Speech by Dr Amy Khor, Senior Minister of State for Health, at the International Day of Older Persons Opening Ceremony, 1 October 2017

1.     A very good afternoon to all! I am happy to be here today to celebrate the International Day of Older Persons (IDOP) 2017 and to witness the launch of the Seniors Give Thanks! Campaign.  

2.    Singapore’s population is ageing rapidly. While population ageing will bring new challenges, it also provides many opportunities. You can see from the activities here that senior have a lot of energy and vitality. We believe that seniors have much experience and wisdom to share and can serve as a positive force in our society. Therefore the government launched a $3 Billion Action Plan for Successful Ageing in 2015. This plan comprise some 70 initiatives across 12 areas. The Action Plan aims to build “A Nation for All Ages and  focuses on three key areas. 

3.     First, we aim to create more opportunities for Singaporeans to stay active physically, cognitively, economically and socially. We launched a $40M fund to promote senior volunteerism and created over 6,500 opportunities for seniors to volunteer under the National Silver Volunteerism Movement.  Under this movement, we have funded some 15 programmes. This is to encourage more seniors to contribute to the community. RSVP is one of the partner organisations that has promoted volunteerism. We also set up the National Silver Academy last year to enable seniors to learn for the sake of learning, whether it is art, photography, wellness programmes or other life skills. Indeed, we started offering 500 courses with over 10,000 learning places last year. This year, we have increased to over 900 courses with over 21,000 learning places. So far more than 10,200 places have been taken up. 

4.     Second, we aim to build a cohesive and caring society where seniors are respected and supported.  For instance, we are promoting community-based befriending programme. People in the community volunteer to visit seniors who may be living alone or frail. Such befriending programmes are available in many communities and actually many volunteers are active seniors who visit the frailer seniors. We are also building “dementia friendly communities” so that the citizens, businesses and the larger community can be trained to look out for seniors with dementia.

5.     Third, we aim to build an age-friendly city that enables our seniors to live actively and age-in-place confidently.  We are refreshing the way we build our towns, our transport system and parks to make our city senior friendly. For example, we are creating safer traffic junctions through Silver Zones programme. At the silver zones, the traffic light turn red slower so that the elderly can walk at a comfortable pace across the road.  The public transport is also rolling out wheelchair-friendly buses.

6.     The Seniors Give Thanks! campaign which is part of the International Day of Older Persons celebration, is a great initiative to build a caring Kampong for all of us.  In this campaign, seniors are encouraged to thank their loved ones and strengthen relationships through simple acts of saying thank you.  This is a very meaningful campaign. Very often, we think of younger people appreciating elderly and saying thank you to them. As part of building an inclusive community, where seniors are recognised and appreciated, we need many to play a part. Even as the younger generation show appreciation to the elderly, the elderly should not take the young and their loved ones for granted. They ought also to show appreciation to the family members who took effort to care for them. When you go home, remember to thank rest of the family who played crucial role to help you age in place happily. I was very glad to hear that RSVP Singapore, together with the National Council of Social Services, championed the campaign this year.

7.     I was particularly touched to hear the story of David and Annie, of Patrick and Philip, of Mdm Ho and Catherine.  They go out of their ways to support and care for each other. We need to showcase more such examples.

8.     Beyond that, we need the support of all in society to build a nation for all ages, including our community partners. I am delighted to know that various eldercare agencies like Lions Befrienders, Orange Valley, Pacific Activity Centres and O’Joy Care Services are participating in today's event too. By coming together as one sector, we can champion purposeful engagements with seniors and the community.

9.     Finally, I would like to commend the organising committee for the excellent work done. I hope that you will make enjoyable memories today, and take the time to thank your loved ones, as we work together towards a Nation for All Ages.