PM Lawrence Wong at the Citizens’ Consultative Committee 60th Anniversary Celebrations

My Cabinet and Parliamentary colleagues,
Fellow Grassroots Advisers,
Grassroots leaders,
Ladies and gentlemen,

I am delighted to join all of you tonight to celebrate 60 years of our Citizens’ Consultative Committees or CCCs. 

Six Decades of CCCs

This is a special occasion because this year we celebrate Singapore’s 60^th anniversary and also mark 60 years of CCCs. So, happy SG60 and happy CCC60!

Of course, the history of CCCs goes back even further. It started even before independence. 

During the Battle for Merger, when Mr Lee Kuan Yew visited all the constituencies to rally support, community leaders set up “Welcome Committees” to organise the visits, and get things done on the ground. 

Later when racial riots broke out in 1964, these same community leaders formed “Goodwill Committees” – and they played a critical role in calming communal tensions and preserving harmony.

And then when Singapore became independent, these Committees evolved into the CCCs. Since then, the CCCs have had their hands full. Because it is not just organising activities in every constituency to bring residents together. But it is also working hard to explain government policies and programmes, to get people to support these policies.

For example, when we started out, we had no military of our own and we introduced National Service.  It was a difficult policy. But the CCCs went around engaging residents and getting their support – assuring parents and explaining to them what it meant when they sent their sons to serve and defend our nation.

We needed to house our population and free up land for development.  And the CCCs persuaded Singaporeans to resettle and helped them with their housing applications. 

And over time, as Singapore developed, the CCCs took on new issues in our estates – working with residents to decide what amenities to build, and maintaining harmony among residents from all walks of life.

And today, our CCCs continue to keep a close feel of residents’ needs and concerns, provide feedback to the government, and help us update and improve policies. 

For example, when we rolled out major policies like the Pioneer Generation Package and CareShield Life, you helped to explain these clearly to residents and conveyed their feedback to us.

During Covid-19, you mobilised grassroots organisations to distribute essential items to vulnerable groups across the island, and you persuaded residents to get themselves vaccinated.

So, tonight’s gathering is to honour all of our CCC leaders, past and present. Many of our pioneer CCC members – in other words, those who were involved way back in the Welcome Committees and Goodwill Committees – they have passed on. But some of our early leaders are still with us and they are here with us tonight. And I had the chance to meet them just now. 

There is Mr Puhaindran, who is nearly 90. He joined Marine Parade CCC in 1976 and became its chairman five years later.

He was a stalwart grassroots leader in Marine Parade. 

I remember him even from my own childhood in Marine Parade – he is always engaging and helping residents, often in four languages: English, Malay, Tamil and good Hokkien too!

At that time, Marine Parade did not have its own Community Centre (CC).  So he turned the void deck of his block into a gathering place for residents – they called it Desa 43 or Village 43.  Of course, over time, Marine Parade developed its own CC and many of us growing up there benefitted.

Then there is 85-year-old Mr Kong Mun Kwong, who is also with us here tonight. He recently retired after nearly four decades with Tampines Changkat CCC, serving as Chairman from 1986 to 2002.

In the 1980s, parts of Tampines were still kampungs.

He persuaded the kampung dwellers to move into HDB flats – helping them with the administrative paperwork and easing their transition to a new way of life.

And when quarrels broke out over the shared corridors, he helped to mediate patiently, and helped neighbours forge a common understanding of HDB living – something that all grassroots leaders continue to do today.

And there is Mdm Sakinah in Boon Lay CCC, who is also here. 

I have known her since I started serving in Boon Lay in 2011.

She has been actively involved in many programmes for lower-income families and also for their children – organising packed lunches for them and providing after-school care activities. 

She takes pride in seeing these children grow up to become responsible members of the community. And to these families, she is more than just a grassroots leader – she is their advocate, friend and guide. 

CCC leaders like Mr Puhaindran, Mr Kong and Mdm Sakinah have been vital to our nation-building journey – as well as all of you here tonight. 

You embody the spirit of service that defines our grassroots movement.

So tonight, we salute you and all CCC members past and present – thank you for your dedication and service.  

CCCs Today

After 60 years, Singapore has come a long way. Our society today is very different and has been transformed.

We are more diverse, our challenges are more complex, and our people’s needs are more varied.

Singaporeans can access government services with a click, and find information at their fingertips. 

They have many more options for recreation, leisure and entertainment.

So they may not rely on grassroots leaders as their first channel for assistance.

And they may not limit themselves to activities at their Community Clubs.  

So our PA Grassroots Movement and CCCs must continue to evolve to stay relevant.

Our underlying purpose remains to serve Singaporeans – to bring people closer together, and keep our society strong and united.

But how we go about doing this, our approaches and methods, have to change with the times. 

That is why PA has refreshed its mission – which is now to spark and nurture community participation for a caring and united Singapore. And Deputy Chairman Minister Edwin Tong had elaborated on this in the PA Community Seminar last year.   

This new mission means we must go beyond organising activities and events. And reimagine our role as facilitators of community participation.

To be clear, we must keep alive the spirit of our pioneer community leaders – their can-do attitude, their drive to solve problems, and their ability to bring people together. But what is different is that we are not just doing things for Singaporeans anymore but also doing things with Singaporeans. We are engaging them. And we are empowering them to contribute to our community as well.

And as our apex grassroots organisations, the CCCs are best placed to lead this change. 

I know many of you are trying out new efforts and initiatives. 

Take Nee Soon South CCC.

They realised that caregivers need more emotional and financial support.

So they partnered with SG Assist, a social enterprise, to set up a Resource Centre where caregivers can learn, share and support one another. 

And they launched an Eldercare Diaper programme to ease financial strain of their residents. 

And they do all these not by themselves. But they work closely with a range of donors and partners to keep these programmes going and to bring in more volunteers. 

Another example is Cheng San CCC.  

They found that seniors wanted not just activities, but purpose.

So they created Project x100 – it is a wellness programme for seniors but “times 100” means they are not just doing this programme for the seniors. They are recruiting seniors to be ambassadors – 100 senior ambassadors to promote healthy living to their peers.  They started with 40 last year and they are now making progress towards their 100 target.

And through this network, they will help seniors find meaning, build friendships and strengthen bonds across the community. 

Well done to both CCCs!  

CCCs Beyond 60

I’ve cited just two examples. I’m sure across all our CCCs, there are good examples to highlight but I had just mentioned two of them and I hope that this will motivate and encourage all our CCCs to continue doing your part to adapt and find better ways to engage residents and drive positive change in our communities.  

As we go about this work, let’s always remember: our PA grassroots movement is a tremendous national asset. We have grown the grassroots network enormously over the decades – now with over 2,000 GROs and 38,000 grassroots volunteers across Singapore. But the effectiveness of our network lies not in our numbers. It lies in how we connect with residents – how we listen, engage, and make them feel like they have a stake in our community.  

So we must continue to work hard and enhance this network beyond SG60, and ensure it remains effective in nurturing trust and strengthening our social fabric.

Let me suggest three areas for our CCCs to focus on. 

First, lead your grassroots organisations. Lead them to spark and nurture community participation, which is our refreshed PA mission.

In other words, as CCCs, we should not just provide administrative oversight.

You can and you must help shape how the various organisations under you go about their activities. 

Provide them with advice, guidance and direction.

And rather than just continue with what we have usually been doing all the time, following the same pattern, encourage them to experiment, seek out best practices, to learn from what other constituencies are doing and try new models that will better engage and involve our residents.

Second, encourage more interactions between our grassroots organisations for greater impact. 

Every GRO may focused on its own priorities, naturally. You have got different groups – RNs (Residents’ Networks), MAECs (Malay Activity Executive Committees), IAECs (Indian Activity Executive Committees), women’s groups, youth groups – all the different organisations will focus on its own priorities, understandably.  

But they should not be working in silos, isolated and separately from one another.

The CCCs have a broader vantage point – as an apex body, you can see the bigger picture, you can identify synergies, and you can bring different groups together to collaborate and build a stronger culture of teamwork. 

For example, when a Residents’ Network collaborates with a Youth Network, you can connect Singaporeans across age and interest groups. 

Such collaborations can help build bridges across different groups, strengthen mutual understanding, and forge a stronger sense of shared purpose in our community. 

Third, nurture and strengthen your volunteers. 

Continue to bring in volunteers from diverse backgrounds.

They will contribute new energy and fresh ideas.

Help to connect them with different segments of our community.

And develop pathways for these new volunteers to grow, help them take on larger responsibilities, bigger projects, become leaders in their own right.

And this will ensure a steady pipeline of dedicated grassroots leaders who are committed and ready to serve. 

All of this transformation which I have just described, will take effort and imagination. But PA will continue to support all of you.

We will invest in strengthening our grassroots leaders, for example in your community facilitation skills – so you can harness community assets more effectively, and rally people around shared causes. 

From 2026, PA will partner our Institutes of Higher Learning to train 1,000 community facilitators across all constituencies, starting with the CCCs.

We will continue to conduct more leadership programmes to support our CCC members, and help all of you drive meaningful change in the community.

To take Singapore forward, we must be a democracy of deeds – a society where citizens put the “we” before “me” and help one another succeed.  As CCC leaders, you exemplify this “We-First” spirit.  So continue to lead the way – to serve with heart, and to bring our fellow citizens together for the common good.

Conclusion

In a world of profound changes, Singapore will face new and unprecedented challenges. But I’m confident that if we continue to stay united, we can overcome this challenge and we can uphold the same spirit of service and solidarity that has brought us this far. 

Ultimately, as Singaporeans, we all have a stake in this little red dot, and a shared responsibility to shape the future of our nation. 

The grassroots movement remains a vital platform to bring our people together and enable everyone to give back to the community.

So I look forward to working with all of you – as CCC leaders – to spark greater community participation and to empower more Singaporeans to step forward; then we can all write the next chapter of our Singapore Story together and build a better and brighter future for all.

Thank you very much.