DPM Heng Swee Keat lauds seven Singapore Youth Award recipients, encourages youths to continue shaping the future via SG Youth Action Plan

The nation’s highest accolade for youth, the Singapore Youth Award (SYA), was presented to seven individuals at the SYA 2019 Presentation Ceremony held at the Istana by Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) and Minister for Finance Heng Swee Keat.
The seven individuals were Mr Cho Ming Xiu, Ms Alecia Neo, Dr Neo Mei Lin, Mr Sheik Farhan Bin Sheik Alau’ddin, Ms Sujatha Selvakumar, Ms Francesca Phoebe Wah Li Ting, and Mr Kahchun Wong.

At the event, DPM Heng also addressed the importance of the Government working with youths in shaping Singapore’s future, through the SG Youth Action Plan.
As part of the Plan, the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY) and the National Youth Council (NYC) engaged over 40,000 youths since May 2019, to build a vision of what youths want Singapore to be in 2025. Five shared values underpin this vision, namely, inclusiveness, fairness, care, sustainability, and progress.
In his address, DPM Heng said that the Government is committed to supporting youths to take action to realise their vision for Singapore. Youths are invited to further refine this draft vision at sparkthenext.sg.
One such project involves the transformation of the Somerset Belt into an inclusive space for youths. Since June 2019, MCCY and NYC have been collaborating with youths to generate and prototype ideas, which cumulated in the draft Somerset Belt masterplan.
In fact, from 5 Nov to 18 Nov 2019, youths and the wider public may express their views on the draft masterplan online, or at various pop-up booths across Singapore.
The SYA was established in 1975 to honour exceptional young people who are thriving in their respective fields of pursuit and are making a significant impact in their communities. This year, seven outstanding individuals received the Singapore Youth Award – the highest number of recipients in the award’s 44-year history.
The ceremony also saw attendance by Ms Grace Fu (Minister for Culture, Community and Youth), Ms Sim Ann (Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth Ministry of Communications and Information), and Mr Baey Yam Keng (Senior Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth & Ministry of Transport).