AfA-IFP report Launch and SG Tech Orientation Day

Vice Chairman of SGTech, Mr Dutch Ng,

My fellow Co-Chair for the Alliance for Action on Integration of Foreign Professionals, Mr Marcus Lam,

Partners and members of the Alliance for Action,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

A very warm and good morning to all of you.

• I thought I should start with giving you a bigger picture of where we are and what we are seeing today around the world.

• If you look around what is happening across the world, you can’t help but feel that there is a movement away from multiculturalism, and a bit more nativism, us versus them, and so forth.

• Now, something that this Government is committed to continue is its multicultural journey and making sure that whoever comes here, either as new citizens, or people who are working here, feels welcomed in Singapore.

• Most of you have been deployed to other parts of the world, or are here for the first time. I warmly welcome all our foreign professionals for considering to work in Singapore.

• Thank you for also joining the Orientation Day. I am sure you are in different stages of settling in –  some of you may have been here for a couple of months, some for a couple of weeks.

•  It's a special occasion for me, between my Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth hat and my Ministry of Manpower hat. Nonetheless, it is useful for me to highlight two main themes that I hope will be useful for the audience here today.

Singapore’s Multicultural Policymaking is Intentional

• Firstly, when you come to Singapore and set up your place here, the first thing you realise is that, unlike many other countries, whatever happens in Singapore is very intentional.

• Our foreign workforce policy, for example, is a very intentional policy that balances foreign professionals with locals.

• And the Government's posture on foreign talent is one where we believe very strongly in the need to be open, to accept talent from across the world – only then can we, as a small city, be able to compete with larger counterparts in different parts of the world.

• And therefore, it is important to highlight the intentionality of creating a multicultural Singapore; a multicultural community. This was enshrined from the very first day of our independence, where the Prime Minister of the day mentioned that we are not a Chinese country, not a Malay Muslim country, nor an Indian country, but a Singaporean mix.

• This has also seeped into different parts of our policies. In Housing Board Flats, there's an ethnic mix of various races in each HDB block – a majority Chinese, followed by Malays and Indians, and you will see that mix across the blocks.

• Our schools mirror a very similar ethnic mix, because it's important to maintain that multiculturalism across the entire continuum, from the place you stay, to your schools, to your workplaces, and so forth.

• And of course, we have National Service. I think it's about almost sixty years of National Service now, where compulsory military training, civil defence and police training is conducted for all Singaporean men above the age of eighteen.

• It is a very intentional process that Singapore takes to build what we have here and to make sure that whatever that we have built over the years continues to thrive. It is this intentionality that allows for that settling in to take place for all of you.

What We Are Doing to Help You Settle In

• This is a deliberate effort undertaken by the Government, the Trade Association Chambers or the TACs, employers, and all of us as individuals.

• This is why earlier this year, the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth, together with the Singapore Business Federation and the Singapore National Employers Federation, convened the Alliance for Action on Integration of Foreign Professionals. And that's what you hear quite often, AfA-IFP.

• We brought together TACs and companies across different industries and firm sizes to think seriously about how to continue and strengthen the integration of foreign professionals in both community and the workplace settings.

• Today I'm pleased to share that we're launching the AfA-IFP report with five key initiatives:.

  • First, the Employment Pass Journey, which is a short e-introduction of Singapore's norms for the foreign professionals.

  • The TAC-led Orientation Day, where you're at right now, to onboard foreign professionals and foster integration between locals and foreign professionals by sector. Today is for the tech sector.

  • The Integration Playbook and Workshops that build HR capability across firms to better foster workplace integration.

  • The Cultural Sensitivity Training Course to empower foreign professionals to better integrate with local culture.

  • And the Central Repository of Resources, that consolidates skills and good practices across the various companies.

• These initiatives focus on two things.

  • Helping our new foreign professionals understand the norms and what it means to be working in Singapore, and

  • Supporting companies to build inclusive workplaces where locals and foreigners can thrive together.

• We have piloted some of these ideas in smaller groups, and I must say the results have been quite encouraging, and hence the need to then scale.

• So, today's Orientation Day at the Asian Civilisations Museum is our inaugural partnership with SGTech to welcome new foreign professionals in the tech sector.

  • You will hear from a panel later on how to navigate multiculturalism in your workplaces and communities that we live in.

  • You will take a guided walk through this museum to learn more about multiculturalism in Singapore.

  • And have the time to build networks, both with foreign and local employees within your sector.

• Five other trade associations have also committed to running similar programmes from the third quarter of this year, with more to come.

• That indicates the intentionality of what we do, making sure that all of us come together and all of us are clear in the objectives of the AfA, and to ensure that our EP holders are integrated into Singapore.

Building Singapore’s Diverse Communities

• But there's a second element, and that is community. Singapore is a migrant nation. We may have been here for a couple of decades. But by and large, most of us are all from an immigrant background.

  • Most of us around the tables here have had grandparents or great grandparents who may have hailed from the Malay Archipelago, India or China.

• Multiple generations of Singaporeans have had to come together and to learn what it's like to live together, especially today, where the world is rather porous and talent can flow across countries.

• And therefore, we always believe in the notion of trying to build a community, and today you are part of that community.

• We draw strength from the community and learn and understand from one another.

• These are the cherished journeys that we have taken over the years, faithfully forged, as part of the community. And we cherish this diversity in Singapore and will continue to remain as so in the future as well.

• And with foreign professionals coming in, we invite you to be part of this community as well. So as much as the community reaches out and brings you together, as much as you integrate into your workplaces, it is also important for you to learn and understand the culture of your own places, understand the culture of Singapore, and integrate better. And by doing so, I think you'll have a very fulfilling journey and experience in Singapore.

Integration is an ongoing two-way street

• As they say, it takes two to tango. And as you reach forward, I'm sure you'll find new and fascinating insights that you may have never anticipated before coming here.

• If indeed there are any doubts and queries that you might have from time to time, it is useful to just reach out to your mentors or your employers, or to people like me, the Government, so that we can also help to unpack it for you and to allow you to better settle in.

• It is not very often that I've seen a Government and a TAC or a tripartite type of a setting to welcome our foreign professionals into a country. I do not see that in many countries. Most of the time it's according to what the employers want, to the extent of what they are willing to do.

• But in this case, we work with the trade associations and with employers, and the Government comes in to help our EP holders better integrate into the workforce and into Singapore.

• So, I would like to once again like to assure everyone that the Government is committed in helping you through this journey. And I want to thank my colleagues in the TACs, the employers among us, for joining all of us in this journey.

• As we roll out our AfA-IFP initiatives, I am sure you will join us, and I'm sure more employers will come along as we grow this network and support that we have, to allow for the global talent better settle into Singapore.

• And on that note, I once again like to thank SGTech for your hospitality for organising the event, and I wish all of you here today a wonderful day ahead. Thank you very much.