Speech By Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong At The SINDA VOLUNTEERS' TEA On Sunday, 25 February 2001, 4.30pm, At The Suntec Convention Centre Hall 603, Level 6

1. I am happy to attend your function, but at the same time, I am a little apprehensive. The reason for my apprehension is this. I have attended many functions organised by Malay organisations in the past few months. If I attended your function, followed by more ethnic-based functions, say, by the Chinese and Eurasian communities, I may send the wrong message that the Government now favours a segregated, race-based approach to politics.
   
   
2. Hence, I want to reiterate at the outset that our national objective remains the integration of the different ethnic communities. This means widening the common area. It means finding more occasions for Singaporeans of all races to gather and socialize, as opposed to organising activities and events along ethnic lines.
   
   
   SINDA's Achievements
   
   
3. That said, I do feel that all the ethnic self-help groups have done very good work in uplifting their respective communities.
   
   
4. For example, SINDA has successfully mobilised many volunteers to help raise the performance of our Indian community. In fact, SINDA, with 2200 volunteers, has one of the largest volunteer corps in Singapore. Its oldest volunteer is 83 years old. Its youngest is 8 years old. Your volunteers render service without expecting recognition. But I am sure they would welcome the occasional words of appreciation. This afternoon's function is for them. On behalf of the Government, I would like to say a big thank you to all SINDA volunteers for their selfless service.
   
   
5. I am told that there are two reasons for SINDA's success in helping to uplift the Indian community.
   
   
6. First, it has focused on the fundamental social and educational challenges confronting the community. It has not chased peripheral issues, nor strayed into the sensitive areas of religion and politics. When SINDA was formed, educational under-performance among many Indian students was the key issue. SINDA reached out to this group of students and helped them. The result is satisfying. Our Indian students have made significant improvement in passes at PSLE and 'O' level. SINDA's focus has now shifted to ensuring that Indian students get better quality passes, and hence entry into higher levels of education.
   
   
7. Secondly, SINDA has good leadership. Because of this, it has been effective in mobilising the community to find solutions for issues facing Indian Singaporeans. For example, it has launched innovative programmes such as Project Read, a home-based reading programme, and Project Teach, a remedial tuition programme.
   
   
8. SINDA also works closely with the Community Development Councils and grassroots organisations like the People's Association Indian Activity Executive Committees. Together with them, it conducts public educational programmes on subjects such as motivation, study skills, and exam preparation, and runs many Reading Centres.
   
   
9. Such close cooperation between self-help groups and grassroots organisations is to be encouraged. It optimises resources and allows the organisations to reach out to more people.
   
   
   Multi-racial Approach for Self-help Groups
   
   
10. In reviewing SINDA's achievements, I was particularly struck by the fact that 10% of its volunteers are non-Indians. I am very pleased that SINDA has gone outside its own community to tap a wider pool of volunteers. This not only increases your resources, but very importantly, helps to build a more cohesive multi-racial society.
    
    
11. For the same reason, I would like to see our various self-help groups run more joint programmes among themselves. These joint programmes will have students and participants of all races. We should take advantage of the ability of self-help groups to reach out to and draw out members of their own community, to participate in remedial and training programmes alongside members of other communities.
    
    
    Ethnic-based Self-help Policy
    
    
12. My call for a more multi-racial approach to the efforts of the self-help groups, however, should not be read as a policy change to do away with ethnic-based self-help groups. Creating a cohesive multi-racial society will take time. Meanwhile, the reality is that many Singaporeans remain more comfortable turning to members of their own community for help. They feel less inhibited sharing their problems with someone from the same community, culture and religion.
    
    
13. Our self-help groups are a success. They have made much headway in uplifting their communities. I doubt that we would have been as effective in drawing out volunteers and reaching out to so many students and workers had we used a different approach.
    
    
14. But even as we pursue an ethnic-based self-help policy, we must always remember that ours is a multi-racial society. A multi-racial Singapore provides us that stability necessary for progress. It also gives us an unique advantage. By building on each community's complementary strengths, we become stronger overall.
    
    
    Conclusion
    
    
15. Ten years ago, in my first speech as Prime Minister, I said, "Singapore can do well only if her good sons and daughters are prepared to dedicate themselves to help others". This remains my strong belief.
    
    
16. Every year, there will be a new cohort of students and older, unskilled workers who need help. There will always be Singaporeans who cannot cope on their own. If the more able and fortunate do not come forward to help, we will not be able to bond as a nation. I hope therefore that SINDA will keep up its excellent work, and continue to draw in more volunteers to give a hand to the less able and privileged among us.