Harmony-in-Action Fundraising Campaign Cheque Handover on 1 December 2024

Opening Remarks by Mr Edwin Tong, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth & Second Minister for Law, at Harmony-in-Action Fundraising Campaign Cheque Handover on 1 December 2024

Mr Razak Maricar,

Chairman, Rahmatan Lil Alamin Foundation;

Mr Noor Marican,

Deputy Chairman, Humanity Matters &

Vice President, Inter-Religious Organisation Singapore;

Pastor Andrew Khoo,

Chairman, Harmony Circle Coordinating Council;

1. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.
2. I am honoured to be here with you today to witness the handover of funds raised by the Racial and Religious Harmony Circles as part of the Harmony-in-Action (HIA) campaign. This effort exemplifies the generosity as well as the solidarity of our community.
3. I want to start by thanking Humanity Matters for organising today’s meaningful initiative, the culmination of several months of work bringing our youths together from our institutes of higher learning, including students from our madrasahs, to help with the packing of relief supplies today. This packing, putting together relief supplies, are all simple gestures, but I can tell you they have deep and powerful meanings when we see youths come together from different backgrounds, from diverse faiths, different ethnicities, working as one, representing Singapore and showing this solidarity and compassion around the world. And this is really something that warms my heart, I hope it does for you as well, and it tells us what it is like to be so special in Singapore. 
4. And indeed, the HIA campaign, started in October this year, aimed to rally our religious communities and the public in support of the Rahmatan Lil Alamin Foundation’s (RLAF)’s third fundraising appeal. These funds will provide very important, vital humanitarian assistance to affected communities in Gaza. 
5. And I think we all share in the deep sense of wrong that has happened in Gaza. Never mind the historical and political differences; I think we are all united in understanding that what has happened to women, to children, to innocent lives, is not correct. And I think we have come together in this way to do what we can.

Common Purpose, Shared Humanity

6. I am pleased to note that after two months – only two months – of fundraising, more than half a million dollars ($500,000) has been raised. This in itself is testament to the compassion that Singaporeans feel. But I believe that more than just the amount itself, the message goes further.
1. First, it shows how people of different religious communities have come together to support this campaign, regardless of background, with decisiveness, and a singular unity of purpose behind what they do.
2. Second, and I was very heartened to see that a whole range of different organisations contributed to the HIA campaign. And this is not just the apex religious organisations, because typically you might say, well perhaps it’s somewhat easy for the apex religious organisations to come forward. But we saw many individual churches, temples and mosques that, themselves having heard about this initiative, took the initiative to come forward.
3. Many of them, like Khalid Mosque, Sree Ramar Temple, Grace Bible-Presbyterian Church took the initiative to make an assessment themselves and organise their own fundraisers, found a way to best to reach out to their communities and membership, and found their own ways to raise funds. Some included the distribution of biryani and cookies to support the campaign, in close partnership with the Geylang Serai and Siglap Harmony Circles.
4. On this note, I want to say a big thank you to the late Haji Alla’udin, previous chairman of Khalid Mosque. In fact, just the night before he fell sick, I was with him and he spoke to me about this campaign. And I know how much he would have wanted to be here. I want to thank ex-chairman, the late Haji Alla’udin for all the efforts, and for his leadership of Khalid Mosque. And I must say that we all take part in campaigns and the one common unifier is always food. On that note, I think everyone who’s been to Khalid Mosque and had the biryani there will know how much through food we are united: different backgrounds, different faiths, different ethnicities but bound together by that special Khalid Mosque biryani. Bless Haji Alla’udin.
7. Beyond the campaign itself, the Racial and Religious Harmony Circle also came together to organise the Peace and Harmony Dialogue on 26 October this year. It was strongly supported by our religious communities, and I was very touched to see the Inter-Religious Organisation (IRO) present in full force, leading the prayers for peace and leading the well wishes for what is happening around the world; not just in Gaza, but many other places of conflict around the world, to be a beacon of peace and example to other parts of the world.
8. These efforts I believe underscore a very fundamental truth about all of us here in Singapore: that we are a small nation, but we have such a big heart.
9. And I am so proud of the campaign because it’s not about the money that was raised, it’s about the efforts that we have put in and the care and compassion that we have as one people in Singapore. So I want to express my heartfelt thanks and warm gratitude to all religious groups that have come together, worked together, thought of ideas together, reached out together with a common purpose and supported the HIA campaign. Thank you very much to all of you.

Singapore’s Commitment to Peacebuilding and Alleviating Suffering

10. I want to say something about the efforts we have taken as a country, as far as this Gaza conflict is concerned. We may not have all the answers, but we do hope that a solution can be found – if we can find one quickly – to stop the conflict, to stop the suffering, I think we are all united by that. What we are perhaps not clear about is about how we get there. And how we get there is often marked by complex history, complex ideology; some of which we know, much of which we may not understand fully because we are not part of it. But I think we are bound by the fact that whatever is the background of the conflict, we want to find a solution to this, and we want the conflict to stop.
1. In Singapore, over the last year or so, we have raised S$18 million over five tranches of aid to help the humanitarian relief efforts in Gaza.
2. As a Government, we have also partnered with our partners in the region, including Egypt, Jordan, Cyprus and the UAE. With their support, we are able to do more than just give financial aid. We partner with them and we can bring supplies in high-risk airdrop operations right to where it is needed the most, directly.
3. Beyond immediate relief, we also want to think of a day when the Palestinian Authority’s capacity to stand on their own will be ready. And so we have set up an Enhanced Technical Assistance Package, a S$10 million commitment, to prepare the Palestinian Authority for their eventual statehood.
1. These and other very principled diplomatic stances that we have taken have always been focused on one thing: what is in Singapore’s best interests, such as, how do we ensure that we act consistently on clear paths of principle to ensure fairness and equality and to ensure that should one day, should the shoe be on the other foot, that we will also expect our neighbours, the people around us, to also stand on principle and support us. So, these and other examples of what we have done in Singapore show us the way forward and show us why it is important to act in a principled manner.

Strengthening Singapore’s Social Fabric

11. Beyond these initiatives, I think the relief and the various programmes that we have set up in Singapore also stand for one thing: they show that Singaporeans can come together for a good cause, and this itself is so important in strengthening our own fabric, strengthening our own society, and ensuring that the bonds between us, with different backgrounds, in different groups, different faiths coming together, can be strengthened. I think this is so important.
1. That is why initiatives like the HIA, the kampong spirit that we see in here, the shared experiences especially among our youths, all are very meaningful.
2. I remember one programme, between a mosque and a church, where we had a very strong blood donation exercise. It was so meaningful to me, and I think I recognise some of you here who had participated in that. Young people came together and planned for it, which really sent a very powerful message.
12. I hope that more of this can be done. Whatever is the conflict elsewhere, we must always ensure that our own fabric, our own tapestry and our own society remains strong, remains bound together, and like the emcee said just now, we are rojak because we are special. Each of us bound by that special sauce. But each ingredient, each constituent element of that rojak – which stands for our society – is special, unique and distinct. But collectively, we are so much greater than the sum of our parts. And I think that is a great analogy for what we do, and what we have achieved and what we stand for in Singapore.

Recognising the Contributions of Harmony Circles, RLAF and Humanity Matters

13. On that note, let me thank RLAF for readily agreeing to incorporate the HIA campaign into your third fundraising appeal. Your efforts, your collaboration, and your openness in welcoming all to help in these efforts, has been a key driver in our success.
14. Together, we have shown that when Singaporeans come together, we can truly make a difference, not just here in Singapore but have an impact elsewhere around the world. In so doing, we strengthen our solidarity, our cohesion, and our relations as one Singapore so much more.
15. I thank all of you for being here. I will hopefully go around and say thank you personally to all of you as you are packing these packages. But I want you to know that this is deeply appreciated, and a very strong part of what we stand for in Singapore is manifested in all of your efforts.
16. Thank you very much.