PLAN TO PROMOTE IDEAL OF ACTIVE CITIZENS

Mr Harun A Ghani asked the Minister for Community Development if the People's Association has any plan to promote the ideal of active citizens as outlined in the report by the Singapore 21 Committee.

Mr Abdullah Tarmugi: The ideal of Active Citizens has been an important objective of the People's Association (PA) since its establishment in 1960. PA's mission has been threefold: racial harmony, social cohesion, and communication between the people and the Government.

Active citizen participation in community activities and nation building has been, and will remain, PA's modus operandi. To facilitate this, grassroots organisations (GROs) were formed. In the 1960s, Citizens' Consultative Committees and Community Centre Management Committees were formed at constituency level for local communities to meet the welfare and social needs of their constituents. Since the late 1970s, Residents' Committees were first formed to serve residents in HDB neighbourhoods. Today, about 28,000 are serving as committee members of these GROs. Another 170,000 volunteers are actively engaged in the various activity groups under the GROs. These are fine examples of active citizens.

Certainly we need to, and want to, do better. In 1997, nine Community Development Councils (CDCs) were set up at district level. The CDCs are given more authority and resources to initiate and manage projects. They are given matching grants for funds raised for approved projects. Government Ministries and agencies, such as Ministry of Community Development, the Home Team, the schools, as well as voluntary organisations have organised joint projects with the CDCs. More agencies will join in. Through these joint projects, the agencies bring their services closer to the local communities. The local communities feel greater ownership of the services. More residents would help fellow residents in need through the projects, either as volunteers or donors.

PA will also be helping to form more Neighbourhood Committees (NCs) in private estates. This will promote the active citizen spirit amongst residents in private estates, like RCs have done in the HDB estates.

The CDCs, the NCs, the many GROs, plus their network with Government agencies and voluntary organisations, will give our residents many channels to be active citizens. Emphasis remains community self-help and self-reliance towards a caring, gracious and resilient society. With more channels and greater awareness, more of our citizens will become more active. They will bring in new ideas and new energy, and start up new programmes that bring in even more active citizens. This would become a positive cycle towards the active citizens' ideal.