12 Jun 2015
Fellow Singaporeans,
We are gathered here this evening to mark Singapore’s 50th birthday. We have just watched a video, “The Soft Truth of Lee Kuan Yew” which is a tribute to our founding Prime Minister Mr Lee Kuan Yew who passed away three months ago. We owe to him much of what Singapore is today, and he has left us a solid foundation to build on for the next generation. We miss him dearly.
As part of a series of events to mark Singapore’s 50th birthday (SG50) in Cairo, this evening we will watch a movie, ‘Ah Boys to Men’, which many of you chose in order to rekindle memories of our days in the National Service. I would like to thank my colleagues at the Embassy for working with all of you to come up with this movie idea.
SG50 will mean different things to different people. But one thing that makes Singapore our Singapore is our strength from diversity. When I first arrived in Cairo two years ago, some Egyptians were confused after meeting Singaporeans working at the embassy; we have Chinese, Malays, Eurasians, Indians as well as those of mixed heritage at the embassy. One Egyptian friend asked, who is a Singaporean? I am sure this confusion arises not just in Egypt but also in relatively homogeneous parts of the world.
In Singapore, we live in peace and harmony among different ethnic and religious groups. But we know we cannot rest on our laurels and must constantly work to forge a cohesive community. In June 2014, the former Grand Mufti of Egypt, Sheikh Ali Gomaa, and the Anglican Bishop of Egypt, Mouneer Hanna Anis, travelled to Singapore together to see how we maintain harmonious relations in our diverse society, and whether there were lessons for Egypt. Egypt is a 6000-years old civilization and the process of forging national unity and of fostering peace and harmony among the Christians and Muslims have been ongoing for centuries. Peaceful co-existence amongst different groups is not something any country can take for granted.
When one of the religious leaders came back to Cairo, he told me that we have far-sighted national policies for uniting Singaporeans into a cohesive community. However, he felt that government policies alone are not sufficient. He wanted to know what was the additional, invisible ingredient contributing to our success. I think the answer to his profound question lies in our hearts and minds. It really boils down to whether we are open-minded or close-minded. If we are open-minded, we will constantly learn from other cultures and civilisations, respect other people’s beliefs and be tolerant about differences. If we are close-minded, the strains will eventually show, sowing suspicion and intolerance and we will quite quickly find ourselves in a situation not dissimilar to what other countries are facing today.
As we look back and celebrate our 50th birthday this year, let’s remember that we have come this far because of our unity and strength in diversity, and because we consciously worked to preserve a large common space for all of us to interact in. We must safeguard this civil space even as we have our own space to practise our different cultural and religious beliefs.
Before we proceed to watch “Ah Boys to Men”, let us remember and honour the ten Singaporeans who died in the earthquake at Mount Kinabalu. Let us also pay tribute to the courage and sacrifice made by the teachers and mountain guides who put themselves in danger to protect the students; some of them have given up their lives in doing that. They are our heroes. May I ask you to now join me in observing one minute of silence.
Thank you.