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AS A grassroots leader in Eunos, Mr S. Lakshmanan frequently heard residents complain about noisy foreign workers at void decks.
The 50-year-old consultant and his Inter-Racial and Religious Confidence Circle decided both sides had to understand one another better.
They got the authorities to speak to workers, but also took residents to meet workers in their dorms and see how they lived.
Both sides also worked together during an exercise simulating a bomb blast in the constituency.
Their initiatives, Kampung Spirit@Eunos, were cited by Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng on Saturday as one of many ground-level efforts that have helped grow the Community Engagement Programme(CEP).
The CEP, started in 2006, aims to bond various communities - schools, businesses, unions, and arts groups included - to reduce tensions should a crisis happen.
Its planners saw how communal ties frayed in Britain after the 2005 London bombings, and realised that people had to work to keep the peace.
Said Mr Wong: 'We recognised early that while Government leadership was important, in order for the CEP to be self-sustaining, it had to be meaningful to the people on the ground who are mobilised to respond and to take part in it.'
So ground-level efforts must be the focus, he said. They may be diverse and 'untidy', but they are 'real, authentic and vibrant'.
Read the full story in tomorrow's edition of The Sunday Times.
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