Tag: Heng Swee Keat

MOE To Consider Introducing Modules On Race And Religious Issues

The Education Ministry will consider introducing a module for students to better appreciate issues concerning race and religion, said Education Minister Heng Swee Keat.

He said this at a Racial Harmony Forum on Wednesday (Jul 8) attended by 900 school leaders and teachers.

“I think that is something that we ought to consider so that over a period of years, as our students go through the primary school all the way to secondary school and then JC, ITE and polytechnics, there can be some continuity in how we mould their understanding,” he said.

“I think that will be a useful idea because today a lot of these materials are already embedded in the different Character and Citizenship Education material as well as in social studies and history and so on. If we can pool it together, in order to give it a focus, I think that is something that we should consider.”

Singapore has enjoyed racial and religious harmony in the last 50 years but the young should be reminded that it is a delicate asset that should not be taken for granted, Mr Heng said. He pointed out that fault lines can emerge, if misinformation about other races and religions are allowed to spread.

The minister said efforts to maintain harmony must be doubled, given several challenges. For instance, the internet makes it easier to post careless remarks about other races and religions, with wide-reaching repercussions.

Radicalism, the ISIS threat as well as increasing religiosity, also raise the need to facilitate understanding between people of different beliefs even more. “We first need to be aware of these issues, consider what they might mean for our students, and prepare to engage them meaningfully,” Mr Heng said.

“It also means that we need to keep a watchful eye on our charges, helping our young find meaning and purpose in their school and community, so that they will not fall prey to radical and extremist religious beliefs,” he added.

“With high internet connectivity, it has become easier to connect with others of similar beliefs from across the world, and for people to congregate around causes and movements. If you look at some of the videos produced by the ISIS, they are highly sophisticated. There is great need today for our young to be discerning, responsible users of information, as well as to navigate this terrain wisely. Now, we have to work a lot harder to keep the ideals of our nation.”

To promote inter-racial understanding among students, schools mark Racial Harmony Day on Jul 21 annually.

Source: www.channelnewsasia.com

July 9, 2015
Heng Swee Keat To Lead Task Force Probing Complaints By Residents Of DBSS Development Centrale 8

Following a petition signed by owners of more than half of the units at Centrale 8, a taskforce surpervised by Tampines GRC Member of Parliament Heng Swee Keat will be formed to look into the residents’ grouses.

Buyers of almost 400 of the 708 units in the Design, Build and Sell Scheme (DBSS) project had endorsed the petition to extend their year-long warranty. They also want compensation for alleged “inferior quality of materials” used and poor design that compromises their space, safety and privacy.

Tampines Town Council chairman Baey Yam Keng told TODAY that Mr Heng had asked him to reply on his behalf, after residents emailed their petition last Friday (June 19) to the project’s developer, Sim Lian Group, and looped in the Housing and Development Board (HDB), Ministry of National Development and Tampines MPs.

Mr Baey said the task force will be led by senior grassroots leaders, with Mr Heng supervising the team personally. The task force could include representatives from Sim Lian, HDB, the Building and Construction Authority and the town council.

“We want to help residents by bringing the relevant people together so that we can all talk things over together,” he said.

“Once we get the composition settled I think we should have the first meeting as soon as we can, because the residents are anxious.”

Mr Baey added that the outcome “would have to be a balance between the wishes of the residents as well as the contractual obligations of the developers”.

A developer has to rectify any defect in the units within a year after handing over the keys, but residents are worried other defects may surface after that. They are creating a document to highlight issues faced, and will be presenting it to the task force. They hope to have a dialogue by early July.

In 2011, Centrale 8 made the headlines for the wrong reasons after its developer asked for S$880,000 for the five-room units – a record indicative asking price which was on par with the cost of suburban condominium units. This prompted a public outcry which led Sim Lian to slash the asking price to S$778,000. As the controversy brewed, National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan weighed in and said that consumers who thought the prices were too high should give the flats a miss. Soon after, the Government announced the DBS scheme was under review and subsequently, the sale of land for DBSS projects was suspended.

According to earlier reports, Centrale 8 homeowners were upset about defects such as faulty locks, cracked tiles and burst water pipes.

But they told TODAY they have bigger issues with the design of their homes and estate. For example, some toilet windows face the common corridor, which means windows cannot be opened. The entrance to the estate as well as the carpark meet at a cross junction, increasing chances of accidents, said residents, who are calling for another entrance and exit to be created.

A resident who wanted to be known as Mr Cher said the main power switch for the aircon compressor is located outside the flat. “If I want to turn it off, I have to climb out onto the (aircon) ledge, which is very dangerous,” he said.

Another resident, Ms Evelyn Soo, 46, found sanitary pipes taking up usable space in the service yard. When she told Sim Lian about it, the developer responded that the location of the pipes was “to meet with (PUB’s) requirement”.

TODAY understands the national water agency sent a strongly-worded email to the developer calling such statements “wrong and misleading” as PUB “does not mandate that sanitary stacks be located at the service courtyard or AC (aircon) ledge of residential units”.

Sim Lian clarified that the sanitary stack pipes located in the service yards of some unit types are there to meet PUB’s technical requirement, which states that the length of a discharge pipe connecting to the discharge stack pipe cannot exceed its maximum length of 2.5m.

The developer also said it is common for architects to place sanitary stack pipes in wet areas including bathrooms, service yards or the aircon ledges of residential units.

Another resident, who declined to be named, cited another “very awkward” design element where his main gate opens from the right, while the main door opens from left. Half of the master bedroom door protrudes into bedroom space when open. “We paid a premium price but we never got the premium value,” he said.

A Sim Lian spokesman confirmed it has received the residents’ petition and “will continue to attend to their concerns on a one-to-one basis”.

The developer said it remains committed to rectifying reported defects in accordance with the Sale and Purchase Agreement and will “also review subsequent requests for rectification works on a case-by-case basis” after the year-long Defects Liability Period expires.

Sim Lian is working with HDB, Tampines Citizens’ Consultative Committee, Tampines Town Council, the People’s Association Residents’ Committee and grassroots representatives to facilitate the process.

Source: www.todayonline.com

June 25, 2015
Heng Swee Keat: Singaporeans Must Continue To Build And Maintain Harmonious Society

Education Minister Heng Swee Keat has said Singaporeans must continue to build and maintain a harmonious society, regardless of race, language or religion.

As the country turns 50, he urged the public to reflect on how its pioneers helped shape such inclusiveness.

“This harmony did not come by accident,” said Mr Heng. “It is good work, hard work, on the part of everyone and because Singaporeans reject race-based politics, we reject intolerance. And instead we embrace each and every race, and we embrace multi-racialism, and we embrace a multi religious society.”

He was speaking at an event called SG50 Harmony Swing, which was held at the Nanyang Polytechnic Stadium on Saturday afternoon (Jun 20). It was organised by Thye Hua Kwan Moral Society and was a prelude to the society’s annual “Inter Racial Inter Religious Harmony Nite”, which will be held on Jul 12.

The event saw 3,578 people being part of the country’s largest Zumba dance to date. They smashed the previous record in the Singapore Book of Records of 1,162.

3,578 people of all races and religions broke the record of the country’s largest Zumba dance this afternoon. http://bit.ly/1SyxrUH (Video: Nadia Jansen Hassan)

Posted by Channel NewsAsia Singapore on Saturday, 20 June 2015

In true Singaporean fashion, participants came from all races and religions. Amilia Amil, one of the participants, joined with her friends despite having started fasting.

“We are here to show that despite fasting, we can do fitness activities, and also to celebrate with the rest of the multi races and cultures here,” she said.

“It’s a wonderful feeling for everybody,” said Chairman of the Thye Hua Kwan Moral Society Lee Kim Siang. “We’re all neighbours, we’re all Singaporeans. We get to see each other, we dance together, we have fun together.”

Source: www.channelnewsasia.com

June 21, 2015
Alfian Sa’at: Government Reaction To Sabah Tragedy Not Opportunistic Propaganda

Today is the National Day of Remembrance for the victims of the Sabah earthquake.

I’ve seen some commentators wondering if there is some political mileage to be extracted from this observance. Whether there is opportunism involved, in putting a caring face on a government otherwise known to be indifferent to all the quieter tragedies happening in our country–like poverty, or the poor treatment of migrant workers.

And I’d have to respectfully disagree that it is ‘propagandistic’. One can make the case that the SEA Games can be propagandistic. The flag on the winner standing on the rostrum, the currency of national pride in precious metals, the torch relay featuring Singapore’s favourite son (Fandi, and its favourite grandson? Irfan), the rah-rah of the Opening Ceremony.

The Mount Kinabalu tragedy is so senseless–many of the victims so young, the disaster so unforeseen–that it beggars belief. And I doubt that anyone has any standard operating procedure for public mourning. Can one fly the flag at half-mast for ordinary civilians rather than statesmen? Should one enforce that minute of silence at SEA Games venues before the competitions? But I also think these kinds of state rituals are an attempt to give some meaning to something that resists any kind of meaning. People are trying to comfort one another as best as they can, and if they can’t bring the lost ones back to life then they’ll try to do something exceptional, including flying flags at half-mast and declaring a day of remembrance.

And they do this not to demonstrate that they have the power to do so, but because they are powerless to do the one thing we all sometimes wish we could do. And if calling the children ‘little heroes’ and the teachers and guides ‘selfless spirits’ gives some amount of consolation and closure then oh God let them have this spoonful of mercy to help them face the void.

Maybe it’s because I’ve lost someone recently, but when I think of this National Day of Remembrance I don’t think of the government or the PAP at all; I think only of the grieving families. I think of those bedrooms that you no longer simply walk into but which you have to confront and which confronts you. I think of my mother’s own bedroom, which I can’t walk into without feeling that it’s all too much. The watch I bought for her, whose battery had died, which I always thought of replacing but somehow never got round to it. The moisturiser we used to rub on her legs when she was undergoing chemo and then beside it the Johnson’s baby oil that I rubbed on her joints just after she passed away, on the doctor’s instructions, so that she would not stiffen into a crooked shape. All the things she used to keep–the pens (tested periodically for ink), the towels, the paper bags, stacked neatly but their handles an impossible jumble of plastic and twine–but never used because like all hoarders she believed that the day will come when they will be awakened from their slumber and find their use…but when they wake how do I tell them their owner has gone? And why do I invest those inanimate things with consciousness, as if…if they were alive then it would mean so is she.

So maybe I can’t keep a critical distance and see some bigger picture, but on this National Day of Remembrance, I am thinking of those families, only those families, and the hairbrush that still has hair stuck in it, the set of keys with the keychain worn down by fingerprints, the exercise book only half-filled, the dent in the bolster foam, the cabinet shelf which someone could have reached one day without tiptoeing, and all those tender dreams where the loved one returns, the dreams that you don’t ever want to wake up from.

Source: Alfian Sa’at

June 9, 2015
Local Teacher: Singapore And Malaysia Need To Ban Nudist Prick And Crew For Disrespecting The Victims Of Sabah Earthquake

Admin,

I teach at a primary school. It’s been almost 8 years since I first started teaching. I did not become a teacher because I love children. I became a teacher for the opportunity it affords me to help mould the lives of these little ones. Over time, I learnt to love them. Even the naughty ones. They fill you with such joy with their earnestness and innocence.

Needless to say, I was overcome with grief when I first heard of the losses by TKPS. As a teacher and as a parent of a toddler myself, I was devastated. I thought of my own little one and how I would feel if I lost him. It scares me. So, I cannot imagine how it is for the parents to deal with their loss. Like other Singaporeans, I can only emphatise and offer my deepest condolences.

There are some who say that the Malaysian government’s rescue efforts was found wanting. I don’t know. Maybe it is still too early to say. For me, now’s the time to focus the effort on working together to look for those still missing. The review can come later. Then we’ll have a better idea of what went right, or wrong, during the search and rescue.

But what I cannot understand and forgive is these foreigners who react with not an ounce of sensitivity in their being. Go and see Emil Kaminski‘s fb profile and his page, Monkeetime.

Many have slammed the foreigners who chided and ridiculed their guides before taking naked pictures of themselves on Mount Kinabalu. Many Malaysians, including government officials, have blamed them for the disaster. I agree that it is a bit far-fetched.

But what I’ll say is what they did really disrespected the culture and traditions of people who treat the mountain as sacred. It is not their place to ridicule or to “liberalise” the Sabahans. They do this for what? Entertainment? I am very appalled by his reactions, to say the least.

They need to stop with the white men’s burden mentality and stop imposing their values on others. Even with all the grief sadness, this a**hole still posted on his timeline with the semi-naked photos of his trip and captioned it, “Mount Kinabalu. Time of my life”. This was last night when more or less, a lot of the students were confirmed dead. That is being very provocative. So no, you don’t call these people who blame you for the earthquake, stupid.

Stupid is one who had caused an uproar only to pour scorn on the loss of young lives. Stupid is one who is disrespectful of local customs in their search of fun. You may not have directly caused the earthquake. But that does not give you the right to mouth-off and ridicule, and rub slat into the fresh wounds of the parents who loss their children in the earthquake.

The Singapore government keep saying that we need foreigers. This kind of foreigner we don’t need. Instead, we need to keep them out. Our social compact is too fragile to cope with these rude people who with big egos who are resistant to learning, as well as showing compassion and humility.

Singapore and Malaysia should bar him and his nudist bunch from entering ever again.

Teacher Teaching

[Reader Contribution]

June 8, 2015