I refer to the report “Assault on Amos Yee draws sharp criticism” (May 1) and media reports on a pest-infested flat in Eunos.

These incidents reflect a deterioration of values in Singapore society.

I am reminded of a chapter titled Culture and Values from the book The Leader, The Teacher & You by the former head of the Civil Service, Mr Lim Siong Guan, in which he described five national values essential for the long-term stability, prosperity and success of Singapore. These are “nation before community and society above self”, “family as the basic unit of society”, “community support and respect for the individual”, “consensus, not conflict” and “racial and religious harmony”.

Mr Lim also noted former Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Goh Keng Swee’s stance on the importance of moral education, which the late Dr Goh spelt out in an interview published in The Straits Times in 1982. “The purpose of the moral education programme is to ensure that succeeding generations of Singaporeans will continue to know right from wrong,” Dr Goh said.

He added: “Without morality and a sense of public duty that does not put self always first, Singapore could decline.”

As such, Dr Goh decided to make Religious Knowledge a compulsory subject for all upper secondary school students from 1984, believing religion helped inculcate values. This decision was reversed six years later, owing to difficulties in implementation.

I believe that raising a generation of Singaporeans with strong moral values and integrity should be a priority, beyond simply achieving better education standards and continued education and training.

As the global financial crisis of 2008 demonstrated, skills and ideas can be easily replicated and eventually surpassed, but identifying and instilling ethics, integrity and moral values in individuals are getting more difficult.

Twenty-five years on, has the withdrawal of religious studies reduced the threat of religious and racial disharmony? If there is no approved institution to communicate the foundations and beliefs of different religions, individuals may be more misled when they turn to the Internet or other media for information.

Moral education and ethics should be a core subject of our education system, and the syllabus can be planned to ensure effective communication of our national values.