10 May 2017
Vice President of the General Assembly
Distinguished Co-chairs
Venerable monks and members of the monastic community
Excellencies
Distinguished colleagues and friends
I would like to extend our warmest wishes of goodwill to all our Buddhists friends on this Day of Vesak.
I wish to also express Singapore’s appreciation to the Permanent Representative of Thailand Ambassador Virachai Plasai and Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka Ambassador Rohan Perera as well as their Missions for organising today’s event.
On this solemn day, it is with a grave heart for me to learn of the tragic killings in the Central African Republic of UN peacekeepers, including four Cambodians, who lost their lives in the line of duty. I extend our deepest and heartfelt condolences to the Government and people of Cambodia as well as the families of the victims.
Venerable monks
Distinguished colleagues and friends
It is a great honour to be among you today to jointly commemorate this most important and sacred day in the Buddhist calendar, which we in Singapore mark as a public holiday.
Today we gather to honour the birth, enlightenment and passing of Gautama Buddha. His messages of peace, harmony, tolerance, compassion, selflessness and kindness have endured for 2500 years. These values have just as much, if not more, salience in these tumultuous times than ever before. We should all strive to achieve mutual understanding, respect, tolerance, and non-violence.
In Singapore, our Buddhist community is the largest religious community in our multi-racial and multi-religious population, forming more than a third of our resident population. The Buddhist community has contributed much to our nation, setting a tone of tolerance and acceptance of other faiths.
The Buddhist community’s numerous acts of benevolence for their fellow citizens, regardless of race, language or religion, have strengthened inter-religious harmony. Buddhist leaders in Singapore also play a key role in our inter-faith network, as members of the Inter-Religious Organisation, the National Steering Committee on Racial and Religious Harmony as well as the Presidential Council for Religious Harmony.
The Buddhist faith has also played another important role in Singapore society. Buddhists, through their observance of the teachings of Buddha, have helped to propagate important values of compassion, selflessness and moral integrity. They have set standards of conduct and charity for others to aspire to, and contributed to community bonding, social cohesion, and inter-faith understanding in Singapore.
Their contributions have directly led to a harmonious and peaceful multi-religious society in Singapore and enabled us, as a small nation, to show the world that with mutual respect and understanding, citizens of different religions can live side by side in trust and harmony.
As we come together to celebrate the International Day of Vesak, it is timely for us all to reflect on the values espoused by Gautama Buddha. We can benefit from striving to build inclusiveness in our respective societies, where those who are better-off step forward to help the less fortunate among us, so that all can benefit from the fruits of progress.
As we work to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, these messages are more important than ever before. Let us renew our collective efforts to advance peace, understanding and respect for our fellow man as an international community so that we leave no one behind.
I wish you all a peaceful and blessed Vesak Day celebration.
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