SPEECH BY MR ONG YE KUNG, MINISTER FOR HEALTH, AT THE LAUNCH OF OUR RESIDENTS’ HUB AT JALAN MAS KUNING, 2 APRIL 2025, 10.00AM

1.             Good morning everyone. Thank you for having me here in this part of town which I seldom come to. I used to visit this estate very often, because my godmother stayed at Jalan Mas Puteh. I came here quite often as a kid and have been to this park before. Today, we are here to further expand the national programme Age Well SG. Then-Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong launched this two years ago. 

2.             The Ministry of Health is devoting about $800 million over five years (FY24 to FY28), to expand the number of Active Ageing Centres (AACs) in Singapore, and also to give each centre more resources to organise more activities. Today, we have 223 AACs around Singapore, up from about 150 when we first started. Each centre now has almost double their budget to carry out more activities.

3.             One of the things which I have been pushing for, is not to just to organise activities within the centres. Residents like to move around different kinds of common spaces. We started using Residents’ Committees (RC) centres, in collaboration with People’s Association (PA). Now, many AAC activities can be found in RC centres, including games, exercise and communal dining. But it is still not good enough.

4.             We have heard strong feedback from residents living in private estates, who said that AACs are 500 metres away which is too far to walk to. Even the Residents’ Network (RN) centre, which may be 300 metres away, is still quite far to walk to. That was when we thought, in many of our private estates, there are always parks like this. So let’s get the AACs to organise activities in the parks.

5.             This park is particularly lucky to have this container set up by PA, so that there is also a sheltered area to conduct activities. There are also others, which may have pavilions where we can hold board games, mahjong and other activities. Some others have no shelter, but we can still hold fitness programmes.

6.             Quite a number of AACs are starting this:

a.             Presbyterian Community Services Hannah AAC will use a van to run a mobile AAC, and they are going to host fitness events such as K-Pop for seniors.

b.             Montfort Care is using an incidental space in the MRT station at Marine Parade for an AAC.

c.             Of course, not forgetting my area, Sembawang. Blossom Seeds @ East Canberra is also holding some AAC events at Sembawang Park, and maybe the nearby private estate parks.

7.             Why are we doing all these? We know that for seniors, it is very important. It is not just about seeing doctors, taking vaccinations and going for screenings. In their day-to-day lives, having friends and social activities will keep our minds healthy, our hearts young, and our overall wellbeing at tip-top condition.

8.             I hope that with all these efforts, we can encourage more of our seniors to come out and play. Thank you very much. Let me hand the mic over to Minister Desmond Lee.