Speeches
Opening Address by MOS Jasmin Lau for DDAS One Year Anniversary Gala Dinner
12 May 2026
Ms Judy Saw, President of DDAS
Dr Tung Chen Yuan
Mr David Chua
DDAS Council members and Youth leaders
Academic Leaders
Corporate Partners
Distinguished guests and friends
A special shout out to Singapore glocal network
Good evening everyone!
The video was never ending and I think that is the testament to the work that DDAS has done over the past year, not just for our youths and in terms of their career development, but the outreach that DDAS has done for the community.
Some of the photos were so small, that you can’t see the people in it, but again, that shows the number of people that DDAS has reached in the past year.
Congratulations to DDAS on your first anniversary. In just one year, you have grown in membership and made valuable contributions to our national efforts in protecting our digital space.
I especially like it when Judy said digital defenders, it feels like everyone is on the same page, doing their part for Singapore.
Building a safe, trusted and inclusive digital space
Over the past decade, we have set ourselves out to become a Smart Nation. We have made remarkable progress. But we also know that the smarter our digital world becomes, the more we have to protect it.
Our Smart Nation vision has three key pillars: “Trust”, so that Singaporeans can go online with confidence that our digital systems are safe and secure; “Growth”, so that technology empowers our people and enterprises to learn and excel; and “Community”, so that technology brings people together and leaves no one behind.
In the past week in Parliament, we have been talking about AI non-stop. There is a lot of concern that a new technology like AI will drive us further apart, rather than bring us together. But I think if we can make more progress on trust, growth, and community, there is a good chance that AI can bring our people together, and not become the fissure in our society.
Of course, we know that threats in the digital world are growing significantly. We hear the word scams very often, and we know many elderly residents who don’t pick up calls anymore because they think everything could be a scam. They perhaps don’t even want to use digital services anymore because they are afraid of making a mistake.
We worry for them. We worry that they will be scammed, but we also worry that they will be left behind when everything starts to move online.
We also know that deepfakes exits all around us now and AI, which is the same technology powering many of our innovations, is also making all of these threats faster and cheaper to produce.
The government is working hard on this. But it is not foolproof. This morning, I was speaking at a different conference on content prominence and making sure that we have the prints and watermarks to help our people identify real content. At the end of the day, the community must play its own role in all of this.
Individuals must be educated about safety, and there’s a lot more that experts, in this room and outside, can do to help Singaporeans learn about how to stay safe online.
And that's exactly why organisations like DDAS matter greatly to us.
Youths
Young people today grow up with smartphones as part of their daily lives. Our youths do not just use technology, they think with it and play with it. It has become part and parcel of them. These digital tools are their superpower. But it also comes with responsibility, which I am proud of many, taking up that responsibility very strongly.
You are often the first person a parent or grandparent turns to when something feels off online. Many of us have subconsciously become the defenders for our parents’ generation. That puts all of us on the frontline, whether you signed up or not.
DDAS is helping young people step into that role with confidence. And tonight, I want to highlight what that actually looks like in practice.
Head: Thinking Critically, Reasoning Ethnically and Acting Responsibly
Take DDAS Youth leaders Ms Chloe Lim and Mr Joakim Edrei from Temasek Polytechnic. Trained on AI and digital safety under DDAS' FutureSmart project supported by IMDA's Digital for Life Fund, they have launched workshops on Generative AI, Responsible AI Use and Cyber Safety, with plans to reach over 200 peers over the next year.
That's the kind of critical thinking and initiative we need more of. Not just developing their own skills, but ensuring their peers are uplifted in the process as well.
Heart: Serving with Heart and a Sense of Purpose
Then there is Mr Beckham Lee - a DDAS Youth leader and People's Association Youth Movement Grassroots Leader in Ang Mo Kio GRC.
He moved to act after meeting seniors too embarrassed to speak about being scam victims. We meet them very often, weekly. Many of them have lost thousands of dollars to scammers, and so he organised an anti-scam workshop for 200 seniors at Macpherson Community Centre. Beckham also volunteers monthly at community training sessions on AI and digital literacy, encouraging our seniors to see AI as something accessible, fun and safe. In six months, he has reached close to 400 seniors across multiple constituencies.
Beckham did not do this because the government or his school told him to. He did it because he cared.
Another Youth leader, Mr Ling Wei Sen is a Cybersecurity Consultant at local company Genesis Network. He is passionate about a different but equally important challenge: young people's mental wellbeing in a hyperconnected world. His Digital Mental Wellness Workshop at Sengkang Community Centre tackles cyberbullying, digital addiction, and the emotional toll of online harms. These are conversations that don't happen enough, but they are very important topics that youths only can talk among themselves. Someone like me coming in to talk to youths about cyber bullying may not have the same impact compared to when our youths decide to take it into their own hands. Thank you Wei Sen, for doing your part for society.
Hands: Building Strong Community Partnerships
Our individual passion only goes so far. I wish there are more individuals like Wei Sen and Beckham, but they are very hard to find. They emerge on their own, but it is very hard to spread more of them. Individual passion must come together with partnership, and that is what we are celebrating tonight, the MOU exchanges with our Polytechnics and ITE Colleges.
The partnership will create concrete learning and volunteering opportunities – from courses on digital trust and AI, to local start-ups visits and overseas study trips.
To our industry partners here tonight, thank you for your support and involvement over the past year. I hope that more of you will share your expertise, open your doors, co-create these programmes with DDAS. The young people in this room yearn for these opportunities. They are ready to learn, and they will go further with more of your support.
Conclusion
My heartiest congratulations once again to the DDAS team, your academic and corporate partners, and all who have been part of this journey.
Digital safety is not glamorous work. Some of the youths that I met last weekend at the cyber-thon told me that it is more “cool” to be making the products, and cybersecurity is often something that seems to happen behind the scenes. I responded that it is not the most glamorous work and does not always make the headlines. But every senior who is saved from a scam, for every student who can learn to be more critical when they look at online information, and every young leader who gives up a Saturday to run a workshop for their fellow Singaporean, I would say that it is extremely meaningful work.
So to everyone who has been part of this journey – thank you and keep going! Like Wan Ling said, I look forward to many more of the anniversaries that you would celebrate and thank you for what you do for our young people of tomorrow.
Thank you very much.