PM Goh
calls for more kind acts in Singapore
Agence France Presse. Singapore.
April 8, 2000
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PRIME Minister Goh Chok Tong today urged Singaporeans to be nicer people as he launched Kindness Week.
"We need such a week because sometimes we forget ourselves. The Hello Kitty madness is a stark reminder that kindness and tolerance can disappear in moments of self-interest," Goh said.
He was referring to incidents of mayhem and violence in January when hundreds of Singaporeans jostled with each other for promotional Hello Kitty dolls offered by a popular burger chain here.
"It shows that under certain conditions, even the rational can behave irrationally," he said.
Acts of kindness transcended the country's racial and religious differences, Goh said.
"Kindness is the thread from which we should weave our social fabric. The more threads we weave the stronger will be our social fabric," Goh said.
It is the third year Kindness Week has been celebrated after the Singapore Kindness Movement was launched in 1997.