Honouring the spirit of pioneers in forging racial and religious harmony

Mr Sam Tan, Minister of State for Prime Minister's Office & Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth,
Members of the National Steering Committee for Racial and Religious Harmony,
Chairpersons and members of the Inter-Racial and Religious Confidence Circles (IRCCs),
Distinguished Guests from Religious and Community-Based Organisations,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

1. I am very happy to join in this evening's tribute event to our pioneer generation of religious and community leaders.

2. To our founding members of the National Steering Committee on Inter-Racial Confidence Circles, and pioneering leaders of the IRCCs and Religious and Community-Based Organisations, thank you for joining us this evening.

3. More than 50 years ago, Singapore was just a collection of disparate communities and people. There was no concept of a nation of Singapore. We went through very difficult times of racial and communal strife, in the years before and shortly after independence. I am sure those of you who are here and have lived through that particular period of our history, have not forgotten the racial riots. One of the pioneers with us tonight, Mr Ujagar Singh, member of the Central Sikh Temple, did not think that racial riots would happen in Singapore. Even till today, he could still remember vividly the violent mood and unrest when the racial riots occurred in 1960s, which damaged properties and injured many people.

4. Severe though the challenges may be, our pioneers stepped up to the task of bridging the divisions of race and religion. When one of our former leaders, Mr S Rajaratnam, was asked many years ago whether we can create a national identity, he said “we must first accept the premise that it is an act of faith that a national consciousness is desirable, possible and inevitable”. It's an act of faith. He went on to say that if we did not do this, “then the job of creating a national culture becomes difficult and perhaps might even end up in communal anarchy.  We must believe we can do it, by a deliberate act of will”.

5. So what happened in Singapore is really a human-made miracle. It's not something that happened by chance. But our pioneers made it happen. You helped to create a Singaporean Singapore. You worked hard in your own capacity as religious and community leaders to pave the “Singaporean way” for social harmony, a way that is founded on mutual respect, tolerance and restraint.

6. All this happened decades before the IRCCs were formed. At that time, we had no formal structures in the community. Our pioneers took the initiative to organise themselves. For example, people of different faiths came together to form the Inter-Religious Organisation, or IRO to champion inter-religious harmony. Leaders of the IRO like Shaikh Syed Isa Semait, who is with us tonight, continues to serve in this cause. Shaikh Syed Isa, our former Mufti, has been a member of the IRO since 1975 and served as its President in 1994.

7. Because of our pioneers' wisdom, dedication and hard work, we now enjoy peace and harmony in Singapore. Through the foundations laid by pioneers, we have made Singapore an oasis in a troubled world and we have built a strong sense of Singaporean culture and identity.
   

Contributions of the pioneer generation and community leaders

8. Later in 2002, we set up more formal structures like the Inter-Racial and Religious Confidence Circles, or IRCCs to entrench the important work of building strong ties across different racial and religious groups. These platforms remain very important spaces for community and religious leaders to dialogue and better understand one another. The IRCCs are also focal points where religious leaders in each geographical community can come together and build strong relationships of friendship and trust.

9. All of this work would not have been possible without the tireless efforts and hard work of our pioneers, a number of whom I would like to mention.

      i. Venerable Sik Kwang Sheng, member of the National Steering Committee on Racial and Religious Harmony from its inception in 2006 till early this year.

    ii. There are also several currently serving IRCC Chairpersons and who were there from the start, such as CPT(RET) Shamsudin Bin Shadan, PPA, PBM, who is also Chairman of the former Kampong Holland Mosque; and Mr Koh Lian Huat, JP, BBM(L), also Vice-Chairman of Tampines Chinese Temple.

   iii. Current IRCC Vice-Chairmen, such as former President of the Inter-Religious Organisation and current Vice-President of Parsi Zoroastrian Southeast Asia, Mr Rustom M Ghadiali; and Dr Karunanithy s/o Ramasamy, PBM, who is also Trustee of the Sri Ruthra Kaliamman Temple.

    iv. Members of IRCCs, and also strong supporters of inter-faith harmony, such as Sister Maria Sim, administrator of a Catholic Welfare Service organisation, Villa Francis Home; and Pastor Eddy Ee, Senior Pastor of Jurong Church of Christ.

10. We will hear more from them in the video montage later. All of you have taken the lead to build networks with other religious leaders in the community. You have organised many inter-faith activities to help strengthen bonds among the various racial and religious communities. Thank you pioneers, for your contributions in making Singapore a harmonious home for all of us.

11. Our pioneers are role models for young Singaporeans to follow. So I am glad that efforts have been made to bring our pioneers and young people together. Young people can learn about our pioneers and pick up the pioneering spirit. At an event last month, pioneers from different faiths shared their valuable experiences with the youths, and worked together on a special art piece. We will get to see the art piece later this evening. It is a good example of how we can forge inter-generational ties and how we can pass on our common values from one generation to another. I hope that our young people will be inspired to learn more from our pioneers, take up this same pioneering spirit and be inspired to become pioneers of their own generation in time to come.

12. Tonight's event honours the spirit of our pioneers in coming together to forge racial and religious harmony for our nation. It is very rare around the world, to find an event like this where a diverse gathering of racial and religious groups can all come together and celebrate peace and harmony. It is what all of you have contributed to creating and upholding. It is quite an exceptional achievement and I think that is something precious in Singapore.

13. What we have today is not something that can continue automatically through “cruise control”. It takes continuing effort and hard work to further strengthen the relationships and trust across different communities. So the work that our pioneers started must continue. Each new generation must be prepared to carry the torch, they must be conscious of the faultlines in our society. They must be prepared to do their part to manage these divisions and strengthen the cohesion in our society. We must continue to protect our common space and put the greater good of society before self. We must not let slip what our pioneers had painstakingly built up. I think this is particularly important as we enter our 50th anniversary of Independence next year and we celebrate our Golden Jubilee. It is important to look back and celebrate our achievements but we must also look forward to the future and make sure we can continue to sustain many more decades of peace and harmony in Singapore.

14. In closing, let me once again thank our pioneer generation of religious and community leaders. To you, we express our gratitude in making possible a cohesive and gracious multi-racial, multi-religious Singapore that we are proud to call home. To everyone, thank you for joining us to pay tribute to our pioneers. I wish all of you a lovely evening ahead.