Contact | Sitemap

DPM Tharman Shanmugaratnam at the Spring Reception 2016

on 10 February 2016
Mr Chua Thian Poh and all the committee members of the SFCCA, Business
China and Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre. Friends and guests who are
here this morning.
(In Mandarin: Good
morning to all guests, friends, and everyone present. I wish everyone a
happy Lunar New Year).
Thank you very much for inviting me. I think Mr Chua has just given us a
very good speech covering what SFCCA, Business China and the Singapore
Chinese Cultural Centre will be doing in the next year, and in the coming
years.
We are all looking forward to the opening of the Singapore Chinese Cultural
Centre later this year in Shenton Way. It is an important new centre for the
Singapore Chinese community, but it will also help in our efforts to develop
our Singapore identity and culture, and I will talk more about this a bit more.
I think we are at a very interesting stage, having completed 50 years of
national development and now looking to the future. Not just for our
economy which is of course important but also for our culture and our
identity as Singaporeans. And I would like to make a few remarks about
three things that we have to focus on in this regard, and which I know that
the SFCCA, Business China and the Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre can
play a very useful role in.
First, we have to deepen our Singapore identity in the coming years. Second,
we have to intensify our efforts to integrate new immigrants in our society.
And thirdly, we have to make sure that the culture of contributing back to
community and country remains strong, not just for the current generation
but for future generations. I believe these should be three important
priorities in evolving our culture.
First, deepening our Singapore identity. Its remarkable where we are today
that we are a peaceful, multiracial society, a rarity internationally. Thats why
it is normal for an Indian minister to be the guest of honour for this event.
Its normal, not a novelty or something very unusual.
But for the future, we have to deepen our Singapore identity, because we live
in a troubled world a world where divisions will grow rather than get less.
And it is not just for defensive reasons. It is also because there is an
opportunity for people to develop greater pride in their identity as
Singaporeans and in a multicultural Singapore.
But how do we do it? When I say deepen our Singapore identity, I do not
mean we dilute each of our cultural identities. I do not mean we try to fuse
everything into one culture. I think if we try to do that, we will end up with a
weak and confused culture, and a weak and confused sense of identity
amongst Singaporeans.

We have to preserve and in fact deepen our respective cultures. But that
alone is not enough. It is not enough to just deepen our Chinese, Malay and
Indian cultures in Singapore. We must also take a keen interest in each
others cultures and participate wherever possible in each others cultures.
That is why I mentioned that the Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre will be
not just for Singaporean Chinese, but for all Singaporeans to learn about our
evolving Chinese culture in Singapore. Just as the majority community
should take keen interest in our Malay, Indian and other cultures.
So lets not dilute our cultures, and certainly not fuse everything into one
culture because that will leave us with a weak and confused identity. We
should instead evolve, adapt and strengthen our own cultures, and take a
keen interest in each others cultures. This will allow us to deepen our
Singapore identity, and take real pride in multiculturalism in Singapore.
We cant force culture too much. But if you look at what happens among our
schools, every time you see a very high standard performance primary
school, secondary school sometimes you watch a Chinese dance
performance, a very high standard and you feel proud. You watch a Malay
dance performance very high standard you feel proud. But when you see a
Malay girl doing a Chinese dance also to high standards, theres an extra
Tutter in our hearts. And when you see a Chinese doing Indian dance, theres
that added Tutter in the heart.
So dont weaken it; dont lower the standard. Dont go for fusion for its own
sake. But encourage keen interest and participation wherever possible in
each others cultures. Thats how we strengthen our unique Singapore
identity.
Secondly, we have to pay more attention to integrating new immigrants. If
we do it well, over time they too will contribute to evolving our culture, but
very importantly, it also means ensuring immigrants assimilate within our
multicultural environment. Just as they do when they go to the United States
or Australia, immigrants want to assimilate as much as possible. The
second generation especially always wants to assimilate, they dont want to
be different from the local community. Our second generation of new
immigrants, I believe, will assimilate well and contribute to Singapore. But
for the Zrst generation too, we must make more effort to help them
integrate. Learn to converse with locals, learn conversational English, mix in
the community, take part in activities together. It is happening and we want
it to grow even further. So this is the second very important priority.
Thirdly, there is something in our cultural identities that was about the ethos
of contributing to the community. After independence especially, it was not
just about contributing to your own community, but contributing to our
country.
It was always there, from the earliest times in the Chinese community and
that is why the clan associations were formed to help each other. In the
old days, it was about helping ones own clan, in fact an even smaller group
than your clan. It evolved, and especially after independence, we developed
more of the ethos of contributing to a broader society. We saw the same
thing among the Malay and Indian communities. But that was for a
generation that went through great difZculty themselves. It came naturally
to them. (Before independence, the colonial government was not really
interested in developing social support systems or schools for all, so it had
to be left to the communities to do it for themselves. Now we have a
government that wants to take care of the people and has strengthened
institutions of social support. But there is still a very important role for this
culture of contributing back to society.)

I do worry if 30 or 40 years from now we Znd the next generation not having
that same instinctive ethos: when you do well, you want to contribute back.
This is a very important part of our Singapore culture and we must make
sure that with each new generation, with our children and our
grandchildrens generation, we preserve this culture of contributing back to
society. It does not come automatically. We have to work at it through our
schools; work at it through our community activities. I hope that SFCCA,
Business China and the Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre will also work on
keeping alive this aspect of our culture.
To conclude, I think we can look forward to evolving our culture in a way that
strengthens our identity. Thats after all how it was in the past too - the
Nanyang Style was about adaptation, not just preserving past tradition. The
Nanyang artists brought about a mix of techniques and styles, Chinese and
Western, and focused on local subject matter in our region. Adaptation did
not mean a weakening of culture and tradition, but evolving it to keep the
culture dynamic.
That is the way it was done then, and that is the way it has to be done in the
future. Keep evolving, keep adapting, assimilate from different cultures, and
make each of our cultures even richer.
Once again, I want to thank all of you for your commitment to strengthening
our culture and nation. We can do much more in the future together. I would
like to wish you once again,
,
everyone good health and every success)

2016 Government of Singapore | Contact | Sitemap | Privacy Statement | Terms of Use

Last updated on 12.02.2016 |

Rate this website

. (In Mandarin: Wishing