Those who do well have responsibility to help less fortunate: minister
By Alice Chia
POSTED: 24 Jun 2013 8:28 PM
Participants' exhibits on display at the seminar.
SINGAPORE: Those who do well have a responsibility to reach out and help the less fortunate, said Acting Minister for Social and Family Development and Senior Minister of State of the Ministry of Defence Chan Chun Sing.
He added that the country's meritocratic system provides opportunities for people to do well and hoped they will do their best for the community.
Mr Chan said: "A society cannot just survive and thrive just because the very best succeed, and succeed for themselves. A society will continue to thrive and do even better when the best amongst us remember those who are not so blessed and to extend a helping hand to them when we have succeeded.
“It is indeed the responsibility for all those who have done well in your respective fields, to reach out to those who may be less blessed than us. So this is an important philosophy that we carry in life, that while we abide by the philosophy of meritocracy, of each trying your best to do your best, we must never, never forget to couple that with the same principle, that for those who are more blessed, more will be expected."
Mr Chan was speaking at the launch of an international student seminar exploring the topic of community service on Monday.
It is organised by Singapore's Institute of Technical Education (ITE) and Hong Kong's Vocational Training Council.
Some 600 youths from Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia and Germany are attending the three-day seminar.
Participants also take part in community service projects and share their experiences to inspire other youths to help the needy. The projects also involve tie-ups with voluntary welfare organisations.
Derek Wong, a student at ITE College West, explained his project: "Our project is called the Tree of Life. Basically, we collaborated with World Vision. Our main objective is to get donors to donate certain items for students (in third-world countries), for example, a water filter which costs around S$11, or a pair of shoes which cost around S$21."
Bruce Poh, director and CEO of ITE, said: "The growing concern about the social divide, the have and have-nots pushed us into this direction to talk about community services and social needs. Looking at how the students benefit, and the connections between the students is tremendous. Going forward, we are actually involving more of our partners from other countries as well."
- CNA/xq
