Distinguished guests

Grassroots leaders

Ladies and Gentlemen

Recently, the Prime Minister spoke about his vision of transforming Singapore into an inclusive society, "a nation where everyone belongs, where each person has a role to play, and where all can live with dignity". This conference on "Building a community: Shaping the future", can help us move towards this vision.

Heartland Disputes

2 You will be exploring various dimensions of community bonding over the next two days. But what actually happens on the ground? Let me share with you two actual incidents, which took place in the HDB heartlands.

3 For the first case, we need to go to Woodlands Town. It involved a family's favourite delicacy - bamboo shoots cooked in special herbs. Unfortunately, the herbs gave off a pungent smell, which wafted into their neighbour's flat. This neighbour [let us call him Mr Tan] complained to HDB about the smell. During the investigation, HDB found out that Mr Tan's neighbours [let us call them the Lims] were upset with him too. They did not like the lingering, pungent smell of the durians that he fancied. HDB pointed out to Mr Tan that just like the bamboo shoots, durians may smell offensive, but to the other family, the taste was heavenly. HDB advised both families to adopt a give-and-take attitude, and try to get better acquainted to foster mutual understanding. Happy ending? Yes, no feedback/complaint from both families since then.

4 Now let us move from durians to dogs. The barking of a little Maltese in Shunfu Estate upset a resident [let's call him Mr Ong] so much that he complained to HDB. HDB traced the owner of the Maltese [let's call him Mr Sim] and advised him to stop his dog from barking excessively. A few months later, the complaint resurfaced. This time, Mr Sim was accused of locking out his dog in the balcony so that he could get a good night's sleep while the neighbours endured the barking. HDB checked with Mr Sim who said that he was unaware of the barking. He willingly co-operated by keeping the dog inside the flat from then on. The barking became more muted and likewise, the complaint. Another happy ending.

5 What do these two stories illustrate? Barking dogs, chirping birds, moving furniture, burning incense, loud music and dripping laundry - HDB, Town Councils, the Police and many other Government agencies have received a whole gamut of complaints from residents about incidents that annoyed them on a daily basis. Some complaints turn into nasty and lingering disputes when neighbours cling on to their perceived rights and sometimes, prejudices. Many of the disputes are peaceably settled. For the most part, however, residents instinctively turn to the authorities to help resolve their disputes and misunderstandings. In addition to HDB, Town Councils and the Police, they also turn to their MPs when a good, heart-to-heart talk among neighbours is all it takes to solve the problem.

6 Why are Singaporeans reluctant to approach a neighbour whose dripping laundry creates a puddle on their balcony floor, or whose children play too noisily and disturb their rest? Some of you may say it is the smart thing to do, to avoid being beaten up by your bigger and stronger neighbour. But surely, in a law-abiding society like ours, disputes and misunderstandings must be resolved through logic and reason, rather than force.

Community Bonding in HDB Estates

7 We need to improve our people-to-people relations and nurture a more civic-minded and gracious society. Begin by putting yourself in the shoes of others. A nation of immigrants, the strength of our racial and community ties had provided the foundation for our security, survival and success. We have demonstrated to the world how different cultures and communities can live peacefully together. It is not uncommon to find different places of worship co-existing side-by-side in various parts of Singapore. In Jurong East, for example, a mosque and a Hindu temple are located on the same street. Walk a little further, and you will find a Chinese temple and a Christian church. In Raffles's days, this would have been a rare sight. Urban Singapore was carved out along racial lines at that time. Malays were clustered in Kampong Glam and Geylang; Indians in Little India; and the Chinese in Chinatown. Even within Chinatown, the Chinese were further subdivided into their dialect groups.

8 Today, 84 percent of our population of different races live harmoniously together in our HDB heartlands. HDB towns were built to meet the critical housing shortage in the early years of our independence. The objective was to provide quality housing that was affordable and easy to build. HDB towns had to be self-sufficient - with schools, shops, markets, places of worship, factories etc - to meet the daily needs of the residents so that they are attractive to live in. At the same time, the HDB architects saw the opportunity to create towns where the different races could mix and mingle, and forge strong community ties.

9 From the planning and design, to the formulation and implementation of housing policies, HDB towns are meant to bring people together. Each precinct has communal facilities such as a precinct centre, outdoor recreational facilities and other interaction points for residents. The void decks in HDB blocks serve as communal spaces for a wide variety of uses, such as wakes and weddings, and other social and community functions. The use of icons and imageries derived from the special characteristics and history of the place help to create strong town identities. For example, towns like Pasir Ris, Punggol, Sengkang and Sembawang draw their thematic inspiration from their proximity to rivers or the sea, and their sea resort or seafaring roots. During upgrading of older estates, these features are preserved as far as possible. For example, part of the Toa Payoh Town Park and Tower were retained during the redevelopment of the town centre as they remain a strong landmark and focal point for the town. They are a source of cherished memories for residents who grew up in the town.

10 At the policy level, HDB housing policies, such as the Married Child Priority Scheme and the Ethnic Integration Policy, help to strengthen family ties and community harmony.

11 At the social level, HDB ensures that a comprehensive network of social services is provided in the heartlands. It provides space in the estates for social communal facilities to be set up. These range from educational and day care centres for both young and old, to medical services and Residents' Committees centres.

12 HDB also works closely with the relevant Government agencies and grassroots organisations to improve the provision and quality of the communal facilities in the various towns. Let me cite you a few examples. Where it used to be an empty plot of land lying idle, that same plot of land in front of the Community Centre at Bishan North is now a soccer field thanks to the joint efforts of the grassroots organisation, HDB and the Singapore Land Authority. At Nee Soon Division, similar collaboration resulted in the formation of Singapore's First Emergency Preparedness Centre, which has become the focal point for residents to learn civil defence and emergency survival skills. Through inter-agency collaboration, Aljunied-Hougang Constituency has built the largest pavilion along with other facilities like street soccer courts for its youths and a pentaque ball court for its senior citizens. In Tampines, the first and only international standard roller blade/inline hockey court, named Millennium Court, has been constructed at Tampines Central Park.

From Home Ownership to Community Ownership

13 Have these efforts been successful? Findings from HDB's Sample Household Survey 2003 showed that the percentage of residents who do not know their neighbours is only 3 per cent. Neighbourly interactions in the form of social greetings and friendly chitchat, on the other hand, score over 80 percent and 90 percent respectively. Residents' sense of belonging has also improved over the years. It hit a high 90 percent in the latest survey.

14 Participation in community activities has also increased. It jumped from 13 percent in 1998 to 38 percent in 2003. The majority of residents also agreed that more should be done to foster community bonding, such as organizing community activities or events. The findings reflect that Singaporeans want to come together as a community, to understand each other better and to help one another.

15 Singaporeans clearly want to play a part in building Singapore. They want the opportunity to have a say in shaping public policies. This is a healthy measure of our nationhood and we should encourage and facilitate it. The Prime Minister recently spoke on the need to move beyond 'home ownership' to nurture a stronger sense of 'community ownership' for the next phase of our development. This means that instead of relying on the Government to take charge all the time, the public should be encouraged to take a more active and leadership role in deciding how Singapore looks, feels and operates, particularly at the local level.

16 Community engagement must start with community ownership. This requires understanding and accepting firstly, that the Government cannot be expected to solve every social or community problem. Secondly, it means realising the collective responsibility of the community to look after each other.

17 It is heartening to note that citizens working in partnership with Government agencies and grassroots organisations are already coming out to own their community. Northwest CDC has trained a group of volunteers as Community Befrienders to provide emotional support to needy families. In Southwest CDC, they have started a meals-on-wheels programme where the more fortunate deliver meals to the needy. HDB co-initiated Project Sphere to help the elderly living in HDB estates - it plays a supportive role to the participating schools and the students. They are the ones who have taken on the active role in befriending the elderly and owning the project.

18 In Tampines, the grassroots organisations have set up the Citizens on Patrol & Security Group (COPS) to engage residents in the safety and security of their town. Volunteers take turns to patrol their town and work with their neighbourhood police. The Buona Vista Dengue Prevention Volunteer Group has been involved in raising awareness of the danger of dengue fever over the past 3 years. Last month, it escalated its involvement by launching the 'MOZZI Attack'. Volunteers patrol the housing estates to flush out the breeding grounds of the Aedes mosquitoes and educate residents on dengue preventive measures.

Devolving More Responsibilities to the Citizenry

19 For community ownership to take root, we must encourage and empower our residents to do more. Example: the Fukasawa Symbiotic Housing Complex in Japan, which received a United Nations award at the 2002 World Habitat Day. It is a self-governing community that provides a quality urban living environment for its residents. The residents draw up a comprehensive plan that spells out the specific roles that residents and visitors to the housing complex have to observe. Every block has its own House Committee. They also have Residents' Committees, whose meetings are well attended. They organise cleaning, gardening and recycling activities and set aside one day in a month to do communal cleaning. As a result of taking ownership of their housing complex, they have developed a close-knit community that takes pride in their neighbourhood.

20 Town Councils were formed in 1989 to allow residents and their MPs to take greater ownership of the management of their estate. Where possible, we should aim to get HDB residents more involved in the management and maintenance of their own estates and the common areas, not just their own flats. In Marine Parade, for example, teams of residents help to provide feedback to the Town Council on estate management and maintenance issues. They report defects that they come across to the Town Council for immediate action, and provide feedback on improvement work proposals.

21 How else we can involve residents ultimately depends on how ready they are to assume these responsibilities. It will not happen overnight, but we should take incremental steps where we can. Through the greater involvement of residents in the management and maintenance of their own estates, we will achieve a few goals. One, we will help facilitate the growth of an active, more self-reliant citizenry. This is good for the country, as we will be helping our society to mature. The process of engagement will also help to build a close-knit community. Two, we can better customise rules to the particular needs of a particular community. This way, we can, over time, move away from a "one size fits all" approach for every social issue, for example, in the use of void decks, or even whether we should allow pets in HDB flats. Three, we can transfer to citizens a social skills-set that will help improve their people-to-people relations and strengthen community bonding.

Conclusion

22 To reach a higher level of social maturity, Singaporeans must learn to resolve issues amicably amongst ourselves. Community bonding will help us get there. It glues us together and propels us into action to help others. SARS was a good example of how Singaporeans banded together to help fellow Singaporeans. Neighbours who hardly knew each other were offering to carry out errands for those placed on home quarantine. However, we should not wait for a crisis to happen to show care for the community. It should be reflected in our deeds and actions in our everyday lives.

23 This conference can explore new dimensions of community bonding to help shape the future for Singapore. I hope that you will come up with more ideas on how we can build these bonds. It now gives me great pleasure to declare open this conference on Community Bonding: "Building a Community, Shaping the Future".

Thank you.

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