Building a more inclusive and “We First” society

Introduction

1. Good afternoon, everybody.

2. Thank you both, Vincent and Tony, for sharing your thoughts on “We First” – many of which we will deeply reflect and see how we can all be part of this movement.

What is a “We First” Society?

3. What is a ‘We First’ society?

a. Since mid-last year, MCCY has been talking to many different people on this subject – academics, professionals and community leaders.

b. And we discovered that different people have different takes – well, that diversity of thought in itself is valuable.

c. Many also ask who does the “We” refer to? And does “We First” mean “Me Second”?

4. Let me share my take on this through a story.

a. This is the time of the year when we are celebrating the achievements of all our students.

b. And in my constituency of Tampines North, we have a lot of students who do very well, more than a thousand students.

c. So, over two weekends, we run the award sessions back-to-back because we do not want too many of them so they do not have to wait too long.

d. After the presentation, I usually speak to the students to ask them if they were happy, and if they felt proud of themselves.

e. And on one afternoon, I spoke to one of my young resident, only about ten or eleven years old, and I asked him: “Do you feel proud of yourself?” He said: “Yes.”

f. “Did your mum tell you how proud of you she is?” He said: “Yes.”

g. And I said: “Are you happy?” He said: “Yes.”

h. Then, he fidgeted for a little bit – I could see that he sort of summoned up all his courage and he said: “Minister, can I tell you something? Actually, I am not very happy.”

i. So, then I was wondering – is it the food that is not nice? Is the certificate name wrong? What was it?

j. He said: “You know, when the first few kids went up to receive their awards, everybody clapped really loudly. But then, because I was in the middle, and when it was my turn, people are talking among themselves, taking their photographs or doing something else.”

k. I asked him: “So what did you do about it?”

l. He said: “I made it a point that after I received my award, I will stay there, and I will continue to clap for all the rest of the student until the last one got it. You know what? When I did that, I noticed that the people around me did that too.”

m. So, I said: “Well done to them!”

n. And then now you should ask me – what did I do about that?

o. I had a few more sessions to run, and in the next session and the ones after that, I told my residents the same story about how my 11-year-old resident felt. And I asked them: “Could all of you do me a favour and make it a point that we, collectively, as a community, cheer for every single last kid until they are done?”

p. And that afternoon, we got the loudest cheers ever in that community centre.

q. But that is what “We First” means by putting others before self, and when you do that, collectively, we are much better people, a much better community.

Why “We First”?

5. This simple story illustrates why “We First” is important, and why putting “We” before “Me” is always better.

6. A society where we care for one another and we help each other to do well is a better society.

7. Where we can accommodate one another and live harmoniously,

8. And where individuals feel supported by others and can thrive.

9. A “We First” society underpins good governance, growth and prosperity.

a. Because as human beings we all exist in a social context,

b. And in such a context, society flourishes when we work together and we seek to advance the interests of “We”, thereby creating the best conditions for “Me”.

c. Like my young resident knew, the cheers would not be very loud if everyone just cheered for themselves. It is only when we cheer together for each other, that is when we are better.

10. This is our Singapore story for over 60 years:

11. We built a multicultural Singapore, with a national identity that does not replace our individual cultural identities but builds on top of it.

a. This is possible because each culture and community share a very strong “We” consensus to foster respect and harmony,

b. And none of our communities push for the maximum interests of their individual communities, because that would be at the expense of others.

c. And this in turn preserves the space for each ethnic community to pursue and to practise their culture and religion.

12. Another example is how we emerged stronger from the COVID-19 pandemic.

a. With a fast-tracked vaccine, the logical “Me First” response is – I do not want to get vaccinated because nobody knows whether there will be long term effects.

b. But, thankfully, our society was able to adopt a “We First” mentality, where the majority of us got vaccinated, so that we could achieve herd immunity as a nation, open our borders, save lives and livelihoods, and more importantly our actions protected those of us who could not get vaccinated because of medical reasons.

13. While Vincent talked about a trade-off between getting ahead and getting together.

a. I think it may not be so binary,

b. Rather, as the little story I shared illustrates, we get further ahead when we get together.

c. Like how birds fly in formation, fly further and faster because they provide mutual uplift, we achieve greater success together with our collective strength.

How Do We Build a “We First” Society Together?

14. As Mr Bhavan thoughtfully observed in a Straits Times commentary last August, building a “We First” society is the “hardest policy” to achieve,

15. Not because we lack resources or legislative tools, but because it demands something deeper,

16. A shift in how we relate to one another.

17. The Government will take the first step to provide a blueprint for change,

18. But the movement only happens when each of us, every one of us, through our individual actions, turn these blueprints into reality.

Building Connections Despite Differences

19. One way to build a “We First” society is to create opportunities for people to interact.

a. This deepens understanding and appreciation for one another in spite of our differences and fosters a certain genuine, authentic connection.

b. There was some good discussion on how this might look like in the morning panels, including a lot of playing of soccer. But we need to build social capital and social cohesion.

20. And I also agree with Tony that we need to start from young.

a. Because when we grow up together, we can better identify with one another.

b. For example, we have the MOE-OBS Challenge Programme, this is the photo you see there, where our Secondary 3 students do not just learn to kayak or trek,

c. But they also learn to work together with their watch mates who come from different backgrounds, different schools, have different life stories.

Doing with Citizens

21. Another way to build a “We First” society is for us to work together – government, private sector, citizens – to build our community and nation together.

a. What we are experiencing – and perhaps you have experienced this too – is that meaningful participation creates meaningful connection.

b. And when we contribute to build something, it becomes a part of us.

22. Across Singapore, we are witnessing something encouraging: micro-communities forming their own support networks to uplift those who need an extra hand.

a. For example, in Yio Chu Kang, a dozen residents prepare meals and organise activities for close to 40 seniors every month with food supplied by the Local Hawkers’ Association.

23. Stories like these remind us that community building is about a collection of our individual actions – it starts with people who see a need and they choose to act.

a. We all have the capacity to initiate or support such efforts in our own spheres and in our own ways. It only takes a spark to create a movement.

b. So, how might you spark a movement?

c. And how can Government do better to create that spark in you?

d. These are some of the questions that I encourage us to reflect on and to discuss later.

Making “We First” a Way of Life

24. My last thought is that we have to make “We First” a way of life.

a. This means nurturing a culture of other-centeredness, where we foster the instinct to think of others first and to extend kindness, to be kinder to one another.

b. But how can we nurture this culture?

c. Is it through friendly visual reminders such as the Thoughtful Bunch – the cartoon characters that we see in our MRT trains – that encourages courteous behaviours on our commutes,

d. Or through campaigns to encourage residents to give way and to show patience in shared spaces, such as at hawker centres or on the roads,

e. Or perhaps you may have entirely different approaches that you might want to suggest.

f. And, I invite all of us to share our ideas and insights on how we can collectively nurture this culture of mutual care and consideration.

Conclusion

25. To conclude,

a. Most people think of Singapore’s story over the past 60 years as the economic miracle that we are,

b. But the other aspect of our success and what makes us exceptional was our ability to build a cohesive nation through our diversity – regardless of race, language, or religion.

26. And for us to continue to stay exceptional in this changed world, we need to work together to nurture a “We First” society.

a. One where we build bridges and not walls;

b. One where we band together as a chorus, and not just individual voices; and

c. One where we bring everyone along, as one united people.

27. In this way, we can then say that we are truly embodying the essence of our pledge – “We, the citizens of Singapore”.

28. Because as my young resident intrinsically knew, we are better when we work together, and we work better together when we put “We First”.

29. Thank you, and I look forward to our discussion.