Singapore Government Press Release

Media Division, Ministry of Information and The Arts

36th Storey, PSA Building, 460 Alexandra Road, Singapore 119963.

Tel: 3757794/5

Mr Chan Soo Sen, Parliamentary Secretary (Community Development & PMO)

Mr Edward Quah, Chairman, Bizlink

Mr Benedict Cheong, CEO, NCSS

Ladies & gentlemen

I am very pleased to be here this morning for the official opening of Bizlink Centre’s new premises.

Bizlink Centre was pioneered by my Ministry and the then Singapore Council of Social Service back in 1986 with the setting up of the first production workshop and the Vocational Assessment and Job Placement Centre in Singapore. The aim was to give the disabled a chance to be economically productive and contribute to Singapore’s growth by helping them find employment. In 1995, Bizlink Centre was registered as a company limited by guarantee. Its services have expanded to include identification of people with disabilities who are able to benefit from vocational training; public education programmes to promote the employment of people with disabilities; business development, a centralised marketing programme for sheltered workshops; as well as information and referral services for people with disabilities.

The effort and hard work put in by Bizlink are indeed commendable. Bizlink has helped the Government fulfill its aim of encouraging and assisting people with disabilities to live within the community, to be independent and to provide them with opportunities to achieve their potential. Your work has helped to show that being disabled does not mean one becomes a burden to society and the object of sympathy. You have given hope, support and encouragement to many disabled.

Bizlink Centre used to be located in a residential area. Since Bizlink is now re-located in a flatted factory, your clients, particularly those working in your production workshop, will now feel like regular workers in a proper factory environment. They can mix with other factory workers from neighbouring factories, and eat and interact with them in the same canteen during the lunch hour. All these will help in the integration of the disabled into our society.

I am glad to learn that Bizlink Centre has received requests from its new neighbours for their staff to visit Bizlink and see for themselves what people with disabilities are capable of. This will help raise awareness on the potential of people with disabilities. This fulfils one of the original aims of Bizlink Centre’s workshop which was to demonstrate the capabilities of people with disabilities.

Another advantage that Bizlink reaps from being sited in an industrial setting is that it will now find it easier to place its clients for job trial, work preparation and on-the-job training, as it has a ready and convenient pool of factories in the vicinity to tap on. There will now be fewer transportation problems between Bizlink and their place of work, a widening of the scope of jobs available for training of the disabled, as well as easier supervision of those placed out on job trial.

I am glad to announce that Bizlink has embarked on a joint project with Singapore Aerospace Manufacturing (SAM), a subsidiary of the Singapore Technologies Group, to manufacture precision machining parts. SAM will bring advanced CNC lathe and other types of advanced machines into Bizlink and SAM staff will provide the expert management needed for the project. This project will not only give Bizlink Centre high value-added work, it will also show that with the necessary training, Bizlink’s employees are capable of performing high precision jobs. The project will increase Bizlink’s revenue, enable it to pay better salaries to its clients and expand its workshop projects.

As the Singapore economy matures and moves towards the use of more technology to replace expensive labour, traditional labour-intensive jobs, including jobs which many persons with disabilities are now doing, will move to countries where labour is cheaper. This presents a new challenge to Bizlink to find alternative types of employment for its clients. Solutions involve the training and re-training of people with disabilities, including training at an early age, such as in special schools, where more focus needs to be given to the use of information technology. I urge Bizlink to do more to promote your services to the community, as there may still be people with disabilities who do not know of Bizlink and its work and that Bizlink can be their helpline to an independent and fulfilling life. I am confident that Bizlink Centre will rise up to these new challenges and my best wishes for the success of the Centre.

And now it gives me great pleasure to declare the Bizlink Centre open.