SM Lee Hsien Loong at the Official Opening of Buangkok Community Club

Dr Elmie Nekmat, Adviser to Sengkang Central Grassroots Organisations
Patrons, Residents, Volunteers, and Friends of the community

A very good afternoon to everybody.

Very happy to be here this afternoon to celebrate the opening of Buangkok Community Club. I read about it, I heard about it, I know about it, but now I see, my eyes open bigger because it looks grand and splendid.

Community Clubs have played a crucial community building role all over Singapore. They help hold us together as one people. They provide a common space for people, from all walks of life, young and old, to interact with each other and bond with one another. They also allow the Government to reach out to people, to better understand and respond to your needs, and to convey important national messages and priorities to the population.

This has always been the mission of our CCs. Back in the 1950s and 60s when we first started building CCs, they were much smaller and provided just some simple amenities. Sports facilities, actually just a ping pong table and a sepak takraw court, some classrooms for night classes, and maybe one television set at the CC – put high up, locked up when nobody is watching, black and white – for families to come together and watch in the evening, because very few families then had television sets at home.

Today’s CCs are no comparison to what used to be, because of the consistent investment by PA and the Government over the years, and the strong support from the grassroots activists and CCMC members who have worked so hard to raise the funds and improve the activities in the CC. Buangkok CC is our latest and newest one, and purpose-built for its social mission. Take for example your Lifestyle Centre in the CC. It has work pods for working adults, a mini amphitheatre for children, study spaces for youth, and lounge areas for seniors to relax. It is a space designed to be accessible and welcoming to all the residents. And the CC has exciting programmes – you heard from Elmie just now a few them – over 70 different courses catering to all kinds of different interests. You can learn to make snowskin mooncakes. You can take up art and music classes. You can do K-Pop Fitness workouts to liven up your exercise routine. And of course there is a Malay Kompang Group and an Indian Percussion Group – they gave me a very warm welcome just now – which delve into the cultural heritage behind these ethnic music forms.

When you walk into this CC, you cannot help but notice that there is something special – not just next to the Buangkok MRT, but part of a larger integrated development. Residents who come to the CC can enjoy shopping at the Sengkang Grand Mall next door and makan at the hawker centre, because nothing connects Singaporeans better than food. And when the bus interchange next door is completed soon later this year, it will provide you with even more convenience and it will connect the CC even better to residents and to people living a bit further away. All in all, it has a wide range of services to cater to the needs of residents young and old, it is easily accessible, and it is here in the heart of Buangkok.

But while our CCs have seen tremendous changes over the decades, their overriding strategic social goal has not changed. It is to provide a shared space for people of all ages and all races to get together, to deepen our strength of community and belonging – our kampong spirit. And to provide an avenue for the Government to reach out to the people, and vice-versa – to connect us closer together.

This applies across the country, regardless of who the MP is, regardless whether it is a Government ward or an Opposition ward. Because at the end of the day, the objective is to make sure that the people of Singapore are well-served. And that residents in every ward feel a sense of belonging and kinship to the wider community around them.

When we first unveiled the plans for Buangkok CC within this integrated development, it was then in a government constituency. But even after Sengkang GRC changed hands in the last General Election, we proceeded with the CC’s construction works because the Government is committed to improving the lives of every Singaporean, whichever ward you may be living in. I have every confidence that your Grassroots Advisers in Sengkang GRC – Elmie, Pin Min, and Theodora – will continue to do their best to carry out their duties, just as Thiam Poh, Teo Ser Luck, and Koh Juay Meng did before them. They will have the Government’s full backing.

Finally, I would also like to say a big thank you to the staff and volunteers at Buangkok CC. Your hard work has made this possible and made this CC a welcoming and inclusive space for all. And I look forward to seeing many residents enjoying the new facilities, programmes, and the community initiatives here at the CC.

With that, I am happy to declare Buangkok CC officially open!

Thank you very much.