PM Lawrence Wong at Team Nila's 10th Anniversary Carnival

My Parliamentary Colleagues, Minister Grace Fu and SPS Eric Chua
Chairman and CEO of SportSG
Team Nila Volunteers

Good evening!

To all our Muslim friends, Selamat Ramadan, and Selamat Berpuasa. 

Ladies and Gentlemen, it is very good to be here to celebrate Team Nila’s 10th anniversary.  

It is a significant milestone for all of you. It is also a significant milestone for me because Team Nila started when I was at MCCY. 

Remember back then, we were hosting the SEA Games, as well as the ASEAN Para Games in 2015. 

We needed volunteers. But we did not just want volunteers to come. We wanted to create a national volunteer movement in Singapore, with a strong sense of purpose and identity. 

Of course, the movement needed a name. So we decided, since the mascot for the SEA Games was Nila, we would also use Nila for the name of the movement. So that is why all of you are called Team Nila.

I remember when we put out the call for volunteers back then, we were not sure how many people would show up but the response turned out to be overwhelming.

33,000 volunteers signed up in 2015.

With all of you on board, we hosted two spectacular games – the SEA Games and the ASEAN Para Games.

After the games in 2015, we continued to sustain and grow Team Nila.

You helped to support other major sporting events.

And many of you also contributed at other national events, including the National Day Parade.

Today, 10 years later, after Team Nila was formed, look how far we have come and how we have grown.

We now have 50,000 registered volunteers.

Together, you have supported over 2,800 events.

And you have contributed more than 1.5 million volunteer hours.

All of you wear the purple uniforms with pride.

And your contributions, as you saw in the video just now, go beyond sports.

During Covid, for example, when our county was faced with a crisis, we asked for help and many of you stepped forward to support, including distributing masks and hand sanitisers, or even serving as safe distancing ambassadors.

Or when there was a major earthquake in Turkey in 2023, Team Nila volunteers stepped forward to help. And many of you came to pack and sort out donation items for the victims.

In so many different ways, all of you have helped to touch lives and strengthened our community here in Singapore.

Today, to every Team Nila volunteer, I want to say a very big thank you for your dedication and your service. Thank you very much.

For many of you, volunteering with Team Nila has become a way of life.

Like Poh Sim. Poh Sim is one of our first volunteers in 2015, and since then, she has clocked more than 2,000 hours for Team Nila over the last 10 years, from the 2015 SEA Games to more recent events like the Standard Chartered Marathon in 2024. Well done, Poh Sim.

We have veteran volunteers; we have also got relatively new volunteers.  Like Sufian and Lina, alongside their two children Justin and Melody.  They volunteered since last year. They not only volunteer individually; they come together as a family to volunteer with Team Nila. Thank you, well done!

Whether you are veteran or whether you are new, whether you are young or old, all of you are part of our Team Nila family. I hope you will continue to build shared experiences and memories and strengthen your bonds with one another as part of this Team Nila family.

We know many volunteers are keen to do more and we will support you.

We will roll out more training programmes for you so that volunteers can deepen their expertise in areas like sport competition management or event logistics.

We will also nurture and develop more volunteers to be volunteer leaders.  Some of you are prepared to take on more responsibilities like serving as a service manager for specific venues.

With a strong core of volunteers, we can host more top-tier sports events in Singapore. And we can ensure that our athletes will have more opportunities to compete on home ground, with Team Nila cheering on for all of them.

This year, of course, will be an exciting year, 2025.

We will be hosting several major international sports events.

I am sure you know about them. They include the World Aquatics Championships, the first ever in Southeast Asia, here in Singapore. As well as the World Para Swimming Championships, the first in Asia, also held here in Singapore.

There will be exciting opportunities for all of you to contribute – to help run these events to represent Singapore and to leave a lasting impression on our fellow citizens as well as our international guests.

2025 is special also because it is SG60. It is Singapore’s 60th year of independence. 

When we became independent 60 years ago, many people thought that Singapore could not make it.

But we proved them wrong, we defied the odds.

We have shown time and again that there is no obstacle and no crisis that can pull us down. Because as Singaporeans we will fight, and we will overcome every challenge together.

For a country, 60 years is actually quite a short time. But we have made tremendous progress these last 60 years and we still have a lot more to go.

So SG60 this year is a time for us to reflect on our journey, to give thanks for all that we have here in Singapore, and to look ahead and consider what more we can do together.

We have exciting plans ahead. I do not know if you have followed the Budget that we announced recently. I do not know if you have received some of the good news that is coming but it is not just about vouchers.  We also have other measures in the Budget. We have Active SG credits for all Active SG members. We have Culture Pass so that you can also participate in arts and culture in Singapore. And we have longer term measures, to strengthen Singapore, strengthen our economy, strengthen our society and put us in a better position for a future which we can expect to be more turbulent, to be more volatile.

Singapore will face new challenges in our road ahead. But I am confident that we can overcome them together, if we stay strong and united.

We see this spirit of solidarity in all of you, in Team Nila.

Your willingness to step forward to help your fellow Singaporeans; it gives us encouragement.

Because what you do strengthens the bonds that tie us together – as one people, as one nation, and one Team Singapore.

So once again, I would just like to say to everyone here in Team Nila, thank you all for your many contributions! Happy 10th anniversary and let us continue to work together to make a difference and build a better Singapore together! Thank you very much.