Speech by MOS Faishal Ibrahim at the Rotary Club of Kampong Gelam's 3rd Anniversary Lunch

Jun 25, 2022


A very good afternoon. I am very humbled and very honoured to be able to join you this afternoon, and I am also very delighted to join you for the 3rd anniversary lunch of the Rotary Club of Kampong Gelam.

I would first like to congratulate the club for reaching this milestone, and the appointment of your new Board and the first woman President for Rotary Year 2022-2023, Ms Faridah Jamal.

Significance of Kampong Gelam

Kampong Gelam is special to you and I, and to many people as well. Recently, I had a chat with a young person, who shared with me how important it is for us to reach out to them to understand Kampong Gelam, and to see how they can be part the journey. Many families visit Kampong Gelam every year, especially during Ramadan and Syawal, to gather and re-live their childhood stomping grounds. I have also heard of families coming back. And when you hear these stories, you realise how close Kampong Gelam is to the people who come back – the memories and experiences that they had. For example, I have heard that the family of Tok Hassan, formerly residents of 68 Bussorah Street, recently got together after two years of being apart due to the pandemic. They even designed a special T-shirt featuring the old family home for all extended family members, who now live all over Singapore and overseas.

I realise that there is a very strong sense of attachment to the place, and community is an invaluable resource for Kampong Gelam. The collective effort from all of you – community groups, businesses, as well as family and friends of Kampong Gelam - is what makes the heritage of Kampong Gelam come alive, and will sustain the relevance of the precinct for generations to come.

Rotary Club’s efforts in making Kampong Gelam a cherished place

The work of the Rotary Club of Kampong Gelam has helped to make the precinct a more endearing and cherished place. From food hamper distributions and donation drives to employability coaching sessions, these community service initiatives conducted over the past three years have benefited many individuals residing within Kampong Gelam and beyond, especially in the face of challenges arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. I would like to commend your efforts, and I hope that you will continue undertaking these initiatives under the leadership of the new Board. Some of the programme that you have done, they are very targeted – which I think is very important, especially in times of COVID and post-COVID, where your efforts really bring cheer to the groups that you are helping.

As some of you may know, I have recently been appointed as the adviser to the Kampong Gelam Alliance, or KGA, in short. I am heartened to know that beyond the alliance, there are other societies within the precinct, such as the Rotary Club, that have been contributing to the community and sustaining the social and cultural vibrancy of the precinct.

Cultural Ambassador Award

Today, the club will be presenting a ‘Cultural Ambassador’ award to recognise individuals or organisations which have engaged in an economic activity in Kampong Gelam that promotes a culture or tradition which enhances the attractiveness of the precinct. The club’s move to present this award yearly starting from this year, on top of its existing community projects, go hand in hand with the Government’s overall plans to strengthen the precinct by building on its cultural and heritage attributes. During the toughest period of the COVID-19 pandemic, certain shops in Kampong Gelam were especially cherished by Singaporeans. I have heard of people who travelled from as far as Woodlands and Jurong to Kampong Gelam. They come all the way down to Kampong Gelam to support their favourite heritage and cultural businesses. They make that effort – because there is that connection, there is that special position in their hearts and minds. So that presents good potential and an opportunity for us to continue to make Kampong Gelam thrive further and better.

For example, when I was helping with the bazaar we had this year, in addition to having the stalls – which brought the Ramadan atmosphere, many people shared with me, and the word they used is “emotional”. They brought along the feelings and emotions, the body language of feeling touched by this whole atmosphere and the situation where we have not had a bazaar for the last two years. This feeling, coupled with the atmosphere, the effort by all to bring back the bazaar to Kampong Gelam – I realised that we hit the hearts of the people. We had rallied the community, and it was not easy, as quite a number were sceptical because they were afraid that it may not happen. But what was key was that we went out to convince them that it could be done, and we did it. My view is that this happens because the businesses, the people, the district – Kampong Gelam, have built a deep and treasured relationship with the people over the decades – it didn’t happen just over one to two years, it took many decades. And you, are responsible for it as well – you are part of it, and that is why all these are very important. In my view, all of this play an important role in connecting the past to the future.

It is fitting that prominent individuals who embody the key aspects of Kampong Gelam’s heritage and culture, are now recognised for their contributions as ‘Cultural Ambassadors’. It is my wish that even as our “Ambassadors” awarded today and in the future grow and expand their businesses elsewhere in Singapore or abroad, they will always keep a home in Kampong Gelam, and continue to anchor the precinct’s unique character and identity.

Citizen Engagement Exercise by KGA

I would also like to take this opportunity to share about an upcoming public engagement exercise that will be conducted by the KGA, with support from the Urban Redevelopment Authority, or URA, in short. The spirit of the engagement exercise is in line with the Cultural Ambassador award presented today to anchor the precinct’s unique character and identity. This public engagement will invite stakeholders from different backgrounds and members of the public to share what they value about Kampong Gelam, their concerns and aspirations for the precinct, and how they hope to contribute to its future. These views will subsequently be consolidated into a Place Plan to guide future plans for the precinct. The public engagement also dovetails with URA's Long-Term Plan Review, where partnering stakeholders and Singaporeans was presented as a key strategy to strengthen our heritage assets, sustain vibrant precincts, and foster close-knit communities. More details of this engagement exercise will be announced in the coming months – so this is fresh from the oven.  

I hope that members of the Rotary Club of Kampong Gelam – with your valued perspectives, diverse expertise and love for the neighbourhood – will show your support for this engagement exercise. Your ideas and resources can strengthen our collective efforts to keep Kampong Gelam vibrant as a centre of community, culture, heritage and enterprise. My colleagues who are here today will be in touch with you soon to share more. Essentially, I hope we can co-create this together. It is about how we can bring this journey through, while making sure that that the culture and heritage of Kampong Gelam is preserved, but it must be relevant to the current context and the future. This is something that we must work together on – it is not easy, but I am quite confident that we can co-create it together. We must believe it, and this is a great opportunity. When I was asked to work with the KGA and the community here, I told my colleagues that we want something that will make Kampong Gelam thrive first. Then it is something that we can do, and it will present something to the future generations that they will continue envisioning. Otherwise, it will be a district that will only be thriving or a go to place during certain periods. We want to make Kampong Gelam relevant, thriving, and able to touch the hearts and minds, not only Singaporeans, but those who come to Singapore, who want to see a place where there is culture, heritage and identity that is the past, present and represents potential for the future.

Closing Remarks

To conclude, I would like to thank the Rotary Club of Kampong Gelam once again for inviting me to this very nice and warm event, to join you in celebrating the club’s 3rd anniversary. I wish you many more good years ahead, and to more ‘Cultural Ambassadors’ being honoured. I want to make a special mention to the leaders of the club, I can see the passion of the club, and I can see that all of you are doing a really great job, doing good work, bringing goodness to people. I think that is the best thing in life – how we can bring better lives for others, and bring cheer to the people.

I look forward to hearing more about the good work by the club, and your views in the upcoming citizen engagement exercise.

Thank you, and I sincerely wish you all the best in your years to come.