SPEECH BY MR GILBERT FAN, PRESIDENT OF THE SINGAPORE ASSOCIATION OF SOCIAL WORKERS, AT THE SOCIAL WORKERS’ DAY 2008, TUESDAY, 15 APRIL 2008, MERITUS MANDARIN SINGAPORE
President Nathan
Mrs Nathan
Dr Vivian Balakrishnan
Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports
Mrs Yu-Foo Yee Shoon
Minister of State, Ministry of Community Development, Youth & Sports
Dr Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman
Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of National Development
Dr Teo Ho Pin
Mayor of North West Community Development Council
Rear-Admiral Kwek Siew Jin
President of National Council of Social Service
Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,
Today marks the Association’s second celebration of Social Workers’ Day. This is indeed another important milestone for us. I am very honoured to announce that SASW will be conferring the title of ‘Fellow’ to a very distinguished guest in our midst this evening; he is none other than President Nathan.
In retrospect, our pioneer social workers faced a different set of social problems that we see less of today. They witnessed the turbulent years of workers’ unrest, poor working conditions, health hazards, extreme poverty and racial riots. They worked with limited resources and helped unfailingly in our nation-building. To acknowledge the untiring efforts and the successes of the work of social workers who have made an impact on the profession, SASW will be launching a commemorative publication this evening; its title is as captivating as the work we do but I will put that aside as ‘confidential information, not to be revealed’ for now.
For the past two decades, we witnessed both growth and stability. The number of social workers grew to its current 600 odd in our workforce today. Many have stayed on in the profession for 5, 10, 15 and 20 years or even more. Much had been done to develop the necessary infrastructures to support individuals, families and persons-in-need. This would not be made possible without social workers’ self-direction, commitment and passion for the profession.
Professional opportunities abound as employers of social workers, including our government, NCSS and SASW worked hand-in-hand to create critical professional pathways in enhancing the competencies of social workers and in professionalizing the social worker. Professionalization is a process and social workers welcome and are thankful to the Professional & Leadership Development Scheme introduced by the Ministry of Community Development, Youth & Sports (MCYS) and the National Council of Social Service (NCSS) last month. With the up and coming new Masters in Social Work to be offered by UniSIM early next year, we would have more tertiary institutions catering to the education of social workers beyond the basic degree; the three current tertiary institutions offering social work programmes are the National University of Singapore (NUS), Monash University and UniSIM.
Social workers today have to juggle with complex family relationship and social issues. They need to address structural and personal conditions relating to employment and unemployment. Economic restructuring and welfare cutbacks all over the world had increased social isolation and inequality among the employed and unemployed. There is also a widening of income gaps.
Social workers could adopt an employment-focused social activist role to initiate and support policy changes essential to the poor and marginalized workers. It is about how to support and improve the well-being of the employed, to look into policies on balancing family and work life, and map out potentially challenging areas in workers’ attitudes as a result of societal progress and the effects of globalization. Social workers need to recognize the ever-changing Singaporeans’ work ethics and its impact on all levels of our society.
Social workers need to think and act nationally and globally beyond their accustomed client and family-centred framework. For example, complex family and social problems can be best resolved at the community level. It is not enough to focus on individual and family problems and hope that we would in turn have a better society. We need to focus on all the current issues and potential challenges ahead of us because there are in existence a multitude and interdependent sets of problems.
Having a sense of community consciousness is as important as having an appreciation of the individual and family unit. Social workers need to re-examine personal and societal values and work towards enhancing community bonding. This kind of work is much more than the community bonding programmes already in place today as it involves the finer processes of weaving the strengths of individuals, families and the communities into one well integrated social landscape.
Social workers have been involved in community work and in giving feedback to government. We need to work beyond pockets of individual commitments to that of a profession’s interest in community bonding and in nation building. Social workers need to also expand their interests beyond their workplace and to embrace a holistic professional identity and image that would further advance and promote social work in our country.
It is on this note that the Association urges you to invest your time and effort to promote the work the Association wishes to do. Just as you are eager to ensure that your investment portfolios grow, I certainly hope that the Association would be your blue-chip where you actively invest, manage and change your circumstances. To the many social service professionals who have walked with us to provide essential social services in the many communities that we serve a big thank you to you all. We are all enriched and empowered through this collaborative working relationship.
Last but not least, I would like to thank the Organizing Committee, staff and helpers in helping to make today’s celebration a success. They have come together with lots of passion and zeal, and have sacrificed many precious evenings to prepare for this event. To all of you present this evening, may you have a very pleasant evening with us.
Please enjoy the evening.
Thank you.