A recognition scheme for inter-racial and religious confidence circles effort in promoting racial and religious harmony

Inaugural batch of 38 IRCC Chairmen received the IRCC Service Award at the National IRCC Workshop 2013 

1. Mr Lawrence Wong, Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth outlined the recognition scheme for the Inter-Racial and Religious Confidence Circles (IRCC) at the National IRCC Workshop held at Marina Mandarin Singapore this morning. The scheme was introduced to recognise the efforts of IRCCs in building networks of trust that unite people regardless of race and religion.

2. The National IRCC Workshop 2013, themed ‘Resilience in the Face of Adversity’, was attended by members and stakeholders from various community and religious organisations. The workshop reinforced the critical role the IRCCs play in diffusing conflicts and bridging fault-lines in the community.

IRCC Service Award 

3. In his speech, Mr Wong highlighted that the new scheme seeks to recognise dedicated individuals, supportive religious organisations and successful IRCC projects that have contributed significantly to the objectives of the IRCCs. Mr Wong presented the IRCC Service Award to the first batch of 38 IRCC Chairmen, for having served at least five years in their leadership capacity. The remaining awards will be presented at the end of the current term of office in March 2015.

4. The recognition scheme is one of the new initiatives implemented by the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY) since the IRCCs came under purview of the ministry on 1 November 2012. Mr Wong also shared on the self-appraisal system that was introduced to help the IRCCs map out their strategies for wider and deeper engagement, encourage continuous learning and improvement, as well as to identify areas for improvements. 

National IRCC Workshop 2013 

5. During the interactive workshop, participants shared their personal ground experiences and insights on social conflicts, as well as explore suitable approaches in managing and diffusing ground conflicts. Participants also had the opportunity to present their key take-away from the discussion and recommendations with Mr Wong and the audience. 

Encouraging youth participation and membership 

6. Recognising that youths are an important group of stakeholders that IRCCs should continue to reach out to Mr Wong called on members to step up their efforts in getting young people involved in fostering racial and religious harmony. He said: “We should focus on widening and deepening our outreach to youth, and brainstorm how we can encourage them to be more engaged. Eventually, I would like to see some youth in every IRCC, and I also hope that you will give these younger members the opportunity to spearhead initiatives.

7. The IRCCs welcomed the call, and plan to do more to engage and involve the youth. Braddell Heights IRCC, for example, had its youth members organise the “Alleys of Harmony”, a bowling tournament to get youths from various religious and community-based organisations in the constituency to come together and interact over the sport. Radin Mas IRCC, on the other hand, involved many youth volunteers for its IRCC Cares project in July this year. These young volunteers from the religious organisations came together and worked as a team to deliver household necessities to 50 needy families in the Radin Mas constituency and clean their homes.

8. About 300 participants attended the workshop, including members of the National Steering Committee on Racial and Religious Harmony (NSC) and its Working Committee, IRCC Chairmen and members, leaders from religious organisations, clans and voluntary-welfare organisations, as well as youths from religious groups and Institutes of Higher Learning.