Singapore Tamil Youth Conference

I want to firstly say – thank you to everyone for being here. Let me just start by saying that I was very impressed with the discussion just now in various presentations.

I was on the journey with TLS (Tamil Language Society) from the start – as to what exactly you were thinking about when you first started the conversation a couple of months ago. Over the course of the year, you have done quite a bit of work, to do your FGDs and understand the community. These are internal discussions where you have had to see what exactly students like you are thinking of, and what are the concerns that you have.

So, I think that is a very good and applaudable effort. I want to just say, thank you to the Chairman, Mr. Mohanan, and the rest of the committee for doing a wonderful job over the last few months.

Understandably, some of these discussions are what the youths feel. There are many groups out there. There is a lot of work that has been done, and I want to thank here today, Narpani Pearavai, SINDA, Tamil Murasu, and SIET, for coming together. This is what we are trying to do: create a community, so that everybody knows what is available.

You heard from the students, you heard the presentations, you know that some of the concerns that our students have are actually addressed in existing programs.

It may not be very evident sometimes, so it is committees like this, where you get everyone together, where we can then better understand what is available and what different parts of the community are doing.

In fact, that is the motivation why I started INEI. It is quite an ambitious goal: to try to create a united Indian community, to be able to groom the next level of leaders, and to be able to uplift the most vulnerable in society. And to make sure that that interaction and connection, regardless of which generation of Indian we are – because we are all migrants, we all are descendants of migrants who came to Singapore – and that all of us are collectively calling this place our home and making sure that we uplift one another.

So, those are the objectives of INEI, and actually what you are seeing here today is really a miniature version of that. I am quite heartened to know that this is something that is useful, and something that is put into action by TLS today.

I wanted to give you a personal anecdote, and maybe a call to action to TLS, and then we can talk about some of the parts that are highlighted.

So, firstly, not to reveal my age, but I was involved in Sangae Muzhanghu in 1994. Some of you may not have been born, some of you may not have been formed, some of you may not even have been a thought among your parents.

At that point in time, we only had a few years of having conducted Sangae Muzhanghu. But the quality of the programme and concert was actually extremely high.

I had a small part to play. I was the lighting guy. Some of you may have done that before, right? That was what I did.

But what has happened over the last 30 years since then, was the fact that you have built on these strengths. And we have Sangae Muzhanghu today, which is way more different, although the aspects of Sangae Muzhanghu continue to remain. We will always have a very serious protagonist and a fun-loving fellow, as you saw on stage just now. It was there even back then, and today Sangae Muzhanghu is reaching almost 40 years of performances.

You are therefore in a position to be able to expand beyond the university. You can do something that is at a national level. If it is funding that you need, I am sure people around the room, including myself and including the Ministry, are willing to stand behind TLS to do this.

It should be a uniting rallying call, a clarion call for the committee and community. It is not just about TLS or NUS alone. You could invite students, you could invite NTU, you could invite the rest of the universities. Everybody comes together collectively to celebrate the good work of NUS TLS, and specifically for Sangae Muzhanghu.

There could be an equivalent in NTU, and we can support that too, and that is how we make our community stronger.

So, I urge NUS TLS to think ambitiously, have wider goals and make sure that at the end of the day, this is one avenue where we can then improve not just the community, but the usage of spoken Tamil at home. All these things can be something that you already do today.

And if we do that one by one, year after year, considering one particular area that we want to improve on, collectively come together as a community, focus our energy there, and find a way to unpack it. A lot can be done year after year, and we will be able to succeed in the long run.

I wanted to add that while there are all the recommendations that you have seen, we also must ask ourselves, what are we doing about it? What are the youth leaders doing about it?

Do you need the government to do certain things, do you need the government to always be there all the time? My own assessment is certainly no.

There are certain things that, if you believe in it strongly, you should do it. Start with it, people will follow you.

When you are doing something that you are very passionate about, you realise that like-minded people will naturally gravitate to you. Eventually what you need in terms of support, funding from the government, like-minded donors will come in and support you. Because they see the energy, they see the passion, and that is what we need moving forward.

So, not everything will be done by the government. There are certain things that you yourselves can do.

Some of you will be graduating soon. You can very well be mentors to the younger ones, right? These are things that can be done internally, without the need for any larger superstructure or support. You can do it on your own at very low cost.

There is a separate discussion, which I heard from the presentations earlier, and this will be for individuals to make your own decision and determination.

Individuals can determine what you mean by success. Individuals can set your own expectations. If you set high expectations, and if your definition of success is extremely narrow, it would be very difficult for your specific areas to be achieved.

So, you should have a broad perspective of what success actually is, and you should be able to moderate expectations.

And when you do that, it is an individual choice, and when you do it in that way, you realise that a lot of the pressures that you put on yourself can be elevated.

Why do you compare with yourself? Why do you compare with your colleagues around you – so what if he gets a job and you haven't got a job yet? You will still get a job.

There are a lot of jobs around, trust me. I speak from MOM’s perspective. The last I checked, I still had about 30,000 jobs not filled.

I speak to trade associations and chambers. Everyone tells me, where are your Singaporean workers? I need more Singaporeans in my company.

We have wired our system in Singapore, where if you want to hire foreigners, I must hire the local first. I must hire way more locals, and I can then hire foreigners.

So, the system has already allowed for all of this to benefit Singaporeans. So, don't get the wrong impression that there are no jobs.

Beyond that, I think what we see here today, which I'm very heartened by, is the fact that as youth leaders – you want to give back. You are clearly interested, you clearly want to try to find a way to support the community and uplift the community. This is very, very commendable.

You can start with TLS. If you move past the university, you can come back as mentors and supporters of TLS.

You can expand it to include other self-help groups. There is a very good youth program in SINDA. There is a very good youth program in Narpani. You can be connected to the community.

In a few weeks' time, the Ministry of Culture, Community, and Youth will be unveiling the SG Youth Plan. I urge you to take a look at it and see what are the opportunities that are available that we, as an Indian community, would want to leverage and capitalise on the SG Youth Plan, so that we can build a better community for all of us.

So, I would say, in conclusion, there are many things that are going on. This is a useful start, when we can understand one another. We can find that there are gaps – maybe there are knowledge gaps – but there are folks who are doing wonderful work, including SINDA, Narpani, SIET and Tamil Murasu.

At the end of the day, it is about coming together and finding ways where we can bridge those knowledge gaps.

And at the same time, it is to assure you that there are opportunities. And internally for you, you will have to then decide what are your expectations, what are your definitions of success, and don't burden yourself unnecessarily for issues that may not be there.

And my final point is, the community is in good hands. There are wonderful leaders here, both past and present, and existing leaders as well.

I think a lot more can be done if we dream big together, and I urge all of us to join me in this journey as we dream big, so that the community can progress not just in the next five years, but for the longer term.

So that when your children – some of you would be sitting at the head table, and when there are younger people who are speaking here – they will be looking at you and saying that it was you who inspired me. And that is why I am in NUS. That's why I am in NUS TLS. That is why I have decided to take up being a youth advocate, for example. If you can do it in that way, I think you have arrived as a society, and I think TLS is well placed to lead this charge.

The government is very happy to support you in the journey. Thank you very much.