Deepening an appreciation for Tamil language and culture through film-making

Mdm Viji Jagadeesh, President, Singai Tamil Sangam

Mr Manogaran Suppiah, Chairman, Tamil Language Council

Mr Anbarasu Rajendran, CEO/SINDA  

Mr Raja Segar, CEO/HEB

Mr Raja Kumar Chandra. Chairman/LISHA

Mr Jagadeesh Ilango, Chairman, Pek Kio CC IAEC

Ladies and gentlemen,

1. Anaivarukkum iniya maalai vanakkam!¹

2. Thank you for having me here today at the prize giving ceremony of the Micro-Short Film Making Competition organised by the Singai Tamil Sangam.

3. I would like to congratulate the 37 teams and over 150 participants for your incredible work. It is amazing to see how your creative ideas and stories were expressed through the micro-short films.

Working together with community organisations to create more opportunities to promote greater use of our mother tongue languages

4. Tonight's Micro-Short Film Making Competition is one of the 25 programmes lined up for the Tamil Language Festival which encourages the use of the Tamil language in the community, especially among our youth. Together with the Tamil Language Council, various Tamil organisations and community partners have come together to organise this virtual festival which will go on till 20 December.

5. I am encouraged to see our community organisations coming together, working in partnership with the Council, to explore new ways to present the programmes in view of the Covid-19 pandemic. This truly reflects our collective ability to adapt, and carry on with community engagement in the new normal.

6. In this regard, I wish to thank the Council, Singai Tamil Sangam and partners for your continued partnership and efforts in curating exciting programmes for our youth.  I have no doubt your efforts will spark interest in the Tamil language, and promote the traditional Tamil arts and culture in Singapore.

Embracing our Mother-Tongue languages keeps us connected to our cultural roots and strengthens our bond as a Singaporeans

7. For this competition, the participants were presented with the challenge of producing micro-short films based on given topics such as Tamil proverbs and the tirukkural², which are important texts of the Tamil literature. The values, wisdom and knowledge, embedded within the proverbs and kural, has been passed down from earlier generations and has immense influence on the Tamil culture and life today.

8. This exciting task not only encourages our young participants to practise the language but also deepens their appreciation for the Tamil language, arts and culture through film making. This is indeed a great way to ignite interest and impart our heritage, language and cultural values to our children and youth.

9. Our multicultural and multi-lingual society reflects our unique identity as Singaporeans. Our Mother Tongue Languages play a crucial role in anchoring our Singaporean identity, and help strengthen community bonds.  They also form a common thread which binds earlier generations to future generations, connecting us to our cultural roots. That is why organisations like the Tamil Language Council and Singai Tamil Sangam are important in our nation building journey.

10. Congratulations to all participants for their wonderful productions and to the organising committee and partners for putting together this event.

11. Mikka Nandri and I wish you all a great evening ahead.

¹ “Good evening everyone” in Tamil

² Tirukkural (translation: “sacred couplets/verses”; also known as Kural in short) is a collection of 1,330 couplets written by Thriuvalluvar, a Tamil poet and philosopher. The Kural covers three broad sections namely, Aram (righteousness), Porul (wealth) and Imbam (love) which provides a comprehensive guide to life.