尚达曼总统在2024年新春招待会上的讲话“深化我们的多元文化”
https://singaporeccc.org.sg/media_room/deepening-our-multicultureism-transcript-of-remarks-by-president-tharman-shanmugaratnam-at-the-spring-reception-2024/
各位部长、国务部长、市长、议会秘书、议会议员，
新加坡华族文化中心主席黄绍权先生，
新加坡宗乡会馆联合总会会长蔡永康先生，
蔡天宝先生，新加坡华族文化中心创会主席兼宗乡总会名誉会长
宗乡总会理事会成员及新加坡华人文化中心董事局成员
大使
女士们，先生们
1. [用中文致辞。]
2. 我和夫人很高兴再次出席新加坡宗乡会馆联合总会和新加坡华族文化中心的联合庆典。 这是一个春季招待会，是华人社区团聚的时刻，也是我们不同社区之间团结的时刻。
3. 我赞扬 Ng Siew Quan 先生和 Thomas Chua 先生的深思熟虑的演讲。 你们两个组织都以互补的方式寻求推广新加坡华族文化并促进我们多元化社区之间的团结。 这样做，他们正在帮助加强我们的国家认同。
4. 正如蔡先生所指出的，新加坡宗乡会馆联合总会（宗乡会馆）正在进军新领域，并以现有优先事项为基础。 您希望帮助老年人驾驭数字设备现在用于多种用途的世界。
重要的是，您想要促进可持续生活，并打算动员您的年轻成员提出倡议和想法来传播保护自然环境的精神。
5. 重要的是，你们继续建设一个包容和富有同情心的社会，并加强种族和谐。 这是您多年来一直在做的工作。 事实上，这在过去几年中非常明显，并且您正在继续这项工作。 例如，新加坡广东会馆、永春会馆等会馆在疫情期间非常积极地支援各阶层、各族群的弱势群体。
6. 新加坡华族文化中心（SCCC）一直与您的合作伙伴积极、富有创意地合作，以保护和弘扬充满活力的新加坡华族文化。
7. 黄绍权先生所提到的建立一个全面的本地中华艺术文化在线资源库的倡议，将帮助我们的年轻一代了解和重新发现我们本地中华文化的优势和独特之处——不仅仅是文化 传统意义上的，而是社区的实践和习惯以及我们的流行文化。 这是一个非常好的举措。
8. 与此同时，新加坡华族文化中心一直积极培育新加坡的多元文化。 您一直在促进人们更好地了解我们每个社区的文化和价值观，包括我们共同的价值观。 重要的是，SCCC 还一直在促进新加坡不同文化的艺术家和团体之间加强交流与合作。
9. 宗乡总会和新加坡华族文化中心默默地做的事情，没有大张旗鼓，没有敲锣打鼓，是很重要的。 这是我们发展国家认同的一部分。
10. 尊重我们多元化的传统和生活方式是新加坡和平多元文化的基础。 这是基础——尊重不同种族、文化和宗教。
11. 作为一个独立国家，我们现在正处于一个发展阶段，已经过去了六十年，我们可以在此基础上，在我们作为一个民族的历史和经验的基础上，走得更远，深化我们的多元文化主义。
12. 我们的多元文化主义的深化有两个方面。 首先，我们必须保持并加强新加坡多元文化的活力。 其次，促进不同文化的更大程度的交叉，以及在彼此文化中的更大程度的合作和参与。
13. 挑战在于实现这两个目标，而不是以牺牲另一目标为代价来实现其中一个目标。 我们不需要也不应该为了深化多元文化主义而牺牲或淡化我们各自的文化。 如果我们这样做，我们的心跳就会减弱。 但我们也不应该生活在不同的文化领域，以保持我们独特的文化的活力和强大。 我们必须促进这种交叉，以便我们的每种文化在不断发展的同时吸收其他文化的影响，这些影响来自新加坡的多元文化环境。
14.我们必须放眼长远。 想象一下 10 年、20 年、30 年后我们想要的新加坡，以及我们想要成为的人。
15. 新加坡多元文化的深化将有助于我们增强每个传统的独特特征，包括新加坡华人、新加坡马来人、新加坡印度人和其他传统文化。
补充。 它将增强我们每个传统的新加坡特色。 它还将有助于发展更大的文化灵活性，特别是对于越来越需要与周围世界接触的新一代新加坡人。 但最重要的是，它将增强我们作为新加坡人的身份，并在未来几十年加强我们的社会和谐。
16. 事实上，我们看到了这方面非常令人鼓舞和富有创造性的努力。 我和我的妻子最近参加了新加坡华乐团的春季狂想曲音乐会，这是一场迎接农历新年的年度音乐会。 这是一个充满活力的夜晚，一场新加坡华族文化的庆典。
17. 有一个项目特别独特——它是对中国传统新年歌曲“大地回春”的新鲜演绎。 它是由一位才华横溢的年轻新加坡人 Dayn Ng Chee Yao 创作的。 Dayn 毕业于 NAFA 和皇家音乐学院，之后获得 NAC 奖学金前往伯克利音乐学院（西班牙）深造。
18. 他对《又是春天》进行了全新的演绎，保留了原来的旋律，但在旋律中融入了不同的新加坡民族节奏和新加坡马来、印度和中国风格的轻快节奏。 这不仅仅是campur-campur。 原来的旋律依然存在，它所创造的优雅和内心的激动，但带有多元文化的味道。 由新加坡华乐团精心创作并以非常吸引人的方式演奏。
19. 这是一种方法，我相信它有很大的希望——保留我们各自的文化，让它们保持活力，但注入其他新加坡文化的元素。
20. 这不是唯一的方法。 我们还看到第二种方法，即来自不同社区的艺术家之间进行更深入的合作，开发新的音乐、舞蹈和歌曲的整体作品，同时保留我们不同传统的独特元素。 不是简单地将所有东西融合在一起，使原始文化变得面目全非，而是编织出一幅新的布料，同时明显地保留了我们不同文化的不同线索。
21. 例如，新加坡华族文化中心几年前与巴斯卡艺术学院合作，推出了中国经典民间故事《梁祝》的全新改编版本。 巴斯卡艺术学院制作了该项目，结合了中国乐器、印度婆罗多舞者和粤剧艺术家。 音乐由世界著名的印度作曲家和中国本土艺术家创作。 再说一次，这不仅仅是坎普尔坎普尔。 你可以看到不同传统的线索，每个传统都有自己的真实性，但以一种非常吸引人的方式编织在一起。
22. 第二种方法的另一个例子是来自不同社区的艺术家之间合作创造新的形式，新加坡华族文化中心几年前设立了一个奖项以鼓励跨文化歌曲创作。 2019 年的获奖作品是一首马来华语歌曲。 该歌曲由 Jamiel Said 制作，并与林伟斌先生共同作词。 他们想创作一首反映南利和邓丽君影响的歌曲。 他们称之为 Ku Mahu Zaihu (Ku Mahu 在乎)，是马来语和中文单词的组合，意思是“我想关心”。 再次，由Regine Han 和Jamiel Said 精心创作并用中文和马来语演唱。 在歌曲中你可以感受到南利和邓丽君的灵魂。
23. 这就是第二种方法——我们合作，融合不同的传统，创造一种新的结构，但我们不同传统的线索仍然清晰可见。 确保整个表演悦耳、悦目、悦心。
24. 还有第三种方法，我们也可以在未来几年中发展这种方法，而且我认为值得更加重视。 这是为了保留我们不同的传统，但让我们跨越彼此的文化，无论是在音乐、舞蹈还是艺术方面。 我们可以恭敬地学习彼此文化的复杂性，寻求实践并精通它们。 对于一些人来说，当他们进入另一种新加坡文化时，甚至可以培养天赋和精湛技艺。
25. 谭庆伦就是一个很好的例子。 他现在已经30多岁了。 当他接受印度著名长笛演奏家 Ghanavenothan Retnam 教授如何演奏印度长笛（维努）时，他已经掌握了中国笛子。 谭庆伦后来成为印度长笛大师，甚至赢得了印度音乐比赛的最高奖项之一。 他和Ghanavenothan经常一起演出，演奏经典的中国和印度歌曲。 他们是艺术家的绝佳典范，他们没有失去自己的文化——事实上，他们是自己文化中的领先代表——而是跨越了我们的另一种文化，并发展出了真正的才华。
26. 我们是
现在我们必须让我们的年轻一代有可能、自然地更多地跨入其他文化。 我们学校的 CCA 是实现这一目标的沃土。 不是淡化我们的文化，而是努力学习彼此的文化并提高一些能力。
27.深化多元文化主义的所有这三种方法都必须有空间。 我们不能强迫我们的多元文化主义发展。 文化必须有机地发展。 但我们可以鼓励我们努力发展我们的文化，将彼此的元素融入其中，让我们的年轻人和各个年龄段的人自然地融入彼此的文化，并在这样做时感到充实。
28.我们必须承认，在其他社区中，对我们每种不同文化的欣赏是相当肤浅和薄弱的。 过去，20 世纪 60 年代我们有 Aneka Ragam Ra’ayat。 年纪足够大的人都会记得——人们去不同的社区聚集点观看多种族的表演。 事实上，1959 年李光耀先生在植物园举行的发布会有超过 22,000 人参加。 但那是在电视出现之前的日子。 人们蜂拥而至观看这些 Aneka Ragam Ra'ayat 表演以获取娱乐，同时也了解了一些彼此的文化。
29.我们再也回不到从前的日子了。 但我们现在可以找到新的方法来深化我们的多元文化主义，鼓励更多的交叉——我们不同文化的艺术家之间更多的合作，以及更多的个人和团体跨越彼此的文化。
30. 如果你仔细想想，新加坡人很容易接受西方文化。 有些人花了数年时间掌握西方音乐或舞蹈，无论是古典音乐还是流行音乐，还有更多人对此产生了浓厚的兴趣。 这并没有什么问题。 它展示了新加坡人的开放思想，也展示了我们的才华。 但如果我们能如此轻松地对待西方文化，我们就能对我们自己的新加坡文化产生更强烈的兴趣——加强交叉，并加深我们的国家认同。 我相信我们可以。
31. 最后，我再次赞扬新加坡华族文化中心和新加坡宗乡会馆联合总会积极进取地保存和发展新加坡华族文化，并加强我们的民族认同。
32.这将是一个持续的旅程。 但没有什么旅程比加强新加坡的心跳更值得的了。
33. 我希望龙年能够满足您和我们共同的愿望。 [中文致辞]
"Deepening Our Multicultualism"Remarks by President Tharman Shanmugaratnam at the Spring Reception 2024
Ministers, Ministers of State, Mayor, Parliamentary Secretaries, Members of Parliament,
Mr Ng Siew Quan, Chairman, Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre,
Mr Thomas Chua, President, Singapore Federation of Chinese Clan Associations,
Mr Chua Thian Poh, Founding Chairman, SCCC and Honorary President, SFCCA
The respective Council Members of SFCCA and Board Members of SCCC
Ambassadors
Ladies and Gentlemen
1. [Opening greetings in Chinese.]
2. My wife and I are very happy to be here once again at this joint celebration by the Singapore Federation of Chinese Clan Associations and the Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre. It is a spring reception that is a time for reunion within the Chinese community, but also a time for unity amongst our diverse communities.
3. I commend both Mr Ng Siew Quan and Mr Thomas Chua for their very thoughtful speeches. Both your organisations are, in complementary ways, seeking to promote Singaporean Chinese culture and to foster unity amongst our diverse communities. And so doing, they are helping to strengthen our national identity.
4. The Singapore Federation of Chinese Clan Associations (SFCCA) is moving into new areas and building on existing priorities, as Mr Thomas Chua has laid out. You want to help seniors navigate a world where digital devices are now used for so many things.
Importantly, you want to promote sustainable living, and intend to mobilise your younger members to come up with initiatives and ideas to spread the spirit of conservation of the natural environment.
5. And importantly, you continue to build an inclusive and compassionate society, and to strengthen racial harmony. This is work that you’ve been doing for many years. In fact, it was very evident in the last few years and you’re continuing this work. For eg, our clan associations such as Singapore Kwangtung Hui Kuan and Eng Choon Hway Kuan were very active during the pandemic in supporting the vulnerable from all walks of life and all ethnic groups.
6. The Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre (SCCC) has been working actively and creatively with your partners to preserve and promote a vibrant Singapore Chinese culture.
7. The initiative which Mr Ng Siew Quan spoke about, to develop a comprehensive online repository of local Chinese arts and culture, will help our younger generations to understand and rediscover the strengths and the unique features of our local Chinese culture – including not just culture in the traditional sense, but community practices and habits and our popular culture. It’s a very good initiative.
8. At the same time, the SCCC has been actively fostering multiculturalism in Singapore. You have been promoting greater understanding of the cultures and values of each of our communities, including the values which we share. And importantly, SCCC has also been promoting greater exchange and collaboration between artists and groups from our diverse cultures in Singapore.
9. What both SFCCA and SCCC have been doing quietly, without too much fanfare, without the beating of cymbals and drums, is important. It is part of how we evolve our national identity.
10. Fundamental to our peaceful multicultural Singapore, is respect for our diverse traditions and ways. That’s the foundation – respect for different races, cultures, and religions.
11. We are now at a stage of development, six decades on as an independent nation, where we can build on this foundation, build on our history and experience together as a people, to go further, to deepen our multiculturalism.
12. There are two strands in this deepening of our multiculturalism. First, we must keep alive and strengthen each of our diverse Singaporean cultures. And second, to foster greater criss-crossing of our different cultures, and greater collaboration and participation in each other’s cultures.
13. The challenge is to achieve both of these strands, not achieve one strand at the expense of the other. We need not and should not sacrifice or dilute our respective cultures in order to deepen multiculturalism. If we do that, we will just be weakening our heartbeats. But neither should we live in separate cultural spheres in order to keep our distinctive cultures alive and strong. We must foster that criss-crossing, so each of our cultures evolves whilst absorbing influences from others, the influences that come from a multicultural Singapore environment.
14. We have to take a long view. Imagine the Singapore that we want, and the people that we want to be, 10 years, 20 years, 30 years from now.
15. This deepening of Singapore’s multiculturalism will help us enhance the distinctive character of each of our traditions, Singapore Chinese, Singapore Malay, Singapore Indian and our other traditions. It will enhance the distinctive character Singaporean character of each of our traditions. It will also help develop greater cultural flexibility, especially among new generations of Singaporeans who will increasingly have to engage with the world around us. But most important, it will enhance our identity as Singaporeans, and strengthen our social harmony in the decades to come.
16. We are in fact seeing very encouraging and creative efforts in this direction. My wife and I recently attended the Spring Rhapsodies concert by the Singapore Chinese Orchestra, an annual concert to usher in the Lunar New Year. It was an evening full of spirit, a celebration of Singapore Chinese culture.
17. One item was especially unique – it was a fresh rendition of the traditional Chinese New Year melody “It’s Spring Again” (大地回春). It was composed by a talented young Singaporean, Dayn Ng Chee Yao. Dayn graduated from NAFA and the Royal College of Music, before getting an NAC scholarship to go to the Berklee College of Music (Spain).
18. He gave “Its Spring Again” a whole new rendition, keeping the original melody but infusing different Singapore ethnic rhythms and lilts Singapore Malay, Indian and Chinese styles – into the melody. It was not just campur-campur. The original melody was still there, with all its elegance and the stirring of the heart that it creates, but with a multicultural flavour. Skilfully composed, and performed by the Singapore Chinese Orchestra in a very appealing way.
19. That is one approach, and I believe it has a lot of promise – retaining our respective cultures, keeping them vibrant, but infusing them with elements from other Singapore cultures.
20. It is not the only approach. There is a second approach we are also seeing, which involves deeper collaboration amongst artists from our different communities, to develop new whole compositions in music, dance and song, yet retaining the distinctive elements of our different traditions. Not simply fusing everything into one such that the original cultures are unrecognisable, but weaving a new cloth while retaining quite visibly the different threads of our diverse cultures.
21. For example, Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre collaborated a few years ago with Bhaskar’s Arts Academy to present a new, reimagined version of the classic Chinese folk tale Butterfly Lovers. Bhaskar’s Arts Academy produced the item, combining Chinese musical instruments, Indian Bharatanatyam dancers, and Cantonese opera artists. The music was composed by a world-renowned Indian composer and a local Chinese artist. Again, it was not just campur campur. You could see the threads of the different traditions, each with their own authenticity, but woven together in a very appealing way.
22. Another example of this second approach, involving collaboration between artists from our different communities to create new forms, was seen when Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre introduced an award a few years ago to encourage cross- cultural song compositions. The winning entry in 2019 was a Malay-Chinese song. It was produced by Jamiel Said, who also composed the lyrics together with Mr Lim Wei Bin. They wanted to compose a song that reflected the influences of P. Ramlee and Teresa Teng. They called it Ku Mahu Zaihu (Ku Mahu 在乎), a combination of Malay and Chinese words meaning ‘I want to care’. Again, skilfully composed, and sung by Regine Han and Jamiel Said himself, in Chinese and Malay. You could feel the souls of both P. Ramlee and Teresa Teng in the song.
23. So that is the second approach – where we collaborate, blend our different traditions, create a new fabric but one where the threads of our diverse traditions are still visible and distinct. And ensuring that the whole performance is appealing to the ear, to the eye, and to our hearts.
24. There is a third approach, which we can also grow in the years to come, and in my view deserves more emphasis. It is to retain our different traditions, but for us to cross into each other’s cultures, whether in music, dance or art. we We can respectfully learn the intricacies of each other’s cultures, seek to practice them and be proficient in them. And for some, to even develop flair and virtuosity when they cross into another Singapore culture.
25. A good example is Tan Qing Lun. He is now in his late 30s. He had already mastered the dizi, the Chinese flute, when he was taught by Ghanavenothan Retnam, a leading Indian flautist, how to play the Indian flute, the venu. Tan Qing Lun went on to become a master of the Indian flute, in fact even winning one of the top awards at an Indian music competition. He and Ghanavenothan have often performed together, playing classic Chinese and Indian tunes. They are wonderful examples of artists who have not lost their own cultures – they are in fact leading exponents within their s own cultures – but have crossed into another of our cultures and developed a real flair for them.
26. We must now make it possible and natural for our younger generation to do more of this crossing into other cultures. Our school CCAs are fertile ground for achieving this. Not diluting our cultures, but taking the effort to learn each other’s cultures and develop some proficiency.
27.There must be space for all these three approaches to deepening of multiculturalism. We cannot force the evolution of our multiculturalism. Culture has to evolve organically. But we can encourage efforts to evolve our cultures in ways that infuse elements of each into the other, and make it natural for our young and people of all ages to cross into each other’s cultures, and feel enriched in doing so.
28.We must admit that appreciation of each of our different cultures, among other communities, is quite superficial and weak. In the old days, we had Aneka Ragam Ra’ayat in the 1960s. Those of you who are old enough will remember – people went to different community gathering points to watch multiracial performances. In fact, the launch in 1959 by Mr Lee Kuan Yew, at the Botanic Gardens, was attended by over 22,000 people. But that was in the days before television. People flocked to these Aneka Ragam Ra’ayat performances for entertainment, but also learnt a little of each other’s cultures.
29.We can’t go back to those old days. But we can find new ways to now deepen our multiculturalism, encourage more criss-crossing – more collaboration between artists of our different cultures, and more individuals and groups crossing into each other’s cultures.
30. If you think about it, Singaporeans take very easily to Western culture. Some spend years mastering western music or dance, classical or pop, and many more take a close interest in it. There’s nothing wrong with that. It shows the openness of Singaporean minds, and it shows our talent. But if we can do it so readily with Western culture, we can take a stronger interest in our own Singaporean cultures – strengthen the criss-crossing, and deepen our national identity as we do so. I am sure we can.
31. Finally let me commend Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre and the Singapore Federation of Chinese Clan Associations once again for your active and progressive approach to preserving and evolving our Singapore Chinese culture, and in strengthening our national identity.
32. It will be a continuous journey. But there’s no journey more worthwhile than strengthening the Singapore heartbeat.
33. I hope the Year of the Dragon brings abundance in all that you wish for, and all that we wish for together. [Closing greetings in Chinese]
