some of our learners who went through the journey that they described. I was struck not only by how well they wrote and how well they spoke, but by how much of themselves they allowed us to see.
4.Listening to each of you today has given all of us here a fuller sense of who you are. That is a pleasure that is only possible because you have spoken from your own experiences and in your own unique voice. It is something to be proud of.
The Challenge of Authenticity and its Value
5.Let me begin by commending each of you for standing up here and offering us a glimpse into your inner world. It takes effort to turn thoughts into words and it takes craft to shape those words well. It also takes courage to stand before a room of strangers and speak out loud.
6.This is all the more impressive in today’s world. We live in a world increasingly shaped by social media, where there is a strong pull towards sounding polished, where we are driven to say what is expected, where sometimes presenting only the most carefully curated version of ourselves seems like the right thing to do – it can become easy to reach for words that sound right, and hard to reach for words that are true.
7.In such a world, there is great value in speaking plainly and honestly. If you had hidden behind perfect sounding words today, we might have heard polished speeches, but we would have missed what makes each of your stories very distinctive. Your authenticity helps us hear your voice, and hear voices that are thoughtful, honest and different. And that matters, especially today.
The Enduring Value of PESA as a Platform for Authenticity
8.I am grateful to YMCA for continuing to provide this platform where young people are encouraged not only to speak well, but to speak in their own voice.
9.Across the competition, you have heard how our young speakers explored a wide range of topics, drawing from everyday experiences – favourite meals, their parents, and school life – to much larger questions about their place in the world, and their hopes for the future.
10.As the school level categories progress, the topics become more challenging. They invite our speakers to go beyond describing what they observe, and to consider what it means, what they believe, how they might contribute, and how they might make a difference. This is especially since our older speakers had the opportunity to embark on experiential learning, as they referenced several times in their speeches. They spoke about how they went out into the world, met someone, something, or some circumstance that they did not expect to understand, and came back with something they could not have learned any other way. And then they crafted a story to bring us along on that journey.
11.You do not have to wait until you are older to help shape Singapore’s future. You are already doing so each time you speak with courage, honesty and conviction. I encourage you to keep doing that.
Anchoring Authenticity in Shared Values
12.You are the voices who will shape Singapore’s future, and it is also worth remembering those who have come before you. We are a nation built by pioneers and nation-builders who had the courage to speak plainly about what they believed, and who worked with others to turn those convictions into something larger than themselves. Their voices and actions helped to shape the Singapore that we know today, the Singapore that you are growing up in, the Singapore that has created the opportunity for you to find your voice, experience stories, and bring people along with you.
13.But you will have to find your voice in a very different world from the one our pioneers knew, and you will have to continue to find your voice in a world that is changing very rapidly. Technology will evolve, and the economy will shift. You will face challenges such as climate change, an ageing population and global uncertainty. Tomorrow will bring other challenges that we cannot yet foresee.
14.In such a changing world, your voice will matter most when it is anchored in shared values. Some things will not change. The relationship between children and their parents will not change, and the view of the older generation about how the next generation may have it a little bit easier, anchored in some degree of forgetting what we felt like when we were kids, probably will not change either. The importance of inspiring the next generation will not change, nor will the need for authenticity – speaking from personal experience but also using your voice thoughtfully – change; to understand each other, to build a common good, and to serve something larger than yourself.
15.When your voice is rooted in who you are, and guided by what you value together, it can help write our next chapter, as a people, as a country, and as Singapore. This cannot be told in someone else’s words, we must all find our own way of saying this, and as a society, we must do so as well. It must come from our young people who know who they are, who have thought carefully about what they believe, and who can say it so plainly, honestly, and with confidence. That is why a platform like PESA matters. It helps young people find words that are truly their own, the courage to speak them, and the opportunity to inspire all of us.
Closing
16.Earlier today, I have watched young people make themselves seen, manage their nerves, find their footing, speak with purpose, make us laugh, and bring us to the verge of tears. That is not easy. Standing in front of an audience and sharing something honest about yourself requires courage.
17.To our winners today: congratulations. You have demonstrated excellence and resilience, and you should be very proud of what you have achieved.
18.I also want to congratulate everybody that contributed to this process; every participant, every parent, every teacher, everyone who discovered that they had something to say, and who put in the work to say so clearly, confidently, and in their own voice.
19.Let me leave you with this challenge: Do not stop here. Continue to find your own voice. Continue to speak honestly, thoughtfully, and in your own words. And use that voice well – for yourself, for all of us, and for Singapore.
20.Thank you all very much.