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

Tel: 3757794/5

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SPEECH BY MR ABDULLAH TARMUGI

MINISTER FOR COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

AT THE ROTARY CLUB OF CHANGI CHARITY DINNER

IN AID OF JAMIYAH CHILDREN�S HOME

FRIDAY, 10 DEC 99, 7.30 PM

Good evening

Mr Wong Khen Jee, President, Rotary Club of Changi

Mr Abdul Karim Maidin, Chairman, Jamiyah Children�s Home

Ladies and Gentlemen

I am happy to join you at this Rotary Club of Changi charity dinner in aid of the Jamiyah Children�s Home.

I must commend the Rotary Club of Changi for its noble effort in raising funds for the Jamiyah Children�s Home. Your donation of a passenger van is very timely, as the Home needs to ferry the school-going children between the Home and their respective schools. Presently, the children travel to school by public transport and this is not ideal for the younger ones. On behalf of the beneficiaries, I thank all contributing members of the Rotary Club of Changi for their generosity.

I would also like to congratulate Jamiyah for its good work. It has been providing many welfare services to the community regardless of race and religion, since its founding in 1932. This �colour-blind� approach is something all Singaporeans can be proud of.

The Jamiyah Children�s Home has given its residents, who are there due to unfortunate family circumstances, a semblance of a normal childhood, by taking care of them, having your volunteers share with them and give them the emotional support that all children need.

With the help rendered by Jamiyah, these children are able to attend school like other children. Given the right encouragement, counselling and support, I believe that these children can grow up to become useful and responsible citizens.

I�ve been informed by Jamiyah that the children in its Home

have done reasonably well in school. Last year, four sat for their �O�

levels. One of them is now in junior college, two have gone to

polytechnics and one went to ITE. This year, twelve sat for their PSLE.

Ten of them have succeeded in proceeding to secondary schools. I am

citing these examples to show you that children from Homes are full of

potential and they certainly deserve all the support we can give them.

This is where, civic organisation like the Rotary Club of Changi

can come in to assist in raising funds for such Homes. In Singapore,

although we have self-help groups looking after the needs of specific

communities, we are glad to see civic organisations like the Rotary Club

fund-raising to support voluntary agencies belonging to an ethnic

community. I think this is most commendable. This �colour-blind�

approach augurs well for Singapore.

In multi-racial Singapore, we cannot afford to draw hard ethnic lines

and be divided amongst ourselves based on our respective faiths. We have

managed to have a stable society because we do not allow emotive issues

like race and religion to overwhelm our reason and national cohesion. We

must continue to enhance the racial and religious harmony that we have

enjoyed all these years.

In conclusion, I would like to express my deep appreciation to the Rotary Club of Changi, its members, and everyone who has helped in one way or other, to make this fund raising project a success. I would like to congratulate the golfers who have won prizes. I hope you had an enjoyable game.

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