Kian Peng,
Members of the FairPrice Group,
Partners,
Ladies and gentlemen,
1. A very good evening to all of you.
2. First, let me thank FairPrice Group and all the partners for 40 years of hard work. To me, this event has always been more than just sharing of textbooks. What is closest to my heart for this event, which I've participated on various occasions, is not just the passing on of textbooks. It is something more important – the passing on of values.
3. There are a few values that I think we can think about in this simple set of activities of FairPrice's textbook initiative and the FIT Hackathon initiative.
4. I think the first set of values that we all need to pass on to the next generation is giving thanks. For all of us who have the privilege to own textbooks, it is not just something for us to use and discard. We are but stewards of those textbooks, for us to give thanks for the opportunity to use them and then to pass them on.
5. In Singapore today, it is sometimes easy for us to forget that there are amongst us people who are in need. It is also perhaps easy for our younger ones to forget that what we experience in Singapore is quite unique. It is not the norm.
6. When I speak to my counterparts across the region, they share that to have a set of textbooks, to have a school with a proper shelter, it is not something that their people take for granted. For some of them, geographically many times our size, their education budget can be even less than ours. For a small number of them, despite their size, our education budget is even bigger than their GDP.
7. For all these reasons, the most important and the first set of values that we seek to pass on in the Share-a-Textbook initiative is to remind ourselves to give thanks for all that we have been blessed with.
8. A second set of values that we should pass on is always to remember that regardless of how rich or how poor we are, the rich, the better endowed, can always do something more for those who have less. On the other hand, even those with less are not helpless.
9. Since my time serving in the Ministry of Social and Family Development, I have realised that even those with the least, they too can contribute in their own way. And perhaps, that is even more empowering and uplifting in terms of what we can do for those with the least, to make them feel that they are a contributing member of our society, regardless of their station in life. And to me, that is empowering, and it warms the heart.
10. So, this Share-a-Textbook initiative is not just about the rich doing something for the poor. It is also about all of us being able to do something for the rest of society, regardless of our station in life. And perhaps that is one set of values that I personally would like to see in our 'Forward Singapore' conversation, where we do not tell someone else our challenges and leave it to them to solve the problem. But instead, each and every one of us have the responsibility and the capabilities to do something.
11. Now last but not least, I also want to commend FairPrice Group for starting the FIT Hackathon. The FIT Hackathon also seeks to pass on another set of important values for fellow Singaporeans. And that is this concept of always thinking ahead, thinking about the future, thinking about what better things we can do for our next generation, leaving behind a higher and stronger foundation for them to climb the next peak.
12. This might seem relatively straightforward to many of us in Singapore, but I will say that this is not the norm in many places in the world, where people may be caught up in their insecurities here and now. They do not have the time, nor the attention span to think about the future.
13. But for us in Singapore, to think about the future, and how we steward our resources and talent to do better for the next generation, is not a privilege, but a duty. We define and distinguish ourselves as Singaporeans by not just how well we do for ourselves in this generation. We distinguish ourselves by how well we enable the next generation to do even better than us.
14. And this is how Singapore has come through stronger and more united in the last 57 years. And if we can through the FIT Hackathon, continue to pass on this spirit of stewarding our resources, including our environment, our reserves, and many other resources for the good of the next generation, then we can be confident that regardless of the challenges that we may face as a country, we will march towards SG100 with confidence, pride, and unity.
15. So for these three reasons, the FairPrice Share-a-textbook and the FIT Hackathon have always been close to my heart. And this is also why I am so supportive of Kian Peng and his team's effort. And I am also so thankful for all of you for participating in this effort, for us to pass on the values that are so dear to us as fellow Singaporeans, be it to take care of those around us regardless of our station in life, to keep thinking about the future.
16. And on that note, I would also like to share that I had earlier thrown FairPrice Group a challenge, and they have pleasantly surprised me.
17. Before I came for this event, I asked Kian Peng what would FairPrice do if one day we have more books that are digitised, that one day MOE will put more and more books in the digital format. I was worried if we would still have physical textbooks to pass on to the next generation.
18. But I was sure we will still have them for two reasons. The simpler reason is that I do not think that in the near future, we will be able to do away with physical textbooks totally. The habit of picking up physical books to read will always be with us and we hope will always be with our young. But more importantly, I have confidence, and I know the FairPrice team, that they will constantly think of how to pass on these values more than how to merely pass on textbooks.
19. So I am confident that even as the number of textbooks may reduce, the sense of purpose within FairPrice to pass on these values will never be diminished. And in fact, over the last few years, the number of textbooks shared have continued to grow.
20. We have now over 40 years benefited more than 300,000 students and families with over 6.8 million textbooks. And every year, this number continues to grow, be it textbooks or any other materials that we can pass on the spirit of sharing and caring.
21. So on that note, I thank FairPrice and all the partners for these 40 years of great work to help Singapore build a stronger sense of community, a stronger sense of caring. And because of efforts from community organisations like FairPrice and all of you here, we can be confident of our future.
22. Thank you very much to FairPrice and thank you very much to all of you.