Speech By Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister For MCYS @ The National IRCC Appointment Ceremony 2009

Synopsis

Expressing appreciation to the IRCCs for their work, Minister Vivian Balakrishnan also urged the IRCCs to "find and engage newcomers, through our grassroots networks, religious congregations, and the foreigner associations in Singapore, and plug them more deeply into the pulse of the community."

Speech by Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports, at The National IRCC Appointment Ceremony 2009, 29 March 2009, 6:00 pm at Orchard Hotel

Members of the National Steering Committee and Working Committee for Racial and Religious Harmony,

Chairpersons of the Inter-Racial and Religious Confidence Circles (IRCCs),

Ladies and Gentlemen,

A very good evening to everyone, and thank you for attending this National IRCC Appointment Ceremony. I know that this is a Sunday, and probably not the first or last Sunday that many of you have spent on IRCC work in the last two years. I am very grateful for all the valuable time and effort that you have put in. This event is a token of our appreciation for your contributions and achievements. This evening, we will also appoint IRCC members for a new two-year term, to continue the journey and build on the successes of the IRCCs.

Inter-communal Harmony

Last year, I had the privilege of meeting many of you at the National IRCC Workshop. The consensus was that our inter-communal harmony is always a work in progress. It cannot be taken for granted. We are a small, young and open nation. We will always be subject to global events and trends relating to race, language and religion. Our own people are becoming more diverse in their beliefs and practices, and more open about expressing them. With the increasing reach of new media, these expressions can also be transmitted to a wide audience. It is easy to link up with like minded people. It is also easy to cause hurt by expressing insensitive statements, or for comments to be misconstrued. Someone, somewhere will share your views, even if these views are repugnant or dangerous. Someone, somewhere may be offended by your views, even if these are your honestly held beliefs. It will not be possible to pre-empt all these undesirable messages or unfortunate misunderstandings and their potential to incite unrest between communities. We must therefore work on building trust and understanding. The best way to do this is to meet, to discuss and ultimately build personal relationships.

Whilst appreciating the fact that in Singapore, we are privileged to carry out our respective religious rites and practices without hindrance, we must always be conscious of what is taking place around the world and be prepared for any eventualities.

We must hence work tirelessly to increase our society’s resilience to divisive pressures, and ability to bounce back from a crisis. We must reinforce the bonds between our communities. When incidents do happen, we must instinctively reach out to one another, work together, and stand by each other as friends and neighbours, as colleagues and as fellow Singaporeans. We must be ready to defend the peace and harmony that are so important to us.

IRCC Vision, Mission and Core Values

We are launching the statement of the IRCC Vision, Mission and Core Values tonight. I am glad that these documents were formulated by IRCC members, and not by my colleagues in MCYS.

These documents clarify the vision of how IRCCs contribute to our social resilience and social defence - by creating networks of trust that unite people regardless of race, language or religion. To achieve this vision, the mission of each IRCC will be to build warm relationships between community leaders, close working partnerships between community organisations, and deep mutual appreciation and understanding between members of all communities. And in doing so, we instil the IRCC core values in all our people – that of mutual trust and respect in order to achieve harmony and cooperation.

IRCC Achievements

We have made good progress in achieving our vision. Under the Community Engagement Programme (CEP), the MCYS cluster, which includes the IRCCs, had adopted a three-phased approach for its development. We have mostly completed the first phase of Building Relationships and Identity. To date, 87.5% of all religious organizations in Singapore have become members of IRCCs.

In the past year, several large-scale, inter-racial and inter-religious activities were also conducted to bond the community and raise the profile of IRCCs. One such event was the Racial Fiesta on 12 Jul 08, which was organised by Queenstown IRCC. Another was Waste Matters on 11 Jan 09, where 13 religious organisations under the Southeast IRCCs rallied their members to collect recyclable materials. In total, almost 14 tons of newspapers and clothes were collected for this worthwhile cause. Recently, on 28 Feb 09, the National IRCC Walk-in-Harmony also drew more than 2,000 participants from all backgrounds and ages. I was there myself, and was heartened to see the huge turn-out and support for this inaugural walkathon cum carnival.

The second phase of our cluster development involves the Development of Capabilities and Confidence. For this, MCYS worked closely with OnePeople.sg to provide relevant training programmes for IRCC members. These included three Trust-building and four Mediation Workshops, in which 147 people participated. 23 Reflections visits were also conducted for more than 500 participants, to familiarize them with the various cultures and religious practices in Singapore. These included visits to the Jain and Jewish places of worship.

MCYS staff have also worked with the IRCCs to prepare for crisis. All the 84 IRCCs have participated in at least one table-top exercise to help members understand their roles during an incident involving high religious and racial tensions.

Going forward

Going forward, IRCCs must continually assess their cohesiveness and readiness. A national-level telephone recall exercise will be conducted to see how fast our networks can be activated to respond to a crisis. More crisis scenario exercises will be organised. Members will have to apply their skills and react to these simulated events in real-time.

Secondly, IRCCs must reach out to as much of the community as possible, and be responsive to developments on the ground. We should utilise all available resources, and work more closely with voluntary welfare and other grassroots organisations, who can bring in more community resources to aid in our preparation for crisis.

We are also seeing more newcomers – specifically, more new immigrants and PRs - in our community. They are of different races, languages and religions. Their presence is being felt around the neighbourhood, in places of worship, and at community activities. Many of these newcomers are here to stay, and have a stake in ensuring that social harmony is preserved in Singapore. We should do what we can to reach out to these newcomers, and help them feel at home. Living in and adapting to a strange new land is not easy. If we take the time to just talk to our newcomers, and share with them our unique social environment and Singaporean habits, it will be very much appreciated.

IRCCs can do even more. IRCCs can find and engage newcomers, through our grassroots networks, religious congregations, and the foreigner associations in Singapore, and plug them more deeply into the pulse of the community. We must involve newcomers more extensively in our walkathons, carnivals and even our table-top exercises. At our places or worship, we can do more to cater to their linguistic or cultural needs, while encouraging them to mix with and learn more about those of their local, fellow worshippers. In our voluntary welfare organisations, we should get newcomers and locals alike to volunteer together, and to think and work together on how best to give back to the community. Some of our newcomers are professionals, and may even belong to professional bodies. They should be encouraged to use their skills to train others, or be ready to lend a professional hand, during both peacetime events and crisis operations.

Thirdly, IRCCs must work to ensure that there is continuity and sustainability in its efforts. Members must encourage others to join the fold and take up their posts, to cover their duties if they need some time away from IRCC responsibilities. 16 Let me end by once again thanking everyone for committing yourselves to this cause. We have made much progress, and there is much work ahead. I wish you all a good evening.

Thank you.