Building a culture of care

Good afternoon everyone! As we celebrate SG Cares in 2019, I would like to share more about two things.

Firstly, what we are going to paint on our mural; and secondly, why we are doing this.

So what are we going to paint? 2019 is a special year because it's the Bicentennial year. It means that modern Singapore has been around for 200 years. I think it is good to think about what has brought us to where we are today.

When the Europeans, Sir Stamford Raffles, William Farquhar first set foot in Singapore 200 years ago, there was very little here. There were some people and some trade, but with low levels of activity. Then our forefathers came from all over the world - the Europeans, the Indians, the Arabs. They came from China, Southeast Asia and they found a lack of services. So what did they do? They rolled up their sleeves and they started schools. The Christians started schools like St. Margaret's. The Chinese started hospitals like Kwong Wai Shiu. The Indians started temples. Everybody did their part to bring services to support one another. First, supporting their own clansmen, their kids, but slowly extending it to everybody in the community. Everyone on this island.

As you paint the mural today, we are going to honour some of them – the pioneers who laid the foundation for us. One such person is Naraina Pillai, who started the Sri Mariamman temple. He was a clerk working here, but he started to serve the Hindu community and built the temple that served as a refuge for new immigrants. More importantly, the temple extended its alms to non-devotees as well. And for the past 16 years, the temple has been hosting people from all races, particularly lower income families, during festivals. The temple distributes food to them, and provides them with financial assistance. That's the spirit of care and community that we have seen in Singapore for the last 200 years.

So as we commemorate the Bicentennial, it is important for us to reflect on why we are painting a particular institution or person.

That actually leads me to the second point that I want to make. In Singapore, we should rethink about how we define the success of our society. It should not be defined by how well people are doing, but by how the well-to-do person is helping the less well-to-do. I think when we can do this, we become a successful society – a place where we are not just concerned about our own personal success, or our well-being, but where we are always concerned about the people around us.

How can we give opportunities to those who need our help? I think everyone of us can do this, by focusing on daily acts of kindness.

Recently, an elderly gentleman wrote a forum letter in the Chinese papers. He said, “I've been helped many times by people, by their small acts of kindness, like picking up a coin that I've dropped on the floor; Helping my wife push heavy grocery bags on the trolley across the road.”

These are all small acts, yet he found it worthwhile to write a forum letter, and encourage everyone to show care and concern for others.

So all of us can do that I'm sure, and some of us have resources to do even more. Many of the corporates here - you have the expertise, you have the financial resources, you have the human resources; we really hope you will organise yourselves as part of your corporate social responsibility to offer care, offer help, and offer assistance to people around us.

There is so much that we can do, and if each one of us is able to partner one another, we can reach out to even more people. So, the Government is very glad to see many corporations stepping up - CapitaLand has a CapitaLand Hope Foundation that is doing a lot. Mediacorp is supporting this event with publicity. We also have Far East present here, who is supporting us through their own matching grants. Thank you very much!

The Government would also like to show our support. We have announced the $200 million Bicentennial Community Fund that provides dollar-for-dollar matching to the IPCs so that more can be done. Through the Bicentennial Community Fund, we hope that all IPCs would be able to raise more money for the community, and do more to help their beneficiaries.

The second question about why we are doing this mural is that when we get everyone here to put a brush onto the mural, we are actually adding our own personal touch to the canvas. We are also adding our own personal commitment, as individuals or as representatives of our organisations, to make Singapore a much better society. I hope that you are prepared to commit.

So let us carry on the good deeds that our pioneers have done for Singapore. For the last 200 years, they brought us to where we are today. We are painting the canvas for the next 200 years.

Thank you so much for being here and supporting SG Cares. Thank you very much!