Scholarship recipients,
Proud parents and family members,
Ladies and gentlemen

1. It gives me great pleasure to be here with all of you today for the MND Family Joint Scholarship Presentation ceremony.

2. First, let me congratulate the scholars and their families. Today marks a major milestone as you embark on a new chapter of your life – one that offers you a great opportunity to contribute to the development of Singapore as an endearing home and a distinctive global city.

3. While Singapore may have been successfully transformed from a fishing village to a vibrant garden city over the years, there is much work to be done to sustain our quality living environment and improve our attractiveness as a lively liveable city.

Sustainable Development

4. The inaugural World Cities Summit was held in Singapore earlier this week. It is an international conference series on good governance and development of cities, focusing on urban development and environmental sustainability issues.

5. The World Cities Summit provides us the opportunity to share our developmental experience with other cities, as much as we learn from their achievements. Singapore, as the hosting nation, is fast gaining recognition as a distinctive city that is lively and liveable, brimming with excitement and opportunities.

6. Since 1995, Singapore has been ranked by the World Economic Forum as one of the most competitive economies in the world. For both 2007 and 2008, Mercer Human Resource Consulting has also ranked Singapore as the city with the best quality of life in Asia, excluding Australia and New Zealand. In the recent 2008 Zeitgeist Cities Ranking by Hub Culture, Singapore was rated one of the top 20 cities based on their strength in ‘innovation, change and vibe’.

7. All these accolades reflect Singapore’s balanced focus on growing the economy, building a socially harmonious society and developing a quality living environment. In fact, we have adopted sustainable development principles in Singapore right from the time we gained independence, and consistently applied them through the years. Not by choice but by necessity, because Singapore is a land-scarce city-state not endowed with plentiful natural resources.

MND Family’s Contributions to Singapore

8. Singapore’s physical landscape has been transformed significantly over the past 40 years since independence. Today, we have an excellent environment with high quality public housing estates and community nodes for social sustainability. We enjoy a lush and green living environment with a wide range of recreational opportunities in our gardens, park connectors and nature reserves. We also have more ‘green’ buildings for environmental sustainability. And we have a robust and effective food safety management system for our “own” sustainability.

9. The future is even more exciting. The draft Master Plan 2008, which has attracted 15,000 visitors since it was unveiled last month, envisions Singapore as a thriving yet liveable global city in 2020 – a city that is distinctive in its ability to offer a unique combination of economic opportunity, vibrant lifestyle and quality environment, for a cosmopolitan population. The challenge for our planners is to make it possible for this vision to be realised given our limited land to support economic expansion, and at the same time provide quality housing and leisure venues for our people.

Attracting and retaining talent

10. In view of this important role played by the MND Family in Singapore’s development, we have to ensure that professionalism in the MND Family is sustained. We must continue to attract and retain people with talent and passion to be part of the MND Family.

11. One important way to recruit and retain high calibre officers is by offering undergraduate scholarships and postgraduate study awards.

Undergraduate Scholarships

12. This year, we have selected 29 out of 1540 applicants for our undergraduate scholarships. Each of the scholarship recipients will be pursuing a degree in a discipline relevant to the diverse work of MND, ranging from veterinary medicine, horticulture, landscape architecture and engineering.

Postgraduate Scholarships

13. In addition, I am pleased to also present 9 postgraduate scholarships to our outstanding officers to pursue further training in specialised fields, as part of their career and professional development.

Master of Landscape Architecture Programme

14. Other than the scholarships offered individually by the various agencies, NParks and HDB are partnering the Workforce Development Agency (WDA) to award 4 scholarships for the Master of Landscape Architecture Programme in NUS. With a landscape industry that is poised to grow in the coming years, this new scholarship programme is timely. It will enhance the professionalism of our landscape architecture community, and strengthen the industry as a key pillar in Singapore’s greening efforts.

Concluding remarks

15. In conclusion, I wish to extend my heartiest congratulations to all scholarship recipients as you embark on your exciting journey of learning and discovery.

16. While you pursue the studies in your field of interest, I urge you to also keep your minds open to different perspectives and to cherish the campus experiences. Your personal development is important to your roles in helping to shape Singapore as one of the world’s most prominent cities. I wish you every success in your studies and career.

Thank you.

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