DPM Lawrence Wong at the Sikh Advisory Board (SAB) 75th Anniversary Celebration Dinner

MOS Mr Alvin Tan,
Chairman of the Sikh Advisory Board, Mr Malminderjit Singh,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Sat Sri Akal and good evening. I am very happy to join all of you today, for the 75th  anniversary of the Sikh Advisory Board.

Reaching a diamond jubilee is a major milestone for any organisation. But the celebrations tonight are extra special, because the Sikh Advisory Board represents the interests of the entire Sikh community. So, tonight is really a celebration for the entire community, not just for the Advisory Board alone! 

Of course, the Sikh community in Singapore has had a much longer history, which all of you are familiar with. The first large group of Sikhs to come to Singapore can be traced back to the late 19^th century. They were sent by the British colonial government to form a new police contingent. And over the years, more came to Singapore and sank roots here. Over time, the community has grown and flourished. We now have about 13,000 Sikhs fully integrated into our society.  Compared to other communities you may be small in numbers, but your contributions to Singapore is out of proportion to your numbers. You have all distinguished yourselves in your chosen professions and made significant contributions across diverse fields. Whether it is in the civil service or the uniformed services, the judiciary, business, sports, or many other professions, Sikhs are well represented, excelling and taking on leadership positions. So a big thank you goes out to everyone in the Sikh community.

Crucially, Sikhs have done all this in Singapore while retaining your culture, your faith and your unique identity. And credit for this must go to the Sikh community leaders in Singapore, who have devoted much energy over the decades to sustain Sikh traditions and cultural practices and also to engage closely with diverse  stakeholders, including the government.

From the government’s perspective we certainly appreciate and value this very close collaboration with the community. In particular, the Sikh Advisory Board has been instrumental in advising us on matters concerning the community, be it religion, customs or overall welfare issues. The Board has always been candid, open and forthcoming in sharing your perspectives and views on the issues of concern to the community. So even though you may be an Advisory Board, I assure you the government listens to your advice and takes it very seriously. The Board has also been instrumental in mediating disputes when they arise, such as those relating to employment practices, to ensure that Sikhs can continue to observe the key tenets of their faith. And through this close collaboration in Singapore, between the Sikh community, the stakeholders and the government, the community has been able to make many achievements as you saw in the video just now. For example, you set up the Sikh Welfare Council, a charity with IPC status, that provides a wide range of services for those in need. And you have also played a key role in setting up the Singapore Sikh Education Foundation to facilitate the teaching of Punjabi, which is officially recognised as a second language in our schools together with four other minority Indian languages.

So once again, this evening let me congratulate the SAB on your  jubilee, and thank everyone on the SAB, the past Chairmen who are here, the present Chair and board members, as well as past and present members of the SAB, and the many other community organisations here, for your close partnership and for your contributions to Singapore! Thank you very much.

That a small minority like the Sikh community can thrive in Singapore is a testimony to the strength of our unique multiracial and multireligious society. But sustaining this requires continuous hard work. We know from our own painful history how easily issues like race and religion can easily be stoked up, and cause division and strife. We have certainly come a long way since those early days, but the primal emotions of racialism can never be fully eradicated. And I am not just saying in the abstract, because we saw this very recently just three years ago at the height of the pandemic in 2020, when there was a sharp rise of racist incidents, as all of you I’m sure can still remember. Since then, the situation has improved. Things have stabilised. But these very recent incidents, we’re not talking about something that happened in the ‘60s or ‘70s, are a reminder that the ideal of a multiracial, multireligious Singapore is always a work in progress and there remains scope for us to strengthen racial harmony and social cohesion in our country.

How can we best do this?

First and foremost, we will continue to ensure that every community here – not matter how small – has the space to maintain its own heritage and culture in our society. Being Singaporean should never mean you have to give up your own unique culture and tradition.  Instead, we want every group to be comfortable being who they are, and to be assured that they will always have a place in our society.  This must always remain an essential feature of our social fabric.   Being Singaporean is not about conforming to a bland and homogenised culture. It is about embracing our diverse and rich cultural inheritances.

Second, even as we celebrate our diversity, we must work to expand the common ground we share as Singaporeans. This means creating many more opportunities for shared experiences, for us to interact together – in our HDB estates, our neighbourhoods, schools, and workplaces. We must do this deliberately and purposefully: facilitate more inter-group interactions, build human relationships, and continue to promote more social mixing amongst our young, through CCAs, and other inter-school activities. It also means fostering dialogue, mutual understanding and trust with one another, just as we have done amongst our community and religious leaders. All of these interactions, communications, dialogues are for a purpose – is really to build greater sense of understanding of each other, build stronger ties, stronger relationships and ultimately, for us to be more sensitive to each other’s concerns and better manage difficult issues and disputes when they arise. If we do this well, we can build a strong and inclusive Singaporean identity – one that is not about confrontation, but seeks accommodation and compromise with each other; one that is not tribal or insular, but is open and big-hearted.

Finally, we must ensure that meritocracy in Singapore remains the organising principle of our society. Ours must be a society where everyone is judged solely on their ability, and rewarded based on their contributions; where all Singaporeans have the opportunity to excel and maximise their potential regardless of their race or religion. This has certainly been the experience of the Sikh community – where many have been able to reach positions of leadership and found success in their respective careers.

To sustain over the long term, we must guard against meritocracy in Singapore and degenerating into cut-throat competition, where everyone is focused only on their own success and that of their children and family members, and disregards the needs of their fellow citizens.  Instead, we must foster and nurture a broader and more open meritocracy that works well for all Singaporeans – one where everyone feels a strong sense of community and a commitment to give back to society; where Singaporeans feel assured and supported in the face of life’s uncertainties.

We are moving on all these fronts under Forward Singapore exercise which we started last year. As part of the exercise, we are reviewing policies and engaging widely to see what programmes we can put in place, and what we might do differently to refresh our social compact and to build a fairer, a more inclusive and a more cohesive Singapore.

But crucially, this exercise is not just about what the Government can do through our policies and programme. It is really also about what all of us can do together.

Organisations like the Sikh Advisory Board and your many other partner organisations can play a key role in this effort. Indeed, over the decades, the Sikh community has been exemplary in its efforts to seek out, engage with, and support those from the community and beyond. Your Gurdwaras have a long tradition of serving the broader Singaporean community, providing thousands of meals daily to anyone in need regardless of race, language or religion. The Singapore Khalsa Association Building, where we are tonight, is another good example – serving not just the social and cultural activities of the Sikh community, but also that of non-Sikhs too. When you celebrate the Vesakhi Mela every year, you also work with organisations like People’s Association to reach out to and involve other communities.

Underpinning all this is the Sikh religious culture and philosophy of mutual help, respect for others and community service. And I got to know all this better when I started getting involved and started attending Sikh events. When I think how I get involved first, I think my first significant involvement was way back in 2006 when I was the Principal Private Secretary to Prime Minster Lee. Mr Charanjit Singh reminded me just now when we met at the lobby that PM came for the 75th Anniversary of the Khalsa Association that in 2006. We had chatted back then, and I got a chance to learn more about the community. Since then, I attended many other events. I came for the harmony games here as Malminderjit said just now. I learned some Bhangra moves at the events. I remember attending a networking session with young Sikh graduates in 2011, shortly after I entered politics. This was organised by the Young Sikh Association.  I was struck then by the energy and passion of our youth activists – how they are organising themselves to engage the next generation, to imbue in them the right values, and invest in their future.  I commend the community for all of these meaningful efforts,  but most of all, for your strong spirit of solidarity and mutual help.

Working together, I am sure we can continue to find new ways to uplift the Sikh community and importantly to forge closer bonds with the other communities in Singapore. More than that, we can build a stronger Singapore – where everyone can practice their own faiths and traditions, where there are opportunities for all regardless of background, race or religion, and where we can celebrate our diversity as a society, while remaining cohesive and united as one people. Thank you very much.