MINISTER MENTOR UNVEILED SYMBOL OF RACIAL HARMONY AND SOCIAL GRACIOUSNESS
A permanent structure, symbolising Singaporeans’ commitment to racial harmony and social graciousness, was unveiled by Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew this evening. Located at Bishan Active, the 9-feet tall star-shaped structure contains pledges made by Singaporeans to live in harmony as one gracious society.
2 The nationwide pledge drive was launched on 1 July 2009 as part of the month-long National Orange Ribbon Celebration (NORC) on racial harmony. In a short span of 18 days, a total of more than 150,000 pledges were received from Singaporeans of all ages, race and religions. The online platform of the pledge drive attracted a significant number of positive messages from young Singaporeans.
3 Mr Zainudin Nordin, Mayor of Central Singapore District and Chairman of OnePeople.sg said “the pledge drive presented an opportunity for all Singaporeans to show that we are a gracious society. I am touched by the wave of people who readily came forward to share how deeply they valued racial harmony and the ways in which they were committed to uphold these values. It was a rallying call by the people for harmony to last forever in Singapore.”
4 As Singapore would be hosting the world’s first Youth Olympic Games in 2010, NORC 2009 also promoted sports as a means of bridging people regardless of race and religion. Themed “Many Races, One Gracious Community”, NORC 2009 connected many Singaporeans with the Olympic values of Excellence, Friendship and Respect. It highlighted Singapore’s cultural diversity, encouraged active participation in community outreach programmes and raised greater awareness of sports and our athletes.
5 Singaporeans who have yet to make their pledges and wish to show their support for the National Orange Ribbon movement can still do so online at http://orangeribbon.onepeople.sg/2009. The online pledge drive will continue up to the Singapore Youth Olympic Games in August 2010.
Issued by: NORC 2009 Organising Committee*
* Spearheaded by OnePeople.sg, in partnership with the Community Development Councils (CDCs), Self-Help Groups, People’s Association, Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS) and Ministry of Education (MOE).
The Sunday Times - Racial harmony is not a given: MM, PM
19 July 2009
Both touch on threat of terrorism and the need to stay dedicated to living peacefully
By Jeremy Au Yong
They spoke separately yesterday at different events to different crowds.
But both Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had the same stark reminder for Singaporeans: Do not take racial harmony for granted.
The harmony Singapore had worked so hard to build could be destroyed by a single flashpoint, like a terrorist attack, they warned.
Speaking at the National Orange Ribbon Celebrations in Bishan, MM Lee told the crowd he would dispense with the speech prepared for him by one of the ministries.
'It's a subject so fundamental, I better speak straight from the heart,' he said.
The Minister Mentor went on to speak passionately for half an hour about the challenges Singapore faced from its earliest days, to build trust between the races.
He said the first important decision the Government made was to break up the old racial enclaves and scatter Singaporeans among neighbours of various races when it resettled them in the public housing estates it built.
Singapore has come a long way since but MM Lee stressed yesterday that it was not yet a nation.
'Over time we have become one community with many races, many cultures... Are we a nation yet? I would not say we are,' he said.
'We are in transition. But we will always progress provided we know where we are and what we have to do to get there.'
To drive home his point, he even took aim at the multi-racial performances at the event.
They were a contrived effort which represented an ideal.
'This is an ideal which we may never completely reach, but because we have this ideal, we will continue to make progress,' he said.
The Minister Mentor said his fear was that the good work could come undone with one terrorist attack.
If a Malay-Muslim Jemaah Islamiah member blew up a bomb in an MRT station and the blast killed more Chinese and Indians than Malays, it would lead to non-Muslims distancing themselves from Muslims out of fear.
That was what happened in Britain after the 2005 London bombings, he said.
Over at another event at Ang Mo Kio GRC, the Prime Minister warned that the terror threat was ever evolving.
He cited last year's attacks in Mumbai and Friday's blasts in Jakarta as examples of terrorists' new tactics. In Jakarta, the suicide bombers actually checked into the hotel they planned to target and assembled the bomb in their hotel room.
'So new tactics, new approaches, new ways of doing evil, bad deeds and we must be prepared for them to try this sort of thing on us, and we must be prepared to resist it and prevent it.
'First, prevent it from happening, and if despite all our efforts it still happens, prevent it from damaging our society, fracturing our racial harmony, pulling us apart, making us fight each other and destroy the whole country,' he said.
Noting that it has been 40 years since the last racial riots here, he said: 'Sometimes if we don't remind ourselves, we may think that this (peace) is a natural state of affairs which has happened by itself and which will continue by itself.
'But it is not like that. It is something special in the world.'
Over at Bishan, MM Lee unveiled a 9-feet tall star-shaped structure containing 150,000 little paper stars, each one with a Singaporean's written pledge to live in harmony.
An inscription on the structure carried MM Lee's own pledge: 'Harmony is a base for stability, growth and progress.'
Staying vigilant
'Sometimes if we don't remind ourselves, we may think that this (peace) is a natural state of affairs which has happened by itself and which will continue by itself. But it is not like that. It is something special in the world.'
