Singapore Government Press Release Media Division, Ministry of Information and The Arts, 36th Storey, PSA Building, 460 Alexandra Road, Singapore 119963. Tel: 3757794/5

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SPEECH BY ASSOC PROF HO PENG KEE, MINISTER OF STATE FOR LAW AND HOME AFFAIRS AND DEPUTY CHAIRMAN, NATIONAL YOUTH COUNCIL, AT THE LAUNCH OF THE SINGAPORE KINDNESS MOVEMENT AWARD SCHEME ON SATURDAY, 15 MARCH 1997 AT 10 AM AT WTC CONFERENCE HALL

Mr Noel Hon, Chairman of the Singapore Kindness Movement,

Ladies and Gentlemen.

The Singapore Kindness Movement was established to meet Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong's call for a gracious society. Graciousness requires us to develop and express values such as kindness and compassion. It also means inculcating an understanding and appreciation of non-material things in life, such as culture and art.

Kindness is both an attitude and an action. It is not enough to know what kindness means, you have to be willing to practise kindness.

The Singapore Kindness Movement Award Scheme was developed with the aim of helping the young to understand that their actions would have an impact on others, and eventually on themselves. When the young develop awareness of their actions, they will be encouraged to do kind acts.

This Movement can make a difference in Singaporeans' lives. It requires but a brief moment of consideration from its practitioners. If enough Singaporeans are inspired by its underlying philosophy, we would have made yet another important step towards becoming a more gracious and caring society.

We do not have to wait for extraordinary situations to be kind. Life presents us with many opportunities each day to show consideration for others. Simple acts like holding the door or lift for someone or giving up your seat to someone in need of a place to sit down are practical examples.

The Singapore Kindness Movement Award Scheme encourages the initiation of small acts of kindness in four main areas:

i. home, school and neighbourhood;

ii. public places;

iii. the environment; and

iv. community

We readily think of being kind to those who are closest to us, such as our family and friends. We should cultivate an awareness of how we can be kind and considerate in the wider community and to the environment.

In Canada, its kindness movement recognises the interdependence of three important facets: being kind to ourselves, to others, and to the Earth. Kindness should not only be confined to people we know.

For a start, only the bronze level of the Singapore Kindness Movement award scheme is being introduced to students. From the pilot project conducted last year, encouraging support has been received from the participants, teachers, and principals.

The 2,000 participants in the pilot project, which included only uniformed group members from 20 schools, have enthused that participation in the scheme should be made available for all their friends.

These students are key founder members of the Singapore Kindness Movement award scheme. Based on their experiences and suggestions, the award scheme has been reviewed to provide greater challenge and fun.

Starting today, the bronze level of the Singapore Kindness Movement award scheme will be extended to secondary one and two students in all secondary schools. Approximately 82,000 students would be participating in the scheme.

A total of 80 kind acts are required to qualify for a bronze award. The award serves to recognise the efforts of the individual in consciously being kind to others. The ultimate goal of the award scheme is really to help the young internalise the value of kindness so that being kind and considerate would be the natural thing to do.

It is hoped that the young would learn to care about the consequences of their own behaviour, in their daily lives. To help this process along, each student who participates in the award scheme would be given an action diary. This action diary acts as both a reference book, as well as a journal for students to pen their kind deeds. It lists simple acts of kindness that the participants can do.

Schools play an important role in helping to prepare children for life. Education is about character building. Teachers have the responsibility to teach values such as kindness, sharing, and contributing to society.

I would also like to encourage parents to be involved in their children's participation in the award scheme. Parents can encourage their children by keeping an attentive eye on their children's actions, and in acknowledging their kind acts. They can also set a good example for their children. Parents' behaviour, whether at home, in the car or outside the home, has great influence on their children.

Pilot schemes of the silver and gold award levels will be introduced in the later half of this year to selected secondary schools. A greater level of commitment in effort would be required from participants at the silver and gold award levels.

The Singapore Kindness Movement will also be developing programmes for the primary school students this year. Acts of kindness should come naturally to children. This ideal should be encouraged in all children through appreciation and nurturing.

I understand that the Singapore Kindness Movement would like to franchise this Movement to all sectors of society. This means that other organisations can become members of the Singapore Kindness Movement and use its general guidelines to start a parallel Movement in their organisations. They can adapt the guidelines to meet their needs. In other words, the Singapore Kindness Movement would give special rights or permission for organisations to run the Movement in a way best-suited to their needs and set-up.

This is an innovative idea which has the potential to get other groups, agencies and companies to adopt the Movement and carry the torch within their own groups. Only when people are committed to the programme can we be sure that it will spread and succeed.

I wish to thank the schools for their strong support of the Singapore Kindness Movement. I am sure that our society will be inspired by the actions of our young in their desire to build a more pleasant living environment.

It is now my pleasure to officially launch the Singapore Kindness Movement Award Scheme.