Transcript of Door-Stop Interview with Minister for Education and Second Minister for Defence Dr Ng Eng Hen at the 2nd Connexion Seminar

Minister Sir, can you share with us how this year's Connexion is different from the first?

The Connexion series basically wants to help National Education practitioners build up skills, tools, capabilities to reach out to younger audiences. And obviously, the new media is a big factor. Not only new media in a sense of internet programmes like Facebook, but also Youtube video channels.

So over the last few years, the number of government agencies has actually stepped up on these activities, and I would say, engaged both the public as well as the NSmen and NSFs, full-time national servicemen, and students, quite effectively and quite innovatively. So the popular series, Every Singaporean Son, which showed 15 recruits going through their Basic Military training, showed actual recruits in a real setting, their spontaneous views and their aspirations. It was a very authentic portrayal and garnered a lot of views and comments and helped people internalise what they experienced. There was also another campaign, our Total Defence Campaigns, where we ask Singaporeans, "What will You Defend?" Make a video about it, make a pledge, and the responses were very gratifying.

First of all, 10,000 people responded in 2009 on what they will defend, what they found precious in Singapore. For some like the younger ones, it was their toys, for some it was the school, and for some, of course, was the country and what they believe in. And the videos required a lot of effort and many of them rallied their family, their friends, to make a video. It took a lot of time. It took a lot of effort. And I would say, generally it showed that there were positive sentiments in terms of nation building. And even though we are quite young - we just celebrated our 45th year - we have gone some way in building a nation which people, the majority of Singapore, treasure and are willing to defend.

Now, these are, of course, isolated instances. We have also, from time to time, both MINDEF and MOE, conducted surveys. Now these surveys are done professionally, which means that they make sure they cover a broad enough sample to make sure that the sentiments, or the results they get, are generally representative of the target audience and the population. And the questions are designed in a way to objectively assess what Singaporeans feel. And the surveys, as recent as the 2009 defence poll, showed that the majority of NSmen and NSFs and the public believe in what Singapore stands for and are willing to defend it. Similarly for our students, they openly declared that they love Singapore, and they like certain aspects of it - our meritocracy, our racial and religious harmony which we have developed, the fact that they can have opportunities and that they can work hard and succeed. And most importantly, the majority said - 9 out of 10 said - they believe they can make it a better place and they are willing to defend it. So I would say that the sense of belonging is very strong. Obviously, we continue to be in this process of nation building. We are relatively still a very young nation, but we should persist and I told practitioners that, from time to time, when there are criticisms and negative sentiments, not to be discouraged.

Questioning is a natural process, it's a natural part of a process of self-discovery and internalisation. In the National Education process, you give out certain messages. But just because you have articulated those messages, it's not the end point. In fact I will be very worried if people said "I believe you" straightaway. Because this process requires you to reflect on what had been said - examine it, question it, even test it, and then internalise it. This takes time. This takes different experiences but thankfully, I think we are quite happy that the surveys show a great sense of belonging and I would encourage NE practitioners to persist in this.

I think we are young and optimistic and we have built something precious, something which Singaporeans are willing to defend. Minister, what will you defend?Well, for me, the most endearing and deepest moment was from my own personal experience - coming from a humble and poor background, and being able to become a doctor, become a surgeon, and then being sent to a top cancer centre in the US. So, for a boy who grew up in Queenstown, a three-room flat, to be able to train aside top surgeons in the leading cancer centres in the US, for me it was a very deep conviction about how our Singapore system works.

And I believe very strongly that our Singapore system must always continue to give opportunities. Whether you are rich or poor, we must make sure that every Singaporean who is willing to work hard, can succeed.

So that is what I will defend.

More Resources

New Media Presents ''NEw Dreams, NEw Challenges, NEw Opportunities'' for National Education

Fact Sheet: Key NE Initiatives on New Media Platforms

Transcript of Minister for Education and Second Minister for Defence Dr Ng Eng Hen's Keynote Address at the 2nd Connexion Seminar