30 January 2002 1516 hrs (GMT) 2316 hrs (SST) Offices, schools to have IRCCs also: Wong Kan Seng by Farah Abdul Rahim
Mr Wong Kan Seng

The new Inter-Racial Confidence Circles will not just operate in neighbourhoods, but also in offices and schools.

This was revealed by Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng during his visit to the Civil Defence Academy.

Giving more details on the confidence circles, which were announced by the Prime Minister at a dialogue on Monday, Mr Wong said there might also be more than one confidence circle in each constituency.

The Inter-Racial Confidence Circles are meant to get Singaporeans of all races, to interact more closely, and strengthen the level of trust and confidence among them.

But as Mr Wong explained, the IRCCs will not just be at the constituency level and their activities will be co-ordinated by a national committee of community leaders.

Mr Wong said, "We also need to strengthen community relations amongst different races of the students in the schools..we also should have IRCCs, in the workplace.

"So the steering committee would most likely be led by the CCCs, the citizens consultative committee, together with the prominent leaders of different organisations in the constituency, for example the mosque or merchants hawker association or schools or temples or church or key social and community organisations".

The aim, he said, was to involve as many people as possible.

The People's Association is working out the mechanics of the confidence circles and will announce these soon.