Good morning

Dr Tan Eng Bock, Chairman of the Delta Sports Complex Management Committee,

Colonel Kwan Yue Yong, Executive Director of the Singapore Sports Council,

DSP Jerry See, Commander `D’ Police Division,

Community leaders, and residents,

It is my pleasure to join you this morning for the Fifth Delta Sports Complex Day cum Tanjong Pagar CDC District Family Sports Carnival. This event marks the second year of joint effort between the Delta Sports Complex and our CDC to promote healthy lifestyle to our residents. Our CDC also has had a successful collaboration with the Singapore Sports Council on a family sports carnival at Clementi Sports Hall on 21 June last year.

While the well-being of the family can be enhanced from within through fostering the togetherness of family members, the external environment in which the family functions needs to be addressed as well. Safety and security of homes and families are a primary concern of our residents. In response to this concern, our CDC has partnered with grassroots organisations and the Singapore Police Force to implement the Community Focus Plan Scheme.

A community focus plan (or CFP) is an action plan drawn up jointly by community leaders, residents and the Police to tackle community issues and problems relating to the safety and security of the local neighbourhood. Each CFP identifies the unique characteristics, profile, needs and concerns of the community, and comes out with an action plan aimed at tackling issues of priority.

In a fast-paced modern society like ours, many Singaporeans tend to withdraw into their own private lives but look to the government for solutions to big and small problems. The government is committed to maintain stability and harmony, and promote growth and prosperity for Singaporeans, but our people must do their part, and collectively, help to strengthen our social cohesiveness in the process.

The main purpose of CFP is to revive the traditional gotong royong spirit in communities which promotes mutual self-help in a fast-paced modern society like ours. This will then inject the "soul" of community spiritedness that will bring about social cohesion and harmony in our affluent society.

The CFP began with a pilot phase in March 1998 in our District. I am proud to announce that today, all 58 Residents’ Committees (RCs) in the District and one Neighbourhood Committee (NC) have crafted their localised CFPs. This is the first NC that has drawn up the CFP for implementation.

Based on actual ground observations as well as inputs from the Police, each committee planning the CFP identifies the key security and safety issues within their respective RC Zones. From the zonal CFPs drawn up, several key areas of concern were identified. They reflect the areas of concern at a district level collectively.

At the district level, four major areas of concerns have been identified in the CFPs to date. They are (a) illegal parking, (b) public nuisance caused by youths loitering in public places, (c) theft from motor vehicles and (d) vandalism. The situation is not static, as new areas of concern may arise over time while existing ones may have been resolved with the implementation of CFP.

In addressing these concerns, the CDC will work closely with the three Neighbourhood Police Centres to come up with concrete action plans. I am pleased to announce that a youth activity centre at the Alexandra Neighbourhood Police Post is in the pipeline. The aim of this centre is to tap on volunteers’ expertise to reach out to loitering youths and to channel these youngsters’ energies to constructive pursuits. This will help address the issue of public nuisance caused by youths loitering in public places.

The CDC and the Police have already lined up a host of public education programmes on community safety and security for residents beginning in February 1999. The Tiong Bahru Division will be the first to kick off a series of public education programme on road safety of the elderly within the District. The Police Officers and CDC volunteer befrienders will jointly undertake to raise the awareness on road safety and crime prevention amongst the elderly, especially those living alone.

To tackle the high rates of thefts from motor vehicles in the district, the CDC will look into supporting residents’ initiative to organise efforts in installing closed circuit television cameras in their multi-storey public car parks. Upon request, the provision of CCTVs in multi-storey car parks either by the Town Council or the HDB is not a difficult task. What is more significant is the fact that the resident car owners come together collectively and initiate plausible strategies to address this problem and refer them to CDC for further assistance. They may wish to pool their resources together to purchase the CCTVs under the CFP. If the amount raised is insufficient, the CDC is prepared to provide support in the procurement of the CCTVs. In doing so, the residents would feel a sense of ownership of their initiatives rather than to be over-reliant on the Government agencies.

Soon, the CDC will keep our residents informed on the latest CFP developments in the District via the Internet. Residents can access information on the CFP webpage hosted by the Tanjong Pagar CDC Website through their personal computers or via the i-One public information kiosks located throughout the district. We hope that the webpage will help to facilitate bi-directional dialogue by allowing residents to raise their safety and security concerns on-line, increasing the public’s accessibility to our CDC and the Police.

Each participating RC and NC will be presented with a plaque today, in recognition of their active participation and support for the CFP scheme. The plaque which is designed to be mounted in RC centres will symbolise the commitment we have made, and serves to remind us of our pledge to enhance the well being of our community.

Over the long term, I would like to see the CFP scheme flourish, and develop into an initiative driven and actively promoted by residents themselves. If the CFP Scheme is successfully implemented, I hope the scope of the CFP scheme can be enlarged beyond the safety and security concerns to include other matters which define the well-being of the whole community such as living environment, sports and healthy lifestyles, community services and facilities management. It is only through active involvement and participation of our residents that a sense of belonging and ownership of the community can develop. Therefore, I urge all our residents to come forward and be part of the CFP in your neighbourhood. You have a stake and you have a say, and in doing so, you will help to make our community a safer and better place to live in.

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