Mr. P. Raveentheran, President, Ceylon Sports Club,

Past Presidents,

Distinguished Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a great pleasure to be with you for tonight’s celebrations.

The Ceylon Sports Club has distinguished itself through the years, both as a sports club and as a community and family club. Founded in the 1920s for those of Ceylonese descent, it has over the years attracted Singaporeans and expatriates of various races, and from all walks of life.

The Club’s contributions to sporting excellence are well–known. It has produced outstanding teams, decade after decade, and a significant number of the cricket and hockey ‘greats’ in Malaya and Singapore, individuals who have inspired generations of sportsmen.

In recent years, you have pursued your commitment to excellence in sports and to community well-being with renewed vigour and imagination. Younger men and women have come forward and accepted the mantle and responsibilities of leadership and management. They have done so with conviction, and out of a desire to serve the community. They have volunteered their time, energy and expertise to keep the Club thriving and relevant to a changing Singapore.

The Club has taken a proactive role in promoting sports among the young, and been actively involved in the Committee on Sporting Singapore (CoSS). It has also been promoting family values and actively implementing family life education programmes as a Family Life Ambassador, under the auspices of the Ministry of Community Development and Sports.

As a Club, you have progressed and broadened your activities while keeping your traditions intact. In doing so, you have taken an inclusive, not parochial approach. Two aspects of this inclusiveness stand out. First, the CSC was from its outset a club for all Ceylonese - the Tamils, Singhalese, Burghers, Moors and others. Through the years it has retained the ability to make any Ceylonese feel at home and part of a common fraternity, notwithstanding the political travails of post-independence Sri Lanka. Second, the Club has increasingly brought in Singaporean and expatriate members of other races. Almost two-thirds of the Club’s members today are not of Ceylonese descent. They have joined for their love of sport and their interest in the social and family activities organised by the Club.

The experience of the Ceylonese community is in this sense part of the unique Singapore experience. Successive generations of Singaporeans have inserted themselves in a broader community while keeping alive their distinctive ethnic and sub-ethnic traditions and networks. It is a rich and still evolving tapestry of cultures and social networks that gives us pride in ourselves and confidence in our collective future as Singaporeans.

Younger generations of Ceylonese Singaporeans, as a relatively small community in multiracial Singapore, no longer see themselves as having a single cultural identity. Many, including I am sure all those here today, take pride in their Ceylonese roots. But they also see themselves as sharing the broader traditions of the Indian subcontinent. When asked of their racial identity, they would quite easily describe themselves as being ‘Indian’, and find no inconsistency in then explaining that their forefathers came from Sri Lanka. Unlike their parents, who typically identified themselves within the ‘Others’ category of Singapore races, the younger generation of Ceylonese increasingly think of themselves as ‘Indian’ Singaporeans in the broad sense. They also look at the other, non-Indian cultures as part of what they own as Singaporeans, and sometimes even participate in these cultures. This broader sense of identity among the Ceylonese reflects the evolving Singapore compact.

We have to ensure that all Singaporeans feel, instinctively, that they are part of the broader Singaporean community, even as they derive strength from their own cultures and religions. It is not a given, or something that will come naturally. Singaporeans will not be immune to influences from abroad, which will sometimes be divisive and test our ability to stay together as a people, in mind and spirit.

Keeping the Singapore compact going will be an important challenge for us in the years ahead. It will be continuous work, both for national leadership and among the leaders of each of our communities. We have to ensure that our children grow up with the ability and inclination to interact with each other, that they are familiar with each others’ cultures and practices, and that they feel at ease with each other. These habits and instincts must be developed early. We have to do more to make sure of this - to deepen the sense among Singaporeans of all races that their future is tied up with each other, and dependent on each other. It is not an optional strategy for Singapore but an essential.

Some of the CSC’s recent initiatives are commendable and are worth emulation by others - your Mentor Programmes, the annual Merit Scholarships, and free coaching clinics in Cricket and Hockey to schools and to any child. I understand that you have also recently introduced Ladies’ cricket, in order to attract more families and to involve the women in sports and not just as spectators.

It is also heartening that the Club has been inviting the less-fortunate and underprivileged from various Homes to all its major functions. The Club is working closely with the Singapore Sports Council for Disabled (SSCD) and is seeking to make itself more accessible and user-friendly to the physically disabled. It affirms the CSC’s reputation as a Family and Sports Club that is committed to the larger community. You have shown how this is possible within your limited resources.

I would encourage clubs like yours to work with more schools to share your expertise and allow children to be coached in sports that schools cannot always provide. No child should feel unable to pursue the sport of his aspirations because of the lack of facilities or coaching. Whilst schools will understandably be unable to offer a whole range of sports to their students, they can work with the National Sports Associations (NSAs) and clubs to take advantage of their facilities and coaching expertise. Schools, in turn, can offer their facilities to these sports organisations.

The Ceylon Sports Club has had a successful school adoption scheme in cricket and hockey, where coaching and use of the Club’s facilities are provided for students. It would be good for the Club to extend this adoption scheme to more schools. The students will benefit from your expertise and guidance in nurturing their talents. Not all of them will become champions, but they would have learnt to love the sport and continue to play the game for recreation. Some of them may go on to represent the Club itself.

Your role as a Family Life Ambassador, reflecting your commitment to building strong families, must also be commended. To enhance the role of clubs like the CSC, I would encourage you to consider setting up a Family Life Centre at the Club, where members could discuss matters with a family life advisor, read materials on family life issues or watch parenting videos. The Club can also make use of such a Centre to develop family life education programmes which are suitable to its members. I am sure the Ministry of Community Development and Sports will be happy to advise you on how to get this going if you are keen.

An active spirit of volunteerism and service to the community is essential for each of these programmes to succeed. Volunteers p;lay and indispensable role in our efforts to promote family values, and in to encourage every citizen to take up sports or games throughout his life. I would encourage more volunteers, young and old, to come forward to serve in the clubs and associations like the CSC.

I congratulate you for your contributions to a Sporting Singapore and community wellbeing, and wish each and every one of you every happiness, good health, and prosperity in the new year.

Thank you.