PM Lee Hsien Loong at the Community Emergency Preparedness 30th Anniversary Celebrations

Mr Justin Foo, Chairman, C2E Council EXCO

Grassroots Leaders and Residents

Ladies and Gentlemen

I am happy to be here today to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Community Emergency Preparedness. It is the beginning of activities which are going to take us the whole year and it’s nice to have it here in Ang Mo Kio, in Kebun Baru.

We’ve enjoyed many decades of peace and stability in Singapore. We’ve thrived, we’ve created good jobs for everybody, and we’ve upgraded our living environment, all over Singapore, whether it is Ang Mo Kio, whether it is Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park, whether it is our SERS projects, our MUPs, our new markets done over again. I think we have not done badly.

But what we have done has not been just for the physical estates, the housing, the infrastructure, the bricks and mortar, but also the community – where people know one another, and help one another deal with problems should any emergency arise.

So today is the 30th anniversary – 30 years of Community Emergency Preparedness. What does it mean? It means working with one another and with the Government to cope with fires, with emergencies, civil emergencies, with any mishap. For example, if your neighbour or your family member collapses and needs emergency help, we must learn how to (showing CPR procedure) “and one and two and three and four and five”, how to resuscitate him. And so we can build a friendlier, more cohesive society, and a safer place for all of us to live, and at the same time strengthen the engagement between our different communities, between different races, the different religions, and the people from different backgrounds, to work together as Singaporeans.

When I became an MP nearly 30 years ago in Teck Ghee, one of my first tasks was to encourage our residents to join the Neighbourhood Watch Groups. Some of you who are older may still remember the Programme. We went around, we talked to the residents to keep an eye on your neighbours, make sure if they are out and if something is happening, alert them or alert the police and put a sticker out on your door, so that everybody knows that this is a neighbourhood watch community, and people are watching for one another. We were quite successful! Many residents participated, and then we all felt safer, because you knew that your neighbour was helping to watch over you, and you were helping to watch over your neighbour and there’s a feeling of togetherness and of teamwork.

We went on to new Emergency Preparedness (EP) initiatives and Community Engagement Programmes (CEP). Today, they help us build the same sense of solidarity. So we have citizens on patrol teams, who protect our neighbourhoods, in Ang Mo Kio-Hougang and Yio Chu Kang. We have EP123 Plus! to strengthen our racial harmony and ethnic relations. What is EP123 Plus? It is a new slogan, but quite cute! EP – Emergency Preparedness. So 1 means “learn about Emergency Preparedness and Community Engagement as one family.” 2 means “do patrols in the estate twice a month.” And 3 means “exchange your emergency contact details with three of your neighbours.” So you know three neighbours, each neighbour knows three more, and you know one another. So if anything happens, there’s a network, you can call your neighbour, your neighbour can call his neighbour. So EP-1-2-3, one family, patrols twice a month and exchange contacts with three of your neighbours.

These initiatives will help us to strengthen our social fabric, help us through crises. And it is important – part of our vision of what Singapore should be – not just a nice place with buildings and trees, but also a happy community where people care for one another.

I would like to thank all the volunteers who have worked on our Community Emergency Programmes over these last 30 years. Not just here in Ang Mo Kio, but all over Singapore. Because of you, I think many of our estates, many of our communities, have been safer and have been more harmonious. And so we have enjoyed peace and security for many years.

We have to continue to look after one another. We are in a good position, but don’t be complacent, don’t assume things can’t go wrong. And if anything happens, the Home Team, MINDEF and the Government are well-prepared. But each of us also has to be well prepared, ready for any contingency. Know how to do immediate CPR and resuscitate people. Know how to use a fire extinguisher, make sure you have a fire extinguisher in your home and your torchlight and your little emergency kit and know where it is and make sure the batteries are still good, change the batteries from time to time. So then we can be resilient, each one of us, our community is strong, and we can face the future as one people.

Thank you for building a stronger and more united Singapore, thank you for being here this morning, thank you for participating in the exercise. I think we saved many of the mannequins just now (with reference to the CPR dummy mannequins)! Keep it up, and do it for many more years to come!

Thank you very much!