PM Lee Hsien Loong at the Opening of the Punggol 21 Community Centre

大家好！我看大家今天情绪很好，我不用多做演讲，只要讲两三件事情。第一件，恭喜大家联络所竣工了。联络所已经运作，可以为居民提供服务了。恭喜大家，希望大家可以充分利用这里的设施，充分用这个联络所建造一个温馨的生活环境。今天大家出席开幕活动，就是第一步了，谢谢大家！

第二件事情，很高兴看到榜鹅 21成型了，榜鹅 21计划我们谈了好几年。首先，起步慢了一点，因为当时有经济大衰退，是全球性的问题，所以新加坡的房地产也受到影响。可是，过后我们重新启动，现在很多家庭都搬来了，很多房子都建好了，很多孩子也出生了。所以今天大家高高兴兴聚在一起，不只为了联络所，也是为了榜鹅 21的成功而庆祝，所以再一次恭喜大家。榜鹅 21再接再厉，百尺竿头，更进一步。

第三件事情是把榜鹅 21建好，需要大家共同努力，一起合作，因为一个社区不只是房子，不只是联络所，不只是托儿所，或者学校或基础设施，也是大家的感情、大家的认同感、大家的努力，所建造成的。在榜鹅北，我知道基层领袖努力工作，刘钅梦琳议员十四年来再接再厉，不断地为居民服务，和居民打成一片。所以，今天也要感谢基层领袖，也要感谢刘钅梦琳议员他们的努力。希望他们也会再接再厉，百尺竿头，更进一步。其余的不用说了。这个是好地方、好设施，大家善用它，尽量发挥它。下一次我来榜鹅，希望看到更美好的、更完善的、更成熟的一个社区。谢谢各位。

Friends and residents, thank you very much for coming today! I am very happy to be here today. I just want to say three things which I am happy about.

First, Punggol 21 is taking shape. When we first launched Punggol 21, it took a while to get started because after we launched, there was the Global Financial crisis. Singapore’s economy got affected, people did not buy houses, they held back so the Punggol plans also got held back. But after the Global Financial Crisis we re-launched Punggol 21. We called it Punggol 21 Plus and that has succeeded. Lots of houses being built, lots of families moved in. I see lots of young children, some are born here, some maybe moved here but many of them are here with us today. I am very glad. Thank you very much for making Punggol 21 a success.

Secondly, I am very happy that this CC is completed. It has been a long time in the making. I think it has been operating over the last two years, gradually getting settled in and worked out. I had agreed to come visit it with Penny Low a few months ago but unfortunately I got held back. I got sick and then MM passed away and so many other things came along but I am very happy to be here today to see the building complete, to see everybody using it fully and in good spirits. Congratulations on the completion of your Punggol 21 CC building!

Thirdly, I would like to congratulate Penny Low and her team of grassroots leaders who have worked very hard to make this a success. Penny has been here 14 years now, since 2001, and some of the grassroots leaders have been with her from the beginning, also 14 years and working away. They started from scratch, it was a brand new town, they had to set up everything – the Residents Committee, the network, the facilities, not enough buses, not enough childcare centres, not enough schools, so many problems but they worked at it year after year, and consistently, and I think they have got it, more or less arriving now. The CC is up, next to CC, Tebing Lane, I am told it is very successful. One of these days I will come quietly and try some of the food down there. Around Punggol whether Punggol North or Central or West, all the facilities are taking shape, and it has a lot to do with what the grassroots leaders have done and their efforts. I would like to thank them and I am sure you would also like to thank them too.

I would like to say just one more thing which is that for Punggol to be a success, we need not just the buildings, the roads, the trains and buses, the CCs and all the facilities, but also we need that spirit of togetherness amongst the residents. I know that the residents are working together in order to make it work. For example, at the entrance of the CC, I saw a little community garden. I think your grassroots leaders Mr Low and Sharon, they have been working hard to take care of the garden. There is a big team of community gardeners in Punggol who are with them. So they showed off very proudly their Diamond Award just now from the Community in Bloom project and they have three Diamond Awards. I think I must tell my people in Ang Mo Kio to work a bit harder. There are many other activities too which have become signature events for Punggol. For example, every year on Racial Harmony Day, you have a street parade down the middle of the town. All the residents, kids and schools participate and it becomes a festive occasion for everyone to celebrate together. I think that is the way we would like Punggol to be. That is the way we would like all of Singapore to be. So congratulations to all of you, to the residents, to the grassroots leaders, to the CC and the team who raised the money, who built the CC and who are running the activities. May you go from strength to strength. Maybe I will be able to come back in a few years’ time and see the children a bit bigger, the CC a bit better and Punggol more mature, more successful and the food even better still. Thank you very much indeed. 

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