Racial Harmony Day (Chinese: 种族和谐日) is celebrated annually on 21 July in Singapore. The event is to commemorate the 1964 Race Riots, which took place on 21 July 1964.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racial_Harmony_Day)
You can read more on the race riots here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1964_Race_Riots
For the lower secondary, the deadline for the submission of entries for the RHD video competition is over. Watch this space as we showcase these videos! Winning entries will also be shown during the National Day Concert! (Depending on the h1n1 situation, the national day concert may or may not take place.)
This week during your contact time, you will be learning more about the different races, as well as penning your reflections. Best reflections win attractive prizes! Give your creative best!
Now, let's take a look at an interesting and relevant article:
Racial harmony is not a given
Both touch on threat of terrorism and the need to stay dedicated to living peacefully
By Jeremy Au Yong
July 19, 2009
THEY spoke separately on Saturday at different events to different crowds.
But both Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had the same stark reminder for Singaporeans: Do not take racial harmony for granted.
The harmony Singapore had worked so hard to build could be destroyed by a single flashpoint, like a terrorist attack, they warned.
Speaking at the National Orange Ribbon Celebrations in Bishan, MM Lee told the crowd he would dispense with the speech prepared for him by one of the ministries.
The Minister Mentor went on to speak passionately for half an hour about the challenges Singapore faced from its earliest days, to build trust between the races.
He said the first important decision the Government made was to break up the old racial enclaves and scatter Singaporeans among neighbours of various races when it resettled them in the public housing estates it built.
Singapore has come a long way since but MM Lee stressed on Saturday that it was not yet a nation.
'Over time we have become one community with many races, many cultures... Are we a nation yet? I would not say we are,' he said. 'We are in transition. But we will always progress provided we know where we are and what we have to do to get there.'
To drive home his point, he even took aim at the multi-racial performances at the event. They were a contrived effort which represented an ideal. 'This is an ideal which we may never completely reach, but because we have this ideal, we will continue to make progress,' he said.
Over at Bishan, MM Lee unveiled a 9-feet tall star-shaped structure containing 150,000 little paper stars, each one with a Singaporean's written pledge to live in harmony. An inscription on the structure carried MM Lee's own pledge: 'Harmony is a base for stability, growth and progress.'
(http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_405233.html)
Any comments? Feel free to share them!
The MOE Racial Harmony logo is in the shape of a heart, representing both the brotherhood of Singaporeans and the deep emotional, visercal bond that we all share. Red is also the colour of passion and energy, representing how we as a country are moving forward and boldly embracing our challenges and future.
This heart is also made up of four people, all joined together in a joyous embrace in a collective dance as they live in harmony. Where they have joined hands, there is a wonderful coming together of energy and efforts, and the yellow represents a bright light shining forth that illuminates our way and progress forward into the future.
(http://www.ne.edu.sg/rh_website.htm)
