"The heart of the CEP is really the many people and groups on the ground who compose it by expressing it in their own way, through their diverse activities and efforts. Working together has always been the Singapore way. It has led us to achieve many things including a remarkable society on any count, enjoying ethnic harmony, safety and security in a troubled world. Let us work always for a Singapore United" - Mr Wong Kan Seng, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs, and Chairman of the Ministerial Committee on Community Engagement.
OPENING ADDRESS BY MR WONG KAN SENG, DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER AND MINISTER FOR HOME AFFAIRS, AT THE NATIONAL COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT PROGRAMME SEMINAR ON SATURDAY 3 MAY 2008, 10.00 AM, AT GRAND COPTHORNE WATERFRONT HOTEL GRAND BALLROOM
CEP Community Leaders,
Colleagues,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Good morning.
Progress of CEP Concept and Approach
2 It has been two years since the Community Engagement Programme or CEP was launched. Since then, the programme has expanded both deeper and wider through the efforts of all its various stakeholders.
3 For a start, the CEP framework was itself an enlargement of the “stakeholder groups” involved in the development of communal harmony and emergency preparedness. In the past, these were typically the domain of grassroots organizations at the constituency level, working with the People’s Association and the Home Team, in particular the Police and SCDF. The CEP has broadened this to co-opt new associated groupings or clusters to address and promote the same aims in a nationally coordinated manner. These new groups come under the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Community, Youth and Sports, Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts, and the Ministry of Manpower.
4 However the key to the growth of the CEP over the last 2 years has really been the response from the ground. We recognised early that while Government leadership was important, in order for the CEP to be self-sustaining, it had to be meaningful to the people on the ground who are mobilized to respond and participate in it. Ground level initiatives therefore must be the focus, no matter how diverse they may be. This may sometimes look untidy but it is real, authentic and vibrant.
5 For the CEP to succeed and to be sustained therefore, we need the various groups in our society to take ownership and develop actionable products and programmes. Examples are those done by Nee Soon South and the Inter-Racial and Religious Confidence Circle (or IRCC) in Eunos under its Kampung Spirit@Eunos programme. The Guidebook for the MOM cluster is also the outcome of the Tripartite Panel's deliberations. These are just some examples; there are many more as you saw in the video on the “CEP Journey” and as I hope you will see in the mini-exhibition outside.
6 Ground level initiatives are the principal source of the CEP’s real strength and effectiveness. In this connection, the Government’s role is to facilitate and to support such initiatives and development on the ground. We will offer resources and guidance where needed. It is through these efforts and initiatives of ordinary persons and diverse groups in our society that enable us to grow and weave the networks of trust which will sustain us in times of crisis. Resilience resides not just in our operational or psychological preparedness for a crisis but ultimately, in a cohesive social fabric based on trust among our communities and their confidence and trust in the Government.
CEP Key Thrusts and Buzz
7 Over the last 2 years, the CEP Secretariat in MHA and all the clusters have focussed on three strategic thrusts in developing the CEP. These are firstly, increasing awareness and building networks of trust, secondly developing capability and thirdly, building operational readiness.
Increasing Awareness and Building Networks of Trust
8 Community groups have organised activities ranging from the more serious conventions to the softer outreach through sports. For example, Taman Bacaan and its partners have organised a number of youth conventions to educate students on counter extremism. Schools such as the Hwa Chong Institution, Greenridge Secondary School, Telok Kurau Secondary School, West Spring Secondary School and Zhenghua Secondary School co-organised a soccer tournament called Harmony Cup to foster racial harmony among students. I understand that they are continuing the programme this year. The Home United Football Club (or HUFC) initiated a “Harmony Through Soccer” programme, working with the Harmony Centre and the Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery, to organise visits for students on the HUFC programme for youths. All these activities have brought people, in particular, youths together to strengthen bonds and build networks of trust from young.
9 The CEP has also fostered more inter-faith activities, which we encourage. I understand that in May last year, the Hindu Endowments Board and the Little India Shopkeepers and Heritage Association as well as Jamiyah Singapore joined in the Vesak festival activities organised by the Singapore Buddhist Lodge which culminated in a candle-light procession involving participants of other faiths. More recently in January this year, at the Thaipusam festival, Singapore Buddhist Lodge volunteers helped as road marshals along the kavadi procession route.
10 At the cluster lead level, the cluster lead agencies have also conducted workshops or training programmes tailored to their community leaders, while MOM has produced a CEP guidebook for business and union leaders which it launched at its CEP workshop last month. Such events are also useful forums for community leaders to interact with one another and enhance rapport and understanding.
Capability Development – Training and New Programmes
11 In the area of capability development, the CEP secretariat rolled out the Community Engagement Executive Development or CEED Programme to equip CEP community leaders and practitioners with the necessary skills and knowledge. This has been in response to the feedback from you right at the beginning, that community leaders need training to help manage and calm the ground at times of communal tension. Thus far, 44 community leaders have gone through the CEED Programme, and 45 cluster lead officers have gone through CEP training. Two more CEED programmes will be held this year. Some of you who attended the first course in January gave valuable feedback that we have taken in to finetune the programme. We are also following up on a good suggestion that some made, that is, to conduct a “Train the CEP Community Trainer” programme among the CEED Programme graduates so that they can, in turn, go back to their clusters and help to train other community leaders.
12 We have also had good response and much enthusiasm from the Mediacorp Radio deejays at a CEP workshop conducted for them. Many asked for training in crisis management, counselling, mediation and ethnicity matters so that they can be better equipped to help calm and motivate listeners in a crisis situation.
Operational Readiness
13 The CEP is more than just an “awareness” programme advocating social resilience and communal harmony in a crisis. What the CEP also does is to build an operational capacity by putting in place a crisis response framework involving both the Government and the community to address the possible fall-out from a crisis which can destabilise our society.
14 A good example is what is being done at the grassroots level - the Panel of Activists for Community Engagement (or PACE), comprising Advisors, is working with the People’s Association to roll out the CEP Ready Certification for constituencies. Thus far, 28 constituencies have already been certified.
15 At the Nee Soon South constituency, the community leaders have developed a CEP programme, incorporating it into the Emergency Preparedness activities. Starting with awareness training, they went on to discuss issues and response plans at a table-top exercise, culminating in a CEP-cum-EP Day last October.
Community in Action
16 We have witnessed first-hand how a more engaged community can come together in the face of adversity. While the escape of Mas Selamat was a dark cloud over our counter-terrorism efforts, the response of the community has been encouraging.
17 What was re-assuring was how the community rallied together and pitched in to help the efforts of the security agencies by distributing the Police notices and helping to raise vigilance. The speed with which these community-based responses materialised can be attributed to existing networks of trust and friendships within the community.
18 In some cases, we understand all it took was a simple phone call or text message to start the ball rolling, such as the poster distribution effort initiated by Taman Bacaan, the Khadijah Mosque and grassroots leaders. In other cases, such as Dr Fatimah Lateef did, an integrated preparedness plan developed by the grassroots came into use as they activated the grassroots leaders, religious leaders and volunteers in the area.
Communal Harmony Fragile
19 I believe that the reason why we have been able to develop the CEP so quickly over the last two years is because we did not start from scratch. We have a good baseline of strong communal relations on the ground cultivated over many years.
20 While we can take pride in our state of communal harmony, we must also be realistic. We should not lull ourselves into thinking that no Singaporean will subvert our communal harmony simply because years of harmony seem to have made extremism and bigotry alien to our society and culture. This would be a naïve and mistaken view. Social reality is always dynamic and evolving. We are not immune to home-grown extremism; indeed no plural society anywhere is. Recent self-radicalisation cases of terrorists in Singapore demonstrate this clearly.
21 We need to ensure that as a society, we have the right values and reflexes and practice zero tolerance for extremism of any community. This is why the CEP journey is an on-going one, because every new generation of Singaporeans, and new citizens, will need to internalise the values which uphold our racial and religious harmony. This is why also so many of you in the first CEP Workshop two years ago raised the issue of educating and involving the young in the CEP as being a matter of vital importance. I agree with you. I would like the CEP Secretariat to focus on this constituency of the young in the work-year ahead.
Closing Remarks
22 Our work in the Community Engagement Programme will never end; it is always work in progress as we need to build awareness and understanding and develop capability year after year. Otherwise, we risk being “rusty” and not being able to move fast enough when a crisis strikes. We also need to do it continuously as generations of Singaporeans grow up and they would not have the painful experience of racial/religious disturbances which their parents had gone through.
23 To reach out to the young, no less than the many different constituencies like foreign workers, we need to be able to accommodate a diversity of approaches and forms of engagement. Not everyone speak in the same way but all of us have the capacity to share a common language – a language of trust and mutual confidence. All of us in this hall share a common objective – to keep Singapore safe and secure. In the CEP, our efforts to achieve this is through building resilience through preparedness and social cohesion.
24 Before I end, I understand that at the January 2006 workshop, the very first get-together for CEP, even before the Prime Minister launched the programme, Prof Jeremy Monteiro came up with the idea of bonding people through music. He said that “Music is very powerful, very bonding.” Well, we’ve heard him. Afterwards, the Singapore Police Band will play a song entitled “Singapore United” that the Band composed.
25 And if any of you have other ideas, we welcome your suggestions because as I said at the start of my speech, the heart of the CEP is really the many people and groups on the ground who compose it by expressing it in their own way, through their diverse activities and efforts.
26 Working together has always been the Singapore way. It has led us to achieve many things including a remarkable society on any count, enjoying ethnic harmony, safety and security in a troubled world. Let us work always for a Singapore United. Thank you.
NEWS RELEASE ON THE NATIONAL COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT PROGRAMME SEMINAR 2008
Together, for a Singapore United
Community leaders from the five clusters¹attended the National Community Engagement Programme (CEP) Seminar on 3 May for an update on the security situation and a dialogue on the CEP developments.
Developments and Progress
2 In the past year, after the setting up of the five clusters in 2006, the CEP clusters have reached out to their community leaders, created awareness among them, and worked with them to develop response plans. For example, the People's Association has formed PACE (Panel of Activists for Community Engagement) and developed a Core Teambuilding programme to develop good links with religious and community groups in the constituencies; MOM has worked with its Tripartite Panel to produce “A Guide for Community Leaders – The Community Engagement Programme in the Businesses and Unions Cluster” for its community leaders; MOE has held workshops for its CEP leaders; MCYS has reached out to religious organisations and organised training for the IRCCs (Inter-Racial and Religious Confidence Circles); MICA has held a scenario-based workshop with its community leaders.
Creating Awareness and Grafting into Existing Activities
3 At the national level, the CEP Secretariat has been building awareness through radio outreach programmes, through Internet platforms like STOMP and AsiaOne, and people-to-people interaction at constituency-level events. The song "Singapore United", unveiled at the National CEP Seminar today, is another way of reaching out to the people. At the Home Team, the CEP dimension has been grafted into Home Team activities such as the Emergency Preparedness (EP) Days, where the psycho-social aftermath of a crisis has been injected into some exercise scenarios. Emergency preparedness has also been promoted as part of the preparation needed to put up response plans and to keep calm in a crisis. The SCDF has organised more than 70 EP Days at the constituency level. Other Home Team departments have organised or worked with community organisations on counter-extremism talks to groups such as educationists and students.
4 At the community level, among the activities organised are the youth conventions by Taman Bacaan and its partners on counter-extremism, the inter-racial activities among youths such as the Harmony Cup by the Hwa Chong Institution and four other schools², and the "Harmony Through Soccer" programme by the Home United Football Club, Harmony Centre and Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery. Another ground-up initiative is the Kampung Spirit @ Eunos initiative which saw the appointments of community leaders as "Eunos Council of Elders" and "Community Engagement Champions". At Nee Soon South, the community leaders worked with the IRCCs, the religious groups in the area and the schools, to organise a training workshop, followed by a table-top exercise and culminating in a CEP-cum-EP Day last October for its constituents. At the public level, it created general awareness of CEP while at the level of those likely to be involved in crisis response, the training and exercise gave opportunities for cross-cluster interaction and building of networks of trust.
Developing Capability
5 A recurrent feedback from community leaders has been the need for training. To develop capability among Community Leaders and others who interact with the community, the CEP Secretariat and the Home Team Academy have organised the Community Engagement Executive Development (CEED) Programme. The CEED Programme covers the areas of terrorism and extremism, including lessons from the past, awareness of racial harmony, and skills in emergency preparedness and psychological first aid, as well as mediation skills. Following the first run in January for 44 community leaders from the five clusters, and the encouraging feedback from participants, there will be two more runs this year. The CEP Secretariat has also conducted similar training programmes last year for officers from the cluster lead agencies, and a customised programme for Home Team officers, especially Police and SCDF officers who work with the community. Thus far, 50 cluster lead officers and 165 Home Team officers have gone through the training programmes.
6 At the cluster level, apart from workshops held by the cluster lead agencies, MCYS has started mediation workshops for the IRCCs and PA has begun Core team-building programmes on a cross-cluster and constituency basis.
Mobilisation in Crises
7 As we create awareness and understanding, build capability and networks of trust, we are also preparing to mobilise the community leaders to be alert to communal tension and help calm the ground in a crisis. Cluster lead agencies have been holding activation and recall exercises to validate contact details.
Heart of the CEP
8 “ The heart of the CEP is really the many people and groups on the ground who compose it by expressing it in their own way, through their diverse activities and efforts.”
“Working together has always been the Singapore way. It has led us to achieve many things including a remarkable society on any count, enjoying ethnic harmony, safety and security in a troubled world.Let us work always for a Singapore United”, said DPM Wong Kan Seng, who is also Minister for Home Affairs and Chairman of the Ministerial Committee on Community Engagement.
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT PROGRAMME SECRETARIAT IN THE MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS
3 MAY 2008
Contact
International and Corporate Relations Division (ICRD), Ministry of Home Affairs – Ms Katherine Ng – Tel: 64786152
Footnotes:
¹ The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is the overall coordinating ministry for the Community Engagement Programme (CEP), and is supported by 5 key clusters of communities:
the educational institutions (under the Ministry of Education [MOE]),
the media and arts (under the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts [MICA]),
the businesses and unions (under the Ministry of Manpower [MOM]),
grassroots organisations (under the People’s Association [PA]) and,
the religious groups, ethnic-based organisations and voluntary welfare organisations (under the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports [MCYS]).
These 5 clusters provide the respective interface between the communities and the Government.
² Greenridge Secondary School, Telok Kurau Secondary School, West Spring Secondary School and Zhenghua Secondary School
Join us on our journey. Click here to view the "CEP Journey" video now!
*Singapore*United music
Music moves people and bonds them together. As the Community Engagement Programme (CEP) moves into its third year, we want to harness the power of music to draw people together, to build networks of trust, and be prepared.
With this in mind, a Singapore United theme song has been specially composed by the Deputy Director of Music, Insp Sulaiman Bin Abdul Wahab, of the Singapore Police Force Band. Sung by Sgt Audi Hariz Bin Sarman and Sgt Emiliah Binte Senin of the Police Force Band, the song made its debut at the National CEP Seminar on 3 May.
We thank Prof Jeremy Monteiro for his suggestion in 2006 to use music to bond people together.
Click here to listen to the song, or download the Singapore United ringtone for your handphone now!
Exhibition Panel at the National CEP Seminar 2008
For more information on the exhibition at the National CEP Seminar 2008, please click here.
Photo of Student Representatives
The Strait Times - DPM Wong lauds 'kampung spirit' tack to boost bonding
04 May 2008
Grassroots activities help build trust among various groups, in bid to reduce tension in crisis
By Zakir Hussain
As a grassroots leader in Eunos, MrS. Lakshmanan frequently hears residents complain about noisy foreign workers at void decks.
The 50-year-old consultant and his Inter-Racial and Religious Confidence Circle decided that both sides had to understand one another better.
They got the authorities to speak to the foreign workers, and took residents to meet them in their dormitories and see how they lived.
Both parties also worked together during an exercise simulating a bomb blast in the constituency.
The initiative, Kampung Spirit@Eunos, was cited by Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng yesterday as one of many ground-level efforts that have helped grow the Community Engagement Programme (CEP).
The CEP, started in 2006, aims to increase bonding among various communities - schools, businesses, unions and arts groups, among others - to reduce tension in case of a crisis.
Its planners saw how communal ties frayed in Britain after the 2005 London bombings, and realised that people had to work to keep the peace.
Eunos grassroots leader
S. Lakshmanan was instrumental
in getting residents and foreign
workers to interact so they could
understand each other better. -- ST PHOTO: LIM CHIN PING
Said Mr Wong: 'We recognised early that while government leadership was important, in order for the CEP to be self-sustaining, it had to be meaningful to the people on the ground who are mobilised to respond and take part in it.'
So ground-level efforts must be the focus, he said. They may be diverse and 'untidy', but they are 'real, authentic and vibrant'.
Yesterday, 400 religious, union and community leaders were updated on these efforts at the national CEP seminar.
Mr Wong, who is also Home Affairs Minister, outlined how CEP groups focused on three key areas:
Raising awareness of the need to build trust through seminars, sporting and inter-faith activities
Training community leaders on how to calm the ground in a crisis - the CEP secretariat rolled out a programme in January to train 44 leaders and two more sessions will be held this year. The Home Affairs Ministry will also help leaders train others.
Getting constituencies to become operationally ready for any crisis - 28 have already been certified as CEP-ready by the People's Association.
Mr Wong was also heartened and encouraged by how people pitched in to distribute police notices and raise the alert after the escape of Jemaah Islamiah detainee Mas Selamat Kastari in February.
He said: 'The speed with which these community-based responses materialised can be attributed to existing networks of trust and friendships within the community.'
But he also warned against thinking that no Singaporean will subvert the peace and urged the CEP secretariat to focus on involving the young in the year ahead.
Singapore Buddhist Federation secretary-general Seck Kwang Phing welcomed this, noting that religious leaders realise the need to build trust.
'We can have more joint activities, like the recent inter-faith games, as actions speak louder than words,' he said.
And following a suggestion from jazz musician Jeremy Monteiro to bond people through music, the Singapore Police Band composed a new song, Singapore United, which was played yesterday.
Note : No reproduction or downloading of this Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) article is allowed in any medium. Permission has to be obtained from SPH.
Lianhe Zaobao - Mobilization of community organizations to help in hunt for Mas Selamat shows effectiveness of two-year-old CEP
04 May 2008
Translation
The Community Engagement Programme (CEP) launched two years ago came in handy in the recent manhunt for the escaped Singapore Jemaah Islamiah leader Mas Selamat bin Kastari, enabling the authorities to mobilize community representatives and grassroots organizations on short notice to help spread the news of his escape to alert the people to heighten their vigilance.
The Singapore Malay Youth Library Association (Taman Bacaan) is one of the organizations mobilized. Its president Abdul Halim Kader said, "On receiving the notice, my first thought was: This cannot be confined to the Malay Muslim community; people of all races and religions must be galvanised. Hence, we immediately contacted religious and grassroots organization leaders whom we know well to discuss the response measures. We sent out an email (sic) at 1 am and before 6 am received quite a number of replies expressing willingness to take part in the hunt for Mas Selamat."
With the cooperation of all those involved, they put up more than 10,000 posters in five neighbourhoods within six hours.
At yesterday's National Community Engagement Programme Seminar, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs Wong Kan Seng cited this example to illustrate that the CEP has not only enhanced social cohesiveness but also brought about the establishment of a crisis response mechanism ready for use.
"We have witnessed first-hand how a more engaged community can come together in the face of adversity. While the escape of Mas Selamat was a dark cloud over our counter-terrorism efforts, the response of the community has been encouraging. The community rallied together and pitched in to help distribute the police notices and raise vigilance. Their promptness shows that networks of trust and friendships have been built within the community."
Over the past two years, the local communities have organized more inter-religious activities, dialogue sessions and forums under the CEP to enhance social resilience and our capability to maintain social harmony in the face of a national crisis.
For example, last year's Vesak Day saw the Singapore Buddhist Lodge invite Jamiyah Singapore, the Hindu Endowments Board and the Little India Shopkeepers and Heritage Association to take part in its candle-light procession. At the Thaipusam festival in January this year, Singapore Buddhist Lodge volunteers helped as road marshals along the kavadi procession route.
Though local communities have their respective languages and cultures, some activities, including sports and music, transgress language, race and religion.
The Home United Football Club, working with the Harmony Centre and the Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery, initiated a "Harmony Through Soccer" programme to make youths aware of the importance of religious harmony. The Singapore Police Force Band composed a Singapore United theme song.
"Our work in the CEP will never end; we need to build awareness and understanding and develop capability year after year. Otherwise, we risk being 'rusty' and not being able to move fast enough when a crisis strikes. We also need to do it continuously as generations of Singaporeans grow up and they would not have the painful experience of racial/religious disturbances which their parents had gone through."
Click on the link below to view the Lianhe Zaobao article
Note : No reproduction or downloading of this Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) article is allowed in any medium. Permission has to be obtained from SPH.
Berita Harian - More Community Leaders To Be Trained
04 May 2008
Translation
More community leaders will be trained to equip them with the necessary skills and knowledge to deal with emergencies, including managing and calming the ground at times of communal tension.
They will undergo the Community Engagement Executive Development (CEED) Programme which thus far, has trained 44 community leaders since its launch in January.
The CEED Programme covers areas like dealing with terrorism and extremism, raising awareness on the importance of racial harmony including emergency preparedness skills, psychological first aid and mediation.
Deputy Prime Minister and Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng said that following the positive response received from participants of the first training programme, two more programmes would be held this year.
“This has been in response in the feedback from you right at the beginning, that community leaders need training to help manage and calm the ground at times of communal tension,” said Mr Wong in his speech at the Community Engagement Programme (CEP) seminar held at Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel yesterday.
According to Mr Wong, a CEP trainer programme will also be organised for CEED Programme graduates so that they could train other community leaders in their own CEP Clusters.
He also highlighted the various CEP activities and programmes that had been carried out, such as how the community was rallied together to help in the efforts launched by the police and security agencies following the escape of Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) leader Mas Selamat Kastari.
He also cited the integrated preparedness plan, developed by Marine Parade GRC Member of Parliament Dr Fatimah Lateef and her grassroots leaders, that was activated when members of the community were mobilized to distribute Mas Selamat’s posters.
Click on the link below to view the Berita Harian article
Note : No reproduction or downloading of this Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) article is allowed in any medium. Permission has to be obtained from SPH.
Tamil Murasu - Communal harmony No place for complacency
04 May 2008
Translation
We have been attaching importance to communal ties and preserving them for many years. When the Government launched the Community Engagement Programme (CEP) 2 years ago, it did not seem like something new to us. We cannot be complacent that the communal harmony that we have been safeguarding would naturally remain among us, said Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng yesterday.
Speaking at a CEP Seminar, Mr Wong said that social reality is always dynamic and evolving, adding that we have witnessed home-grown radicalism in recent years. Therefore, we must never, under any circumstances, allow extremism to rear its (ugly) head, stressed the DPM, adding that awareness and understanding about the CEP must continue. Otherwise, the awareness about communal harmony would become jaded and it would not manifest the expected communal harmony in the event of a crisis, cautioned Mr Wong.
While noting that the Mas Selamat’s escape is a black spot in our counter-terrorism efforts, Mr Wong added that the support from community organisations is indeed heartening and encouraging.
Various ministers attended the CEP Seminar yesterday. The event - attended by some 400 people - was also attended by Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, K Shanmugam, Gan Kim Yong, Senior Ministers of State Ho Peng Kee, Balaji Sadasivan, Mayors Teo Ho Pin, Zainudin Nordin, Amy Khor and Senior Parliamentary Secretary Masagos Zulkifli.
The Community Engagement Programme has also fostered religious harmony. Last May, the Hindu Endowments Board, Little India Shopkeepers and Heritage Association and Jamiyah Singapore joined in the Vesak celebration candle-light procession organised by the Singapore Buddhist Lodge. In January this year, at the Thaipusam festival, Singapore Buddhist Lodge volunteers helped as road marshals. Such activities are good.
– Mr Wong Kan Seng who is also Chairman of the CEP Ministerial Committee.
Enlightening other races about Hindu arts and we learning about their arts would strengthen communal understanding. It also gives a sense of fulfilment.
– Mr K P Bhaskar, Founder of Bhaskar’s Arts Academy.
In times of crisis, Sinda would, together with the volunteer organisations and assistance groups, serve as a bridge that brings together people in need of help.
– Mr S Manogaran, Sinda CEO.
Click on the link below to view the Tamil Murasu article
