First ACCORD F&C and EI Council Meetings Strengthen Support for National Service

The first ACCORD Family and Community Council meeting was co-chaired by Minister of State for Defence Dr Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman (fifth from right) and Senior Vice-President of Banyan Tree Ms Claire Chiang (sixth from right).

The Advisory Council on Community Relations in Defence (ACCORD) Family and Community (F&C), and Educational Institutions (EI) Councils held their inaugural meetings at SAFRA Toa Payoh today. The F&C Council meeting was co-chaired by Minister of State for Defence Dr Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman and Senior Vice-President of Banyan Tree Ms Claire Chiang. The EI Council meeting was also co-chaired by Dr Maliki, together with Senior Minister of State for Education Ms Indranee Rajah.

The F&C Council, comprising representatives from various family and community organisations, women's groups, grassroots, and related government agencies, will form four working groups to look into strengthening and recognising family and community support for National Service (NS), enhancing outreach to women through women's organisations, and reaching out to New Citizens and Permanent Residents to support defence and NS.Noting the importance of strong family and community support for NS, Council member Mrs Joni Ong, President of I Love Children Organisation, said, "Family and community support is crucial for our servicemen to do their best, and the F&C Council is a platform where we can look into strengthening this support." She added, "Recognising our servicemen for their contributions will encourage their commitment towards NS."With regard to enhancing outreach to women, Mrs Laura Hwang, former President and current Board member of the Singapore Council of Women's Organisation, said, "We will explore various channels to better engage women on NS and increase their awareness about what goes on during NS. Some possible options include through forums and dialogues."The EI Council, comprising various leaders of the educational sector and youth influencers, will form five working groups to address several areas, namely, enhancing mental and physical preparedness of pre-enlistees for NS, encouraging participation in the SAF Volunteer Corps, and increasing outreach to schools, including privately funded institutions, foreign system schools and higher educational institutions.

Principal and CEO of Temasek Polytechnic, Mr Boo Kheng Hua, welcomes the focus on preparing pre-enlistees for NS. "It is essential for our pre-enlistees to understand the need for defence so that they can enter NS with a positive mind-set." On the physical aspect of the preparation of pre-enlistees, he shared, "Being physically conditioned for the rigours of military training is also vital and we can look into programmes to help pre-enlistees strengthen their physical fitness."Prof Cheong Hee Kiat, President of UniSIM pointed out that the engagement of servicemen continues even after their completion of full-time NS. "We can look into offering better support for full-time NSmen to ease their transition back to schools after two years of NS, and to continue to engage them on the need for defence while they are back in school."Mrs Lucy Toh, Principal of St Andrews' Secondary School, spoke about the support for NS and Total Defence (TD) from the community and schools, and increasing outreach to primary and secondary schools. "It's heartening to see the community and schools show strong support for NS and TD. We can look into the possibility of having a National Education (NE) or TD cohort experience for primary and secondary students. Currently, primary five students attend the National Day Parade NE Shows while all primary four students participate in a common activity to promote racial harmony."The ACCORD F&C and EI Councils are two of the three councils formed after the restructuring of ACCORD, and serve as platforms for better engagement of the family, community and educational institutions on NS issues, as well as to strengthen collaboration between the community and MINDEF and the SAF.

The first ACCORD Educational Institutions Council meeting was co-chaired by Dr Maliki (fourth from right) and Senior Minister of State Ms Indranee Rajah (fifth from right).