Let's get wealthier folk to help less well-off: BG Tan
By Yasmine Yahya
THE long-term solution to helping lower-income groups could lie in encouraging residents and students from wealthier neighbourhoods to volunteer in less-privileged areas.
Brigadier-General (NS) Tan Chuan- Jin, a new PAP candidate in Marine Parade GRC, said this is one of the ideas he has for the Kampung Ubi-Kembangan ward, where he is a prospective MP.
Speaking at the end of a walkabout at Chai Chee market, he noted that residents in the Kampung Ubi-Kembangan ward are from a range of income groups.
Many in Kembangan, for instance, live in landed private estates, while a significant number of one- to three-room rental flats are in nearby Chai Chee.
'Let's see what we can do... whether the community can contribute time, just an afternoon a week, to spend time with kids, looking after them. I think it's helpful to take them out of their environment,' he said.
'You can provide some sort of tuition or activity which they otherwise would not have got from their families. Those are key things. Building a nation really starts from the grassroots - family by family, floor by floor, block by block.'
BG Tan also hopes to deepen the partnership that the community has with schools, which have their Community Involvement Programmes.
'Helping the lower-income groups and less privileged is not just about helping them. It's (also) about helping students grow. I want to make sure those programmes are not just about clocking up the hours, but (about) fulfilling the intent of it,' he said.
BG Tan was accompanied on the walkabout by Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong, who said he was very happy the former army general is on his team.
'From the way he interacts with people and from his approach to service in the ward, I can say the Singapore Armed Forces is also a good training ground for political leaders,' Mr Goh said.
Mr Goh, who noted that campaigning has not officially begun, declined to comment on the opposition's strategy for Marine Parade GRC, but said that as a former prime minister and as Senior Minister, he would be accountable for policies that he implemented.
By Yasmine Yahya
THE long-term solution to helping lower-income groups could lie in encouraging residents and students from wealthier neighbourhoods to volunteer in less-privileged areas.
Brigadier-General (NS) Tan Chuan- Jin, a new PAP candidate in Marine Parade GRC, said this is one of the ideas he has for the Kampung Ubi-Kembangan ward, where he is a prospective MP.
Speaking at the end of a walkabout at Chai Chee market, he noted that residents in the Kampung Ubi-Kembangan ward are from a range of income groups.
Many in Kembangan, for instance, live in landed private estates, while a significant number of one- to three-room rental flats are in nearby Chai Chee.
'Let's see what we can do... whether the community can contribute time, just an afternoon a week, to spend time with kids, looking after them. I think it's helpful to take them out of their environment,' he said.
'You can provide some sort of tuition or activity which they otherwise would not have got from their families. Those are key things. Building a nation really starts from the grassroots - family by family, floor by floor, block by block.'
BG Tan also hopes to deepen the partnership that the community has with schools, which have their Community Involvement Programmes.
'Helping the lower-income groups and less privileged is not just about helping them. It's (also) about helping students grow. I want to make sure those programmes are not just about clocking up the hours, but (about) fulfilling the intent of it,' he said.
BG Tan was accompanied on the walkabout by Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong, who said he was very happy the former army general is on his team.
'From the way he interacts with people and from his approach to service in the ward, I can say the Singapore Armed Forces is also a good training ground for political leaders,' Mr Goh said.
Mr Goh, who noted that campaigning has not officially begun, declined to comment on the opposition's strategy for Marine Parade GRC, but said that as a former prime minister and as Senior Minister, he would be accountable for policies that he implemented.
