Celebrating Halogen Foundation Singapore's 10th anniversary

Mr Lim Soon Hock, Chairman, Halogen Foundation Singapore
Mr Martin Tan, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Halogen Foundation Singapore
Distinguished Guests
Young Leaders
Ladies and Gentlemen

1. I am happy to be here tonight to celebrate Halogen Foundation’s tenth anniversary. Halogen Foundation has done an excellent job investing in our youth over these past ten years, and I would like to thank everyone in Halogen for their many contributions to our youth community in Singapore.
   

2. It’s always good to be at a youth event. I met someone recently at Singapore Biennale, an arts event now happening in town. You should go if you haven’t because it is an excellent showcase of Southeast Asian artists here. Anyway, so this guy said to me – all the ministers I know look older after they take on office; how is it that you look younger? I don’t know I look younger for a fact, but if I do, perhaps it’s because I hang out so often with young people! So the secret to stay young, is to come for more Halogen events!
   

3. I think Halogen Foundation has done an excellent job investing in our youth over these past 10 years. So I will like to thank everyone in Halogen, including the sponsors, the supporters here for all your contributions to developing our youth community in Singapore. And I particularly want to acknowledge the contribution of the co-founder and executive director of Halogen Foundation, Mr Martin Tan.
   

4. Halogen has truly grown significantly under Martin’s leadership. He himself has mentored countless youths who have gone on to volunteer at other non-profit organisations or start their own social enterprises. Martin also serves as a council member for National Youth Council from 2007 to 2013. I came into the council as Chairman about a year ago so I had a good fortune to work with him for a year, and I benefitted a lot from his contributions in the council – his sharing of insights and him organising many activities. I am glad that he is conferred the Singapore Youth Award – the highest accolade for our youth leaders this year.
   

5. I’ve also been personally involved in youth work for a long time. In fact, my own life was changed and transformed because of others before me who believed in youth work. They mentored and guided me when I was growing up. When I was a young boy, I was a typical quiet and shy person in school. At that time, I never dreamed that I would enter politics, or that I would be standing here as the Youth Minister talking to all of you. But there were people who believed in me, and gave me opportunities to develop and grow. So I went into a church, and the youth leaders in church knew I could play the guitar, and asked me to join the youth band. Then later, someone mentored me and gave me the chance to take on leadership opportunities and responsibilities. Progressively I became more active in youth work, and started running several youth camps in church, and eventually led the youth ministry in the church. And this is how I got to develop myself. I learn how to open to others, how to communicate with people and listen to them, how to step outside of my comfort zone to explore new ideas – all this made me a better leader, and more importantly, a better person.
   

6. My own experience with youth work was in a church setting; but there is no reason why this cannot take place in a secular environment. Hence I co-founded a youth-mentoring organisation called PromiseWorks in 2001. By then, I had received a government scholarship; so I had the chance to study in the US, and I was working in the Finance Ministry. I considered myself fortunate to have had a good education and a good job. So I wanted to do something to give back, and so, I brought together several colleagues from the civil service to see how we could mentor neighbourhood school children and help them fulfil their potential. We ran it for several years, and I’m glad that the PromiseWorks was eventually incorporated into Halogen Foundation. So I am happy that the objective and my intent of what I wanted to do, has been sustained.
   

7. Young people today are growing up in a very different Singapore, a very different world. We are in a much more advanced society, and youth grow up in an era of instant information. A secondary school boy told me: if you don’t have FIT, you are not fit to hang out with us. F = Facebook; I = Instagram and T = Twitter. With today’s technology, they can connect with young people from all around the world. Our young people can connect with their peers from all over the world.
   

8. When I talk to youths in Singapore – I sense both clear-headed realism and optimistic idealism. On the one hand, they are hopeful about the future; and want to change things for the better. At the same time, they are keenly aware of the realities of the world and the society we live in. It is not a bad thing that we maintain this sense of balance between idealism and pragmatism. We must stay grounded in our current reality, but we must never lose the sense of idealism that things can be better. Sometimes, I hear young people worry that there are fewer opportunities today – that globalisation has made competition tougher, and so it’s more difficult to get ahead or pursue their dreams. I always remind them that they need to recognise that this is a global phenomenon happening all around the world and not just in Singapore. But there are also enormous opportunities for our young people today. The world is their oyster, they have many things they can do not just in Singapore, but also overseas, and there are many opportunities to excel in diverse fields.
   

9. I will give you two examples of young people who have done that. The first is Anthony Chen, he made the news recently for his film Ilo Ilo. He is interested in film from a young age. After graduating from Ngee Ann poly, he went on to the National Film and TV School in the UK. He produced and directed several films, supported by MDA and Ngee Ann poly. When he put his first feature film Ilo Ilo to Cannes, he did not expect to win. But to his great surprise, he won the Cannes camera d’or prize – a prize given to the best first feature film. He is the first movie director from Southeast Asia to win this. He is somebody who has done well in our system, and has gone on to achieve tremendous success.
   

10. Another is Joseph Schooling, also been in the news recently, showed great talent in swimming from young. In fact, he grew up in a family of athletes. His uncle was an Olympian, who represented Singapore many decades ago. After an impressive showing at the 2011 SEA Games, he went on to the Bolles School in the US and was the top swimming recruit. With his NS deferment, we are giving him a chance to train full-time, and he will be focusing on his sporting dreams at the University of Texas at Austin. He has the potential to do well in the 2016 Olympics - and we also look forward to see him compete at the 2013 SEA Games.
    

11. I highlight these young people because our young people are doing many interesting things. We hear us talking about how we want to broaden the definition of success in our society. Indeed you can see things shifting, and mindsets are changing. It will take time, but it is moving in the right direction. Fundamentally we believe in the power and potential of our young people. We expect great things from them. We believe they all have the ability to make a mark on this world with their diverse talents.
    

12. One important thing that we hope our young people will spend time thinking about – is what they can do to build a better and stronger Singapore. Singapore has come a long way. But we are still a work in progress - we will approach 50 in two year’s time, which may sound old by human standard, but in fact young by international standards. For all of us who love this country, who call Singapore home, I think we all have a shared interest in building Singapore home for the next 50 years. So that our children and our next generations can have an even better future.
    

13. That’s why we want to empower our youths and help them to change Singapore for the better. Many are already doing so. Youth involvement is not increasing only in quantity but also in quality – with their diverse talents, our youths can excel in their own fields and also help make Singapore a better home for all of us. We see this in our finalists here today: Shermaine Ng, Chia Yee Shin, Nathaniel Loh, Lye Zheng Bin – all have shown commitment and passion in serving in their own ways, both locally and abroad. I want to share particularly on Audric Ping.

    - Faced family hardships and was barely getting by in school. His mother passed away three years ago when he was 14.
    - But he was determined to make his family proud – and he has come back to win several national karate competitions and is now gunning for the SEA Games 2015
    - He also takes the initiative to contribute where he can, volunteering with the mentally disabled and the elderly, and organising self-defence workshops for women
    - All this while maintaining a near perfect GPA at ITE College Central

14. In MCCY and NYC, we will do whatever we can to support and facilitate our youths in realising their ideas and initiatives for the good of the community. Earlier this year, we set up $100m National Youth Fund to support more of these ground-up initiatives. We are also setting up a volunteer youth corps, opening up the application early next year, to provide even more opportunities for our youth to do meaningful service projects both overseas and in Singapore.
    

Partners in youth leadership development

15. MCCY and NYC can’t do our work alone – we need mentors and partners. We need more leaders who can take our youths in their wings and help them to grow.

16. We also need good partners, like Halogen Foundation. In its early days, Halogen Foundation was one of the first recipients of NYC’s Youth Organisation Capability Development Fund. Since then, Halogen has reached out to over 93,000 youths. And I am heartened by Halogen’s continued commitment to youth leadership development – shown with the launch of the National Young Leader Awards this year.

17. Halogen was able to achieve so much with the support of all its volunteers and donors. To the entire team – the staff, volunteers and donors, congratulations for a job well done. And I am confident that with the good work you are doing, all your stakeholders here today will be more than happy to pledge their support for the coming years.

18. In closing, I would like to congratulate Halogen Foundation on your tenth anniversary, and I look forward to many more years of partnership with you, in grooming the next generation of young leaders. To our National Young Leader Award finalists, congratulations once again, and I hope you will continue your journey of service to the community, and inspire other youths with your example.