MCCY presents “Friends of MCCY” awards to stakeholders

Senior Parliamentary Secretary, Sam Tan

Permanent Secretary, Ms Yeoh Chee Yan

Distinguished guests

Colleagues and friends

Ladies and gentlemen 

1. It is very good to see all of you this evening gathered together at our first MCCY Appreciation Event. I think when you come to an event like this, you realise the extent of MCCY’s work, its breadth and scale of our reach to so many different sectors. When you meet one another, you realise that all of you are involved in something with MCCY. It may be in different areas of the arts, heritage, sports, community and youth, but in a way, they are all connected together in building a better Singapore and making Singapore Home. As someone said to me just now that we are like a four in one ministry as we have arts and culture, sports, community and youth. It is a big ministry in term of the range of work that we do. It is quite diverse but I think it is all connected together with a same purpose. To build a better Singapore and to make Singapore a better home for all of us.

2. It has been an exciting year for all of us here in MCCY as we establish ourselves as a new Ministry. We just celebrated our first Anniversary in November 2013, so we are barely a year old and I’m happy to say that we have had a good start. And I want to thank all of you for contributing to our new ministry, through all your passion and hard work, often working behind the scenes and battled within the community. But is all well appreciated by us because we would not have achieved all that we have without your continued support in championing the arts, heritage, community, youth and sports for Singapore. 

3. As you saw in the

   video

   just now, we have done quite a lot this past year and you would also have seen in the video our mission for MCCY is to Build Social Capital, Inspire the Singapore Spirit, and Together with you, our stakeholders and the community, to Make Singapore our Home. The key word in that statement is “Together”. MCCY can support the aspirations of our people, but, as a ministry, we cannot unilaterally define what these aspirations are. It has to be done in partnership with all Singaporeans. 

4. And that’s why all of you play an important role in our work, because you speak on behalf of your communities, and you help us shape the vision of what we want for Singapore together. So I thank you all for the leadership that you provide in your respective communities to help us chart the way forward for ourselves as well as for our country. 

5. And we know that we do operate in a more complex environment, and our society has become more diverse and there are newer issue that are coming up that we have to deal with. This also means that more effort is needed to bridge differences and to find common ground, not only between our different racial and religious groups, but nowadays also among groups with different causes and passions. People championing different things, which is good but not necessarily coming together all the time. And it is important that we do this. Otherwise, we may end up pulling in different directions, which would be counter-productive or worse, divisive for Singapore. 

6. So strong leadership at the community level is critical for holding our society together, even as we celebrate our diversity. As leaders, all of you set the example of engaging one another in meaningful ways, bringing different interest groups together, and working for the greater common good. 

7. You also bring with you a deep knowledge and passion for the areas you champion and also for your respective communities that you belong to. You understand their aspirations and you are able to lead with their best interests at heart. So I want to commend all of you for your commitment, and your courage in dreaming big for Singapore, for dreaming big for, our young people, our athletes, our artists our volunteers, our philanthropists. 

8. Most of all, I thank you for your heart of service for Singapore. Because this is the basis for why we are here together, it is the basis for our shared identity. We are all connected together in the common purpose of making Singapore stronger, better and a place that we are proud to call home. When we give of ourselves readily and contribute meaningfully alongside others, regardless of race, language, religion, we are building community together.

9. So tonight, we honour our friends who have contributing for ten years or more. It is a small token of appreciation, we have a sculpture specially designed by one of our local artist, but it is really to thank you.

10. We have 42 of such “Friends of MCCY,” who have been serving for more than 10 years or more and who have worked tirelessly to champion their respective domains. You will find all their names in the booklet, as well as a special tribute to Mr Edmund Cheng who has served in NAC for 11 years as Chairman and also our National Day Awards recipients.

11. It has been a busy year, 2013, I think there is a lot more that we can look forward to this year and next year. There are many things that we are planning. On the sports front, we will be hosting the SEA Games and the ASEAN Para Games in 2015. Doing a lot of work to organise. It is not just an event to organise, it is also a platform to engage and mobilise many people to get excited about the SEA Games, because the last time we did it was in 1993. It was so long ago. But to get people to be excited about the event and to be gracious hosts to own the games. And the Sports Hub, the new National Stadium will be ready in April accordingly to the contractor and you will have a whole series of exciting events, not just sports but lifestyle entertainment. The WTA Championship will be in town in October this year. We have football matches coming up including one with Singapore and Malaysia which will be very popular and hopefully if we do well, so that it will be even more popular. So I think it is going to be quite exciting on the sports front. 

12. On the arts scene, so many activities are happening. Even now we are having the fringe festival, we have the Singapore Arts Week coming next week and coming up later this year the Victoria Concert Hall and Victoria Theatre will be ready. Edmund who incidentally chairs the steering committee for the revamp of the Victoria Theatre and Victoria Concert Hall and that will be ready by this year. And we also look forward to the return Singapore Arts Festival which will be renamed as the Singapore International Arts Festival. So again, many exciting things happening on the arts front. 

13. And this year on the community and the youth front, we are continuing to do more to promote giving, to promote volunteerism, philanthropy. We are starting our Youth Corp, which PM announced last in the National Day Rally. So this year we will officially roll out the Youth Corp and we will take in our first intake of the Youth Corp and we will start engaging our youth in a much more significant manner. 

14. This is just a brief description of what we are doing in the coming year. There is a lot more and I think it would be an exciting year this year and the following year. Because 2015, we also celebrate our Golden Jubilee. Fifty years is significant, we are hosting the SEA Games, besides the SEA Games, there will be a whole range of activities to look forward to. We are revamping the museums to have better exhibitions, we are celebrating culture, community, we are celebrating all the achievements we have made in the Singapore as a people but we also want to look forward to what can inspire action amongst people in shaping the future together. 

15. I think there will be again an exciting programme lined up between now and 2015 to celebrate our Golden Jubilee. All these I think in the end means that we are working together to make Singapore a cultural city, to make Singapore a sporting society, to make Singapore a giving nation and ultimately to make Singapore a better home for all of us. It is an exciting vision and I look forward to continuing to work with all of you in this endeavour together. 

16. So tonight’s appreciation event, once again is for all of you – to appreciate and honour to you for your leadership, passion, service and dedication. Thank you and enjoy the rest of the evening.