Speech by SMS Tan Kiat How at the Opening of FaithActs-Ibasho Margaret Drive Centre
Mar 30, 2024
I am very happy to be here to celebrate this important milestone with everyone today. Congratulations on the opening of FaithActs-Ibasho’s Margaret Drive Centre!
This is Singapore’s first Ibasho project – it is the first and hopefully, there will be many more to come. This project was 2 years in the making and I am heartened to see the results of everyone’s hard work.
Investing in our Seniors
Singapore is a rapidly ageing society. Today, 1 in 6 citizens are aged 65 and above. By 2030, that figure will be 1 in 4.
Human capital is our single most crucial resource here in Singapore, and it is important that we continue to invest in our people as life expectancy increases. This demographic shift will certainly require new provisions in terms of infrastructure and software. Thus, there is an urgent need to address ageing holistically – from promoting healthy and active lifestyles from a young age to designing policy interventions and targeted support for seniors.
The Hardware – Creating a Supportive Built Environment for Seniors
We are working hard on many fronts to support our seniors to age gracefully, healthily, and independently, in their homes and within the communities.
As recently announced earlier, as part of Age Well SG:
- HDB will offer a wider range of senior-friendly upgrades under the EASE 2.0 programme, to enhance the safety and well-being of seniors who wish to age in place.
- HDB will also expand the provision of the wireless Alert Alarm System, or AAS, to benefit approximately 26,800 more seniors living in about 170 rental blocks islandwide. These are low-income and vulnerable seniors who may lack family support, and the AAS will enable them to seek help easily in an emergency.
- The Neighbourhood Renewal Programme (NRP) will now encompass flats built up till 1999, incorporating additional senior-friendly amenities and features to improve the social, mental, and physical wellbeing of seniors. Residents living in over 100,000 flats are expected to benefit from this expanded NRP.
Alongside our partners, we have also been working on developing the Health District @ Queenstown, a huge endeavour which many of you are likely familiar with, or are personally involved in. We are now in the implementation phase for most of our initiatives, including the first Active Health Fitness Trail and Wellness Landscape which will be ready in the next few years.
Another area we are working on, with residents and service providers, is the development of technologies that help residents remain independent, improve their health, or enable care delivery into their homes. We are evaluating technologies such as those for screening of common and important eye conditions, and for monitoring vital signs through mobile phones.
The Software – Fostering Meaningful Engagements for Seniors
Beyond leveraging technologies and designing the built environment, we also need programmes that foster resilient, like-minded communities to support our seniors. One such effort is FaithActs-Ibasho, which we are piloting as part of the Health District @ Queenstown.
Ibasho means “a place where you can feel at home, like oneself” in Japanese. And that is precisely what this project aims to achieve: to create a communal place where our seniors can connect with others and contribute to the community, in a way or extent that they choose.
This Centre will provide opportunities for seniors to stay meaningfully engaged through community-led interactions.
Last year, NUS and FaithActs conducted workshops and seminars for both younger and older residents of Queenstown to encourage them to rethink and share their thoughts on how they can shape their community. I am heartened to hear that residents have started to develop and organise activities such as crafts and upcycling, a digital clinic and a community café at the Centre. Moving forward, we hope to have more residents joining in to share and implement their ideas.
I encourage our seniors to acquire new skills here, and at the same time, be active, confident contributors by sharing their wealth of knowledge and wisdom with those in the community and also the younger ones.
Call for Community Participation
Successful ageing requires a community-centric approach. We invite residents of all ages to join us at the Centre. You can help to organise meaningful activities for our seniors, or just simply come together to enjoy the company of people who share common interests.
Ibasho aims to provide a safe and comfortable space, where people of all ages and backgrounds can interact and bond as a community. Your participation is key to building strong friendships, which are the foundation of purposeful living.
We hope to glean as many lessons as possible from this pilot centre and replicate Ibasho principles across other towns to benefit all Singaporeans.
What happens in Queenstown, will not just stay in Queenstown. And indeed, that is the principle behind the Health District @ Queenstown, where we work together, bring together different parts of the ecosystem – the built environment, the infrastructure – because how we design the spaces shapes how we interact with one another, the community activities, and the social interactions that happen in the precinct and in the estate. Beyond just infrastructure, it is also about the science behind healthcare, medical delivery, lifestyle, as well as our community partners working together. It is a meaningful endeavour, providing purposeful living to the young and not-so-young.
While we have the highest life expectancy in the world, we want to also have a longer health span – even while we live longer lives, we want to live healthily, happily, and independently. Beyond that, it is also about a sense of purpose and community – no one ages alone but in a community, where everyone is treasured. There is a saying in Chinese, “家有一老，如有一宝”, meaning if you have a senior at home, you have a treasure at home. And it is not just about having a senior at home, but also having seniors in our community, as treasured members of society who have a lot of wisdom and experiences to share with all of us as we age together and progress forward as a nation.
Thank you again for inviting me to celebrate this milestone with all of you. I hope to see many of such projects replicated across different towns and estates in Singapore and we continue to learn from one another. Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend, and a happy and healthy ageing.