Speech by Minister Lawrence Wong at the Launch of HDB Community Week 2017
May 27, 2017
Good evening everyone. I am happy to be here today to launch this year’s HDB Community Week. Today is also the first day of the fasting month for our Muslim friends. Let me start by wishing our Muslim friends a blessed Ramadan.
The Community Week by HDB is an important event. Community living is a special part of how we live together in HDB estates. I know this from my personal experience from growing up in a HDB town in Marine Parade. This was in the 70s and 80s. Back then, HDB flats were simpler than they are today. There were not as many facilities and amenities in HDB towns, but I still have very fond memories growing up in Marine Parade because of the people and the community. Marine Parade today is seen as a mature estate, very sought after; but back then, it was one of the first estates built on reclaimed land, and was not a very popular place to stay. What made the experience memorable for me were the people and the community - the fact that our neighbours were warm, friendly and kind, and always ready to help us. People knew each other, and there was always this sense of mutual help.
One experience that I distinctly remember, and will always remember about living there, was when we were locked out of our HDB flat. My parents lost their keys and could not open the door when we came back. It was at night so we could not get a locksmith. We asked our neighbours for help and before we knew it, the whole block seemed to be gathering outside our flat’s doorstep. Some tried to use their keys hoping that they may work; some brought saws to saw off the padlock. One brave man even said he would try to climb up and get in through the backyard, into the flat to open it from inside. If you think that it is simple, you should know that we live on the 21st storey! Before he could attempt to climb outside, someone managed to saw the padlock and we were able to get into the flat. That took a few hours and in the interim, some neighbours had brought my brother and I downstairs to have our dinner. It was a simple experience but it has always stayed in my mind. We were young kids then but we were struck at how the whole block knew about our problem and rallied together to help us.
We also had frequent get-togethers under our blocks that were organised by the grassroots, and they were very popular. These were always potluck style – everyone contributed and there was always good food to eat. And for us kids, we always looked forward to these events. There were also performances, magic shows and games to participate in.
There were also friends in the estate that we grew up with. People around my age went to the same school in the neighbourhood together, from primary to secondary school. We played football together at the field downstairs, and there was a sense of growing up together in a community. These memories will always be with me, living and growing up in a HDB town.
Today we have much better facilities in our HDB estates. Just look around you at Punggol today. I did not have any of this in Marine Parade when I was growing up. So we are very blessed today in terms of hardware.
But what makes HDB living special, is not the facilities and infrastructure, but the people around us, our neighbours and the community. It is very easy to neglect this in today’s modern world. Our lifestyles and family structures have changed over the years. All of us have busier and more private lives and we are distracted by work, TVs, mobile phones and the internet. We have our own options for recreation. Often we go together with our own families instead of coming together with our communities to meet one another and get to know our neighbours. If we are not careful, if we just allow things to continue as they are, your HDB flat will become a place where you live together as strangers – there is no sense of community, no sense of home. If everyone is a stranger, then there is no collective responsibility to tackle solutions together; there is no sense of mutual support, there is no sense of give and take. This is how small misunderstandings between neighbours can become disputes, fights and bigger problems; because we do not know each other, we misunderstand and miscommunicate and this can lead to friction. We must not allow this to happen in Singapore and we should take community building seriously.
That is why we are always looking for ways to strengthen our community spirit. When there is a strong community spirit, strong kampong spirit, then we learn to care for the well-being of others, especially those who are in need. We develop greater empathy and we learn what it is like to walk in one another’s shoes. We also develop a greater sense of duty and responsibility for our fellow citizens. This binds us and makes us a stronger community. This is not new. We have been doing this in Singapore for many years. A lot of it is done through the People’s Association (PA) and our grassroots, but, we know that this cannot be done by PA alone. It is work that has to be done in partnership with many other civic groups on the ground. MND and HDB will also do our part. HDB is more than just a builder of homes; HDB is also a builder of the community and the unique HDB way of life, and that is why HDB over the years has started many schemes.
We started the Good Neighbour Award in 2009. From then till now we have received close to 14,000 nominations for good neighbours. These are people who have gone the extra mile to do something for their neighbours. We received almost 3,000 nominations this year alone, which is a record figure. And there are many wonderful stories of good neighbours in our HDB estates, neighbours who are young and old. We will recognise some of them later as award recipients.
There are many inspiring stories, and one of them is a qigong teacher. She not only teaches qigong but also uses her knowledge as a nurse to share healthy living tips with her residents and help them improve their quality of life. There are also good neighbours who are young students. There is a pair of young siblings who saved their neighbour during a fire. There is even a young boy who helps to babysit his neighbour’s baby, and normally you would think of a babysitter as an adult, but this is a young boy. These are all simple acts of kindness but they mean a lot to the neighbours. They have helped tremendously in building this community spirit that we have in Singapore. Let us give a round of applause to all the good neighbours who are here today.
Besides the Good Neighbour Award, we have the Heartland Ambassador Programme. Today, we have more than 3,600 ambassadors under this programme. These are youths who have come forward to be ambassadors. They help to reach out to residents in their neighbourhood, sharing the importance of neighbourliness and promoting community ties.
Besides the two programmes, HDB also has programmes that provide resources to residents who initiate community projects that help strengthen community bonds. One resident in Dawson conducts workshops to teach residents to put terrariums together. That is a way of getting to know one another. There is another resident in Pasir Ris who teaches residents to use crafts, and that is also a way to cultivate stronger ties with the neighbours. Many of these projects are done in partnership with PA and grassroots and also with different individuals and civic groups. Altogether today we have some 130,000 volunteers participating in HDB’s different community programmes. 130,000 is a significant number, so we see great potential in this network and we will consolidate all our community programmes into a nationwide volunteering movement called Friends of Our Heartlands. This will allow our volunteers to meet more regularly, network with one another and share their ideas and best practices. We will also be able to provide more opportunities for them to volunteer and contribute back to the community.
In conclusion, I want to encourage all Singaporeans to sign up and join the Friends of our Heartlands network. Remember that all of us can do our part for the community. We may be young, working professionals, stay at home mums or seniors who have a wealth of life experiences to share with others. Whatever our experiences, whatever our backgrounds, all of us can volunteer and serve. Above all, it is this spirit of fellowship and mutual support that is crucial in taking Singapore forward. So I hope this year’s Community Week will inspire many more people to join us in this journey in serving and making Singapore a more inclusive and a better community for all of us.
Thank you.