The Straits Times - Community bonding moves starting to click
25 March 2007
By Zakir Hussain
Wong Kan Seng 'heartened' by year-old CEP scheme, launches new website
WHEN the Community Engagement Programme, or CEP, was launched a year ago, grassroots leader GillanTeo, 53, had his doubts.
The freelance hiring consultant feared the scheme, designed to bond people so they are better prepared to tackle communal tensions after a terror attack, would be slow to take off.
A year on, he was glad to hear otherwise at a closed-door seminar updating 500 community leaders on efforts to deepen trust across racial and religious lines.
For instance, Chinese business and clan leaders have a task force to reach out to the Malay community, and Muslim groups have held seminars to educate youth about the dangers of extremism.
Yesterday, the programme got another fillip when its website www.singaporeunited.sg was launched by Deputy Prime Minister and Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng.
"The CEP needs to be a ground-up effort with the Government facilitating it. It is encouraging to see that many different groups have responded," he said.
The website aims to raise participation in the CEP.
It will have details of events, from inter-faith dialogues to emergency preparedness exercises, and a forum for community leaders to share views on projects.
Said Mr Wong, who chairs a ministerial committee on the CEP: "Looking back after one year, I am impressed and heartened by what I see."
"While no one can guarantee we will be resilient enough to withstand any strain or shock to our society, I know that the CEP raises the odds in our favour," he said.
And while events outside Singapore tested ethnic relations over the past year, "on the whole, Singaporeans of all races and religions behaved responsibly and acted always with restraint."
Although it was natural for people to feel empathy for others in distress, they could extend aid through responsible channels, but "must not cross the line".
"The line is simple – our priority is to our own society and the safety and security of Singaporeans, regardless of their race or religion... We must not cross the line to support radical organisations preaching religious hatred of others or participate in terrorist acts of violence against others," he said.
Self-radicalised terrorists were a new phenomenon threatening the world, he added, noting that Muslim religious leaders had been robust in countering radical views that distorted Islam.
It was also important to have a network of trust and vigilance to "nip trouble in the bud whenever possible", he said.
Individuals offered help too, he noted, citing The Straits Times' senior executive artist Miel Prudencio Rosales Jr, who sent in a cartoon poster on the CEP. That poster will be displayed islandwide in the four official languages.
But, Mr Wong cautioned, the programme would always be a work in progress.
Punggol South Inter-Racial Confidence Circle chairman Sebastian Chua, 44, agreed. Said the secondary school teacher: "Bonding activities to learn about our differences and similarities have to be a regular thing."
