Rivervale Community Club

Speech by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at Rivervale Community Club Opening Ceremony on 30 July 2022 at Rivervale Community Club.

Let us always make our CCs places where residents feel a sense of belonging and community with one another. They helped seniors make use of technology to stay socially active and connected to the community. For example, during the pandemic, our CCs, our grassroots leaders, our community volunteers were invaluable in our efforts to fight the virus. This was a key factor which enabled us to have one of the highest vaccination rates in the world, and transition to living with COVID-19 today. Or Mr Xavier Ang, who with his friends helped to develop a co-working space in Rivervale CC called “The Cube” so that young people (like him) have a conducive space to discuss work and collaborate on projects. Many other such community-led initiatives have kept our CCs as focal points of the community, and fostered engagement among our residents. When the vaccines became available, we used many of the CCs as vaccination centres. That is why we continue to develop our CCs – upgrade the infrastructure, update the programmes – to meet residents’ changing needs. So I have every confidence that he will serve residents in Sengkang East well, including providing leadership and guidance on developing Rivervale CC and running its programmes with Kelvin and the team here. Perhaps a single black-and-white television in front of an open space, where the kampong people would gather to watch the news or chase the latest primetime drama. But over time [it became] too small because Sengkang’s residents population grew, so we had to build a new CC, which was why in 2016 we announced our plans to build a stand-alone CC, with expanded facilities to offer a wider range of programmes. Meanwhile, the PA continued its good work bringing Rivervale residents together and strengthening the community.