Hearts of Resilience: Singapore's Community Engagement Programme 9789814345385

Citation preview

Heartsof ESILIENCE

The Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) was established as an autonomous organization in 1968. It is a regional centre dedicated to the study of socio-political, security and economic trends and developments in Southeast Asia and its wider geostrategic and economic environment. The Institute’s research programmes are the Regional Economic Studies (RES, including ASEAN and APEC), Regional Strategic and Political Studies (RSPS), and Regional Social and Cultural Studies (RSCS). ISEAS Publishing, an established academic press, has issued more than 2,000 books and journals. It is the largest scholarly publisher of research about Southeast Asia from within the region. ISEAS Publishing works with many other academic and trade publishers and distributors to disseminate important research and analyses from and about Southeast Asia to the rest of the world.

of Singapore’s Community Engagement Programme by Asad-ul Iqbal Latif

Institute of Southeast Asian Studies Singapore

First published in Singapore in 2011 by Institute of Southeast Asian Studies 30 Heng Mui Keng Terrace Pasir Panjang Singapore 119614 E-mail : [email protected] Website : http://bookshop.iseas.edu.sg All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies © 2011 Ministry of Home Affairs, Singapore The responsibility for facts and opinions in this publication rests exclusively with the author and his interpretations do not necessarily reflect the views or the policy of the publishers or their supporters.

ISEAS Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data Latif, Asad-ul Iqbal. Heart of Resilience: Singapore’s Community Engagement Programme 1. Community Engagement Programme (Singapore) 2. Community development—Singapore—Citizen participation 3. Resilience (Personality trait)—Singapore I. Title. HN700.67 Z9C6L36

2011

ISBN 978-981-4345-36-1 (soft cover) ISBN 978-981-4345-37-8 (hard cover) ISBN 978-981-4345-38-5 (E-book PDF) Photo credits: Photo of National Day 2010 celebration at Manjusri Secondary School on book cover reproduced with kind permission of Azman bin Kassim. Other photos on book cover and photos on pp. x, 1, 26, 27, 48, 49 and 86 reproduced with kind permission of Singapore Tourism Board. Designed by Redbean De Pte Ltd Printed in Singapore by Mainland Press Pte Ltd

Contents Message Foreword

vi viii

Introduction

Sustaining Singapore’s Resilience: The CEP’s Role CEP: “It Is Something I Totally Believe In” Coordinating Diversity: The CEP Secretariat’s Role The Origins

2 10 14 17

Building Networks of Trust

Religious and Other Groups Educational Institutions The Media and Arts Businesses and Unions Grassroots Organizations The Coordinating Secretariat

28 32 34 37 43 46

Weaving the Tapestry: Different Faces of the CEP

Grassroots Mover Religion for Peace Corporate Shaker Neighbourhood Activist Gotong Royong Interfaith Youth Creating Conversational Circles Securing the Community Studying Community Relations Teaching the Young Operationally Ready Unity through the Airwaves

50 53 56 59 62 65 68 71 74 77 80 83

Writer’s Thoughts

87

Index

90

Message

The 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States in 2001 were a wake-up call to governments around the world, alerting them to the threat of extremism and jihadist terrorism. Three months later, we in Singapore uncovered a local cell of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) regional terrorist network. The JI group was then actively assisting Al-Qaeda in preparations to attack several foreign establishments here. Fortunately, timely action by our security agencies foiled the planned terrorist attacks. This episode motivated us to review comprehensively our plans for dealing with extremist violence. We upgraded our security forces and deepened international cooperation on terrorism issues. We also identified the critical need to maintain strong and enduring community ties. Even a near-miss like the JI plot had threatened to sow fear and mistrust among our different races. The Government had to engage community leaders to calm the ground, and get Singaporeans to see the threat for what it was — acts by misguided extremist individuals and not a threat posed by Islam or Muslims in general. Had the terrorists succeeded in carrying through their attacks, our social fabric would have come under tremendous strain, and might well have been torn asunder. We thus embarked on the Community Engagement Programme (CEP) in 2006 to build community resilience from the ground up. The CEP aims to bring Singaporeans closer together and build networks of trust, so that in a crisis we would stand strong and united, as one people, one nation, one Singapore.

Message

vii

I am heartened by the positive response to the CEP. Many individuals and organizations have signed up, undergone training and taken part in exercises. Some have even launched their own programmes, widening the reach of the CEP, and bringing more people onboard. We must sustain the momentum of CEP expansion. We must continue to reach out and convey the key CEP messages to Singaporeans from all walks of life. We must never take for granted the harmony that Singapore has enjoyed over the past four decades. Instead, we must continue to build strong bonds across our different communities, strengthen our shared Singapore identity and work together to achieve a bright future for all. This book is a timely record of the thinking behind the CEP, and of its basic elements. It should be read not only by those directly involved in the CEP, but by all Singaporeans, to understand its importance and to help protect our precious harmony.

Lee Hsien Loong Prime Minister

Foreword

The earthquake and tsunami that hit northeastern Japan in March 2011 and the record number of tornadoes that swept across the United States of America, remind us yet again of the importance of being prepared for disasters and emergencies. Many perish, and countless are left homeless in such crises, but being prepared means that many more who might have perished survived. Those who survive must strive to move on and rebuild their lives. How would Singaporeans react if faced with similar disasters or other civil emergencies? What if there is a terrorist attack and the perpetrators are home-grown? Would our social fabric hold? Are we resilient enough to bounce back quickly? These are not easy questions to answer. Under the Community Engagement Programme (CEP), we try to weave a network of trust in good times so that over time, we have a resilient network ready for emergencies, which will allow us to answer these questions positively and with confidence. The CEP began as an initiative to preserve and strengthen communal harmony, which would come under strain in the event of a terrorist attack. Over the years, the CEP’s aim of building social resilience has expanded beyond just the threat of terrorism, but also aims to enable our people to be better prepared for any crisis or emergency.

Foreword

ix

Under the CEP framework, the five cluster leads, together with the CEP Secretariat, give support to community leaders from different sectors of the society to develop response plans and initiatives for the three CEP key thrusts of building awareness and engagement of the community, enhancing capability development and achieving operational readiness. Much has been done. We have good reason to be happy with what has been achieved so far. But we cannot slow down or stop. Nurturing communal harmony and social resilience is an ongoing process. There is no finishing line. Crises and emergencies can happen at any time without warning. In a world where uncertainties and disruptions are likely to be more frequent than in the past, we should all be prepared. I hope that Singaporeans and residents will reflect on this, and play a part in keeping Singapore safe, secure and united.

Teo Chee Hean

Deputy Prime Minister, Coordinating Minister for National Security, and Minister for Home Affairs

Introduction

Sustaining Singapore’s Resilience The CEP’s Role Interview with Wong Kan Seng Former Deputy Prime Minister and Former Minister for Home Affairs1

Q: The Community Engagement Programme (CEP) in its present form took shape after the 7/7 bomb attacks in London. How did the political leadership respond to that event? A: The security paradigm changed with the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001, after which there were hate crimes in the United States against Muslims or people who wore a turban. Then we uncovered the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) plot in December 2001. We were concerned about how our community would have reacted had the bombs actually gone off. Hence, then Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong and I discussed how we could get the community ready to deal with any crisis situation. We formed the Inter-Racial Confidence Circles (IRCCs) at the constituency level in 2002. We wanted the grassroots Advisers to help build relations with and among the religious leaders and groups in the constituencies so that they could bring the community leaders and communal leaders together to deal with racial issues in a crisis. That was what we envisaged the IRCCs to do, that is, to calm the ground. This came from our experience with the Citizens’ Consultative Committees (CCCs), which were first set up as Goodwill Committees after the 1964 racial riots. When the bombs went off in the London Underground and in one bus in London on 7 July 2005, we watched the developments very closely from Singapore. Not only was it a terrorist attack on multiple sites, it reinforced the threat of home-grown terrorism. Of the four terrorists who attacked the London transport system, three were second–generation immigrants, born and bred in the United Kingdom. In the United Kingdom and especially London, the people became suspicious of one another. We had a glimpse of this when

Interview with Wong Kan Seng    

3

the JI plot, which showed the casing of the Yishun MRT station, was made public. Sensing the trend of home-grown terrorists and the hate crimes against Muslims after the London 7/7 incident, we were concerned about how racial harmony would be breached if home-grown terrorists were involved in planting bombs in Singapore. I suggested to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong that we ought to have more intensive programmes; we needed to engage different levels of society in practically every aspect of Singaporeans’ lives. The Singapore Government decided to set up the Community Engagement Programme, or CEP. We decided on the five CEP clusters that cover all the key areas: (a) The traditional grassroots (People’s Association, or PA);

(b) The tripartite group of businesses, unions and government (Ministry of Manpower, or MOM); (c) The schools where parents and students of different races interact (Ministry of Education, or MOE);



(d) Clans and associations (under the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports, or MCYS) — The IRCCs were already set up at the constituency level. But we also needed to reach out to the religious leaders at the national level and this was better done through the MCYS. The MCYS then set up the National Steering Committee on Racial and Religious Harmony (NSC), which involves the Singapore Buddhist Federation, the Catholic Church and the National Council of Churches of Singapore in addition to the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura, or MUIS), the Hindu Endowment Board and the Sikh Advisory Board. Under the MCYS, and with feedback from IRCC members, the acronym IRCC took on the “religious” aspect and became the InterRacial and Religious Confidence Circles;



(e) Media — We want to galvanize the media on national issues and crises beyond what was done during previous crises like SARS. Under the MICA cluster, we also included academics, especially those studying issues on terrorism.



We have always placed importance on social cohesion and have woven it into many local policies and programmes, especially after the lessons of the communal riots in the 1960s. But the London 7/7 bombing offered us a chance to review this experience in the light of today’s operating environment. We tried to visualize what would happen should an incident like 9/11 or 7/7 occur in Singapore, especially with home-grown

4    

Sustaining Singapore’s Resilience: The CEP’s Role

terrorists. We want to bring together people at the leadership level of these various cultural, social and religious bodies to meet at the more senior levels and come to some national consensus among themselves. What we aim to do under the CEP is to coordinate and mobilize the support of segments of society outside the Government to build and sustain the resilience of Singaporeans in the aftermath of an incident. Using the same scenario of terrorist attacks on the MRT, we ramped up on awareness through Exercise Northstar V before launching the CEP on 9 February 2006. Q: You spoke about building a national consensus on responding to terrorism. Is this consensus the soft part of the approach to terrorism, the hard part, or something in-between? A: It is the soft part of it because really we are talking about dealing with people’s attitudes, minds and emotions, and reaching out to them. This is not about the hard part in terms of the protection, which is quite straightforward. The Government can put that in place. It can have measures to harden targets and to persuade companies to put

Interview with Wong Kan Seng    

5

in protective and deterrent measures. However, when it comes to a real-life situation when there is a bomb explosion, it is the people who react to it, not security systems nor buildings and such; really, it is about how people go on with their lives and how they see each other. Q: How does the CEP fit into Singapore’s overall approach to terrorism? A: We have a multi-layered approach to countering terrorism. It is like a structure with many layers or rings. The outer rings would be hard rings of defence, where the Home Team departments work hand in hand with other Government agencies to form the first strong fort against the threat of terrorism. It covers the ring of border security, and also the security infrastructure we have put in place within Singapore. However, it is not enough to just have professional competence among Government agencies. We function in a society full of diversity, with Singaporeans of different races professing different religions and many foreigners. We need to gel the people together to face challenges. We would need “soft” rings inside to cushion the possible impact of terrorism on our hearts and minds. It has to be a programme beyond the IRCC and the NSC. We have seen terrorists moving towards attacking “soft targets”, as in the Bali bomb attacks and the 2008 Mumbai attacks. Public confidence was crushed as the people saw familiar places being attacked and many innocent lives lost. And we know that once society has been shaken, it is easy for it to fall apart, with a ripple effect on communal relations. And this is where the CEP, which brings in the human factor, comes in. We want to harden social resilience in the people so that we can bounce back quickly and return to normalcy as soon as possible after a crisis. By building networks of trust within and across communities, we want to strengthen the communal relations that we, and generations before us, have built up. Q: How has the CEP evolved in the first five years of its existence? Has it helped achieve the national consensus that you mentioned earlier? A: When the CEP was launched, we started off in the context of what to do in the aftermath of terrorism. We started thinking about the existing pieces that we could bring together, the PA being the most well-formed organization because it has years of grassroots experience in social bonding. Over time, the CEP expanded its objectives to deal with not only issues arising from terrorism, but also prepare people to be resilient in the face of a national crisis or a civil emergency. In the beginning, we put in place the basic infrastructure to cover all key CEP clusters, and to allow each to develop and have an overview without stifling ground-up initiatives. Each has its own experience in tackling issues known to it. Each is in varying phases of development.

6    

Sustaining Singapore’s Resilience: The CEP’s Role

The idea was not to start a new organization. The only new cluster was that of the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts (MICA), covering the media and academics related to issues of terrorism. So we settled for a simple structure of a ministerial committee chaired by myself, and comprising the Ministers of the CEP clusters, and a steering committee chaired by Mr Benny Lim as Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs. While doing that, we have been able to work with the cluster lead agencies and the CEP community leaders to develop actionable “products” and programmes, such as encouraging community leaders to work with their partners within their communities to put in place actionable response plans and reaching out to a wider audience, as they have done in Nee Soon South.2 Internally, within the CEP clusters, we established community liaison structures such as the IRCC coordinators who reach out to and support religious organizations in the respective areas. In addition, we have been growing the psycho-socio dimension through training and programmes. The early years were spent more on building awareness among the core and the general public. Gradually, we moved on to focus more on building capability among the CEP community leaders and other key groups like the radio DJs, and to scale up on operational readiness among ourselves. As for building national consensus, it is work in progress to get to the leaders and explain to them the rationale and the importance [of the CEP]. I think this part is straightforward. But it will take time to build trust, to build confidence, to build that relationship which will allow them to feel comfortable to share and talk to one another. This is so particularly when you have new leaders coming in all the time. There is always a continuing need to ensure that that kind of comfort level is maintained. When you have new leaders, it is important to look at how they can be co-opted and brought in to understand what all this means to us as a society. So far, there has been a lot of buy-in to the concept at the leadership level of the various communities, whether they are at the religious, social, clan, community or educational level. When we have serious incidents, not in Singapore but outside, we use those as teaching moments for our society and say: “Look at this. How do we react to this? What should we do about it?” Q: What benchmarks do you use to evaluate the CEP’s effectiveness? A: The strategic approach of making CEP a ground-up movement means that we cannot adopt a bureaucratic stance in setting key performance indicators (KPIs) without regard for whether the programmes or activities are effective or achievable. We also do not want a false rosy

Interview with Wong Kan Seng    

7

picture from a system gamed. Hence, we have taken the unusual step of giving each cluster lead agency time and space to grow its cluster, in tandem with the nature of its domain and how far it has already gone in building communal harmony and social cohesion. Some have been developed better than others, for example, grassroots as compared to the media cluster. It is important to do what is practical rather than to do things for the sake of doing things in order to look good. In a crisis, the real test lies in how ready we really are. Not having a crisis means that we are not able to measure the effectiveness of the CEP in a real crisis. Nevertheless, we can still have a good feel of how effective the CEP has been by means of surveys, or by means of actions and responses when called upon to act in internal or external crisis situations. For example, when Geert Wilders released the film, Fitna, or in the case of the “Burn Quran” threat by Pastor Terry Jones of the Dove World Outreach Church in Florida, we let religious leaders know so that they could watch out for tension on the ground. Our sense from the reactions of our community is that they were rational and calm, unlike nationals of some countries. Certainly, some parts of our community will be affected by what goes on outside Singapore, particularly if it concerns their religions; they will feel for the particular community. So how do we react to the whole situation outside? I think our community leaders and even on the ground, our people, have reacted quite calmly and rationally. I think that sense came about probably because we feel that there is a lot of trust and understanding among the leadership as well as among the communities. But even so, I must say that what we have done so far, what we have been able to get people to work on, is based on what they think could happen to Singapore if there were to be a terrorist bomb attack. When it actually happens — that is the real test. So what is the KPI? The KPI is: When real incidents happen, how would people react? That is a key measure. Of course, hopefully, we don’t have to test it. What is important to us is not how many people know about the CEP itself but what the people think and feel about issues related to racial and religious harmony, emergency preparedness and social resilience. If we conduct well-designed surveys and receive positive responses on such issues, it will mean that the CEP has achieved a certain level of effectiveness. Q: Singapore has many Government programmes covering various areas of a citizen’s life. How does the CEP ensure its distinctiveness? A: We recognize that there are already many existing structures, entities and programmes. With the CEP, what we are undertaking are initiatives relevant to each cluster and not something that is totally alien to everyone.

8    

Sustaining Singapore’s Resilience: The CEP’s Role

For example, when there are crisis situations overseas, the MOM would monitor and manage the situation among foreign workers to prevent an importation of crisis into Singapore. This is what is special and distinct about the CEP: We do not set out to create new structures which would overwhelm community leaders involved in the CEP. Instead, we develop the relationships with existing structures and entities and expand on them, cut across the networks and ride on what is existing rather than displace them or seek to radically change them. But this does not mean that it is just a simple coordination or collation job. Much time and effort and thinking have to be dedicated to building relationships and networks of trust, as well as developing capability and readiness. For example, the MCYS has found a canvas to revive the IRCCs under the CEP, working the ground to involve the religious leaders in each constituency. Q: What are the challenges facing the CEP? How do you visualize the CEP on its tenth anniversary? A: One major challenge would be sustaining interest in the CEP and fighting the complacency of our people. The approach to this is to make sure that the CEP stays as a people’s programme and that initiatives are groundup, so that there will be ownership on the ground. We would need to continue efforts in engaging CEP community leaders in order to keep the passion alive at the core. We also need to continue our outreach efforts. There will always be new leaders and new generations, and therefore there is always the need to reach out to the younger ones. We cannot assume that the older generations would have passed the knowledge to their children, failing which it may in turn create a lapse that we would not want to see. Leaders at different levels and in the various clusters, in different parts of the society, will need to continue to sustain it at a pace with which they are comfortable. Although we have not been put to the test, we do have real incidents on the ground, whether about racial feelings or religious incidents or even people’s perceptions of why certain things were done that way by certain communities, and so on. These things happen, and we know that when we have such incidents, there are leaders around who will be able to access the different groups of people involved and get to them and explain to them why they should not make the problem bigger, how they could help to minimize it, or even how to avoid causing a problem. So, while we did not have a bomb incident, we did and continue to have incidents on the ground. The Prime Minister talked about some of

Interview with Wong Kan Seng    

9

these incidents in his National Day Rally speech in 2009. These incidents will continue to occur and so we really need to continue to be on the ball. I think that, so far, we have done pretty well. I would say that the religious leaders at the various community leader levels are quite fast to react. Even in a simple incident like something at the constituency level, such as the use of void decks at Housing and Development Board (HDB) blocks, the people on the ground reaching there first are the community leaders. They get to the different parties and talk to them separately and, if need be, they bring in religious leaders because sometimes the incidents involve a religious festival or some religious function. When the religious leaders come in, people find that, yes, indeed, they should try to minimize the problem. In addition, we need to study how to include new citizens in the CEP. And we have to deconflict with the National Integration Council on this. As the name implies, new citizens are a part of Singapore and would need to be integrated into society. Naturally, new citizens also have a part to play in helping to maintain Singapore’s communal harmony. As newcomers, they would need to learn about the nature of Singapore’s multi-racial and multi-religious society, our values and how we deal with integration so that they would blend in successfully and live like any one of us. On the other hand, we would need to understand them and help those who wish to settle here feel at home, all of which would be prerequisites to building networks of trust. These are the natural processes of smooth integration and are in line with the objectives of the CEP. We cannot afford to have new citizens living as an alien group within our society. In times of crises and emergencies, every person in support and every single bit of help we could gather, count. The CEP is work in progress, a metaphoric book that will continue to be written, as young generations grow up and new members join the Singapore family, and as we keep the core group passionate about the cause. The CEP has to continue so long as Singapore is multi-racial and multi-religious. Q: DPM, in your seventeen years with the Ministry of Home Affairs, how would you rate the CEP among all the programmes that you have introduced? A: This is certainly an important programme. It is a continuing programme but it has to be, in fact, taken as one piece of the whole mosaic in making up what keeps Singapore safe! N o t es

1.  Wong Kan Seng was the Minister for Home Affairs from January 1994 to October 2010 and was the Deputy Prime Minister from September 2005 to May 2011. 2.  Nee Soon South is now part of the Nee Soon Group Representation Constituency (GRC).

CEP “It is something i totally believe in” Interview with K Shanmugam Minister for Foreign Affairs and Law and Former Minister for Home Affairs1

Q: Where does the CEP fit into your overall vision for the Ministry of Home Affairs? A: Well, there is a reason why CEP has been put in place. The ministry has put in a lot of resources and effort, and considers it a key objective. And when I came in, I was involved in the CEP. It is something I totally believe in. I saw why it was started, formulated and why the Ministry took the lead. MHA took the lead many years ago and has brought in other ministries. And I think that, logically, given the focus, it is something that we should take the lead in, but working with various other ministries. If you go back and ask yourself, what is it? “CEP” is a big word, but what does it really mean? If you take our small urban context, and you take the fact that it is a very cosmopolitan, multi-religious and multiracial society, you don’t have to look very hard elsewhere in the world. Where are the cleavages when there is pressure and tension, whether it is external or internal? The cleavages are along racial and religious lines, where societies attack each other and turn upon each other. For recent examples, you can look at Africa. The cleavages occur because of external invasions, internal power struggles, and elections where the people can’t agree on who the winners are. And the winners and losers are divided along tribal lines or ethnic lines. There are many examples. You have Rwanda, you have Kenya, and you have a number of other examples, each arising from different causes. In Rwanda, of course, there was a power struggle, but partly, the unwillingness to seek rapport, and then you have one society turning on the other. In Kenya, it was a disputed election. But then, the violence was along tribal lines.

Interview with K Shanmugam

11 

Go back a little earlier to the mid-1990s. You have Eastern Europe, Central Europe, you have the response to the pressures. There is nothing different about Singapore: the same things can be played out here. You have the same issues in South Asia, and you have seen it in other countries in Southeast Asia. So, knowing that history, it’s absolutely vital for us to do everything we can. We won’t know whether the pressures will be external or internal. But when faced with pressures, we need the ability to come together and face up to them together as a Singaporean community. And in any society, there will usually be some communal divide. You need leaders in each of our communities to come and take on leadership roles to ensure that those who advocate violence or extremism, or who want to take a chauvinistic line in response to a threat, do not succeed. All of us are in this together: to calm the ground and face it in a united way. It’s a very key part of our survival mechanism. And it is going to be built into the DNA and because this relates to both psychological and social behaviour – psychological in the sense that it’s got to be in your psyche. It is

12     

CEP: “It’s Something I Totally Believe In”

not something that you can say has been done; even something that is done can be undone. So, it is never done in that sense, and it takes a long time. You need to put in a lot of resources, a lot of effort, and you have to keep going at it. When surveys say that “only 20 per cent of people see it this way, only 30 per cent of people see it that way”, I’m not disheartened because this is to be expected. People don’t change overnight, they don’t change in three years, they don’t change in five years. It takes a long time. It can take generations. Q: There was a recent car bomb test. The response from the public was not satisfactory. Are there lessons for the CEP? A: Well, again, it’s a question of whether you look at it in absolute terms, or you look at it in relative terms. If you look at it in absolute terms, by which we expect everyone who goes past to be alert and notice and respond, then you can agree that it is not so satisfactory. The glass is either half full or half empty. If you look at it in terms of how you expect societies to behave, and you look at other societies, including Israeli society, where awareness is much higher than in most other places, awareness goes up after an attack and then it levels, falls and then levels off. Society after society, routine sets in. We have not had an attack, thankfully. We are trying to create awareness, and there will be challenges. We have a very busy set of people with careers and focused on what they are doing. To try to get a “mindshare” on the CEP is the issue. By the way, the CEP doesn’t just touch on racial and religious issues: It is also community engagement in fighting and dealing with terrorism, dealing with issues that face our society and standing together. The car bomb test is, in many ways, a non-racial and non-religious example. It is a threat, but we don’t know who did it. It is simulated. So, how does the community participate, how does the community engage? We’ve got to put it on the slate. But again, if you look at any community, there is a structure: leaders, others who take on leadership roles, specific entities, and so on. So, for the CEP, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and the other ministries together set up people in leadership roles in various places, to try and at least have them understand. Then, we hope, the information will cascade. That will take time. For example, for commercial buildings, we set up units with people who have to take care of the security of the buildings. This is a local community effort. Q: Not in the light of this question but generally, which aspects of the CEP’s work would you like to see strengthened? A: You know, the way the CEP has been defined today is very broad and all encompassing. But that’s the way it should be because it’s an entire community reaction. It’s not focused on just religion and race, but

Interview with K Shanmugam

13 

those are key factors. I can’t point to you to say something has got to be strengthened. To me, I see this as work in progress. Do we need to start with the schools? Obviously we do, which is why MOE is in. Do we need MCYS’ participation? Obviously we do. Do we need MICA to be involved? Obviously we do. Which part is not important? Q: How do you visualize the CEP five years from now? A: Again, I am going to give you a non-sexy answer in the sense that all I can hope for is that a larger percentage of people would have heard about it, would have known about it, and would be able to talk about the CEP compared to today. I think that is how success is going to be measured. This means continuously beating the drum, talking about CEP, continuing to do exercises, and trying to create “mindshare”. None of these is going to make you wake up one day and say: “Oh, we have now achieved that.” It’s not going to be that. Each year, new people join the labour force, and new people get into schools. You just hope to create “mindshare” among a larger and larger share of the population. So, I’d say we should continue to do the things we are doing. I think it’s working. But we should continue to put in the resources, continue to work hard. We can’t point to an end-line and say we have arrived. Q: A final question. In your view, how resilient would Singapore society be if a terrorist attack occurred? A: I think it will be more resilient than many people give it credit for. You look at these exercises and say “that is not a lot of people”. But, actually, if you go out into the streets and ask people questions on race and religion, most people will give you answers that put the society ahead of their specific communities. Even if you are cynical, and you say some of these are politically correct, the point is that at least they accept that that is the right answer. That itself is a big success. I don’t think people are that cynical. Maybe there is a small group, but the fact that many people accept this shows that our message has gotten through. So I would say that a large, actually the silent majority, the significant vast silent majority, is supportive of these initiatives in a general sense that we sync together, that we have to survive as a community, and that we mustn’t play the racial and religious cards. I think there is an acceptance of all these things. So, based on that, I think we can feel happy about the progress that has been made, but also know that we must continue working at it. Not e

1.  K Shanmugam was Second Minister for Home Affairs from May 2008 to November 2010 and was the Minister for Home Affairs from November 2010 to May 2011.

Coordinating Diversity THE CEP SECRETARIAT’S ROLE Interview with Benny Lim Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs

Q: The CEP would appear to be a part of Singapore’s wider efforts to consolidate, deepen and widen social resilience. How do you define social resilience? How does the CEP further it? A: Resilience typically refers to the ability to bounce back from what, in psychological terms, is called a stressor. Resilience therefore may be defined as recovery from shocks, threats. Individual resilience is not irrelevant to societal resilience, but we hope to be able to make something of the latter where the sum is greater than its parts. Hence the mantra has been about building networks of trust, whether through Emergency Preparedness exercises and planning or other activities which help to bond people. The challenges for the CEP lies in the fact that it is more bottom-up than are other programmes. It is top-down in conception but bottom-up in terms of actual interpretation on the ground. In the CEP Secretariat, for instance, we centrally produce training material but customize them in actual delivery with stakeholders for their special needs. The Secretariat’s job is to manage and coordinate diversity of domains without displacing their sense of ownership. Q: Who are the main shareholders of the CEP? A: Measures to enhance Singapore’s resilience have been undertaken traditionally as part of Total Defence by the Ministry of Defence and as part of the constituency emergency preparedness programme driven by the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) and People’s Association. The IRCCs were set up after 9/11. So the main map for engagement has been focused on the community and ethnic groups. Then London 7/7 took place in 2005. The CEP was created and it allowed us to take in groups that were not part of the original mapping, for example, labour, schools and in MICA’s domain, the media, academics and opinion-makers. The new additions have enriched the scope of engagement. They have given fresh

Interview with Benny Lim

15

colour and energy to the CEP, such as through the engagement programme with radio DJs. Through the CEP clusters, we have a more comprehensive engagement strategy that cuts across all if not much of our society. Q: How does the cluster system reflect these shareholders? A: The CEP allows us to recognize the multi-dimensionality of people. The CEP clusters are inherently multi-ethnic and include everyone in some way. Indeed there is probably some overlapping. The grassroots cluster oversees where you live; the manpower cluster, through the unions and workplaces, covers where you work. Through the education system, we also reach you if you have children in school. With clusters, the likelihood of reaching our people is better. Indeed, it is the best way to connect people naturally to the CEP mission. Thus, if you are in an Emergency Preparedness Group, it may be the way you first hear the CEP message. If you work shifts, the workplace may be the place where you get the CEP message. Q: The CEP has not been tested in reality. How do you measure its effectiveness? A: The true test is, of course, how we hold up in an incident. In the meantime, we can nevertheless have a sense of how we progress by basic measures like numbers in the network and so on. However we are quite mindful about avoiding obsessing over centralized measurements because they assume a homogeneity on the ground contrary to reality. We must accept that there will be unevenness across groups and clusters, and we would like them to chart their own progress in terms which they see as relevant to their domains. The strength of the CEP resides in the authenticity and resilience of the bonding among members of its network and the quality of operational preparedness of a core activist group in each cluster. Substance not form must be the focus. Q: How can the need for the CEP be kept alive in the public mind since every year that passes without incident makes people feel more secure and perhaps even complacent? A: The challenge is sustainability. This is all the more challenging when each year passes without incident. Nonetheless we must persist. Firstly, there is a need to seek buy-in bottom up. When groups on the ground take ownership of the CEP, they find it real and meaningful. Secondly, there is the question of renewal. People come and go, and the same goes for the specific programmes as well. So long as new people come in, internalize it on their own terms, and initiate new programmes, we are doing okay.

16    

Coordinating Diversity: The CEP Secretariat’s Role

Q: How have the Community Engagement Executive Development (CEED) and Train-the-CEP Trainer programmes produced “catalytic cadres” for the CEP? A: Catalytic cadres, and that includes but are not composed only of the CEED alumni, are the activist core in their own domains. Being from the ground but informed of the big picture and having been trained, they should have the ability to translate [what they have gained from these programmes] into practical requirements and action for crisis response and consequence management in their own domains. They are more likely to succeed in doing this because of they know their domain and its people best. Q: How do you visualize the CEP on its tenth anniversary? A: If we proceed in the way that we have done, I am confident that competencies will be deepened and developed, and what we celebrate today as achievements will become standard fare. There will also be a deeper internalization of the CEP spirit as the trust across the networks grows stronger when people develop personal ties and relations in the course of pursuing a common enterprise. And when people move in the same direction pursuing something they believe in, they will not be easily jaded. They do it on their own, creating a self-sustaining momentum from the ground. In terms of overall management of the CEP, the challenge perhaps for the CEP Secretariat and cluster leads will always be how to find the optimum balance between structure and free form, between central direction and leadership and broad, flexible facilitation. This is a dynamic challenge and getting it and doing it right is critical to the health of the movement. The right mix is probably different not only for different stages of the CEP movement but also for different parts that compose it at any one time. What this must tell us is that keeping dialogue alive and open between centre and domain members at all levels is absolutely vital.

The Origins Four suicide bombers struck in central London on the morning of Thursday, 7 July 2005. In the coordinated attacks, known since then as 7/7, bombs went off on trains and a double-decker bus, killing 52 people and injuring more than 770.1 Exactly a fortnight later, there were four more attempts to attack the city’s transport system, but only the detonators of the bombs exploded, and there were no casualties. What happened was terrifying. The consequences were terrible. Among Londoners at large, many felt stressed and frightened even months after 7/7. Researchers from King’s College London who quizzed 574 members of the public seven months after the attacks found that 11 per cent were “substantially stressed”, while 43 per cent thought that their lives were in danger, the British Journal of Psychiatry reported. Lead researcher Dr Neil Greenberg, of the Institute of Psychiatry at King’s College London, said: “Clearly terrorist attacks can have psychological effects on the general public.” Liz Prosser, from a support group offering counselling and legal help, added: Attacks like 7 July can have a long-lasting impact. You don’t need to have been at the scene. People just caught up in the chaos of the day phoned us for help and I think for people who just live and work in London there is a psychological impact.2

The consequences of 7/7 were terrible. The backlash to it was horrible for innocent British Muslims who were blamed for the acts of four terrorists. The victims of 7/7 were people of many nationalities, both British and nonBritish, both whites and non-whites, both Muslims and non-Muslims. This was to be expected of London, a cosmopolitan city famed for its multicultural composition. However, in the immediate aftermath of the attacks, “this diversity became a target for some individuals who misused the religious background of the bombers as an excuse for racist attacks and abuses against members of minority communities, British Muslims in particular”.3 According to London Metropolitan Police figures quoted in the Evening Standard newspaper, more than 1,532 racist incidents were reported that month — a record high. This figure covered racism against all ethnic groups but the police believed that the leap in numbers was linked to the London bombings. In a year since then, the average number of incidents was 1,062 a month, but some thought that

18     

The Origins

the lower figure reflected a situation in which victims of hate crimes were choosing increasingly not to report attacks on them. Dr Massoud Shadjareh of the Islamic Human Rights Commission spoke to Evening Standard reporter Amar Singh for a report published in July 2006. Dr Shadjareh said: “Immediately after 7/7, hate crimes reported to us went from about seven a week to more than 100 — it was shocking. It has gone down somewhat but I would certainly say it has more than doubled since before 7/7.” Of course, it did not help that a poll carried out a year from then revealed that 13 per cent of British Muslims regarded the four 7/7 bombers as “martyrs”, while 16 per cent thought the attacks were wrong but that the bombers’ cause was just. However, some commentators felt that the racist backlash to 7/7 had itself contributed to the alienation of British Muslims from the rest of society — an alienation manifest in these figures. Dr Shadjareh said: Islamophobia has become acceptable. The alienation is going into a different gear. What is being created is a young generation feeling increasingly frustrated and targeted — it’s a timebomb of resentment.4

Muslims had joined others in becoming the long-term victims of 7/7. “Society turned against them. Completely innocent people found themselves being blamed for a crime that they had not committed. Muslims were traduced, spat at and physically attacked. Police stopped them in the street as terrorist suspects.” Recalling the times, one Muslim complained that “not only was I a potential target for a suicide bomber from my own community, I was also a potential target for security forces from my own government”.5 Of course, things could have been much worse. British Muslim journalist Mehdi Hasan noted: “I’m proud that there were no riots or pogroms or sectarian violence, and that British Muslims were not rounded up or interned en masse by the British state. But I do often wonder (dread?) what might happen if, God forbid, there was to be another terrorist attack in the capital perpetrated by ‘home-grown’ Muslim terrorists.”6 Much of the credit for the absence of large-scale violence goes to the British Government. “Out of concern about possible anti-Muslim incidents, the UK Government promptly highlighted its support for the legitimate aspirations of the Muslim community. The Police made clear that reprisals against members of the Muslim community would be dealt with harshly.” Across the European Union, governments, including the police, and other responsible opinion-formers distinguished between the action of the bombers and Islam as a whole; their stance was paralleled by the strong and immediate reaction of Muslim representatives who condemned the bombers unequivocally.7 However, the communal distrust caused by 7/7 took its toll. A 2010 poll revealed that 58 per cent of Britons associate Islam with extremism, and 50 per cent believe that the religion is linked with terrorism.

The Origins

19 

This is sad, when other polls show that Muslims in London are more likely to identify strongly with Britain than the population at large.8 Mr Hasan recalls the abiding message of 7/7 thus: I remember, as I watched the images of death and destruction on Sky News on the morning of 7 July 2005, thinking: “Please God, don’t let it be Muslims.” Days later, sitting in a hotel room on holiday abroad, I saw the names and faces of Mohammad Sidique Khan, Hasib Hussain, Shazad Tanweer and Germaine Lindsay flash across the television screen.

Mr Hasan’s worst fears had come true. They were Muslims, they were British, they were young, and they were just like him. Young British Muslims. Just like me. Three of them the British-born children of immigrants from the Indian subcontinent. Just like me. And I cried. I knew that my city, my country and my own particular faith community would never be the same again.9

The fact that the London bombers were home-grown distinguished them from the perpetrators of the terrorist attacks in the United States on 11 September 2001, although the earlier incident had been larger in scale, more spectacular and involved a far higher number of casualties. The 9/11 attacks had been a foreign one on American soil; the 7/7 attacks were carried out on British soil by indigenous Britons who were Muslims. This difference explains the visceral nature of the response to 7/7 by Britons who called into question the very loyalty of the community involved. That response — and the hate attacks that followed — was wrong, but the anger had its roots in the fact that the 7/7 perpetrators had transgressed a fundamental law: in a secular nationstate, loyalty to the country should come before loyalty to a religious or racial community or cause, be the community or cause local or international.

The Singapore Situation Singapore has not been immune to racial violence — and has responded with efforts to prevent it or contain it. The Maria Hertogh riots of 1950 and the racial riots of 1964 and 1969 were the most serious expressions of such violence. Over the years, the Government has finessed several means of building up national resilience, or the country’s ability to withstand and recover from physical and economic crises, creeping or sudden crises, deliberate psychological or physical attacks, subversive influences, accidents or hardships.10 Before 9/11, Singapore’s resilience-building efforts took shape in a vast array of principles, policies and programmes that reached deep into the everyday life of Singaporeans. These efforts included — and continue to include: •  multiracialism and meritocracy, which guide policy in all areas of national life;

20     

The Origins

 bilingualism, which keeps mother-tongues alive while making English the lingua franca; • home ownership, particularly through public housing, that gives Singaporeans a tangible and lasting stake in their country; • National Service, which makes the Singaporean male part of a people’s army and responsible for the country’s defence irrespective of his race or religion; • the concept of Total Defence, which places the burden of national survival in a war on the whole citizenry instead of on just the military, and which consists of Military Defence, Civil Defence, Economic Defence, Social Defence and Psychological Defence; • the creation of common spaces such as Community Clubs, Citizens’ Consultative Committees, Residents’ Committees and Neighbourhood Committees guided by the People’s Association, which was set up in 1960 to help foster racial harmony and social cohesion; •  Group Representation Constituencies, which guarantee minority representation in Parliament; • the establishment of the Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura (MUIS), or the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore, a statutory body set up in 1968 that has played a crucial role in the emergence and consolidation of a Singapore Muslim identity; • the Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act, which gives legislative teeth to Singapore’s efforts to preserve religious and racial harmony; • and the observance of an annual Racial Harmony Day on 21 July.11 One could add National Education, which aims at developing national cohesion, cultivating the instinct for survival as a nation and instilling in students confidence in Singapore’s future. It does this by emphasizing the importance of cultivating a sense of belonging and emotional rootedness to Singapore. The 9/11 attacks in the United States were a wake-up call to countries around the world. The threat of a transnational attack, difficult to prevent because its hardware spanned borders, brought to the fore an intensely ideological hatred of secular and modern political and economic systems that was difficult to fight because the software was carried invisibly in the mind. Even before Singaporeans could recover from their horror of what had occurred at the Twin Towers in New York and elsewhere in the United States, they were greeted with the news that they themselves had been targets of a terrorist attack. Around October 2001, some Singapore members of the Southeast Asian Islamic militant group, Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), began plotting an attack in Singapore scheduled for December 2001/January 2002 or April/May 2002. •

The Origins

21 

The JI planned to attack six different targets simultaneously using six truck bombs, each rigged with three tonnes of deadly ammonium nitrate. The potential targets included the U.S. and Israeli embassies, the Australian and British high commissions, Sembawang Wharf and Changi Naval Base (because they were used by the U.S. military), and commercial buildings housing American companies. Singapore’s Internal Security Department (ISD) thwarted the plan when it arrested thirteen JI members and two others in December 2001. As a result of investigations following those arrests, the ISD arrested another twenty-one people in August 2002, nineteen of whom were JI members. Other JI plans involved attacking Changi Airport, the Ministry of Education building at North Buona Vista Drive, and the Ministry of Defence headquarters at Bukit Gombak.12 A White Paper described the arrests as exposing “the most serious direct threat posed by any terrorist organisation to Singapore’s security since the days of the Communist Party of Malaya”. The JI, and smilar terrorist organizations in the region, threaten the safety and cohesion of Singapore because they exploit the teachings of Islam to justify their actions. Any violence that they perpetrate will undermine inter-ethnic trust.13 Following 9/11 and the JI arrests, the Government put in place several mechanisms to deal with the evolving situation. Within the Muslim community, religious scholars and teachers volunteered to form the Religious Rehabilitation Group (RRG) in April 2003. It focused on the study of jihad and any other religious concepts that had been applied by the JI’s detained members. It went on to serve as an expert resource group in understanding Islam in relation to any misconceptions and misinterpretations of the religion as propagated by the terrorists. The Group also played a role in the rehabilitation of the detainees. Other programmes were launched as well. The Security Watch Group (SWG) was set up in November 2003 for the commercial sector to collaborate with the Singapore Police Force to harden commercial premises against a terror attack. It was expanded later into the Safety and Security Watch Group (SSWG) that brought in the Singapore Civil Defence Force as well. A Business Continuity Management (BCM) programme, launched in 2008, envisages businesses planning how to continue functioning in spite of a terror attack involving loss of or damage to their physical assets. Project Guardian brought in nearly 30,000 local private security personnel, augmenting their skills so that they could undertake greater emergency functions in a crisis. Exercise Community Spirit (ECS) Days or Emergency Preparedness (EP) Days — the terminology depends on the scale of the event — trains grassroots volunteers and residents to deal with large-scale emergencies in the neighbourhood. The Community Emergency Preparedness Programme (CEPP), launched in 2003, provides both theoretical and practical training in areas such as First Aid, Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation, and Fire Safety and Casualty Evacuation.

22     

The Origins

But what about the ground, that is, Singapore at large? How would it react if bombs actually went off? To answer this question, then Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong and then Minister for Home Affairs Wong Kan Seng discussed how to get the community to deal with a crisis situation. The outcome was the Inter-Religious Confidence Circles (IRCCs), which were formed at the constituency level. Renamed Inter-Racial and Religious Confidence Circles later, the IRCCs serve as important bridges between religious, ethnic and community groups at the local level. They bring together leaders of various religious, ethnic and other community organizations to deepen people’s understanding of various faiths, beliefs and practices through interfaiththemed and inter-ethnic-themed activities such as interfaith heritage trails, interfaith talks and dialogues, and various ethnic and religious celebrations. The IRCCs are also primed to respond quickly to incidents with racial and religious undertones and to project solidarity on the ground during tensions and crises.14 Then came 7/7. It involved home-grown terrorists, much as the JI plot had done. The Government wondered whether suspicion and distrust would divide Singapore were it to be attacked by home-grown terrorists. This time, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and then Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng discussed the issue, and decided to have a more intensive programme that would engage different levels of society in every aspect of Singaporean life.

Enter the CEP That was how the Community Engagement Programme (CEP) came to be formulated. The CEP was envisaged as a network of people to help prevent racial and religious conflict in the aftermath of a terrorist attack by building society’s skills and knowledge in coping with emergencies. The community would be involved in response plans that would be activated were a terrorist incident to occur. These plans aim to help Singaporeans cope with the shock and to stay calm and resilient so that society as a whole stays together and they can continue with their daily lives as quickly as possible. At a dialogue with 1,700 community leaders and students on 9 February 2006, Prime Minister Lee declared that Singapore would have to first widen and deepen linkages among our people, to involve more people, build up the networks which have been developed by the IRCCs, the Harmony Circles, to cover more groups, the grassroots, the religious and community organisations, schools, businesses, unions, media — all the key institutions and organisations in our society. Then we can grow and nurture the links at many levels and encourage initiatives from the ground up so that people will take ownership of the issues and not simply leave them to the Government to solve.

The Origins

23 

Secondly, we’ve got to provide more support and coordination for the CEP... The Government will help to facilitate, coordinate, support the initiatives from the ground. So if you want to do something, you need resources, information, we can be there to support you.

Thirdly, we have to stay vigilant over the long term. This is a marathon... So we’ve got to keep the network ready... For example, you’ve got to exercise the members and their linkages. So, they can provide accurate feedback on what’s happening on the ground, things which can affect community relations. And we need “drawer plans” — plans to deal with a crisis... which, in case something does happen, we can take out... be ready to go.

He added: We’ve got to understand the seriousness of this problem but we must not be intimidated by it. We will preserve the harmony and trust between our different communities... That is what makes Singapore special and one oasis in a troubled world which is peaceful, tranquil, harmonious and which is our home. This is the basis on which we can build a safe, strong, united Singapore for many years to come.15

The CEP was born. The CEP’s rationale is that the objective of a successful terrorist attack in Singapore would be not only to kill people and destroy property but also to create suspicion, tension and strife between different racial and religious groups in the country. The truth is that a crisis such as a terrorist incident is a national problem, not a problem exclusive to any particular race or religion. Singaporeans must therefore face such a crisis united as one nation and one people. That is why the CEP is not just another anti-terrorist emergency planning effort. It stands for much more than that. The crucial challenge is to ensure that society stays strong and united during and after such a crisis so that Singapore can recover quickly and Singaporeans can continue to work, study and live together in peace and harmony. How can this be done? Since a united society is not achieved by Government policy alone, the people’s contributions are very important. Ideas and activities under the CEP will therefore come from communities and be implemented by them. The Government will coordinate and support these efforts and create more opportunities for different communities to meet and know one other. Towards that end, a Ministerial Committee on Community Engagement (MCCE) steers the CEP. Supporting the MCCE are six government agencies: the Ministry of Home Affairs; the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports; the Ministry of Education; the Ministry of Information,

24     

The Origins

Communications and the Arts; the Ministry of Manpower; and the People’s Association. While the Ministry of Home Affairs is the overall coordinating agency for the CEP, there are five community clusters that are supported by the corresponding agencies: Cluster

S u pp o r t i n g A g e n c y

Religious groups, ethnic-based organizations and voluntary welfare organizations

Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports

Educational institutions

M inistry of Education

Media and the arts

M inistry of Information, Communications and the Arts

Businesses and unions

Ministry of Manpower

Grassroots organizations

People’s Association

It is the aim of the CEP that various organizations under each of these clusters will work among themselves and with those in other clusters to strengthen the networks and bonds within and between their respective communities.16 The CEP is work in progress. Meanwhile, how united are Singaporeans on the ground? Some surveys conducted in recent years reveal where they stand on racial and religious issues. These findings are cause for confidence because they show Singaporeans coming together and not moving apart because of the threat of terror. However, there is no scope for complacency. This is because, unfortunately, there is a general prickliness among some people that has resulted in an increased tendency to complain to the Police for all kinds of perceived infringements. These people do not stop there if they do not get the resolution which they think is appropriate. The increase in community-level disputes, nearly half of which are between neighbours, may indicate this prickliness. Information from the Community Mediation Unit (CMU) showed a rising trend in the number of cases which their mediators had to deal with: from 120 in 1998 to 684 in 2008. Data from the Police also seem to support this observation with regard to community conflicts, which are defined as disputes between individuals or groups of different races, religions or cultural beliefs over the use of common space, public space and infringements into private space, as well as incidents of racial, religious and cultural intolerance. The number of police reports pertaining to community conflicts increased from thirty-three in 2007 to forty-nine in 2008 to seventy-eight in 2009 and was projected to exceed ninety cases by the end of 2010.

The Origins

25 

Unfortunately, too, there is also a tendency to be reckless about comments posted on the Internet. This is cause for concern especially because the anonymity offered by the medium may be abused by individuals who have malicious or mischievous intent. Generally, there is an increase in religiosity among Singaporeans which, in some cases, has been accompanied by an increase in religious assertiveness. While increased religiosity is not a concern, the increase in religious assertiveness is worrying because it leads people to become more intolerant of others from different faiths. On balance, much has been achieved in terms of racial and religious harmony in Singapore, but the tempo has to be kept up. The CEP’s own work is intertwined with the progress of harmony. N o t es

1.   BBC, . 2.  , 1 April 2007. 3.   T he Impact of 7 July 2005 London bomb attacks on Muslim communities in the EU, European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia, November 2005, p. 4. 4.  Amar Singh, “Attacks on Muslims surging in wake of 7/7 bombings, says human rights groups”, Evening Standard, 5 July 2006. 5.  Peter Oborne, “The other 7/7 victims: Five years on, British Muslims reveal how the bombings left them angry, ashamed – and afraid”, Mail Online, 7 July 2010, . 6.  Mehdi Hasan, “7/7 bombings, London and British Muslims: Five years on”, New Statesman, 9 July 2010, . 7.   Impact of 7 July 2005 London bomb attacks on Muslim communities in the EU, p. 4. 8.   Mehdi Hasan, “7/7 bombings, London and British Muslims”. 9.   Ibid. 10. National Resilience, National Security Coordination Secretariat, Singapore, 1 June 2009, p. 1. 11. Ibid, pp. 3–6. 12. Valerie Chew, “Jemaah Islamiyah’s bomb plot against diplomatic missions in Singapore, 2001/2002”, Singapore Infopedia, National Library Board, . 13. White Paper, The Jemaah Islamiyah Arrests and the Threat of Terrorism, 7 January 2003, p. 2. 14. . The IRCCs were renamed Inter-Racial and Religious Confidence Circles in 2007 to better reflect the IRCCs’ role as local-level platforms to strengthen engagements amongst religious and community leaders. 15. “How to stay an oasis in a troubled world”, Straits Times, 10 February 2006. . 16. Singapore United: The Portal for the Community Engagement Programme, .

--··-~- .-:...____ .:.:-... ............. ~ .-

.:~-·: ::::

-... -

II"'T.WrJ

-~ ~ ., '1lt ~·· -,....

,

- '-· ____...,.. ":?

Building Networks of Trust

Religious and Other Groups The CEP’s work touches closely on the state of racial and religious relations in Singapore. How solid is that ground? The Ministry of Home Affairs’ CEP 2009 Survey had some answers. It revealed that 74.4 per cent trusted fellow Singaporeans to help them if a terrorist attack occurred here, only 4.1 per cent disagreed and 21.5 per cent were neutral. A large proportion, 78.2 per cent, agreed that Singaporeans of all races and communities would stand united after a terrorist attack, 2.9 per cent disagreed and 18.9 per cent were neutral. A very large number, 86.7 per cent, thought that Singaporeans in general respected other races, 2.6 per cent disagreed and 10.7 per cent were neutral. Similarly, 84.9 per cent thought that Singaporeans in general respected other religions, 2.2 per cent disagreed and 12.9 per cent were neutral. Along the same lines, in the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts’ National Security Awareness Survey 2009, 52.4 per cent said that they were mentally prepared to deal with the consequences of a terrorist attack; and 47.7 per cent said that they were aware of practical steps to take should such an attack occur near them. Much has been achieved in terms of racial and religious harmony, but it is work in progress. In this context, the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports’ CEP cluster engages racial, religious, volunteer welfare, and foreigner groups and their leaders to build up social resilience and psychological capacity to manage crises that have ethnic/religious overtones. The cluster adopted a three-phased approach at the inception of the CEP in October 2006, essentially to build relationships (Phase I), build capabilities (Phase II), and exercise crisis plans (Phase III). Phase I’s objective was to identify appropriate leaders to be represented on suitable platforms; build relationships; and nurture a distinct identity for CEP platforms within the cluster and public awareness of their CEP efforts. It was largely completed by June 2007. Phase II’s objective is to build capabilities within the cluster to respond to a crisis, that is, to identify appropriate community spokespersons; identify and address competency gaps; and to draw up community crisis response plans together with stakeholders. Phases I and II are not sequential. Phase III’s objective is to exercise and update response plans, and keep ties warm.

Religious and Other Groups

29 

This overlapping framework allows community leaders to engage one another through the community’s apex/umbrella organization via the National Steering Committee (NSC) on Racial and Religious Harmony. Set up in unison with the CEP, the NSC guides the IRCCs, which focus on promoting interracial activities and understanding at the local level. The NSC has provided an excellent platform to build familiarity, form friendships and create rapport. The resulting networks of trust have created safe spaces for dialogue on critical issues such as Singapore’s secular model of governance and religious harmony. The importance of such safe spaces was evident during local and global incidents with ethnic/religious overtones, such as the terrorist attacks in Mumbai in 2008, the controversy created by Fitna, a Dutch politician’s film on his views of Islam, and the bitter fight for control of the Association of Women for Action and Research (AWARE), the Singaporean women’s association. During the Fitna incident, several NSC leaders and organizations issued public statements whose common message was that the right of free expression should be exercised with responsibility. During the AWARE saga, media reports on the reactions of religious leaders showed full support for the Government’s stand on the role of religions in the public sphere. IRCCs obviously have a role to play as well. To be effective local interfaith platforms, their members need to know about various faiths. Thus, a flagship training programme “Reflections: Unfolding Faith and Ethnicity” was rolled out in 2007. The programme aims at levelling up the knowledge base of community leaders on the beliefs, customs, practices, and nuances of a particular ethnic group or religion. This is done through dialogues with religious leaders and practitioners, tours, exhibitions, sharing sessions, and hands-on activities. The visits are complemented by regular talks on different religions to promote interfaith understanding. An estimated 80 per cent of IRCC members have been trained as mediators. This has proved invaluable in resolving issues on the ground. In executing their roles, ethnic, religious and community leaders respect racial and religious sensitivities. For example, Venerable Seck Kwang Phing, Secretary-General of Singapore Buddhist Federation, and Bishan-Toa Payoh North IRCC stepped forward to mediate a dispute over joss paper burning on Vesak Day between a Chinese family and the National Environment Agency. Owing to the timely intervention, matters did not escalate. In another incident, there were differences between some Malays and Chinese over a religious practice. IRCC members in Tampines Central were mobilized to reconcile the two parties. The dispute was settled amicably since the mediators were familiar with the customs and religious practices of both groups. It is in these essential and practical ways that the MCYS cluster contributes to the overall success of the CEP.

30     

Building Networks of Trust

More on the Three Phases Phase I Its rationale is to build friendships and familiarity. The National Steering Committee (NSC) on Racial and Religious Harmony, which is chaired by the Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports, guides the Ministry’s contribution to the CEP. The contribution can take the shape of sports, as with the Community Engagement Games Day (CEGD). Organized by the National Council of Churches of Singapore in 2008, the Taoist Federation in 2009, and Harmony Centre/MUIS in 2010, this event brought racial and religious communities together through an activity that everyone likes. Similarly, the Interfaith Marathon is a bi-annual event organized by Sikhs in which runners stop at various places of worship along the route. Singapore also being a nation of food lovers, the Racial Harmony Food Festival was an initiative undertaken in 2009 by the Singapore Federation of Chinese Clan Associations (SFCCA) that involved other ethnic groups. Other events are organized as well. For example, the Orange Ribbon Celebrations (ORC) every July invite Singaporeans to celebrate racial harmony, while the Inter-Racial Inter-Religious Harmony Nite (IRIRHN)1 every year celebrates Singapore’s diverse cultures. In like vein, Dao De Jing was a Taoist event organized by the Taoist Federation in 2008 which showcased interfaith scriptures. Project Million Lotus, an annual Buddhist event organized by the Singapore Buddhist Federation, incorporated an interfaith exhibition in 2007. The Building Bridges Conference was organized jointly by MUIS and the Diocese of Singapore in 2007 to promote dialogue and interfaith understanding. Inter-Racial and Religious Confidence Circles (IRCCs)2 are an integral part of the work of the CEP’s MCYS cluster. They have reached out to about 1,400 religious and ethnic organizations to secure their support for the CEP. They engaged 14 per cent of religious organizations in January 2007; that figure increased vividly to 88 per cent in July 2010. They have organized and supported more than 1,300 activities aimed at promoting racial and religious harmony. Phase II An important aspect of the cluster’s work was to level up capabilities in all eighty-four IRCCs. 3 This was done by partnering better prepared and weaker IRCCs. As a result, the proportion of “active” IRCCs went up from 21.5 per cent in January 2008 to 35.7 per cent in December 2009; that of “functioning” IRCCs rose from 38 per cent to 54.8 per cent over the same period; and the proportion of “minimally engaged” IRCCs fell from 40.5 per cent to 9.5 per cent.

Religious and Other Groups

31 

A new core training area identified for the cluster is the Media Appreciation Workshop, which provides an overview of the media landscape in Singapore and its impact on race relations. The workshop also seeks to train NSC/IRCC members on speaking to the media during a crisis. More than 60 per cent of IRCC members have been trained as media spokespersons. A course was introduced in 2010 for IRCC members to utilize new media and social media to reach out to people. International interfaith meetings offer learning and networking opportunities for cluster members, who develop a deeper appreciation of Singapore’s model of social harmony and the international context in which it has to operate. Thus, Singapore participates actively in AsiaEurope Meeting (ASEM) Interfaith Dialogues and Asia-Pacific Regional Inter-Faith Dialogues. Phase III IRCCs are primed continuously to be prepared for crises. In such times, they would need to spread information accurately and efficiently, calm religious congregations, and monitor ground sentiments. One way of keeping them prepared is through table-top exercises, which are group discussions of a static case study, and inject-based exercises (IBX), or real-time exercises with injects that create realistic operating environments. Fifty-seven out of eightyfour IRCCs4 completed IBX at the GRC level from 2008 to July 2010. During the three-hour IBX, members were mobilized and asked to report to a simulated operations centre, where they had to manage incidents of communal and religious tension under pressure of time. The participants were assessed on how well they reacted to real-time injects on their understanding of their roles during a crisis, among other things. In 2011, IRCCs will identify their primary and secondary command centres, and aim at setting up a round-theclock crisis command centre at the constituency level. Looking ahead, MCYS will continue to work with cluster members to develop, exercise, review and refine crisis plans. N o t es

1. T hye Hua Kwan Moral Society, together with its seven partners (the IRO, Mendaki, SINDA, the CDAC, the EA, Chee Hoon Kog Moral Promotion Society and Chee Hia Cog Moral Society), has organized the IRIRHN since 2004. 2. T he then Inter-Racial Confidence Circles (IRCCs) were formed in 2002 against the backdrop of the 11 September 2001 attacks in the United States, and repositioned from the People’s Association to the MCYS in 2006. 3. As of April 2011. 4. As of April 2011.

Educational Institutions If the Battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton, it could have been lost there as well. What that premier English public school did was to instil in its students those attitudes of mind, particularly leadership, which enabled the forces opposed to Napoleon to prevail over his army. Without, of course, equating today’s terrorists with the French then, it can be said that every school must act like Eton now if society is to be protected from the aftermath of a terror attack. Children must learn to fight with their minds. Losing a new Waterloo is not an option. The problem, though, is this. Teachers, who are a natural target of CEP messages, can be attracted to the programme through exposure to the shocking consequences of a terrorist attack. Students, however, are naturally not similarly mature; their young minds cannot easily deal with the terrible wickedness of the adult world. Hence, the challenge is to tailor the same programme to the differing needs of teachers and students. This is the work of the Ministry of Education’s Security and Emergency Planning Office (SEMPO) and its National Education Branch. They have identified initiatives that support CEP goals and have positioned these initiatives within two main strands: peacetime education; and incident handling/security measures that are more operational in nature. The target audience for the initiatives is the school at large, but special emphasis is placed on school CEP teams. Training workshops seek to equip these teams with the knowledge and skills to sense, identify and manage racial and religious issues at the school level. Feedback from participants who attended twentyeight CEP training workshops suggests that they gained insights into aspects of CEP management, such as sensing what is occurring on the ground and developing mediation skills. There are also scenario-based table-top exercises — Exercise Octopus — for newly appointed principals and vice-principals in which they finesse the skills required to handle the racial and religious aftermath of a terrorist incident. The number of principals, vice-principals and school staff who have undergone Exercise Octopus and CEP training workshops is 1,804 and 1,962, respectively. As for operational readiness, MOE has an established system to gather information from schools. This system will be activated when the need arises.

Educational Institutions

33  

The National Education (NE) Seminar, conducted for both new and experienced teachers, has spread the CEP’s message as well. Teachers come together to understand the concept behind the CEP, terrorism and the need for social resilience. If this is the hardware of the seminars, the software lies in teachers exploring racial stereotypes and their impact on their own teaching experience. The CEP forms one out of four segments of the annual NE Seminar for NE Coordinators. Recognizing diversity, MOE ensures that the CEP framework for each Institute of Higher Learning (IHL) is developed according to needs that reflect its unique infrastructure and operating requirements. The Ministry disseminated a set of CEP guidelines on managing incidents related to race and religious issues in June 2010 for IHLs to either use as reference or to customize according to their existing frameworks. The Ministry also invites IHLs to participate in CEP-related exercises organized by SEMPO. For example, there is MOE’s Mobilization Exercise for Community Leaders, which has been conducted every year since 2006 and typically involves more than a hundred MOE Community Leaders. As part of stocktaking on progress made, the Ministry conducted a CEP Workshop on 9 March 2010 where participants discussed communal relations in educational institutions and possible CEP scenarios. All in all, MOE works closely with MHA to fine-tune programmes for educational institutions. MOE will keep contributing to the CEP by putting in place systems and processes to guide, facilitate and monitor schools’ efforts in community engagement. Eton was not built in a day.

The Media and Arts The media, along with the arts and academia, are crucial to the outcome of the battle for hearts and minds waged in the struggle with extremism and terrorism. Even in peacetime, the media deeply influence, on an hourly or daily basis, public perceptions of threats and danger, safety and security. The arts are another form of communication that conveys to people busy with their everyday lives a sense of their place in the scheme of things. Academia offers intellectuals and teachers an opportunity to flesh out this larger picture, one in which we all have to find our places and seek our roles. It is important, therefore, for the Singapore media to understand the importance of the CEP, and to be mindful of its purpose in their coverage and programming. Fortunately, the local media in Singapore are a part of the solution. Together with members of the Arts and Media Cluster from the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts (MICA), many journalists play an essential role in communicating with the Singapore public and helping to maintain racial and religious harmony. When Marshall McLuhan coined the expression “the medium is the message”, he meant that the form of a medium embeds itself in the message and creates the basis on which the message is received and perceived. In this sense, the content of a message depends greatly on its form. This realization is important for the work of the CEP, particularly if Singapore were to come under sustained terrorist attack. With many forms of communication down, radio would play an essential role in telling citizens what is going on around them, what they should do, and what they should not do. And radio disc jockeys (DJs) would form the cutting edge of that role. Their accessible, conversational and trusted style would form the medium that would convey the message in a plausible way. As former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs Wong Kan Seng told the National CEP Seminar 2009, other than news media that form the Media Emergency Forum under MICA, radio DJs from MediaCorp Radio had been on a SG United Journey. “DJs are at the frontline in a crisis. Listeners will call in to them through phone hotlines and talk-shows that they are familiar with,” he noted. “Indeed, radio DJs are familiar voices that can offer calming advice in times of chaos and uncertainty.” Many DJs had participated in visits to the Home Team Academy and Civil Defence Academy to deepen their understanding of emergency preparedness and counter-terrorism, he added.

The Media and Arts

35

An important step was taken on 31 October 2007, when about fifty DJs from MediaCorp Radio attended a half-day CEP workshop organized by MediaCorp Radio, MICA and the CEP Secretariat from the Ministry of Home Affairs. The aim of the workshop was to give participants a better understanding of the CEP’s background and the objective of strengthening social cohesion and harmony so that people were better equipped to respond to a crisis should one occur in Singapore. During the workshop, the DJs discussed their role as a partner in responding to a crisis when radio would be a key channel of information and outreach to the public. “Many of us tune in to our favourite radio stations to listen to the latest hits”, Shaffiq Alkhatib said on 938 Live in a report on the event. However, besides “providing an avenue for us to keep up with the latest news and updates, radio also plays an integral role in promoting social cohesion”, he added. He quoted Class 95’s Flying Dutchman as having said: “You as a radio presenter are very much a first line person. The public will turn to you for information. They will turn to you for some degree of comfort. They will turn to you for a case of ‘I don’t know what to do. What am I going to do?’ It’s a big responsibility.” Another participant, Oli 96.8FM’s Mohamed Rafi Abu Bakar, said on the programme that DJs could also help to calm distressed members of the public and remind them not to panic. Trainers from the United Kingdom were also brought in for workshops in 2010 and 2011 to equip DJs and TV presenters with skills to calm the public during a crisis. The training for TV presenters was done for the first time. They learnt basic principles in conveying the news to the audience in a crisis. Commenting on the importance and relevance of the workshop, Ms K. Bhavani, Head of the Media and Arts Cluster in MICA, said: “We realize that radio DJs and TV presenters are critical partners in a crisis. Very often they are the first source of information for the public. It is therefore important that they realize their roles. The training will provide critical skills that will allow our local DJs and TV presenters to react effectively during a crisis.” Commenting on the TV Presenters Workshop, Genevieve Woo said: “The trainers taught us how to make calculated judgement calls in times of crisis. Being the frontline persons, it’s critical to be able to think on our feet, and agree/disagree/suggest alternative views to the Line Producer/Editor on the editorial line to take. This makes for better team work, especially if all had been trained on the same process.”

The Medium Would Be the Message There are other ways, too, in which MICA’s Arts and Media Cluster has been active in furthering the CEP’s work. In December 2008, for example, MICA invited a local theatre company, Drama Box, to perform its successful

36    

Building Networks of Trust

forum theatre play, Trick or Threat, at the annual Cluster workshop. Trick or Threat depicts a situation where, days after a bomb scare on the public transport system, Singaporeans of different races break out in panic in the MRT, prompting fear, distrust and confusion. The workshop generated a lively exchange of ideas and views on terrorism and racial and religious relations. Community leaders from the various CEP clusters took home some valuable learning points. The play was revisited in 2010 by the People’s Association to engage grassroots leaders. Recounting the success of the play, Ms Bhavani said: “The participants could relate to the scenarios and they got into deeper conversations to explore the issues.” Earlier, in May–July 2008, MICA supported “What Matters?” to promote racial harmony in Singapore. Organized by ARTivate, the youth wing of Drama Box, the event reached out to more than 2,200 Singaporeans. Eight forum theatre sessions and two panel discussions on racial harmony in Singapore, and an outdoor screening of the classic film on racial relations, To Kill a Mockingbird, were held. Dr Lai Ah Eng, a member of the Media and Arts Cluster, was one of the panellists. Yet, again, the medium turned into the message. This is important because the mind is a critical weapon in the fight against terrorists, for whom the medium of death and destruction is their nefarious message.

Businesses and Unions Human history is a history of work. It is not paradoxical, therefore, that if anything unites terrorists and their targets, it is work. Their work consists in destroying our work; they take to that nefarious work with a dedication and a patience which matches ours. Their work will continue so long as ours lasts; our work is similarly endless. Ultimately, work is an essential part of the terrain on which the struggle against terror will have to succeed. The Businesses and Unions Cluster of the CEP, supported by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), recognizes the central importance of work and the workplace in keeping Singapore safe. The cluster highlights the importance of building socially harmonious and secure workplaces during peacetime by organizing bonding activities there. In addition, employers and unions are also encouraged to put in place crisis response plans that take into consideration the sociological and psychological needs of employees. The cluster adopts a tripartite approach — involving employers, unions and the government — which includes the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC), the Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF), the Singapore Business Federation (SBF), the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (ASME), the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCCI), the Singapore Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SICCI), and the Singapore Malay Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SMCCI). In the event of a crisis, the tripartite partners will work together with MOM to monitor, manage and address any workplace concerns. They will help to provide reassurance and restore confidence in the community by countering rumours on racial and religious tensions, and rally workers and employers behind the Government. The cluster also engages foreign workers through outreach activities such as dormitory road shows that emphasize the importance of maintaining good relations with other workers. The Tripartite Panel on Community Engagement at Workplaces was set up in 2006. Chaired by the Minister for Manpower, the panel consists of key leaders from the tripartite partners and provides overall leadership for the cluster’s work. The Tripartite Workgroup on Community Engagement at Workplaces, made up of key officials from the tripartite partners, was formed to help formulate and implement CEP plans. The cluster’s work plan has three thrusts — creating broad awareness of the CEP at workplaces; preparing competent and ready stakeholders; and

38     

Building Networks of Trust

creating a high level of operational preparedness — through a wide range of outreach and other activities. (See the Appendix for more details.) The good news is that the CEP is widely seen in the Businesses and Unions Cluster as a programme that encourages the strengthening of communal relations at the workplace and the promotion of fair employment practices. Employers, union leaders and employees view the CEP as being related to bonding activities and employment practices that do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion or nationality. Such practices and activities further the CEP’s objectives because they help strengthen harmonious relations at the workplace and deepen the social and psychological resilience of society at large. Unfortunately, however, the programme is not associated equally strongly with preparing the workplace for emergencies. Employers need to understand the importance of having realistic response plans in place, and to build up knowledge and skills to cope with situations of crisis. These skills can be developed during CEP seminars, workshops and events organized by the tripartite partners. Case studies could be shared with employers so as to highlight the impact of racial or religious tension on relations among employees and on their morale and productivity, to say nothing of disruption to business operations. With these in mind, the cluster will collaborate closely with the SBF and leverage on other outreach events conducted by the tripartite partners which focus on crisis preparedness, so that CEP is seen as part and parcel of Business Continuity Management (BCM) in the event of a crisis. While businesses are generally prepared for emergencies, their business continuity plans tend to focus on hardware aspects such as IT backups and recovery. Business continuity plans that effectively handle employees’ concerns, anxieties and grievances are less common. Generally, it appears that Singapore companies appear to be better prepared to deal with the “hardware” aspects of emergencies than with the “software” aspects. Employers should consider CEP-related issues when they conduct risk assessments of potential threats to their business operations and continuity. A CEP Implementation Guide for Employers has been developed to help employers build a resilient and united workforce by identifying risks, developing programmes and putting in place preparedness plans. This will ensure that employers are able to minimize business disruptions and facilitate quicker resumption to normal operations. The cluster is also developing training programmes to equip human resource practitioners, crisis management staff and union leaders with practical skills for handling CEP issues at workplaces, including skills to handle grievances and offer counselling. Another issue is that, compared to larger companies, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) may be less aware of the CEP and hence less prepared for

Businesses and Unions

39 

crises. Here, the tripartite partners (including ASME) have an important role to play in using seminars and workshops organized for SMEs to increase their awareness of the CEP. The cluster could also identify and engage industry and trade associations, particularly where there are lower levels of CEP awareness and preparedness. Looking at the future, the cluster’s importance will grow because it will be necessary to counter dangers caused by the widening reach of the new media. Emotions and reactions will be stoked faster than before as information is made easily accessible via the Internet, social networking sites, e-mail and SMSes. Also, situations occurring outside Singapore could spill into the country because physical workplace boundaries will no longer be able to prevent news of incidents, rumours and falsehoods. With a diverse workforce consisting of different nationalities, beliefs and practices, workplace relations will have to be managed well so that today’s harmonious relations can be preserved and, indeed, strengthened. That is hard work. But there is no escape from this work — as there is no escape from the histories of the different nationalities whom are part of our worker community in Singapore.

Appendix Plans Formulated in February 2009, the Businesses and Unions Cluster developed the cluster work plan, which sets out to guide the programme through the specific goals of building networks of trust and calm and resilient workplaces. To focus CEP efforts towards the two strategic goals, the following three thrusts have been adopted: • Thrust 1: Broad Awareness of CEP at Workplaces —  The aim is to ensure that stakeholders have basic awareness and understanding of CEP principles and objectives at workplaces. — Tripartite partners are leveraging on their existing platforms and activities, publications and websites to promote the CEP, organize community-bonding activities and enhance crisis preparedness at workplaces. Foreign chambers of commerce are also involved and they help to reach out to the foreign business community. Foreign workers are engaged through outreach activities so that they understand the importance of preserving harmonious workplaces. • Thrust 2: Competent and Ready Stakeholders — This is to equip stakeholders with the necessary skills and knowledge so that they are able to respond in a crisis situation. In addition, structures, systems and response plans are to be put in place so that the cluster is able to respond swiftly and effectively should a crisis arise.

40     

Building Networks of Trust

• Thrust 3: High Level of Operational Preparedness —This helps ensure that the cluster has a high state of readiness and is ready and able to respond effectively should a crisis occur. This means that the stakeholders are well versed with their roles and have response plans that are robust and stress-tested. Simulation exercises and response plans are also conducted regularly to test and further enhance the level of operational preparedness. Progress Thrust 1: Since 2006, tripartite partners have organized more than 150 promotional outreach activities, developed CEP resource guides, publicized CEP events as well as published CEP-related articles on tripartite partners’ websites and publication. The cluster has achieved generally good outreach progress with increased awareness of the CEP at workplaces. There are many CEP-related activities. The SNEF Industry Group Briefings provide a platform where employers and Human Resource practitioners learn about and discuss the CEP and other related topics. Then, led by NTUC Secretary-General Lim Swee Say and NTUC President John De Payva, key NTUC union leaders learnt how communal issues could affect workplaces in Singapore, and their roles as union leaders in the CEP, during the Internal Security Department (ISD) Heritage Learning Journey. Jointly organized by the SCCCI, the Singapore Federation of Chinese Clan Associations (SFCCA) and the CEP Secretariat, the “SFCCA-SCCCI SG United Journey” for Chinese businesses and clans was an event that deepened their members’ understanding of the important role they play in promoting community bonding across different ethnic groups. Also, guests from various ethnic and cultural backgrounds were invited to celebrate the different ethnic festivals organized by the ethnic chambers of commerce every year. These events help to promote inter-cultural interaction and appreciation among people of different races and religions. Yet again, the MOM CEP Secretariat organized a luncheon in 2007 to establish links with key foreign chambers which have significant influence on the economic and social development of Singapore. Key representatives of the foreign chambers are also regularly kept informed of the latest CEP development and invited to attend CEP events such as the annual cluster gathering for our community leaders. In the same vein, since 2007, information on social norms, employment issues and workplace safety has been disseminated at more than 80 foreign worker dormitory road shows, which have been attended by more than 250,000 foreign workers. Foreign workers were also briefed on the importance of maintaining amicable relationships and workplace harmony. In addition to the outreach activities, the cluster develops CEP collaterals and publishes CEP newsletters and CEP-related articles to reach out to CEP

Businesses and Unions

41 

community leaders, employers and workers. For example, the Tripartite CEP Guide contains information about CEP and its objectives, the role that businesses and unions could play in the CEP, and useful resources such as important contact information. Generally, existing tripartite publications and websites are useful and effective platforms for broad CEP publicity. Regular articles on CEP topics are featured in publications such as NTUC News (NTUC), Entrepreneurs Digest (ASME) and BIZ Quotient (SBF). The e-mail newsletter to community leaders is an initiative to keep ties with community leaders and key CEP representatives warm, and to inform them regularly of developments in the cluster and on other CEP-related issues. The newsletter is sent twice a year. Thrust 2: Besides awareness, it is important that stakeholders are competent and ready. The tripartite partners regularly develop resource guides to help guide the implementation of the CEP at workplaces. Seminars and workshops are also organized so that the cluster is updated regularly on CEP developments. In addition, training programmes are being developed so that HR practitioners, crisis management staff and union leaders can be equipped with practical skills to handle CEP issues at workplaces. There are resource guides as well. The Community Leaders’ Guide, produced by the CEP tripartite partners, contains basic information on the CEP as well as specific information targeted at the workplace. The guidebook includes employment-related advisories and practical tips to guide employers and unions in managing employment issues that arise from a crisis. The tripartite partners also produced the CEP Implementation Guide for Employers, which aims to help businesses kick-start CEP in their organizations. This handy resource guide provides simple step-by-step information to help organizations introduce CEP initiatives at their workplaces. For example, the guide helps organizations identify risks that could affect their workforce and cause business disruptions. Anticipating these risks can help organizations better deal with events and situations that may adversely affect harmonious working relations. The guide contains tips and practical suggestions on how organizations can encourage and foster social harmony at the workplace, as well as ways to put in place or strengthen their preparedness plans. There are also useful resources and references such as checklists and templates that can help employers develop more comprehensive preparedness plans for their organizations. There are platforms such as the annual cluster workshops and networking sessions organized jointly by the tripartite partners for community leaders to network, build knowledge and discuss CEP-related issues relevant to the cluster. The SBF and the National Security Coordination Secretariat (NSCS) organize the National Security Dialogue every year to raise awareness of

42    

Building Networks of Trust

evolving security issues and enhance competency on CEP-related issues and crisis preparedness. The SBF, which is appointed the National Business Continuity Management (BCM) Focal Point, and the MOM CEP Secretariat will collaborate closely to generate awareness and synergies between the CEP and the BCM. This will be done through joint outreach efforts such as BCM industry seminars and raising awareness through the SBF website. There is also customized CEP training for the Businesses and Unions Cluster. The tripartite partners are developing customized CEP training so that business and union leaders are equipped with useful CEP knowledge and skills. The SBF, with the support from tripartite partners, is developing a CEP course to help senior management staff, HR practitioners, line managers/supervisors and other employees acquire skills and knowledge that would enable them to implement policies and programmes that enhance the harmonious working relations and resilience of their workplaces. CEP content has been incorporated into the curriculum of the Basic Certification in Industrial Relations (BCIR) course conducted by Ong Teng Cheong Labour Leadership Institute (OTCi). Union leaders participating in the course will learn about their role in promoting harmonious working relations and managing CEP-related incidents at workplaces. As for crisis response plans, the cluster’s CEP response plans are updated and refined regularly to ensure effectiveness and relevance. Tripartite partners have also started to develop their respective internal crisis response and mobilization plans to ensure better coordination with MOM during crises. Thrust 3: The cluster should also be operationally ready when faced with crises. Its level of operational readiness and the effectiveness of its crisis response plans are tested regularly through simulation exercises at various levels. At the company level, tripartite partners will facilitate CEP simulation exercises for member companies. The SBF, SNEF and the NTUC will assist a unionized member company to organize and participate in a simulation exercise to test the robustness and effectiveness of the company’s business continuity plans. Also, cluster-wide simulation exercises have been conducted every year since 2007. These exercises help ensure that community leaders and relevant stakeholders in the cluster are familiar with their roles in a crisis, and that the cluster’s crisis response procedures and plans are stress-tested. The cluster exercise has evolved from a simple SMS notification exercise to a more sophisticated scenario-based exercise with active involvement from community leaders. The exercise now also involves a wider pool of participants such as the operators of foreign worker dormitories as well as the incorporation of more realistic scenario-based injects. In order to achieve a high level of operational preparedness across clusters, the Businesses and Unions Cluster has also participated in exercises to enhance collaboration across clusters during crises.

Grassroots Organizations It is one of the playful ironies of Singapore that so much is made about grassroots in a largely concrete city. But what that insistence on the salience of grassroots thinking invokes is an abiding memory of kampung Singapore. Today, there is a need to preserve at least some aspects of the kampung way of life, not in spite, but because of, urbanization and globalization. The hallmark of urbanization in a high-rise environment is anonymity, or the loss of a palpable sense of living in a face-to-face society where the mere fact of inhabiting a piece of land together creates familial familiarity and social intimacy. What the Government has tried to recreate in the high-rise kampungs of Housing and Development Board (HDB) estates is, therefore, the felt sentiment of people being part of the same economic, social and moral environment. Enter the People’s Association (PA). Set up in 1960, it occupies a special position in the grassroots life of Singapore. As a statutory board, it has the weight of the State behind it, but it is not a purely official body like a Ministry. Instead, being involved in facilitating grassroots activism, it acts as a conduit for popular activity and feedback directed upwards at the Government as much as an instrument of State policy towards society. It is this engagement with grassroots activism that creates natural synergy — and, indeed, an affinity — between the goals of the PA and those of the CEP, which is nothing if it is not a bottom-up exercise. These common goals made the PA emerge as an obvious candidate for forming a CEP cluster. Institutionally, the PA works closely with the Ministry of Home Affairs, the lead agency, and other CEP cluster leads to promote the programme to and through its Grassroots Organizations (GROs). The GROs belong to the traditional domain which has been enlarged with the CEP. This grassroots CEP work involves strengthening inter-racial ties by building confidence, trust and social capital among people in a widening common space that intensifies the shared experience of being Singaporean. The PA is well equipped for this role. It has an extensive network of more than 1,800 grassroots organizations that reach out to people from all walks of life. Its grassroots CEP framework, structure and systems support the programme and prepare GROs to engage residents and community partners. One practical way in which the PA has contributed to the CEP is by forming a Panel of Activists for Community Engagement (PACE) to guide CEP efforts at the constituency level. PACE members are encouraged to explore

44    

Building Networks of Trust

innovative ways to engage the community, build trust between grassroots leaders and residents, and strengthen bonds between residents of different ethnic groups. PACE, chaired by Minister Lim Swee Say1 and consisting of grassroots advisers from each GRC, links up with the other CEP clusters: MOE, MCYS, MICA and MOM. For example, Queenstown constituency core group members brought together religious organizations at the annual Emergency Preparedness day. Over at Geylang Serai constituency, the PACE Adviser and her core group work very closely with clan associations, organize regular meetings, and invite them to their grassroots events. In Changi Simei, the PACE Adviser taps on the expertise of the businesses and religious institutions in the constituency to spread the importance of social resilience, getting them involved in the constituency core group. Another key PA initiative is the formation of 842 closely-knit constituency core groups comprising more than 2,400 grassroots leaders (GRLs) and community leaders from community groups, religious institutions, schools, business organizations, voluntary welfare organizations (VWOs), and government and non-government agencies. These core groups are intended to prevent or defuse communal tensions that might arise during emergencies. The group members come together every year to participate in the grassroots CEP team-building programme, where they share best practices, and in CEP-related constituency activities such as table-top exercises (TTXs). At these exercises, CEP-related scenarios are crafted and members brainstorm, deliberate and share ideas and solutions. For example, they look into how they could improve their communication structure so that they would know whom to contact should there be any communal tension. The PA3 has also facilitated the eighty-four4 constituencies in attaining CEP Ready Certification.5 It has introduced the CEP Unity Award6 and facilitated thirty-eight7 constituencies in attaining the award. It has organized constituency core group team-building programmes for more than 1,500 core group members to interact and share ideas. Another initiative has been to conduct thirty-eight constituency TTXs for more than 800 constituency core group members so that they can respond quickly and decisively to a communal situation. Since the inception of the CEP, the PA has also conducted twelve CEP workshops for over 3,800 grassroots leaders and community partners to provide feedback and share good practices. Looking ahead, the new areas of focus in the next five years will be to strengthen the capabilities of grassroots organizations in responding to emergencies, especially those affecting communal relations, and widen the common space, intensify the common experiences of different races and religious groups, and expand social capital.

Grassroots Organizations

45

If that sounds like a mouthful, it is. Grassroots work involves laborious planning on the ground so that high-rise Singapore can withstand the aftermath of a terrorist attack. Singapore is no doubt a concrete city, but it will not do to miss the grass for the high-rises. N o t es

1. Minister of State for Home Affairs and Foreign Affairs Masagos Zulkifli is the new PACE Chairman from the third quarter of 2011. 2. As of April 2011. 3. T he PA administers the CEP Ready Certification and CEP Unity Award as a framework to guide the constituencies in establishing the basic structure and capabilities for CEP. 4. As of April 2011. 5. Criteria for CEP Ready Certification: (i) establish Constituency CEP Core Group List; (ii) develop Constituency Emergency Preparedness (EP) Plan; and (iii) conduct G-Alert Recall exercise for CEP Core Group Members. 6. Criteria for CEP Unity Award: (i) attained CEP Ready Certification; (ii) complete the Core Group Teambuilding Programme; and (iii) c onduct Constituency TTX with participation from two community partners (representatives from IRCCs/religious institutions and schools). 7. As of 31 March 2011.

The Coordinating Secretariat The CEP Secretariat in the Ministry of Home Affairs, the coordinating ministry for the CEP, conducts programmes to develop the capability of members of the CEP community. The CEP Secretariat/MHA co-partners the Home Team Academy, the Civil Defence Academy and the Internal Security Department Heritage Centre on running the Community Engagement Executive Development (CEED) Programme and the Train-the-CEP Trainer Programme. In addition, CEP community leaders and partners visit the Home Team establishments to learn about security and emergency preparedness. The CEED Programme was initiated in response to feedback from community leaders that they needed to be equipped with skills to help calm and manage the ground during times of communal tension. The programme, which equips the leaders and practitioners with the knowledge and practical counselling skills necessary to do this, is carried out on a modular basis over three Saturdays. The first run was held in January 2008. The Train-the-CEP Trainer Programme is a follow-up to a suggestion from the pioneer participants of the CEED Programme. It invites graduates of the CEED Programme, those who wish to be trained further. The aim is for these trainers to go back to their clusters to train other community leaders. The inaugural programme was held in February 2009. As of May 2011, 238 people had graduated from the CEED Programme and 92 had gone on to be trained as CEP Trainers. The programmes are marked by the tangible feeling of camaraderie that develops quickly among participants although they are drawn from different socio-economic groups, belong to different generations and are as likely to be Chinese-speaking as English-speaking. Camaraderie leads to friendships that are sustained outside the formal training settings. It is this spontaneous creation of relationships, facilitated but not directed by the Secretariat, that will be crucial if Singapore comes under strain. The Secretariat’s work includes outreach and engagement programmes with other groups under the SG United Journey banner. For example, the CEP Secretariat works with the Singapore Taxi Academy (STA) to reach out to taxi drivers. Taxi drivers are in the frontline of the service industry, and interact with many people every day. Equipping them with knowledge of different cultures and of communal harmony helps them in both their work and their daily lives. The STA has worked with the CEP Secretariat to insert CEP-

The Coordinating Secretariat

47

related messages into its revamped curriculum for the Taxi Driver Vocational Licence (TDVL) Course and the TDVL Refresher Course. A curriculum with CEP-related messages has been rolled out for the TDVL Refresher Course since February 2011. Remembering incidents of taxis bombed, for example in Mumbai in 2003, the STA has included in the curriculum vigilance tips to help taxi drivers remain safe. The Secretariat reached out to many new groups in 2010. In June 2010, it widened its engagement with youth through an inaugural leadership forum held with the National Youth Achievement Award Council’s Gold Award Holders’ Alumni. Young people engaged in group discussions of CEP-related projects and followed up with projects for implementation. The same month, SG United Journey continued with its workshops for cadets from the National Civil Defence Cadet Corps, who learnt about resilience. In November 2010, the SG United Journey rolled out to the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) with an inaugural programme for student leaders. They participated in a workshop on understanding ethnicity, and learnt about being prepared for emergencies during a hands-on visit to the Civil Defence 4th Division Headquarters. The same month, the CEP Secretariat organized a workshop for Singapore Polytechnic’s Civil Defence Lionhearter Club which comprises students trained by the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) on emergency skills to prepare them to contribute to overseas humanitarian missions. The workshop on understanding ethnicity briefly introduced the students to mediation, negotiation skills and conflict management. As the group of CEP community leaders grows, there has to be a way of connecting them and sharing information with them at times when they are not interacting face-to-face. The Singapore United web portal at was launched during the 2007 National CEP Seminar by then Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng to do just that — connect the people. While it functions as an awareness-building portal for the public, it has a separate section that is exclusive only to the CEP community leaders and CEED alumni. Under the section “Community Leaders’ Space”, CEP community leaders and CEED alumni have access to discussion forums where information is shared. There is also an archival e-repository of news articles on CEP-related subjects, that are available for knowledge and research. An events calendar captures the activities carried out, with the more restricted information available only in the “Community Leaders’ Space”. The CEP is work in progress. The Secretariat provides the administrative framework, central resources and facilitation, to ensure that the work does remain, indeed, in progress.

Weaving the Tapestry

Different Faces of the CEP

Grassroots Mover

Ann Ah Thong

Grassroots Mover

51

Ann Ah Thong is Chairman of the Geylang Serai Community Emergency and Engagement Committees (C2E). He attended the CEED Programme and graduated from the Train-the-CEP Trainer Programme. A mover on the ground, he incorporated the CEP into various grassroots projects and worked with groups outside of the traditional grassroots domain. For example, an Emergency Preparedness Day exercise in 2009 was followed by a National Day Observance Ceremony to emphasize the concept of staying together as a nation. Chinese clans and associations were invited to be partners in organizing the event. He also organized a Community Emergency Preparedness Programme (CEPP) training session and mobilized religious groups and Chinese clans and associations in his constituency to take part in it. Geylang Serai has much to celebrate, but it also has a troubled history. In April 1964, during Indonesia’s Confrontation with Malaysia and Singapore, a bomb exploded in the area, killing two men. Worse was to occur later that year, when communal riots between Malays and Chinese broke out on 21 July 1964, Prophet Muhammad’s birthday. Today, those incidents are a memory, having receded from the realm of probability. Mr Ann Ah Thong is confident that communal harmony will be preserved in Geylang Serai should a terrorist incident occur in Singapore. The reason is that the area, along with the rest of the country, has changed much from the 1960s. That decade was marked by political turbulence caused in no small part by irresponsible politicians using the race card to jockey for power. But now, it has been years since the Government and the people have put in sincere efforts to build up racial harmony. “People cherish what they have”, Mr Ann says in a matter-of-fact way. “They are not easily influenced and will calculate the consequences of their actions”, he adds by way of referring to any attempt to incite violence in Singapore today. He does not doubt that some trouble-makers will rise to the occasion, so to say, after a terrorist incident. These people are likely to be extremists, gangsters and even some with religious affiliations. “But we can minimize the problem and calm the ground”, he adds. Mr Ann’s confidence comes from his own grassroots work. For example, he and his colleagues organized a seminar with about fifty youth from

52    

Weaving the Tapestry: Different Faces of the CEP

religious organizations who form the Young IRCC in Geylang Serai. This was just one part of outreach activities that include keeping in touch regularly with the more than a hundred clan associations in Geylang Serai, apart from mosque and church leaders. Good bonding is the key to creating networks of trust that will play a critical role in an emergency, Mr Ann believes. Mr Ann says that participating in the CEP has enabled him to network with other grassroots leaders and people from different fields. As a result, he has both broadened his vision of Singapore’s vulnerability to racial and religious tension, and sharpened his sense of the values and resources that can be used to counter tension. However, only confidence will not do. Preparedness is necessary so that complacency does not set in, he says.

Religion for Peace

Azman bin Kassim

54    

Weaving the Tapestry: Different Faces of the CEP

Azman bin Kassim is a long-time Design and Technology Education Workshop Instructor with Manjusri Secondary School, where he is the main person responsible for initiating programmes to raise understanding of nonChinese cultures among students. He is also chairman of Masjid Al-Huda in Jalan Haji Alias and chairman of the Ulu Pandan IRCC. He has attended the CEED Programme. Mr Azman bin Kassim has a “secret talent” that comes in very useful in a school environment that is largely Chinese. He can play the kompang, a Malay drum, knows how to participate in the dikir barat, a Malay group performance, and can make ketupat, a traditional rice dumpling. Sharing these talents with his largely Chinese students allows him to open for them doors to an essential part of Singapore’s multi-racial culture. Those activities are supplemented through assembly talks on the basics of Islamic culture, such as the Islamic calendar, and guest lectures by MUIS officials on subjects such as halal food. The response has been heartening, he says. Like young people anywhere, his Singaporean students take an interest in tangible activities and interactive sessions more than they respond to abstract lectures. In this way, the CEP message of bonding and trust gets spread naturally. Helping to create an atmosphere of real understanding gives him great satisfaction as a teacher. The same attempt to create understanding is apparent in his work as IRCC chairman. “Attending courses, seminars and talks in the CEED Programme helped me understand more seriously how to engage the community effectively and diplomatically to promote racial harmony as part of our culture in Singapore”, he says. Personally, his involvement in the programme helped him build networks of trust with various community leaders, all of whom shared his stake and interest in creating a culture of peace, harmony and happiness regardless of race and religion, he adds, recalling the message of the Singapore Pledge. Mr Azman’s work at Masjid Al-Huda is part of that broader attempt to unite Singaporeans. He is particularly proud that the mosque and Farrer/ Holland Neighbourhood Committee organized joint Lantern Festival and Hari Raya celebrations in October 2010. The sight of a Lantern Festival gathering held on mosque premises impressed on those who attended the event the spirit of openness and friendship that is an integral part of Islam. At the mosque itself, Mr Azman discusses CEP issues at meetings with his fellow leaders and gatherings involving other worshippers. Since 2008, an annual IRCC Educational Talk-cum-Iftar has been held annually at the mosque to mark the breaking of the fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Religion for Peace

55

Have Mr Azman’s attempts to make the mosque an integral part of the upscale neighbourhood ever run into problems? Delicately and with a benign smile, he recalls an incident in which an expatriate living in the condominium across the road complained to the mosque authorities that the loudspeaker carrying the morning call to prayer was disturbing him. The loudspeaker’s volume was turned down, and the man was propitiated. However, very soon another resident, also a non-Muslim living nearby, visited the mosque and complained that he was getting up late because he could no longer hear the call to prayer on the loudspeaker. It is obviously not possible to please everybody, Mr Azman suggests with a hearty laugh. On a serious note, Mr Azman adds that it is his mission to build warm relationships among community leaders, whatever their religion, in the Ulu Pandan area. These leaders include those working at the grassroots and religious leaders, such as from St Ignatius Church, the International Baptist Church and the Lutheran Church. Acknowledging and celebrating Singapore’s religious diversity is among Mr Azman’s talents, one that he makes no secret of.

Corporate Shaker

Chan Chong Beng

Corporate Shaker

57 

Chan Chong Beng is Chairman of Goodrich Global Pte Ltd and Vice-President for Awards and Projects of the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (ASME). He has attended the CEED Programme. Mr Chan Chong Beng is a successful and busy businessman. What made him participate in the CEED Programme? “So that I stay successful and busy”, the gregarious businessman answers without batting an eyelid. “If you want to continue to be successful and busy, you cannot take peace for granted. You do not want a situation where you have to worry about your family being attacked.” What the CEED Programme did was to give him good insight into operational realities on the ground that will help keep the peace should anything untoward occur one day in Singapore. As an employer, he is keenly aware of the need to inject a CEP dimension, including communal harmony, into the workplace. “We do not allow staff to discuss sensitive issues of race and religion at work”, he said, referring to the Goodrich management’s policy. Indeed, Mr Chan has gone farther than that prohibition. Although his workforce is largely Chinese, he intervened when a Malay worker felt uncomfortable over a tape of Buddhist chants being played in a company vehicle. He advised the Chinese driver to stop playing it. His sensitivity to the religious needs of others comes from his experience of living through the 1964 race riots as a ten-year-old boy. The curfew and patrols at night induced in him a sense of extreme anxiety that he has not forgotten to this day. “Young people today do not know all this”, Mr Chan says in a refrain that runs like a common thread through the views of people his age. Another dramatic incident occurred in 1998 after the race riots in Indonesia following the fall of President Suharto. Mr Chan travelled to Jakarta to check on the welfare of the Goodrich staff there. “I was among only three passengers on the flight from Singapore”, he recalls with disbelief. Mercifully, his staff members were safe and his office was untouched, but he saw the broken glass panels of Chinese-owned businesses and other signs of destruction. Given the stability that Indonesia had enjoyed under the iron rule of President Suharto, what was amazing was how quickly law and order had broken down once the system had fallen. It was a chastening experience.

58     

Weaving the Tapestry: Different Faces of the CEP

Turning to Singapore, Mr Chan describes the CEP as a step in the right direction of anticipating trouble as a way of preventing it. “We must keep up the good work of preserving Singapore’s peace by inculcating the right values in our young, from school onwards.”

Neighbourhood Activist

Wallace Chew

60    

Weaving the Tapestry: Different Faces of the CEP

Wallace Chew is a mover and shaker in the Nee Soon South constituency.1 He set up the first Neighbourhood Committee for private estates in the area. He is also the former chairman of the Nee Soon South Emergency Preparedness Group (EPG) and the Civil Defence Executive Committee (CDEC) in his area. He is a CEED alumnus and CEP Trainer. Mr Wallace Chew has the distinction of having been the first to inject CEP elements into an Emergency Preparedness (EP) Day with a Nee Soon South EP-cum-CEP Day in 2007. He has set up an EP Centre in Nee Soon South to serve as a meeting point for other grassroots members and a centre where trained grassroots members conduct EP training for residents. The event in October 2007 event marked the finale of five months of CEP activities as well as the official launch of the Nee Soon South Crisis Contingency Plan and Crisis Alert System. The plan was the product of the deliberation and discussion by participants during a CEP Table-top Exercise, which included detailed terrain mapping of each zone in the constituency and contact numbers of all grassroots leaders and key appointment-holders in the constituency. The Crisis Alert System was the first of its kind, and consisted of an automated SMS and e-mail alert system to facilitate swift and mass activation of Nee Soon South leaders during a major crisis. Following the success of the event, Mr Chew advised the organizing committee for the CEP Plus Day in Ang Mo Kio GRC in 2009. He also set up a Caring Action in Response to an Emergency (CARE) team in the constituency. This team of dedicated volunteers is trained in counselling so as to provide quick psychological support to those in emotional distress during a crisis. The fact that both the victims and the counsellors are from the same constituency and know one other would add to the healing process. He has “groomed” other committed grassroots members into leadership positions in the current Community Emergency and Engagement Comittee (C2E), while remaining patron of the group. Mr Chew says that preparing the community to weather a crisis involves calming the masses and reducing racial and religious tensions by improving communications and emphasizing the speed and accuracy of messages. He takes pride in the fact that Nee Soon South was the first constituency/community to come forward and involve itself in an elaborate CEP programme to improve its emergency preparedness. He notes that educational institutions play an important role in forging religious and racial tolerance in students. Hence, educators should use opportunities provided

Neighbourhood Activist

61

in peacetime to inculcate in their students abiding values of understanding, respect and trust. School representatives must be confident of exercising their secondary appointments as crisis managers, evacuation wardens and paracounsellors. In the same spirit, schools must work closely with one another so that crisis communication within a school cluster and among clusters could be improved. Including educational institutions in the larger, constituencylevel crisis communications network would draw in their resources and enhance the constituency’s response in a crisis, he says. Here, the role of the Nee Soon South Community Engagement Response Team (CERT) is crucial. Mr Chew makes notes that his success in getting private housing residents — who make up a substantial 30 per cent of Nee Soon South — involved in such programmes shows that they are not detached from others but share with public housing residents common concerns about the aftermath of a terrorist incident. As with Housing and Development Board (HDB) residents, so with private unit residents: “If you can get them to open the door, they will participate.” Indeed, he adds, being better off, private housing residents have more time to spare. To Mr Chew, it is natural for the Government to focus on the large picture where national security is concerned. It is the job of grassroots members and leaders to look into the operational nitty-gritty of fitting their domains into that larger picture. With so many firsts in his community work, this is exactly what he has been doing, and continues to do. Not e

1. Nee Soon South is now part of the Nee Soon Group Representation Constituency (GRC).

Gotong Royong

S. Lakshmanan

Gotong Royong

63 

S. Lakshmanan is active both in the Religious Groups, Ethnic-based Organizations and Voluntary Welfare Organizations cluster as the Chairman of Eunos IRCC, and in the Businesses and Unions cluster as a foreign worker dormitory operator. He initiated the Kampung Spirit@Eunos programme. Mr Lakshmanan remembers the days when Eunos was a Malay kampung. The spirit of gotong royong — social reciprocity through mutual aid — was very strong in the village. The village elders were senior Muslims who were respected because of their religious piety and social standing. So he recreated that spirit in today’s multi-racial Eunos by starting the Kampung Spirit@Eunos programme, in which a Council of Elders, comprising highly respected senior Singaporeans from various ethnic and religious groups, use their wealth of experience to act as resource persons on issues relating to inter-religious affairs. They provide advice as well to the Adviser of Eunos, former Senior Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Zainul Abidin Rasheed. “In any incident of a racial or religious nature, these elders will be level-headed and influence others to be the same”, Mr Lakshmanan says. The Kampung Spirit@Eunos programme seeks to promote greater neighbourliness “as seen in the good old kampung days” when neighbours knew and trusted one another, lived harmoniously in peacetime and displayed social solidarity during a time of crisis, he adds. The Kampung Spirit@Eunos programme involves a group of Community Engagement Champions (CEC) which acts as the central committee to drive CEP-related programmes in the community. “In line with the CEP’s approach on leveraging on existing structures and programmes, the Eunos CEC is the central committee in ensuring coordinated efforts by all grassroots committees to organize and run CEP-related programmes that are relevant to their targeted outreach groups”, Mr Lakshmanan notes. The objective is to develop effective networks in the community which will ensure that, in times of crisis, residents remain united and strong and respond to situations as a single community. Since the programme’s inception in 2007, Mr Lakshmanan has expanded it to schools in Eunos, where skits promoting communal harmony have been staged. In 2010, the programme included an IRCC Dragon Boat Race and a Eunos Inter-Faith Carnival. Another project, the Toh Guan Patriots, reflects Mr Lakshmanan’s work as a foreign worker dormitory operator. Foreign nationals living in Kaki Bukit Hostel became “change agents” who helped bridge a gap between the foreign and local communities. At a practical level, the programme extends

64     

Weaving the Tapestry: Different Faces of the CEP

crime prevention outreach efforts to foreign worker dormitories in the Toh Guan area. These foreign workers have become ambassadors of the Police by transmitting crime prevention messages to their fellow countrymen. Apart from engaging the foreign worker community at large, the project has created opportunities for collaboration and cohesion-building between the local and foreign communities. Mr Lakshmanan’s overall goal for Eunos is a caring neighbourhood that is bound together by face-to-face relations and trust. Since anonymity is a fact of life in high-rise housing estates, he and his fellow grassroots leaders have sought to give the concept of a caring neighbourhood practical shape by initiating the Know Your Neighbour Programme. This programme helps residents to get to know one another so that they can put a name on the faces that they see every day. House visits, parties, and functions to welcome new residents or new citizens and permanent residents to Eunos also promote interaction and bonding among neighbours. A “Eunos Most Caring Neighbour Award” (gold, silver and bronze) has been instituted to recognize and encourage the spirit of gotong royong in residents. Also, 160 to 200 needy families are helped every year as part of charitable activities in the community. The original elders of kampung Eunos would have more than approved of Mr Lakshmanan’s tireless efforts to keep the community united, safe and caring.

Interfaith Youth

Ow Yeong Wai Kit

66     

Weaving the Tapestry: Different Faces of the CEP

Ow Yeong Wai Kit, an undergraduate at the National University of Singapore (NUS), is president of the NUS Buddhist Society and vice-president of the NUS Students’ Interfaith Interest Group. He contributes regularly to the Youthink section of the Straits Times on interfaith efforts. He has taken part in CEP activities. What attracted Mr Ow Yeong to the CEP is its emphasis on the importance of religious harmony. “It is important to avoid underestimating the need for tolerance and understanding, so that any terrorist attack or national crisis won’t spark communal violence, as has happened in too many countries”, he says. In general, he believes that the CEP provides a sound structural framework for youth to have a stake in the maintenance and improvement of racial and religious relations in Singapore. “The fact is that youth today can influence perceptions of religion, especially with the advent of social media. When it comes to matters of religion, ignorance isn’t bliss. A single ill-thought blog entry or Facebook post can incite hatred and potentially trigger violence”, he adds. “Youth need to understand the repercussions of their actions when it comes to racial and religious matters, and the CEP can help to promote such understanding.” Outlining the Buddhist perspective on communal harmony, Mr Ow Yeong says that the Buddhist tradition places strong emphasis on peace and harmony. Particularly emphasized, he notes, is the value of conflict resolution between communities. In fact, the Buddhist scriptures emphasize the importance of resolving conflicts through dialogue. “Buddhism is not a system of dogmas, nor is it a revealed religion that claims absolute monopoly of the truth, so Buddhists are free to learn from other religions to advance their spiritual growth”, he explains. Mr Ow Yeong and his friends have translated that belief into action on campus. “As president of the NUS Buddhist Society, I’m proud to say that one of my Society’s stated objectives is to promote harmony and understanding with other racial and religious groups.” For instance, when the controversial video clips by Pastor Rony Tan were publicized, the Buddhist Society issued a response addressing misconceptions in them. This response received thousands of page views with many positive comments, providing further evidence of the importance of youth involvement in promoting religious understanding. What kind of feedback has Mr Ow Yeong received for his articles in Youthink? “It’s generally positive, though probably because the people who

Interfaith Youth

67 

care about the subjects I write about tend to have similar views about them”, he replies. “I don’t think fundamentalists who are vehemently opposed to interfaith dialogue are going to bother to criticize me about my articles. In fact, when I wrote about youth interfaith efforts, I received SMS messages and e-mails voicing their agreement with me, which was rather heartening.” In Mr Ow Yeong’s assessment, NUS students would react calmly and in a mature manner to any terrorist attack in Singapore. “I don’t foresee any tensions that threaten to spark violence. There’ll probably be a lot of blog posts and Facebook posts about it, but people will probably carry on with their studies as usual”, he argues. “That said, it still might be a possibility that students might begin to harbour suspicions about people of certain races or religions, however slight. So it’s still a good idea to promote interfaith understanding right here, right now.”

Creating Conversational Circles

See Guat Kwee

Creating Conversational Circles

69

See Guat Kwee attended the CEED Programme in January 2010. She is actively involved in interfaith activities with the Inter-Religious Organization and the Harmony Centre and is a facilitator in interfaith dialogues and engagements. She believes that dialogue can help people of different faiths and cultures deepen trust and understanding, clarify their perceptions, learn to listen to one another with open hearts, and ultimately build deep friendships. Ms See Guat Kwee visited Israel as a tourist with a group of Christians in January 2001. The Second Intifada, or Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation, had begun, and the Singaporean witnessed at close quarters violence and carnage that she had never known at home. She volunteered her services at a day-care centre for the elderly, where she commiserated with Jewish grandmothers who wondered what kind of future their grandchildren would inherit. Then she went to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, where she encountered the despair of youth amidst unemployment and the Israeli blockade of towns. There, too, Palestinian grandmothers wondered about the future of their grandchildren. Ms See helped distribute food to the needy, entering their lives with the same compassion that she had felt for Palestinians. Here was a Singaporean Christian who was acting as a human bridge between Jews and Muslims — two other children of Abraham — in a conflict that had turned the Holy Land — holy to all three Abrahamic faiths — into a cruelly contested site of occupation, violence, suicide-bombings and reprisals. That experience made her decide to sell her apartment in Singapore to pay for a Master’s degree programme at the famed Hartford Seminary in the United States, where she delved deeply into Islamic Studies and ChristianMuslim relations. “I started as a Christian with an exclusive view; I am now a Christian with a pluralistic view. I no longer insist that only I have ‘the truth’”, she wrote in a collection of essays, Religious Diversity in Singapore, edited by Lai Ah Eng. In Israel, she met Jewish interfaith educator Yehezkel Landau, co-founder of Open House, a centre for peace and co-existence among Israeli Arabs and Jews in the mixed city of Ramle. On her return to Singapore, she hosted Yehezkel and other representatives from the Inter-religious Coordinating Council in Israel for a six-day study trip that took them to temples, mosques, churches, synagogues and other religious institutions. At the Thian Hock

70    

Weaving the Tapestry: Different Faces of the CEP

Keng Temple, they met a Taoist Master who expressed his unhappiness over Christians insisting on spreading the Gospel among Taoists although the red altar at the entrance of their homes indicated their religion clearly. Her sensitivity to the needs of people from other religions drew her to work with the Harmony Centre, which was set up in 2006 by the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (Muis) to create greater understanding of Islam and Muslims in Singapore’s multi-racial population. Housed in An-Nahdhah Mosque, its three main aims are to promote greater understanding of the true teachings of Islam; to promote interfaith dialogue and engagement at all levels; and to strengthen social bonding among different faith communities so as to build a more cohesive and resilient society. Ms See’s contribution takes the form of facilitating, through her skills of listening and speaking, interfaith sessions where people share experiences and, through the power of personal narrative, learn to walk in one another’s shoes. These “group journeys” held to build connections that in turn create trust. “Ignorance and misinformation can trip us”, she says, and every human has the potential to legitimize his way of thinking by dehumanizing others. It is this urge that needs to be prevented. That is why she does not talk about interfaith activity per se but about “engaging with diversity”. “What we look at is a process that allows people to speak. You can do that in a cooking class or while sitting down in a group after cycling.” But the point of the sessions that she organizes is not the cooking or the cycling or the fishing. “It is to come together with the purpose of listening. Tolerance is not enough. The point is that I respect you and honour you by listening to what you have to say, and vice versa. Listening is a very powerful thing. We are talking about my life, my experiences, what happened to me today. If we listen to one another, we might find some commonalities.” Listening and speaking are the two parts of communication. Through interfaith activists such as Ms See who are well versed in the art of communication, the message of harmony resounds powerfully in Singapore.

Securing the Community

Rene Shepherdson

72    

Weaving the Tapestry: Different Faces of the CEP

Rene Shepherdson is chairman of the Pasir Ris East Community Emergency and Engagement (C2E) Committee. Active in grassroots activities for almost two decades, he is a keen proponent of the Community Safety and Security Programme (CSSP). He attended the CEED Programme and has been a supporter of the CEP. To say that Mr Rene Shepherdson is security-conscious is an understatement. He is Operations Director of Prosec Services Pte Ltd, a company that employs more than 650 security officers who reflect a mix of Chinese, Malays, Indians and other races. Prosec operates a 24-hour control room manned from its office in Geylang Road. Its value-added services, such as paperless guard systems, the Visitors Management System and the Biometrics System, provide management data to enhance security levels. Its concierge teams make it a hybrid company that combines security services with of customer service. Mr Shepherdson inserted the CEP message into his workplace after he attended a course and learnt about the terrorist threat to Singapore. He briefed his executives on the need to preserve the spirit of multi-racial harmony which pervades the company. There is a problem “when guards, drivers and cleaners start talking politics”, and so his executives, in turn, spoke to junior staff on the need to avoid sensitive issues of race, religion and politics in their chats. Mr Shepherdson’s security mindset is based on hard experience. The father of three, who defines himself unambiguously as being multi-racial — he has a sister who is Muslim — remembers the racial riots of 1964, when he was six. His father, who worked in Geylang, did not come home to their house in Siglap for two days. His mother was dreadfully worried, but it was a relief for the family to know later that Mr Shepherdson Sr. had been housed safely for those two days by a man from whom he had bought a television set. “In those days, you created a bond with a person if you bought a TV set from him”, Mr Shepherdson recalls with a fond smile. Today, bonding is a more complex affair. He believes that it is better to start off with small grassroots events and build on them than to necessarily go for large events that are spectacular. Mr Shepherdson is happy that the CEP Secretariat welcomes feedback and works on it, giving people like him a keen sense of how seriously the Government takes grassroots participation in the CEP, which is, after all, about ordinary people who might be called upon to do extraordinary things in abnormal times. Mr Shepherdson, who has spent almost two decades in grassroots work, observes that when grassroots leaders are convinced of

Securing the Community

73

something, they transmit that message to grassroots members and members of the public at large, thus creating a chain of empathy and confidence that will be crucial in an emergency. For example, when grassroots leaders attend large-scale emergency exercises, they get to see behind-the-scenes activities and observe how the Singapore Police Force, the Singapore Civil Defence Force and other security agencies work together closely. This gives them confidence that the agencies will be up to the mark in an actual emergency. No one’s father should be obliged to be away from home for two days in that emergency.

Studying Community Relations

Tan Ern Ser

Studying Community Relations

75

Tan Ern Ser is Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and Academic Convenor of Singapore Studies in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the National University of Singapore (NUS). He is also a Faculty Associate at the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS). Dr Tan is a CEP Leader in NUS and initiated discussion with the CEP Secretariat on developing a programme for the university’s student leaders. He conducted a study, “Citizens and the Nation: National Orientations of Singaporeans”, with Dr Gillian Koh, Senior Research Fellow at IPS. Dr Tan Ern Ser is confident that Singapore will remain peaceful after a terrorist incident because “we have been tested”. What he means is that Singapore’s substantial Muslim population did not respond to terrorist incidents abroad like some Muslims elsewhere, whose sympathies were clearly with terrorists. Consequently, he says, “our Muslims will not be targets” in the aftermath of a terrorist attack, which occurred elsewhere. “Our Muslims are Singaporeans first and foremost”, he notes. The Government deserves some credit for this attitude because its policies have enabled Muslim Singaporeans to feel at home in their country. For example, Singapore has good relations with both Israel and Muslim countries in the Middle East because it does not take sides in the Arab-Israeli dispute. Singaporeans understand and appreciate that lack of bias. The CEP contributes to this social resilience by demonstrating that peace and security are not only about law and order, about control and regulation, but also about people connecting with one another and collaborating on their own. This process is, of course, work in progress. In 2010, the Institute of Policy Studies published a study, “Citizens and the Nation: National Orientations of Singaporeans”, based on surveys carried out the previous year. The fourth such survey in a series that tracks Singaporeans’ emotional bonds with their nation, the study found that the sense of national loyalty and pride remained constant in spite of changes in economic performance and the social landscape over the years; that the norms of active political participation appeared well entrenched even if actual political participation was relatively low; and that, while Singaporeans’ sense of community seemed to have strengthened, as seen in respondents’ stated willingness to interact with and provide social support to fellow citizens, there was some concern about how the increased number of foreigners in Singapore might affect the sense of being “one nation, one people”.

76    

Weaving the Tapestry: Different Faces of the CEP

A 2006 study, cited in the 2009 survey, revealed that Singaporeans ranked fifth for a sense of national pride among people from forty countries. However, national pride scores tended to weaken the higher the socio-economic status of respondents. Also, younger respondents tended to have lower ratings for national pride. On the sunny side, the survey found that Singaporeans were able increasingly to identify with Singaporeans of other races. In an earlier survey in 1998, 60 per cent had disagreed with the assertion that they had “nothing in common with Singaporeans of other races”; 77 per cent disagreed in the 2009 survey. More Singaporeans (98 per cent compared to 92 per cent earlier) also indicated that they would be willing to help the disadvantaged outside their ethnic group. Commenting on the implications of the survey for the CEP, Dr Tan says that, while the scores for the young are worrying, they are not in “the danger zone”. What is problematic, he adds, is that the sense of loyalty among respondents at large is tied palpably to Singapore’s success. What would happen if things went bad? Indeed, already, a willingness to make sacrifices for Singapore scores less than the sense of loyalty. However, Dr Tan believes that this finding suggests that the respondents were being honest in their views. Likewise, the scores on political alienation reflect a fact of life: that educated people want to be involved in politics because it gives them a sense of ownership of Singapore. Turning to NUS, Dr Tan says that, once or twice a year, he helps organize sessions derived from the CEP framework adapted by the Ministry of Education. At these sessions, students discuss the situation in the university and in Singapore, and sit in on each other’s seminars and undertake joint projects. There are also interfaith group tours to places of religious significance. Students also attend courses run by the South West Community Development Council, MOE and MHA, and have participated in table-top exercises in crisis management. Student leaders are particularly forthcoming in their participation, Dr Tan says, adding candidly that students at large do not act the same way. “This is a microcosm of Singapore”, he adds, noting that one way to increase general participation is to set targets. Also, foreign students, who are likely to be affected by events back home or in their home regions, need to be sensitized to the realities of Singapore. All in all, he concludes, there is a need to make national programmes less “in your face” and based more on discussion and debate. That, too, is work in progress.

Teaching the Young

Tan Say Pin

78    

Weaving the Tapestry: Different Faces of the CEP

Tan Say Pin is the National Education Coordinator and Head of the Department of Humanities at New Town Secondary School. He attended the CEED and Trainthe-CEP Trainer programmes, and promotes the CEP in his own school and in schools under the West 1 school cluster, to which his school belongs. He and his colleagues designed a CEP Training Package for teachers that included lesson plans and resources which allow them to inject CEP elements into their daily lessons. The Training Package was launched by then Education Minister Ng Eng Hen in July 2010. Teachers look for teachable moments every day during which to foster racial harmony. At New Town Secondary School in Dover Road several years ago, Siti, a Malay student, approached the Head of the Department of Physical Education expressing her interest, but also her hesitation, in joining the Big Drums CCA group, which was an all-Chinese assemble at the time. The HoD encouraged Siti to put aside her reservations and join one of the sessions to just enjoy herself. When Siti graduated from school, not only was she the student-coach of the Big Drums group but she was one of the many nonChinese members of the CCA group. To Mr Tan Say Pin, this anecdote reinforces the notion that “as we appreciate the diversity that exists in our society, we lay hold and expand the common space for everyone”. His own contribution to expanding that common space, in collaboration with his colleagues, has been to design a CEP Training Package for Teachers. It consists of three main sections. The first section presents the CEP overview, background and approach. The second section consists of material designed to conduct CEP-related workshops, training and lessons. These include facilitation guides, lesson plans, PowerPoint slides, videos and worksheets. The last section consists of a repository list of CEP-related material and resources on which schools can tap. Mr Tan believes that so long as teachers continue to help students see the relevance and meaning of the CEP, their receptivity will grow. Schools seek to create learning experiences that engage the head, heart and hands of every student. In engaging the head, they want students to be involved actively in their own learning, to think through issues and arrive at a deeper understanding of the challenges facing Singapore and what it means to be a Singaporean. For example, New Town Secondary School organizes an

Teaching the Young

79

annual dialogue session coinciding with Racial Harmony Day. Over the years, it has invited grassroots leaders to attend such sessions so as to give students an alternative perspective of how racial issues are addressed in the community. In engaging the heart, Mr Tan says, teachers want students to connect emotionally with the Singapore story and to develop a deeper sense of belonging to Singapore as home. In engaging hands, schools want students to have opportunities to give back to society in various ways, and to be empowered with the realization that everyone plays a role in contributing to and creating Singapore’s future. In his school, student ambassadors have initiated and organized the New Town Ready Bag Challenge for two years. While Head, Heart and Hands is the focus of engagement across different levels, schools do so with varying emphases that are appropriate to the age and maturity of their students. Thus, Mr Tan’s school has a mentoring programme for Yuhua Primary School in which the senior students facilitate skills and planning and the junior students focus on communication skills and execution. Young Singaporeans take peace for granted to a certain extent, Mr Tan avers, because Singapore has not been tested by riots for decades. “When crunch time comes, it will be a real test of our efforts in this area of our work”, he says. “This affirms the importance of the role that schools play in nurturing students who are proud to be Singaporean and who would rally as one united people to take the nation forward.” In his mind, the CEP helps ensure just this nurturing process in schools.

Operationally Ready

T. Thambyrajah

Operationally Ready

81

T. Thambyrajah, Deputy Registrar of Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP), attended the CEED programme. Following that, NYP has gone on to inject CEP elements into the course syllabus and campus activities, and also drew up incident management plans that involve the school’s CEP team, CARE network, emergency response team and community leaders. Nanyang Polytechnic has established a clear CEP Framework to facilitate the reporting of racial/religious incidents, Mr Thambyrajah says. For example, it conducted an exercise to test its CEP operational readiness. The scenario was the discovery of a racist remark made by a student on an NYP blog. The exercise took place in a restricted blog which is accessible only by password. What occurred during the exercise was that the Personal Mentor (PEM) of the student who found the remark alerted school-based CEP Team members. The remark was assessed to be racist, and immediate action was taken to alert the Communications Division (COMMS) to remove it. Then the CEP Team and community leaders decided on follow-up action. If the instigator was identified as an NYP student, the team recommended counselling for the student by an NYP counsellor and an NYP community leader. If it was not possible to identify the instigator, the team recommended that NYP seek Police advice. Also, the impact of the remark on the student informant and other known students who had seen the blog remark would be assessed, and counselling would be provided if required. If the instigator was identified and the remark had been made owing to an incident related to NYP, the CEP Team would gather ground sentiments from students and staff through PEMs and student leaders. An e-mail advisory would then be issued to students on responsibility in the use of online media. COMMS and the CEP Team would scan and monitor online media for a week. According to Mr Thambyrajah, the exercise achieved certain objectives. The PEM alerted the relevant CEP member; appropriate and immediate action was taken; the CEP Team and the relevant community leader were immediately contacted for discussions on follow-up action; the nature of the follow-up action was established and the suggestion was forwarded to the CEP Lead for approval for implementation. This is how seriously NYP takes racial and religious harmony. Mr Thambyrajah does not think that “we should take it as a given” that religious harmony will be maintained among students when incidents occur. “However, I feel that we have mechanisms in place to feel the ground and respond appropriately, when the situation arises.”

82    

Weaving the Tapestry: Different Faces of the CEP

Alertness to the first signs of trouble on the ground comes naturally to Mr Thambyrajah. At NYP, he was tasked with coordinating National Education programmes as part of his role in the Registrar’s Office. He thought that the CEED programme would provide him with the knowledge and skills to perform his role better. “The CEED programme was very valuable in providing the necessary background knowledge and historical perspective for the CEP. The programme also provided the necessary resources to help me disseminate the CEP message to my colleagues in the Polytechnic”, he says. He adds that the greatest benefit of participating in the programme was the network of fellow CEP practitioners on which participants could draw to support their initiatives. At NYP, the CEP is infused into the National Education programme, a module which is taken by all students. Based on themes such as culture, war, and oral history, the students conduct literature review, engage in group discussion, and embark on learning journeys to relevant places of interest. The Polytechnic encourages students to express their thoughts through their medium of their choice — be it a journal, a PowerPoint presentation, or creative expressions such as poems.

Unity Un1ty through the Airwaves A1

Zakiah Halim

84    

Weaving the Tapestry: Different Faces of the CEP

Zakiah Halim is Vice-President, Malay/Indian and Expatriate Programming, at MediaCorp Radio. She has been very supportive of the CEP since its Secretariat launched the SG United Journey with MediaCorp Radio DJs in 2007. She encourages radio DJs to attend related visits and workshops. Radio disc jockeys (DJs) keep people company throughout the day, using music, conversation and humour to make them happy. But they would have a very serious role to play during a crisis: to calm people with information that they can trust. Ms Zakiah says that the precise role the DJs would play would depend heavily on the Newsroom’s input of timely and verified information. It would be important for the DJs to remain steady and clear in their delivery of the messages as the crisis unfolds. “I imagine that when there’s a crisis, people will turn to the radio for first-hand news, to find out more about the crisis, the scale, the casualties, the potential threat, etc. We hope that the familiar voices of our DJs will help our listeners to stay calm and remain resilient in managing the crisis. With the necessary information, we also hope to guide Singaporeans to take necessary precautions to protect themselves”, Ms Zakiah says. If the crisis is a long-drawn one, she hopes that MediaCorp Radio would be able to provide some comfort on air to help its listeners to stay together and keep up their spirits. “And if there are people who are affected by the crisis, radio is also the best medium to rally Singaporeans to come together to help those in need.” Together with the MHA and MICA, MediaCorp Radio has organized workshops with experts who have first-hand experience tackling the issues. “With the practical sessions, I hope that they are better prepared and operationally ready”, she says of DJs. “While I do not look forward to a crisis, I do hope that we will be able to rise to the occasion when it happens.” The media are full of messages. How can the CEP message be made to stand out in the midst of all these? Ms Zakiah answers that question by noting that many organizations, clients and media partners have used Radio as a cost-effective medium to carry their messages. “To stand out, the content or message has to be packaged more creatively. This can be achieved with a great concept, good scripting, right choice of voices and convincing delivery”, she says. “Wit and humour are great on Radio but may not be appropriate sometimes, as in the case of the CEP. The message for the CEP needs to be packaged such that people see its importance. It has to be relevant, timely and engaging yet subtle to avoid being seen as propaganda.”

Unity Through the Airwaves

85

How confident is she that communal harmony will prevail should a terrorist incident occur in Singapore? Ms Zakiah minces no words. “The fact that many of these terrorists are Muslims has placed the Muslim community in the spotlight for the wrong reason. In some countries, where there have been cases of terrorist attacks, the Muslim community became targets for revenge by other extreme groups. This has given rise to suspicion and unnecessary tension between Muslims and non Muslims”, she notes. “But with better handling and managing of such crises, I hope that more people are enlightened and are convinced that the actions of the misguided few do not represent the larger Muslim population.” Singaporeans are fortunate that they enjoy peace and harmony. “There is tolerance and understanding, and we learn to respect each other’s religion.” Sharing an anecdote, she says that her mother, who is Malay/Muslim, leave the house keys with her Chinese neighbour when she goes out. “That to me speaks volumes about the camaraderie between two races from different religious backgrounds.” Radio DJs might have to increase the volume to get their point across should a terrorist incident occur. The point is that “we can count on Singaporeans to rally as one and ensure that communal harmony will prevail”.

Writer’s Thoughts Asad-ul Iqbal Latif

Speaking at the Community Engagement Programme Dialogue on 19 March 2011, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong noted that Singapore had not developed a cohesive society by chance. Instead, this society was a result of “determined, deliberate and sustained efforts at integration”, a process that had worked because it had had the support of “all the communities, all the religious leaders and many many Singaporeans”. Addressing 700 community leaders on an occasion that marked the CEP’s fifth anniversary as well, he said that the objective of the CEP and other programmes was to shift attitudes. That was occurring. For example, mosque groups were joining other communities for brisk walking, and the Chingay Parade was not really a Chinese celebration but a multi-racial occasion now. “But it’s still work in progress”, Mr Lee said. His hope: “We are progressively strengthening our mutual bonds and with every year our people grow closer. With every crisis we learn to depend on one another more and with each success we gain in our national pride and identity. So let’s keep on going in this direction, maintain the momentum and continue to push ahead. And I hope you do many more CEP programmes in the next five years.”1 Mr Lee drew an analogy with the earthquake and tsunami that had devastated northeast Japan earlier in March. Highlighting the calm and orderly response of the Japanese, he declared: “A terrorist attack on Singapore would be like a tsunami hitting our society. Can we respond like the Japanese?” His reply to his own question: “We have prepared well [and] so I am confident that we will take it in our stride.”2 Mr Lee’s comments encapsulate what is at stake for Singapore in the fight against terror. No matter how good the security agencies are — and they have been proved to be good — they can succeed ninety-nine times out of a hundred and Singapore would still not be completely secure because all that terrorists have to do is succeed once. If such an attack does take place, the cost in terms of lives and property could be immense, but the larger cost would be the damage the attack would cause to the social fabric. The Japanese responded to the earthquake, the tsunami and even the invisible terror of radiation spreading from damaged nuclear plants without breaking into riots, without fighting for scarce food and water, and with very little looting.

88    

Writer’s Thoughts

They did this because a penchant for trust and orderliness is ingrained in the Japanese psyche, not least because of the experience of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Can the same be said of Singapore, which has not witnessed racial riots since the 1960s? Will Singaporeans pass the test? The hope is that they will never face the test, but what if they do? Here, instead of wringing hands and yet hoping for the best, the CEP is a practical way of preparing for the worst by joining hands in peacetime. The programme both builds on and deepens the social cohesion that is the bedrock of Singapore’s survival and success. Of course, cynics could say that cohesion comes easy when there is no reason to fight, but the answer to them must surely be that the habits of the heart nourished and cherished during peacetime are exactly what a society needs to persevere during a crisis. Sceptics could argue, on their part, that the CEP reaches out to Singaporeans who are already convinced of the need for cohesion; in that sense, the programme preaches to the converted. What is there to guarantee that the rest of society will keep faith with the converted? The answer is that CEP activists do not keep their faith to themselves but are very generous in spreading it around. Why should it be assumed that Singaporeans at large will be immune to its message? Of course, the CEP is not a religion. Instead, it is a very strong affirmation of the secular common space that binds people of all religions and even none. But in its objective, which is to save Singapore from a violent racial and religious backlash to a terror attack, the CEP indeed draws upon the beauty and strength of the Singapore soul. What it does is to assure Singaporeans that there is hope after a crisis because sincere and committed people from all walks of life have been building the social infrastructure of that hope during peacetime. The master-dramatist Kuo Pao Kun’s play, The Silly Little Girl and the Funny Old Tree, is a parable of Singapore nationhood that might also be called a secular creation hymn. It rises to a crescendo in the Tree Dance: “One tree joined to another tree, and then joined to another tree, forming a row of trees. One row of trees joined to another row of trees, and another row of trees, forming a forest of trees. Facing the approaching storm, they begin to dance and sing...”3 It is this ritual movement in choral solidarity that the CEP strives to capture. Singapore will exist only so long as Singaporeans collectively want their country to survive and prosper. It is that earthy and fundamental belief in Singapore, as a home worth having and defending, that terrorists wish to destroy by targeting the physical edifice called Singapore. The way to defeat them — and, indeed, perhaps, even to stop them — is to let them know that their endeavour is fated to fail because, even if they succeed in hurting the physical reality of Singapore, they will not be able to break the emotional and moral bond between Singaporeans and Singapore. Ultimately, the CEP is about national bonding and social resilience. The CEP is just too important a programme to fail.

Writer’s Thoughts

89

N o t es

1. “Stronger cohesion and common identity over past decade”, Home Team Report, 20 March 2011, . 2. Tan Yi Wen, “CEP celebrates five years of building social cohesion and communal harmony”, Home Team Report, 20 March 2011, . For the full text of the Prime Minister’s Speech, see . 3. Asad Latif, “Sinking roots, settling down and building a nation”, Sunday Times, 7 September 1997.

Index A Al-Huda Mosque, 54–55 An-Nahdhah Mosque, 70 Ann Ah Thong, 50–52 anti-Muslim incidents, 18 ARTivate, 36 Association of Women for Action and Research    (AWARE), 29 Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Interfaith    Dialogues, 31 Asia-Pacific Regional Inter-Faith Dialogues, 31 Association of Small and Medium Enterprises    (ASME), 37, 39, 41, 57 Azman bin Kassim, 53–55 B Bali bomb attacks, 5 Basic Certification in Industrial Relations (BCIR),    42 Battle of Waterloo, 32 bilingualism, 20 BIZ Quotient, 41 blog, 66–67, 81 British Journal of Psychiatry, 17 British Muslims, targeted, 17–19 Buddhism, 66 Building Bridges Conference, 30 “Burn Quran” threat, 7 Business Continuity Management (BCM),    21, 38, 42 Businesses and Unions Cluster, 24, 37–39, 41–42, 63 C car bomb test, and responses, 12 Caring Action in Response to an Emergency    (CARE), 60, 81 Catholic Church, 3 CEED (Community Engagement Executive   Development) Programme, 16, 46–47, 51, 54, 57, 60, 69, 72, 78, 81–82 CEP 2009 Survey, 28 CEP (Community Engagement Programme)   challenges, 8–9, 14   context, 5, 10, 28, 31   definition, 12   distinctiveness, 7–8   effectiveness, 6–7, 15, 42   evolution, 5–6   formation, 2, 22–23   goals, 39–40   media, and, 34–36   role, 2–9, 14–16   Secretariat, 14–16, 46–47 CEP Plus Day, 60 CEP Ready Certification, 44–45

CEP Training Package for Teachers, 78 CEP Unity Award, 44–45 Chan Chong Beng, 56–58 Chew, Wallace, 59–61 Chingay Parade, 87 “Citizens and the Nation: National Orientations    of Singaporeans”, study, 75 Citizens’ Consultative Committees (CCCs), 2, 20 Civil Defence Academy, 34, 46 communal riots, 3, 51 Communist Party, 21 Community Clubs, 20 community clusters, 24 Community Emergency and Engagement    Committee (C2E), 51, 60, 72 Community Emergency Preparedness    Programme (CEPP), 21, 51 Community Engagement Champions (CEC), 63 Community Engagement Executive    Development Programme, see CEED    Programme Community Engagement Games Day (CEGD),    30 Community Engagement Programme, see CEP Community Engagement Response Team    (CERT), 61 Community Leaders’ Guide, 41 Community Mediation Unit (CMU), 24 Confrontation, and Indonesia, 51 Crisis Alert System, 60 D De Payva, John, 40 Diocese of Singapore, 30 Dove World Outreach Church, 7 “drawer plans”, 23 E Emergency Preparedness, 14–15, 21, 44, 51, 60 Entrepreneurs Digest, 41 Eton, 32–33 European Union, 18 Evening Standard, 17–18 Exercise Community Spirit (ECS), 21 Exercise Northstar V, 4 Exercise Octopus, 32 F Facebook, 66–67 Fitna, 7, 29 G Geylang Serai, 44, 51–52 Goh Chok Tong, 2, 22 Goodrich Global Pte Ltd, 57 Goodwill Committees, 2

91

Index

gotong royong, 63–64 grassroots leaders (GRLs), 44 Grassroots Organizations (GROs), 43–44 Greenberg, Neil, 17 Group Representation Constituencies, 20 H Harmony Centre, 30, 69–70 Hartford Seminary, 69 Hasan, Mehdi, 18–19 Hindu Endowment Board, 3 home ownership, 20 Home Team, 5 Home Team Academy, 34, 46 Housing and Development Board (HDB), 9, 43, 61 I Indonesia, and Confrontation, 51 inject-based exercises (IBX), 31 Institute of Higher Learning (IHL), 33 Institute of Policy Studies (IPS), 75 Institute of Technical Education (ITE), 47 Interfaith Marathon, 30 Internal Security Department Heritage Centre, 46 Internal Security Department (ISD), 21, 40 International Baptist Church, 55 Internet, abused, 25 Inter-Racial and Religious Confidence Circles    (IRCCs), 2–3, 5–6, 8, 14, 22, 29–31, 52, 54, 63 Inter-Racial Inter-Religious Harmony Nite    (IRIRHN), 30 Intifada, Second, 69 Islam, and extremism, 18 Islamophobia, 18 Islamic culture, 54 Islamic Human Rights Commission, 18 Islamic Religious Council of Singapore, see MUIS J Japanese psyche, 88 Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), 2–3, 20–21 jihad, 21 Jones, Pastor Terry, 7 K Kenya, troubles in, 10 key performance indicators (KPIs), 6–7 King’s College London, 17 Know Your Neighbour Programme, 64 Koh, Gillian, 75 Kuo Pao Kun, 88 L Lai Ah Eng, 36, 69 Lakshmanan, S., 62–64 Landau, Yehezkel, 69

Latif, Asad-ul Iqbal, thoughts, 86–88 Lee Hsien Loong, 3, 22, 87 Lim, Benny, 6   interview with, 14–16 Lim Swee Say, 40, 44 London, bomb attacks in, 2–3, 14, 22   consequences of, 17–19 London Metropolitan Police, 17 Lutheran Church, 55 M McLuhan, Marshall, 34 Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act, 20 Manjusri Secondary School, 54 Maria Hertogh riots, 19 Masagos Zulkifli, 45 Masjid Al-Huda, 54 Media Appreciation Workshop, 31 Media Emergency Forum, 34 MediaCorp Radio, 34–35, 84 meritocracy, 19 Ministerial Committee on Community    Engagement (MCCE), 23 Ministry of Community Development, Youth and    Sports (MCYS), 3, 8, 13, 23–24, 28–31, 44 Ministry of Defence, 14, 21 Ministry of Education (MOE), 3, 13, 21, 23–24,    32–33, 44, 76 Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), 9–10, 12, 24, 28,    33–35, 43, 46, 76, 84 Ministry of Information, Communications and   the Arts (MICA), 3, 6, 13–14, 23–24, 28, 34–35, 44, 84 Ministry of Manpower (MOM), 3, 8, 24, 37, 40, 44 MUIS (Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura), 3, 20, 30,    54, 70 multiracialism, 19 Mumbai attacks, 2008, 5, 29    taxis bombed, 2003, 47 N Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP), 81–82 National Day Rally, 9 National Civil Defence Cadet Corps (NCDCC), 47 national consensus, 4–5   building, 6 National Council of Churches of Singapore, 3, 30 National Education, 20, 32–33, 78, 82 National Environment Agency, 29 National Integration Council, 9 National Security Awareness Survey 2009, 28 National Security Coordination Secretariat    (NSCS), 41 National Security Dialogue, 41

92    

National Service, 20 National Steering Committee on Racial and    Religious Harmony (NSC), 3, 5, 29–31 National Trades Union Congress (NTUC), 37,    40–42 National University of Singapore (NUS), 66–67,    75–76 Neighbourhood Committees, 20, 54, 60 New Town Secondary School, 78 Ng Eng Hen, 78 NTUC News, 41 O Ong Teng Cheong Labour Leadership Institute    (OTCi), 42 Open House, 69 Orange Ribbon Celebrations (ORC), 30 Ow Yeong Wai Kit, 65–67 P Panel of Activists for Community Engagement    (PACE), 43–44 People’s Association (PA), 3, 5, 14, 20, 24, 36, 43–44 Project Guardian, 21 Project Million Lotus, 30 Prosec Services Pte Ltd, 72 Prosser, Liz, 17 R racial harmony, 3, 20, 29, 30, 36, 51, 54, 72, 78 Racial Harmony Day, 20, 79 Racial Harmony Food Festival, 30 racial riots, 2, 19, 57, 72, 88 racism, 17, 81 “Reflections: Unfolding Faith and Ethnicity”, 29 Religious Diversity in Singapore, 69 Religious Rehabilitation Group (RRG), 21 Residents’ Committees, 20 Rwanda, troubles in, 10 S Safety and Security Watch Group (SSWG), 21 St Ignatius Church, 55 SARS, 3 Security and Emergency Planning Office    (SEMPO), 32–33 Security Watch Group (SWG), 21 See Guat Kwee, 68–70 September 11 attacks, 2–3, 14, 19–21 SG United Journey, 34, 40, 46–47, 84 Shadjareh, Massoud, 18 Shanmugam, K, interview with, 10–13 Shepherdson, Rene, 71–73 Sikh Advisory Board, 3 Silly Little Girl and the Funny Old Tree, The, 88 Singapore Buddhist Federation, 3, 29–30 Singapore Business Federation (SBF), 37–38, 41–42 Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and    Industry (SCCCI), 37, 40

Index

Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF), 14, 21, 47, 73 Singapore Federation of Chinese Clan    Associations (SFCCA), 30, 40 Singapore Indian Chamber of Commerce and    Industry (SICCI), 37 Singapore Malay Chamber of Commerce and    Industry (SMCCI), 37 Singapore National Employers Federation    (SNEF), 37, 40, 42 Singapore Police Force (SPF), 21, 73 Singapore Polytechnic (SP), 47 Singapore Taxi Academy (STA), 46 Singapore United web portal, 47 Singh, Amar, 18 Sky News, 19 small and medium enterprises (SMEs), 38 social resilience, definition, 14 Suharto, 57 suicide bomber, 17–18 T table-top exercises (TTXs), 31–32, 44, 60, 76 Tan Ern Ser, 74–76 Tan, Pastor Rony, 66 Tan Say Pin, 77–79 Taoist Federation, 30 Taxi Driver Vocational Licence (TDVL), 47 terrorism, 2–6, 12, 23, 33–34, 36   Islam, and, 18 Thambyrajah, T., 80–82 Thian Hock Keng Temple, 69–70 Thye Hua Kwan Moral Society, 31 To Kill a Mockingbird, 36 Toh Guan Patriots, 63 Total Defence, 20 Train-the-CEP Trainer Programme, 16, 46, 51, 78 Trick or Threat, 36 Tripartite Panel on Community Engagement at    Workplaces, 37 V Venerable Seck Kwang Phing, 29 voluntary welfare organizations (VWOs), 44, 63 W Wilders, Geert, 7 Wong Kan Seng, 22, 34, 47   interview with, 2–9 Y Yishun MRT station, terrorist plot, 3–4 Young IRCC, 52 Youthink, 66 Yuhua Primary School, 79 Z Zainul Abidin Rasheed, 63 Zakiah Halim, 83–85