http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/indian-community-working/780498.html
Singapore's Indian community is doing quite well in developing the spirit of doing things together, both for the community and Singapore. This is especially so for the Singapore Indian Development Association (SINDA) and all the other organisations who are involved in the community.
Speaking at the SINDA Community Forum 2013, Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said the self-help agency is reaching out to more students, though there is more that needs to be done in that area.
SINDA is also reaching out to more families and making a determined effort to reach out to the fathers.
Some of SINDA's programmes are also breaking new ground. For instance, the single mothers programme is one of the most successful in the country.
Mr Tharman said all this is the result not just of funding and organisation, but also of the volunteers and ideas coming from the community itself.
He said: "If you think about our principal objective, it is that of helping those who start off with less or those who along the way face setbacks and start falling behind, and this happens in various points in life. This can happen early in life, it can easily happen when kids reach school.
"Things happen, people may just keep falling behind. That's one of the principal things we try to address -- to redress it, help them catch up, help them succeed. Why is community so important in that?
"For a better society, we need a spirit of empathy and fellowship amongst us as citizens in Singapore. People are motivated to pick themselves up and do well when they feel they are standing on their own feet, and also if they feel there is someone there who is able to be with them during their setbacks and their joys. That's what really motivates people to do well -- individually, as families, and sometimes as a whole community."
The SINDA Community Forum 2013 takes stock of the progress made in implementing the proposals put forth in the 2011 strategic review, which studied key issues such as the academic under-performance of Indian students as well as the socio-economic issues affecting Indian families in the country.
Among those who attended the event was SINDA President and Senior Minister of State for Law and Education Indranee Rajah and some 200 community leaders.