As Singapore continues to evolve, we must equip our youths with the knowledge and attributes
that they will need to grow into active and discerning citizens. As the saying goes, we
can't always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future.
Some Members have mentioned the need for political education. No doubt, it is important to be
informed about the political system and the principles of governance in Singapore. But
our priority in education must be on character development. As several Members have emphasised
including Mr. Lim Biow Chuan just now. Good character is about staying true to the values
that we hold dear. Good character means honesty and integrity in our words and actions. Good
character means that while we may disagree on certain issues, we can still come together
and hash things out. More importantly, good character gives rise to good deeds. One of
our founding fathers, the late Mr Rajaratnam, put this very well when he spoke of Singapore
becoming a "democracy of deeds, and not words". He called for citizenship participation at
all levels, so that we can rise above adversarial politics and "solve practical problems in a practical way".
Mr Rajaratnam said this in the early 70s, and in many ways he was
prescient in highlighting the problems we see today in mature democracies around the
world. In countries previously upheld in some quarters as the bastions and role models of
democracy, we see citizens becoming increasingly cynical and disenfranchised, as described
by Mr Hri Kumar eloquently in this House earlier in the debate. It is especially worrying that
many young people in such countries have succumbed to disillusionment, and have grown more disengaged
from public life and their communities. We must never allow this to happen in Singapore.
So in engaging our young people, we must get to the heart of what makes for a healthy democracy
-- the collective engagement of an active citizenry for the public good. We must encourage
our youths to get involved in causes and projects that build a better society. We must aspire
for Singapore to be a problem-solving democracy, a democracy of deeds. That is why we are focusing
on "Values in Action" in our schools, and that is why we are focusing on community leadership
and community involvement in the Youth Corps. We are already seeing many active young Singaporeans
who inspire all of us to do better and to do more. Take David Hoe and his team from
NUS, for example. They took part in the Gobi March last year to raise $100,000 in funds
for the Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund. There are also many youth-led social
enterprises like Conjunct Consulting, which is a group that offers pro-bono consulting
services - these are young professionals, so they have skills and they offer their skills
in a pro-bono manner - for organisations in the social sector. These are just some examples
of young people who are making a difference early in their lives, and there are many more
out there. So overall, I would say that we are not doing too badly on this front. But
we can and will continue to do better. Singaporeans want to celebrate our culture and heritage,
to honour our pioneer generation and do something meaningful for the disadvantaged. A good number
of them, young and old alike, are willing to invest their own time and energy into this.
Madam, I am very heartened to see this active and lively response from Singaporeans, and
we have just started so I am sure there will be many more to come. I am particularly encouraged
because we live in a time where politics in many countries has become increasingly acrimonious
and divisive; where negative and inflammatory soundbites are being amplified louder and
faster than before. In such an environment, it's very easy to tune out, to become cynical,
to focus only on the bad and dismiss all the good that is happening around us. But the
active participation of the many Singaporeans (including young Singaporeans) in Our Singapore
Conversation (OSC) and now the SG50 celebration gives me hope. It should give all of us hope.
It shows that Singaporeans care deeply about one another and about our nation, and it shows
that we are making progress towards becoming a democracy of deeds.