Singapore Polytechnic 70th Anniversary Music Festival

Opening Address by Mr Alvin Tan, Minister of State for Culture, Community and Youth & Ministry of Trade and Industry, at the Singapore Polytechnic 70th Anniversary Music Festival on 8 March 2024

Mr Soh Wah Wah, Principal and CEO of SP,

And friends,

1. Welcome, and happy 70th birthday to SP!

Singapore Polytechnic’s 70th Anniversary

2. SP, as both hosts Annette Lee and Nity Baizura have said, is a very special institution. SP is 70 years old, which means that it is the first polytechnic in Singapore. And over the years you have, through your doors, groomed over 230,000 students, including Nity. I was just here a couple of months ago, talking to different students as well. I think it's really important to have alumni, like Nity and Mr Lee Yi Terng, who's responsible for bringing me here today, and you can see the many things that they are going to be doing.

Mental Well-Being

3. So, what are we doing today?
4. It's not just celebrating music at a music festival, or celebrating your 70th anniversary, it's also to see how we can use music, and the arts, as we have mentioned in Parliament, to do something for mental well-being: mental wellness, and also mental resilience.
5. Because as many of you who are musicians and artists would know, music is really bound to our souls. It’s natural that music and the arts can be used to promote mental well-being.

Memorandum of Understanding

6. So I’m really happy that my colleagues, Ms Ivy Lim from *SCAPE, Mr Eric Sng from SHINE Children & Youth Services, and Mr Lee Yi Terng from YouthHarmony are here to sign a very important MOU today, and to also reinforce that music and mental well-being go hand-in-hand.

Singapore Polytechnic’s 70th Anniversary Music Festival

7. I also know that we have different carnival booths here today, from Growth Beans, Mindline.sg, and Singapore Association for Mental Health.
8. DPM Lawrence Wong said a couple of weeks ago (at the Parliamentary Motion Debate on Advancing Mental Health) that mental health and well-being is a national priority. And I wanted to show everybody that it’s not just lip service; it’s not something that we say, but we put considerable effort, funding and resources into it.
9. So, thank you very much. This is another manifestation of us not just saying, but doing.
10. Enjoy the music festival! Thank you, and congratulations!