Race, religion garner biggest public response on REACH

SINGAPORE: The topic of race and religion constituted a large part of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's National Day Rally speech last Sunday.

The issue also got the public talking, accounting for half of the responses received by government feedback unit REACH.

Most contributors – who posted comments on Facebook, via email and SMS – agreed that racial harmony was an ingredient in Singapore's continued success.

Eight in ten also accepted Mr Lee's rationale for maintaining harmony among the different racial and religious groups.

Some called for more inter-faith and inter-racial activities, and said there should also be more in-depth interaction.

On healthcare, some hoped to see more help given to support home care for the elderly. Others voiced concerns over growing healthcare costs, suggesting free or subsidised healthcare for the poor, elderly and disabled.

On the economy, many were confident of the country's ability to weather the recession.

A slew of new media tools were used to allow the public to post their feedback.

Twitter, which was used for the first time, proved to be the most popular platform, with #ndrsg among the top 10 trending topics worldwide just two hours into the Rally.

REACH's Rally microsite – www.reach.gov.sg/ndrsg - also saw nearly 10,000 hits.


- CNA/so