As we celebrate our 40th National Day, there are many things we can be proud of. Tonight I will single out just one of the many: our multi-racial and multi-religious society. We set out to “…pledge ourselves as one united people, regardless of race, language or religion, to build a democratic society based on justice and equality so as to achieve happiness, prosperity and progress for our nation.” Today we have a harmonious society in a multi-racial and multi-religious society. This has come from constant effort.
2 Other societies develop differently. Recently, the bombings in London led to many analysts searching for the answers to why Britain had home-grown terrorists. No study is yet conclusive, but some interesting facts have emerged.
3 Britain and Continental Europe host many immigrants. However, the immigrants are not well integrated into society. The immigrants live in communities of their own. When immigrants move into a neighbourhood, the indigenous people move out. The result is that the children of immigrants go to schools where the vast majority of fellow students are children of immigrants. When they finish school and look for jobs, they have great difficulty, especially when unemployment as a whole is a big problem. Such children of immigrants may well harbour a sense of injustice – they are citizens of the country of their birth, but feel discriminated against. So they may well be fertile minds for deviant leaders who plot terrorist acts.
4 Ever since our independence, we have taken great pains to integrate our society. The racial riots of the 1960s taught us not to take racial and religious harmony for granted.
5 So, today our people live in multi-racial neighbourhoods. Our children go to schools with children of other races. Employment is based on merit, and our offices and factories are multi-racial and multi-religious in character. So our people constantly interact.
6 We go beyond that. In our hawker centres, we have food suitable for people of all religions. Our markets also. In the community, there is regular mixing. But we do not take that for granted. We have set up many grassroots organisations. They organise many activities for residents, and these activities aim to bring people together.
7 Sports too, bring our people together. Our football teams are multi-racial. Now even the race-based sports are becoming multi-racial. I see Chinese and Indians playing sepak takraw. I see Malays now taking to basketball, maybe inspired by the televising of NBA games.
8 Still, we should never take our state of multi-racial and multi-religious harmony for granted. There is still ignorance, and ignorance breeds prejudice. We must constantly break down ignorance to build mutual respect and mutual understanding.
9 As we celebrate our 40th National Day, let us remind ourselves of our National Pledge, so that we will continue to live in harmony.
10 Next, let me turn to a local matter. As you know, we have many activities and many groups in our constituency. One such group is the Mus’Art Orchestra of Jurong Green CC. The Mus’Art Orchestra is a group of people who love music, and who come together to pursue their common passion. It has participated in the World Music Contest in Kerkrade, Netherlands. It is a four-yearly event. I am pleased to announce that they have just come back from this year’s competition, with two awards, one gold and one silver!
11 Let me read from a report that Mr Henry Ho circulated to grassroots leaders:
12 The resident band of the Jurong Green Community Club, Mus’Art Wind Orchestra and the Mus’Art Percussion Club, have once again done Singapore proud by scoring a “Gold” and a “Silver” Award in the recent 15th World Music Contest held in Kerkrade, the Netherlands.
13 Under the baton of Mdm. Tan Soh Hwa, the 5 year old ensemble consisting of mainly students, garnered a position in the “Gold” category by scoring 85.42% in the Contest’s Second Division Category. The 3 year old percussion ensemble led by Mr. Kelvin Kew participated in the Concert Division and attained a “Silver” award, garnering a total of 76%.
14 These results were only made possible by the long hours of practice that every member of the 50+ strong band ensemble and 15+ strong percussion ensemble have put in, not forgetting the efforts of the organizing committee of the Jurong Green CC and the generous support of sponsors.
15 The band performed 2 specially commissioned pieces for the contest a world premiere: a piece entitled “Rebirth” written by former SAF Bands Senior Director of Music, Major Tonni Wei, which featured a suona solo played by Mr. Yong Phew Kheng, and “Iris” composed by Dr. Hardy Mertens, an Advisor of the wind orchestra.
16 Besides taking part in the contest, Mus’Art Wind Orchestra also had the opportunity to perform at the Wilderhoes hall. At this concert which was played to a full house, the band took up the role of Singapore ambassadors by distributing materials on Singapore.
17 There was also a screening of a video clip on Singapore produced by the Singapore Tourism Board. The band members even offered the Dutch concert goers a taste of Singapore food by preparing Singaporean dishes like curry chicken and Bah Kwa. It was so successful that it was the talk of the town where the local TV and press “Heuvelland Aktneel” were present to cover the event.
18 Not forgetting the community, the Mus’Art Wind Orchestra adopted a local orphanage “Kindern Opvang Kerkrade” and helped them to raise funds through a concert performance at the Centrum of Kerkrade. The children of the orphanage sang for the band to thank them for the kind gesture. The audience was also very spontaneous with their contributions and a respectable sum was raised.
19 Similar to the Wilderhoes concert, materials on Singapore were distributed to the audience. The event was covered on local “Kerkrade TV” and broadcasted over the radio. The band was touched by the support and encouragement given by the audience who watched our performance in the pouring rain.
20 After reading this report, I am sure many of us here would be very proud of the Mus’Art Orchestra of Jurong Green CC!
I wish everyone Happy National Day!
