Parish of Christ Church’s 85th Anniversary and Fundraising Dinner – Speech by Mr K Shanmugam, Coordinating Minister for National Security and Minister for Home Affairs

Archbishop Titus Chung

Reverend Canon Steven Asirvatham

My parliamentary colleague, Alvin

Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen

1. I’m extremely happy to be here for the Parish of Christ Church’s 85th anniversary dinner.

2. For 85 years, this Parish has served beyond your congregation.

3. As you heard from the Archbishop, the Christ Church Secondary School, was set up; Singapore’s first Tamil kindergarten.

4. And it has been supporting residents, and beyond residents, many others, including migrant workers, for the past 25 years.

5. And the belief and desire is for the Canon Samuel Baboo Block to carry this work forward.

Singapore’s Approach to Religious Harmony

6. Anniversaries also remind us that, you know, as we look around the world, and we look at Singapore,  the harmony that we have here is not to be taken for granted.

7. In Singapore, we are in a good place. Our surveys regularly show nearly two-thirds of Singaporeans, 65% rated racial and religious harmony as “high” or “very high” – two in three.

8. And more than half of Singaporeans said that Singapore’s religious, ethnic and cultural diversity makes it a better place to live.

9. Meanwhile, we see around the world, people using religion and ethnicities to divide within societies.

10. We are not automatically immune to these forces.

11. Through social media and the Internet, our people are more exposed to the happenings around the world and these sorts of ideas too.

12. We have, however, maintained Singapore a very precious peace, and I ask you to bear with me as I share a few basic principles on how we have achieved it, because it’s incumbent on all of us as Singaporeans to continue the work, so that our next generations can continue to inherit a Singapore that has this kind of religious and racial harmony.

13. First, while the state is secular, we recognise that religion is a very powerful force.

14. We don’t bring religion into politics or politics into religion in a very obvious way.

15. At the same time, because of the power of religion, we recognise the good work that can be done.

16. And in reality, many of us – those of us who consider ourselves to be religious, will inevitably be informed by our religious beliefs and values, in the way we look at political values and systems.

17. And not just political values and systems, but also how we approach society.

18. And really, the question is how do we make sure that we can have that without it crossing the line?

19. Because someone’s religious principles may be incompatible with another person’s religious principles.

20. And if we allow a free play in politics, then the bigger groups will be the ones which will win out, and the smaller groups will then have to resort to violence as we see elsewhere.

21. So we have to keep to a certain frame, where we say: be informed by your religious principles, work with your religious principles.

22. But we have to have a framework of secular values so everyone can feel it’s equal rather than whose religion is superior. We don’t want that argument in politics.

23. And within that, if you look at, say for example, Ministry of Home Affairs. In so much of our work, we find that churches and others play a hugely important role.

24. Prisons, for example, somebody goes into prisons. In Singapore, we have one of the lowest rates of recidivism, which means whether they get back into prison again – it’s 26%. Comparable rates in New Zealand, Australia, any other places, are somewhere between 50% and 75%, people who go in to prison go back again.

25. Now, each person who is saved from going to prison or going back to prison, is a life saved.

26. And who helps in that? We try to give a lot of scaffolding, a lot of support, for the prisoners when they are in prison.

27. And I really encourage churches  to come in and talk to the prisoners – those who are willing to be helped; because I find that family, social support, giving them a basis of education and work support so that when they come out, there are jobs, and a framework of religious support, is tremendously helpful to bring them back from a life of crime.

28. This is just one example, whether you talk about drugs, whether you talk about prisons, whether you talk about so many other areas in community work, we find that those who are involved with churches and other religious establishments often are the most committed to helping the rest of society.

29. And I think it will be a tremendous loss if we say that cannot be done.

30. And that is done in Singapore – we work in partnership, and that has been very, very helpful.

31. Second, is a point I alluded to, second major principle we adopt – equality between religions.

32. Simply because if we say one religious principle overrides the other, you know what happens.

33. It’s the same as why we all speak English, even though Chinese forms 74% of the population.

34. And in any other country, when an ethnic group is 74% of the population, there is only one official language – which is that of the majority.

35. That’s so whether it’s Germany, or France, or England, or US, or Malaysia or any other country.

36. But it’s different in Singapore – because with English, we all feel equal.

37. Third, we create a common space, regardless of religion, race, mutual respect among faiths.

38. And we back these principles up with law, so that if red lines are crossed, we move in with policy and with enforcement.

39. And with that, we have been able to achieve a very high degree of tolerance and harmony.

40. But you know, you can put in laws to say what people shouldn’t do. You shouldn’t attack another religion. You can’t, in the name of free speech, go and burn the Quran or the Bible, as you can in the US.

41. But because of their gun control laws or lack of it, you do that, somebody might also come and shoot you.

42. Whereas here, no guns are available, but we also don’t allow you to burn any holy book or run down any other religion.

43. But such laws can keep peace, but they cannot create harmony. They cannot create a feeling of friendliness or brotherhood, nor can they engender respect.

44. So that is where the religious and community leaders, all of you here, have a central and crucial role. You set the tone. Religious leaders guide your congregations. You show by example how faith can strengthen both individuals and the whole of society in Singapore.

45. When individual communities reach out in service of others, that builds goodwill, it deepens understanding, and it gives us a tremendous social infrastructure.

46. Infrastructure is not just buildings and roads. Infrastructure is the bonds we have across races, across religions and within communities, and that infrastructure can only be built by trust, by reaching out, by helping each other, and religious institutions play a tremendously important role in that.

47. It’s no less important than economic infrastructure or physical infrastructure.

48. You can have buildings, you can have roads, you can have everything else, but if your people are fighting amongst themselves then they would serve no purpose.

49. Another example is the commitment to safeguard religious harmony. That was launched in 2019.

50. The goal of that initiative was to confirm and foster our shared values – we may have different values, but there will be a number of values which are shared, and increase the culture of consideration and mutual understanding between us.

51. That is also why we built Harmony Circles in every constituency. These are the platforms where leaders meet, they talk, they build trust in peacetime.

52. So that if ever something happens, there is a huge reservoir of goodwill that has been built up, like a bank you can draw upon, and they can come in and help when called upon.

53. This Parish, Parish of Christ Church has done this through the Moulmein-Cairnhill Harmony Circle, and your wider community partnerships.

54. And I’ve looked up a number of things they have been doing. A lot of work has been done over the years, as I’ve said, both within the constituencies, amongst the residents, as well as reaching out to foreign workers, in the spirit of humanity, they are also our brothers and sisters.

55. And in that spirit, a lot of work has been done by the church with priests, young men and women who come do the work, and have even done or give them common lunches at Perumal Temple at Serangoon Road, helped them tour Singapore.

56. And I understand POCC is also part of the Alliance of Indian Missions, which works closely with the MCCY to promote integration and closer ties within the Indian community.

57. These are all important acts. They don’t get screaming headlines, but you know, these are the building blocks of the social infrastructure.

58. Every bridge is important, every block is important, every act is important. Each time we do this, we build a further act of kindness, consideration, and we build the social infrastructure.

Conclusion

59. You have stood strong for 85 years. Congratulations on this milestone.

60. What stands out is how long you have served, how well you continue to serve in a way that strengthens your congregation and society.

61. I encourage you to continue the good work, to uphold faith, foster unity, and help protect what is precious to all of us – a harmonious, cohesive Singapore.

62. Thank you very much.