PM Lee Hsien Loong at Jalan Kayu Family Day 2009

SM Lee Hsien Loong | 21 June 2009

Transcript of speech by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at Jalan Kayu Family Day on 21 June 2009.

 

各位同胞,各位朋友,大家早上好。我很高兴有机会跟大家在一起参加惹兰加由区的家庭嘉年华会。

今年是经济衰退的年头,大家都知道。生活比较辛苦一点,低收入家庭问题比较多一点,我们国会议员接见民众,发现我们的生意多了一点。因为接见的家庭,比以往来得多。他们的问题也比以前来得复杂,有些是就业问题,有些是水电费的问题,有些是组屋贷款的问题。总之,在这种情况之下,生活比较困难,是众所周知的事情。面对这种情况,我们不能够各自为政,各人做自己的事情,各人自己解决自己的问题。我们必须聚合起来,以一个社会、一个国家,共同面对这个危机。

所以,在政府的层面,我们推行了许许多多的配套计划和援助政策,包括就业奖励补贴、包括我们的Jobs Credit, 包括我们今年的各种各样的津贴和花红,帮助新加坡人维持他们的就业机会,继续工作,继续照顾家庭,能够渡过难关。

政府应该做的,我们已经做了。当然,做了之后,问题还没有完全解决。但是我相信,我们所做的,多多少少会给大家一定的帮忙。但是这个问题不能够完全交给政府去办,因为每一个家庭都有家庭的责任,每一个社区也有社区的责任。所以在每一个层次上,我们都必须尽我们的能力,组织起来,联合起来,同心同力地去帮助需要帮助的人。

所以惹兰加由组织的这个“心连心”的援助计划,我想是一个很好的办法。因为这不只是金钱上的援助,而是一个社会关怀的表现。因为通过这个“心连心”计划,我们的社区里的基层领袖,社区里的商店、店主,我们社区里的慈善人士、成功人士,他们已经自己事业有成了,能够回馈社会,替我们的同胞做一些好事。通过这个“心连心”计划,我们能够帮助许许多多需要帮助的惹兰加由区的居民,这个是非常好的事情。

同时,我们今天是一个家庭主题的嘉年华会。这个环节也很重要,因为家庭凝聚力是我们解决问题的另一个重要因素。我们认为,家庭是社会的根本,而巩固的家庭,温馨的家庭,是许许多多新加坡人的幸福、欢乐和满足感的所在。我们接见民众的时候看到许许多多的居民,如果他们家庭夫妻和睦、孩子也努力求学,他们其他问题,我们知道有望解决,因为至少他们回到家里,能够互相帮助自己。

但是如果家庭不和了、闹翻了,夫妻离婚了,争争嚷嚷,这是家庭最头痛的问题,也是议员最头痛的问题,因为清官难办家事。我们要帮助他们解决问题,但是除非他们能够和睦共处,能够协商讨论,获得共识,互相尊敬,互相亲爱,不然的话,从外面解决问题,即使有资源、有金钱,也是做不到的。所以家庭凝聚力对我们来说,是一个很重要的环节,而我希望通过今天的活动,我们会巩固我们的家庭关系,父子之间的关系,祖父祖母或者公公婆婆和孙儿孙女之间的关系,让大家觉得我们是一个大家庭里的小家庭,让我们觉得,通过我们的合作,通过我们的相亲相爱,我们能够渡过难关,能够创造一个更美好的将来。

所以我不要讲很多话,不过我希望今天的活动对大家来说是有意义的,是愉快的,并且会帮助大家更能够把惹兰加由和整个宏茂桥,创造成一个更温馨的、更理想的家园。谢谢各位。

Friends and residents, just a few words to say how happy I am to be here for this Family Day, and for the launch of the Heartstring Project in Jalan Kayu. This year is a tough year for the economy, everybody knows that. Growth is down, in fact the economy is shrinking; jobs are tough, bonuses are down, unemployment has gone up, not as much as we feared, but it is higher than it used to be.

And we can see the effects as MPs, because in our Meet-the-People sessions, the numbers have gone up. More hardship cases, more people looking for jobs, looking for assistance. And the same in the CDCs also – more people looking for help and for job matching.

We must do our best to come through this together, not individually, not as single citizens, but as a country, as a society. The Government has done what it needs to do, through the GST offsets, through the Resilience Package, through the many schemes which we have in the Budget and off the Budget, and in order to help people in the ways which will help them to help themselves, keep their jobs, find new jobs, help their families to get through this.

But at the same time, I think we need to do it at different levels in the constituencies, in our communities and in our families. And the Heartstrings Project, which Jalan Kayu is launching, is a good way to bring the community together to help the needy members amongst our midst, to raise some resources, get donations, to give the help to the families which need help, and to encourage them to look after themselves, and to look after their own families and not just to depend on what they can get from the Government.

So this is a good project, and today’s activities, I hope, will be able to bring everybody together, and not just be a meaningful activity but also a fun one. And we hope that through these events, we can bring our families closer together, and we can make Jalan Kayu and Ang Mo Kio a happy, warm and cohesive community for all of us. So thank you very much, congratulations on a successful event, and have a very good Sunday. Thank you.

 

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