Date : 29 October 2011
Synopsis:
At the Minister’s Appreciation Lunch cum Launch Of Book On The Community Engagement Programme, DPM Teo Chee Hean said that while good progress has been made in building social resilience and strengthening communal harmony, we must not rest on our laurels. A society is more resilient when its members help one another. In a crisis, mutual support and fortitude are key elements that will stand us in good stead.
Chairmen and Members of Home Team Boards, Councils and Committees,
Practitioners of the Community Engagement Programme,
Ladies and Gentlemen, Good afternoon.
Active Citizenry
It gives me great pleasure to join members of our Home Team Councils, Boards and Committees at this annual Appreciation Lunch. This is the first time I am hosting this appreciation lunch, and I hope to have the chance to meet you later on.
The Home Team depends a lot on our volunteers. This is because we have many interfaces with the community and the public. The volunteers help us in a variety of ways. One of the most important is to maintain engagement - making sure that the Home Team stays connected with the public's wants and needs, and making sure the public understands and trusts what the Home Team is doing. This is a very important function because of the many interfaces that our department have with the public.
This annual event is an opportunity for the Home Team to recognise and thank all of you for so generously giving us your time and expertise. Your dedication and unwavering support have helped us keep Singapore safe and secure.
Members of our Home Team Boards, Councils and Committees provide advice and assistance across a wide range of areas from criminal law and casino regulation, to fire safety and road safety, just to name a few. All 324 of our members, in your respective areas, have played an important part in preserving the peace and security that Singapore and Singaporeans have enjoyed for so many years.
This afternoon, we will be presenting Long Service Awards to 53 recipients. Let me take this opportunity to thank all award recipients for their commitment to the work in the Home Team. In particular, I would like to highlight Mr Lim Soo Peng, our longest-serving recipient who is receiving an award today. Mr Lim has served a total of 45 years in the Board of Visiting Justices and Board of Inspection. Mr Lim started volunteering in the Board of Visiting Justices and Board of Inspection in 1966, and subsequently joined the Drug Rehabilitation Centres Review Committee 2 in 1991. We are indeed grateful to have such long-serving members to assist the Home Team in our work.
Hearts of Resilience
A society is more resilient when its members help one another, especially those who are less fortunate. In a crisis, mutual support and fortitude are key elements that will stand us in good stead. Under the Community Engagement Programme or CEP for short, we build understanding and networks of trust amongst different communities, and equip our people with emergency preparedness skills to deal with crises. 8. This year marks the 5th anniversary of the CEP. To mark the occasion, ISEAS has published a book "Hearts of Resilience - Singapore's Community Engagement Programme". Written by Mr Asad Latif, Visiting Research Fellow at ISEAS, the book outlines the development of the Community Engagement Programme since its launch by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in 2006.
The CEP is about building social resilience and strengthening communal harmony. We have made good progress on this front, but we must not rest on our laurels. Nurturing social resilience and communal harmony is an ongoing process, whose work can never be completed. I hope that this new book will inspire more people to come forward to play a part in the Community Engagement Programme.
I realise how much we have done in community engagement, communal harmony and building trust between the Home Team agencies and the public that we serve, when I meet people who come to visit us and share their experiences with us from other countries – the region here ie South East Asia; the wider Asian region and from Europe and US. When we share issues and problems we face and how we overcome them, there are many similarities in the types of challenges that we need to overcome.
One of the things which we always have been able to do just a little better, and which has helped us a great deal, is this whole issue of community engagement – the trust that we have been able to build, the confidence that people have in our Home Team agencies, the way that we have been able to work with the community especially in Singapore’s multi-racial, multi-religious and multi-ethnic communities. In many countries this trust is broken down, people don’t trust the public agencies to deal with them in a fair way. Therefore when that trust breaks down, when cooperation with agencies breaks down, and there is confrontation with agencies, it becomes very difficult to build up communal harmony and a safe and secure society.
Conclusion
MHA’s vision to build a safe and secure home for Singaporeans cannot be achieved by Home Team officers alone. MHA is indeed fortunate that we can avail ourselves of the professional expertise, goodwill and dedication of volunteers like yourselves to help us achieve our vision. Let me thank you all once again for your contributions to the Home Team, and we look forward to your continued support. Thank you very much.
Minister’s Appreciation Lunch-cum-Launch Of Book On CEP.
29 October 2011
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) held its annual Appreciation Lunch today to thank its Home Team Connection partners serving on the Boards, Councils and Committees of MHA and the Home Team departments. A book by the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) studying the development of the Community Engagement Programme (CEP) was also launched at the event.
Long Service Award (LSA) Recipients
This year, 53 members sitting in the Home Team’s Boards, Councils and Committees received their Long Service Awards from Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs, Mr Teo Chee Hean. The longest-serving recipient is Mr Lim Soo Peng who has contributed to the Home Team for 45 years. Mr Lim started volunteering in the Board of Visiting Justices and Board of Inspection in 1966, and subsequently joined the Drug Rehabilitation Centres Review Committee 2 in 1991.
The following table shows the breakdown of the 53 award recipients:
| Long Service Award Category | No. of Recipients |
| 5-years | 37 |
| 10-years | 7 |
| 15-years | 5 |
| 20-years | 3 |
| 45-years | 1 |
Launch of ISEAS book "Hearts of Resilience - Singapore's Community Engagement Programme"
A book charting the development of the Community Engagement Programme since its inception in 2006 was also launched at the event. Published by ISEAS, “Hearts of Resilience – Singapore’s Community Engagement Programme” is written by ISEAS Visiting Research Fellow Mr Asad-ul Iqbal Latif. Mr Asad-ul Iqbal Latif was formerly a Senior Writer with the Straits Times and has a number of notable publications under his belt. Prefaced by a message from Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, and a foreword from DPM Teo Chee Hean, the book features interviews with former DPM and Minister for Home Affairs Wong Kan Seng, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Law K Shanmugam as well as CEP practitioners sharing their efforts on the ground.
MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS
29 OCTOBER 2011
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