Singapore, Malaysia to start joint projects to build
ties among young
SINGAPORE: Adventure and leadership camps will be coming the way of
Singapore and Malaysia students next year.
The initiative was announced by the Education Ministers of both
sides at their first meeting in Singapore on Monday.
The initiative aims to build closer ties among the younger
generation in the two countries.
Under the plan, schools on both sides of the Causeway will be
paired up for projects outside the classroom, from adventure camps
like those at the Outward Bound School to IT projects and even
joint efforts in a third country.
All these in the name of building bridges.
Malaysian Education Minister Hishammuddin Hussein Onn said: "As we
all know, the building of bridges or causeways, for that matter, is
of course a sensitive topic between our two countries."
"In education, when we talk about creating bridges - whether it's a
straight or crooked bridge - it's a matter of mind," said
Singapore's Education Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam.
"Let's just get down to creating the links, creating the
experiences together, creating the opportunities for young people
from both sides to get to know each other personally," he
added.
Speaking at the Singapore-Malaysia forum, the ministers agreed that
educating the next generation cannot be left to chance.
Mr Hishammuddin said: "On bilateral relations, if you teach them
wrongly, they grow up with certain prejudices.....if translated
into something worse, would create even bigger difficulties for us
neighbours. Whether we like it or not, the bridge and causeway are
always going to be there. Whether we like it or not, we are going
to be neighbours for all time, so it is important to invest in the
people."
Mr Tharman said: "If you look at universities abroad, Singaporeans
and Malaysians meet at overseas universities, they become friends
for 3-4 years together - it's not difficult to achieve that and it
happens on its own."
"But, we shouldn't leave it to overseas universities and schools to
achieve this. We can achieve this directly with each other. We can
deepen the 2-way exchange and have Singapore students go over, know
more about Malaysia and make friends from young," he added.
The Singapore-Malaysia forum may be the first meeting between the
two education ministers but it got off to a good start, with the
proposal to build bridges for the future generations.
The two ministers will meet again in February after their
ministries have worked out details on the bridging plans for
students.
Mr Hishammuddin has also extended an invitation to Mr Tharman for a
visit across the Causeway.
Students from secondary schools, junior colleges and universities
are likely to be involved in the two-way camps and projects.
