PA's Community Engagement Programme (CEP) Workshops
12 March 2008
Below are some of the key excerpts from speeches made by the respective Guests-of Honour at the five District workshops organised by the People assciation in Mar and Apr 2008.
North West District
“Building Our Networks of Trust”
Mr Lim Swee Say, Minister, Prime Minister’s Office, Member of Parliament (Holland-Bukit Timah GRC) Adviser to Holland-Bukit Timah GROs
“The best way for us to respond to any crisis, is to strengthen the trust in the community. The stronger the trust in our community, the more difficult it will be for them to weaken the trust and inject mistrust.”
North East District
“Strengthening Bonds & Trust”
Mr Teo Chee Hean, Minister for Defence, Member of Parliament (Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC)Adviser to Pasir Ris-Punggol GROs
“Therefore our work here is to strengthen the bonds and trust among Singaporeans, so that such threats will never divide us.”
Central Singapore District
“Kampong Spirit”
Associate Professor Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources & Minister-in-Charge of Muslim Affairs, Member of Parliament (Jalan Besar GRC), Adviser to Kolam Ayer GROs
“There is a saying in Malay for this “Bersatu teguh, bercerai roboh” [Together we are strong, divided we break]. And there is also a saying in Tamil: “Ondru pattaal undu vaalvu” [If we come together as one, our lives will be successful].”
South West District
“Interest Groups”
Mr Lim Boon Heng, Minister, Prime Minister’s Office, Member of Parliament (Jurong GRC) Adviser to Jurong GRC GROs
“For people to bond in the community, they should be active and regular members of social groups. This includes interest groups. Through such social groups, the Grassroots can reach out and strengthen the communities’ understanding of our multi-racial multi-religious make-up.”
South East District
“Tolerance and Trust”
Mr Abdullah Tarmugi, Speaker of Parliament, Member of Parliament (East Coast GRC)Adviser to East Coast GRC GROs
“We are not just merely talking about tolerance, but we are also talking about acceptance and understanding. But I think we should go beyond that, to create a bonding, to create a trust we should go beyond tolerance, passive tolerance. I think that is where the test between trust and tolerance appears.”
Lianhe Zaobao - 28 Constituencies Set Up System to Handle Emergencies
THE response of Singaporeans to the escape of Jemaah Islamiah (JI) leader Mas Selamat Kastari received an A+ yesterday.
Minister Lim Swee Say, who described the escape as a test in inter-racial cohesion, said Singaporeans passed it 'with flying colours'.
He noted that people worked as one, without any finger-pointing, to search for the JI leader who escaped from the Whitley Road Detention Centre on Feb27.
'Did they take a position based on their racial or religious groups and draw the line? They did not,' he pointed out.
Mr Lim, Minister in the Prime Minister's Office, was speaking to about 250 grassroots and community leaders at an event that underlines Singapore's unrelenting effort to maintain social cohesion.
The event is part of the People's Association's Community Engagement Programme (CEP).Mr Lim is in charge of the CEP, which identifies key community leaders who can be mobilised via SMS. They, in turn, will reach out to residents, schools and religious organisations.
Four CEP Ready constituencies were recognised yesterday in the first of a series of sessions. They were: Buona Vista, Canberra, Zhenghua and Marsiling in the north-west district.
Mr Lim is an MP for Holland-Bukit Timah GRC, which lies in the district.
In his speech, he warned against complacency, saying: 'We should not assume we will always be able to pass the test in the future.'
He posed this scenario to the gathering at the Ulu Pandan Community Club: 'What if, one day, a big bomb were to go off in Holland Village, which is not very far from here?
'What if it is a deliberate act of terrorism by a group hiding behind the banner of a particular religion or race? How would we respond?'
Terrorists, he noted, do not aim just to damage property or take lives. Their intention is to 'destroy the trust in the community across the various racial and religious groups'.
Building trust is therefore paramount. Right now, there may exist 'pockets of trust' among Singaporeans, he said.
But, he added, 'there will be gaps where terrorists can inject mistrust'.
The CEP hopes to frustrate them by closing the gaps and 'linking up the pockets into a network of trust', he added.
Tonight, another five constituencies in the north-east will receive their CEP Ready certificates from Defence Minister Teo Chee Hean.
In all, 28 constituencies would have received such certificates by next month, which is one in three constituencies.
Last night, grassroots leaders raised several issues in a dialogue with MrLim, and MPs Liang Eng Hwa (Holland-Bukit Timah GRC) and Lim Wee Kiak (Sembawang GRC).
One was the reliability of the mobilisation system: What would happen if the SMS alerts do not get through?
Mr Lim said media coverage would create awareness of a crisis, but agreed there was a need to have back-up plans.
Mr Liang and Dr Lim were asked about grassroots perceptions of Mas Selamat's escape.
Mr Liang said his grassroots leaders saw it as a national threat and did not associate it with any particular racial group, while Dr Lim said his team had distributed fliers to residents and worshippers at mosques and temples.
Note : No reproduction or downloading of this Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) article is allowed in any medium. Permission has to be obtained from SPH.
Please click here for the article written by Akilan Shanmugaratnam and Bradley Soh, Youth Reporters from Hwa Chong Institution on the PA’s Grassroots CEP South West District Workshop on 04 April 2008.
