1. Good afternoon and thank you all for being here today. First of all, a correction to the emcee, I'm not your Guest-of-Honour. Today we are here to honour all of you, as you are the Guests-of-Honour.
2. The last time I participated in a Yellow Ribbon event was in 2018, some five years back, so it is great to be back today to honour all your hard work and affirm the 186 awardees, and the 91 desistors.
3. Whenever we speak with our foreign counterparts, they are very impressed with our low crime rates. They would say that Singapore is a low crime environment because we have a good economy, and a good police force.
5. But the third part is our philosophy that every Singaporean can make a contribution. While every one of us may make some mistakes in life, that's not the end of it and it doesn't define us. There is a Chinese saying "人非圣贤，孰能无过。知错能改，善莫大焉。"
6. As we are human beings, there will be times we will make mistakes. But so long as we realise our mistakes, and we correct them, then there will always be a fresh start. And that is what the Yellow Ribbon project is about.
7. Beyond the good economy, beyond the strong enforcement that we have in Singapore, perhaps even more important, is our ability to work with ex-offenders and desistors, to give them a chance to start afresh and be contributors to Singapore. So this is why we want to honour all of you for doing what is needed for our ex-offenders and for giving them the chance.
8. Today, if we look around, many of you will be able to tell our foreign counterparts how low or how much lower our recidivism rates are. It is not just how many people offend but how few re-offend. And how did we get here? We did not get here just because of strong enforcement.
9. We got here because of people like you, working hard behind the scenes to give our people another chance. For many of the employers here, we acknowledge and thank you. If not for you and your companies, who have opened your doors and arms to give this group of people another chance, perhaps we would face a much higher recidivism rate today.
10. We're not here to celebrate and congratulate ourselves on statistics. Statistics tell us something, but your individual stories are more important than what the statistics can ever tell us.
11. For every individual who has gotten a fresh start to become a contributing member to our society, it is not just about that one person alone. The very action to rehabilitate and allow that person to have a fresh start, touches not just the life of the individual, but the lives of their families and perhaps, even generations after.
12. For all of you who have been involved in this work, you will know that our measure of success is not just whether the individual is working or contributing again. What gives us the greatest pleasure to do more, is when we see someone with a past record coming forward to introduce us to their children who have been growing up well.
13. Likewise, for the many employers who are here today, I think what gives you the greatest joy is not just that you have yet another worker working for you and contributing. But it is to see that worker, even with a past record, growing up well, bringing up his family well, and being able to contribute to society once again. That is what has spurred so many of you to continue expanding the work that you have been doing with the Yellow Ribbon project.
14. These are some stories beyond the statistics that really make us a Giving Society, and perhaps this is how we distinguish ourselves as fellow Singaporeans. This is a part of the message of the Forward Singapore exercise.
15. It is not just about the institutions and how their policies work to make Singapore a place that we can be proud of. It is also about each one of us, each company, who feels the sense of responsibility to help our most vulnerable to stand tall and stand proud to be contributing members once again. And if we can do that for one more case, it is one more touching story to inspire the rest.
16. I would like to thank all of you once again for inspiring us. For reminding us as fellow Singaporeans that we are not just defined by our material success. That as the Singaporean community, we are defined by our hearts to reach out to those who are most vulnerable. If we can take care of the most vulnerable and help them to become contributing citizens again, what more can we achieve for the entire Singapore. On that note, thank you all of you for participating in the Yellow Ribbon programme and for doing this work for nearly 20 years.
17. I look forward to hearing more inspiring stories from the individuals and companies who have participated in this programme and help uplift the most vulnerable amongst us. Congratulations to all of you for being our Guests-of-Honour. Thank you.