PM calls on S'pore to look outwards and to the future
He outlines three principles to take country to the next stage
By Zakir Hussain, The Straits Times, 4 Oct 2014
AGAINST the backdrop of major world events, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong last night warned Singaporeans against the dangers of being overly absorbed with internal issues to the detriment of preparing for the future. Urging them not to give in to "navel-gazing", he laid out three principles that have helped the country succeed and which would help it maintain its momentum.
These are: Looking outwards and staying plugged in to the world; staying true to good-hearted policies while not shying away from hard-headed realities; and taking heart from the past to embrace the future with confidence.
"We are now at an inflexion point, changing gears, changing pace," Mr Lee said.
"We need not only to navigate the eddies and currents from moment to moment, but to keep in mind basic principles which will help us maintain our momentum, our direction, our purpose."
His comments come after more than two years in which Singapore has had to grapple with more urgent priorities in housing, public transport and medical care.
Acknowledging that these were understandable concerns, even as the Government is putting in place longer-term shifts for these policies, Mr Lee yesterday sought to refocus attention on the big picture and the world beyond Singapore.
"There are major changes in the Asian landscape which are having a big impact on us, more so because we are a small country," he said, citing changes in Indonesia, India and China. "Unless we understand what is happening... we can't anticipate or respond properly to events."
Mr Lee also acknowledged that while population and immigration policies had to take the heart into account and consider the social impact - and adjustments had been made - hard facts like low birth rates could not be wished away.
He touched especially on the issue of foreign professionals, managers and executives who compete with qualified Singaporeans for jobs, saying that while he could appreciate their concerns, the bigger picture was that allowing such professionals to come in created more good jobs for locals.
He warned against what he called the "real dangers" of anti-foreign sentiment, citing the latest outburst online against Eurasian Singaporean Asian Games medallist Joseph Schooling.
And in looking to the future, Mr Lee called on Singaporeans to understand the upheavals in their recent past. Citing the challenges from Communists and communalists in the 1950s and 1960s, he said: "The lessons of history need to be reinforced, because if we don't remember them, we may not learn the hard-won lessons and we may fail to value what we have painstakingly built."
Singapore's 50th anniversary of independence next year will also see memorials to victims of Konfrontasi and those who fought the Communists, he added. "But SG50 should also be a time to look ahead, to set new goals for the next half century, to see and be excited by the opportunities opening up," he said. During the lecture at the University Cultural Centre, Mr Lee also tackled questions from the floor. Professor Tommy Koh, the moderator, said some older Singaporeans in the audience had told him they did not think Singapore could replicate its success of the past 50 years, though he disagreed.
Replied Mr Lee: "We are small. We are successful, we can continue to be successful. But watch the world, have a good heart, but think very hard about what you are going to do, and have confidence in the future.
"You are young, you are living in an age with the amenities, with the knowledge, with the resources, with all the accumulated 50 years of effort which we have put in to build this place. Take it and run with the ball, win the game!"
KEEPING TOMORROW IN MIND
We've got to look out even while we look inwards to ourselves.
If we fall to navel gazing, that's the end of us. Like it or not, the outside world is going to impose change on us and we have to be prepared for it. We've not solved for all time the problem of earning a living for ourselves... So we've got to make ourselves valuable to the world. Some changes will bring opportunities, others new challenges, but we have to do things today with tomorrow in mind.
- PM Lee
S’pore must not shy away from being hard-headed: PM
By Siau Ming En, TODAY, 4 Oct 2014
While the Government of late has been lauded by people for “showing more heart rather than head”, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said yesterday that Singapore must not shy away from hard-headed policies when it comes to tackling challenges such as retirement adequacy, healthcare financing, immigration and the inflow of foreign workers.“We must never be hard-hearted, but we must never shy away from being hard-headed,” he said.
Delivering a speech at the National University of Singapore Society (NUSS) 60th Anniversary Lecture yesterday, Mr Lee spoke at length on the hot-button issue of population policy as an example of where both the heart and the head are needed.
The Government is paying attention to the emotional and practical aspects of the issue. “In terms of heart, we are giving weight to how comfortable people are with the pace of immigration, we are encouraging the new arrivals to adapt to Singapore norms, to the way our society functions,” he said.
“In terms of head, we are watching the numbers, keeping the inflows moderate and sustainable.”
The audience of about 1,500 included undergraduates, NUSS members and foreign diplomats. In his speech, Mr Lee also reminded Singaporeans that while they focus on domestic challenges, they should also adopt a broader perspective and pay attention to what is happening beyond the Republic’s shores.
Singaporeans also need to understand the Republic’s past and have confidence in the future, while they immerse themselves in the present.
The speech was followed by a wide-ranging one-hour question and answer session that touched on, among other things, the protests in Hong Kong and the conditions under which the more controversial parts of Singapore’s past could be discussed normally, in the wake of the authorities’ decision to bar a film about the lives of Singapore exiles from being exhibited or distributed here.
During his speech, Mr Lee stressed the need for Singapore to be prepared in a fast-changing world, and to “do things today with tomorrow in mind”.
“And that requires us to be both good-hearted and hard-headed in our approach,” he said.
Recalling the Population White Paper debate in February last year, Mr Lee took aim at the Workers’ Party’s argument for “zero foreign worker growth”. “It was a populist and irresponsible pose, it was not a serious policy because such a freeze would have harmed our economy and in particular would have hurt many of the SMEs (small and medium enterprises) which desperately need workers and would have caused Singaporeans to suffer and lose jobs,” he said. What the Government chose to do instead was to moderate, but not stop, the foreign worker inflow, he said.
“What we said we would do, and what we are doing is necessary, and is working.”
Noting that population is always a sensitive topic in all countries, he cautioned Singaporeans against developing anti-immigration sentiments found in countries such as the United Kingdom, France, Hong Kong and even Sweden, which is known to be a “liberal and big-hearted country”.
Mr Lee cited what happened recently to Asian Games gold medallist Joseph Schooling, who was wrongly described by some on the Internet as a “foreign talent” even though he and his father are Eurasians born here.
“These are real dangers because we see the tendency — I’m sure you do too — especially on the Internet, to blame everything bad that happens in Singapore on foreigners and blame all foreigners (for) anything bad that any one non-Singaporean (did) — all bad things are done by foreigners and all foreigners do bad things,” he said.
Reiterating the need to act with a good heart and with hard-headedness, Mr Lee noted how some countries offer generous welfare schemes to tackle poverty. But instead of eradicating the problem, it has often created a dependency on welfare. “So that’s the first reason we have to be hard-headed — to get the right results,” he said.
He added that Singaporeans must also be hard-headed about themselves when it comes to, for example, the Central Provident Fund and healthcare financing. It would be easy to lay the burden on future generations, as some other countries have done, by paying for generous welfare benefits through state financing, he said.
In the case of the Pioneer Generation Package, Mr Lee noted that instead of leaving to future governments to fund it, the Government chose to set aside the money now. “When this Government makes a promise, we mean it and we keep it,” he said. In order to be good-hearted, Singapore also needs growth and prosperity. Mr Lee expressed worry about the sentiment that the Republic can afford to go easy on growth and “talk airily about the more important things in life”. “I think there is a strong element of condescension and complacency in that view … Unless you have growth, you can’t make somebody better off without making somebody else worse off,” he added.
'Navel-gazing' poses risks for Singapore, says PM Lee
Singaporeans need to be prepared for changes the outside world imposes
By Tham Yuen-C, The Straits Times, 4 Oct 2014
THAILAND has a new prime minister after military chief Prayuth Chan-ocha seized power.
But many Singaporeans would be hard pressed to name him.
Similarly, the extremist group ISIS has been terrorising the world with its beheadings. But how many can say what ISIS stands for? (The abbreviation stands for "Islamic State in Iraq and Syria".)
In noting this, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said it showed people were not reading the news and were too caught up with immediate concerns.
This posed dangers, he added, as we would not know what is happening outside of Singapore and we would not be prepared to respond to the changes taking place.
Speaking to an audience made up mainly of NUS graduates, he noted that Singaporeans have been concentrating on what is happening at home, and understandably so, given the urgent issues of housing, public transport and medical care.
The Government, however, is making strategic policy shifts to prepare for longer-term trends, such as changes to the population and the economy, he said.
"But, perhaps, because we are so focused on these issues, I fear Singaporeans are not paying enough attention to what is happening outside of Singapore."
He noted that people have stopped reading newspapers and watching the news on television, and were getting information from their friends and through social media.
Some have also been "absorbed" in daily life, leaving little time and energy to track less immediate concerns, he said.
But paying attention to the world around us is important, he said, for Singaporeans to gain perspective and realise that many countries were facing the same issues as Singapore.
People, then, can make a judgment on whether they should be alarmed about developments in Singapore, or whether they should "congratulate" themselves. Also, it would allow Singapore to learn from the experiences of others, he said.
With major shifts in the Asian landscape, all of which have a big impact on a small country like Singapore, keeping an eye on the world would help Singapore stay abreast of the changes as well.
He noted that changes were afoot in Indonesia, India and China.
Indonesia will have a new government and a new president in Mr Joko Widodo. India, too, has just got a new prime minister in Mr Narendra Modi, who is "determined to get the Indian economy moving, keen to make friends with Singapore", he said.
With China rising, and changing rapidly, there would also be implications on Singapore's competitiveness, he added.
While many still think of China as a low-cost manufacturing base, it now has IT companies, such as Tencent, which have innovative ideas, said Mr Lee.
"Unless we understand... what's happening and grasp how it impacts us, we can't anticipate or respond properly to events," he added.
He said Singapore had always been open and connected and outward-looking, and this had been a pillar of the country's success.
It is why other countries' leaders seek Singapore's views on international matters, why companies set up headquarters here despite Singapore not having natural advantages, and why students here do well compared with their counterparts elsewhere, he noted.
With globalisation and technological advances creating and disrupting businesses swiftly, knowing what will happen next can also help Singapore stay prepared, he added.
Citing climate change, he noted it has led to new sailing routes that will bypass Singapore's ports. Amid these changes, the ports have been consolidated into a single megaport in Tuas to strengthen Singapore's role as a transhipment hub, he said.
It was the same with the taxi industry having to prepare for competition from new car-sharing apps such as Uber and GrabTaxi.
"So, we've got to look out even while we look inwards to ourselves. If we fall to navel-gazing, that's the end of us. Like it or not, the outside world is going to impose change on us and we have to be prepared for it," he said.
BALANCE NEEDED
Take car-sharing apps like Uber or GrabTaxi. It's given commuters increased options and improved services. But it's disrupted the traditional industries and, in particular, the taxi businesses in many cities and is challenging the regulatory frameworks which govern taxi operations... And so, you find the incumbents very anxious, worried, pushing back, resisting. We've got to be able to develop a framework to facilitate innovation, and, at the same time, (ensure) orderly change in the taxi industry and ensure a competitive and a level playing field for both old and new players.
- PM Lee, on the impact technology can have on businesses
Plans to mark key events in formative years
By Nur Asyiqin Mohamad Salleh, The Straits Times, 4 Oct 2014
SINGAPORE plans to commemorate key episodes in its formative years as it moves towards its 50th anniversary next year. Next Thursday, The Battle For Merger, a book compiling former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew's radio talks in 1961 - aimed at exposing the communists and rallying people to support the merger with Malaya - will be republished.A marker is also being planned to honour those who fought the communists in Singapore's early years.
Meanwhile, a memorial to the victims of Konfrontasi will be erected opposite MacDonald House in Orchard Road. The building was bombed by two Indonesian marines in 1965, killing three people and injuring more than 30.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, in making these announcements last night, said: "We ourselves must know our history to understand how Singapore works and why we do the things we do."
Though the 1950s and 1960s are within living memory, events are receding into the past, he said in a National University of Singapore Society lecture, marking its 60th anniversary.
Schools have worked hard to teach students about Singapore's journey towards nationhood, but many Singaporeans "only have the vaguest idea" of what the Indonesia-Malaysia Confrontation from 1963 to 1966 was about, and struggle to tell the difference between communists and communalists.
"The lessons of history need to be reinforced because if we don't remember them, we may not learn the hard-won lessons and may fail to value what we have painstakingly built," said PM Lee.
With the country poised to celebrate its golden jubilee next year, it is also time to look ahead and recognise that opportunities are opening up.
Young Singaporeans may wring their hands worrying about the future, but Mr Lee is optimistic about what lies ahead.
He brought up how young people in China - where life has been improving faster than nearly anywhere else in the world, at any time in human history - feel pressured and anxious.
Even young graduates with good jobs in thriving cities, such as Chongqing and Shanghai, also "feel this existential angst and worry that the best years have passed and they won't have it as good as their parents", he added.
But Singaporeans should have confidence in the future.
"If we understand the opportunities opening up and realise what we can do to get ready for them, then far from being anxious, we should be eager and ready to go."
LOOKING AHEAD WITH OPTIMISM
Sometimes young people express anxiety about the future. They wonder whether their lives would be better than their parents'. And it's not so surprising because it's a time of rapid change, of flux, of intense competition, and therefore of some self-doubt. Even in China, where life has been improving faster than nearly anywhere else in the world any time in human history, young people feel pressured and anxious. Even successful young people who have university degrees and good jobs in thriving cities like Chongqing and Shanghai also feel this existential angst and worry that the best years have passed and they won't have it as good as their parents. But if we understand the opportunities opening up and realise what we can do to get ready for them, then far from being anxious, we should be eager and ready to go.
- PM Lee, on getting young people to be optimistic about the future
MODERATING FOREIGN INFLOW
When we debated the Population White Paper in Parliament, the Government proposed moderating the foreign worker inflows. The opposition rejected this. They argued for zero foreign worker growth. It was a populist and irresponsible pose. It was not a serious policy, because such a freeze would have harmed our economy and... many of the SMEs, and would have caused Singaporeans to suffer and lose jobs. Instead, we decided to moderate the inflow, not to stop it. Nowadays, you don't hear any more demands from the opposition for zero foreign worker growth. The latest manpower numbers do show the foreign worker growth has slowed down. It's now a more sustainable level and... I don't expect any further measures to tighten foreign worker numbers.
- PM Lee, on how moderating foreign worker numbers is working
Have a heart, but use head too: PM
By Charissa Yong, The Straits Times, 4 Oct 2014
HE WAS born in Singapore, as was his father. He did Singapore proud, winning a gold medal at the Asian Games for the country.And yet, for some netizens, the looks of this Eurasian prodigy were more eye-catching than his achievements.
They derisively dubbed swimmer Joseph Schooling an "ang moh" (a Hokkien term for "Caucasian") and a foreign talent.
Citing this example, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong last night touched on the dangerous anti-immigrant sentiment that appears to have gripped some Singaporeans.
If allowed to go unchallenged, it could end up harming Singapore's economy and reputation, he pointed out. "We see tendencies... to blame everything that happens in Singapore on foreigners and blame all foreigners for anything bad that any one non-Singaporean does," he said.
Singapore must avoid going down this road, Mr Lee added.
For one thing, it needs foreign professionals, managers and executives (PMEs), as they create good jobs for locals, said Mr Lee at the National University of Singapore Society's 60th anniversary event.
His speech centred on how Singapore's policies must involve both the head and the heart, and keep facts in mind.
"While we are good-hearted, we must not shy away from being hard-headed," he said. Stark realities like Singapore's rapidly ageing population and low fertility rate cannot be wished away.
"We need growth and prosperity... and you cannot get growth and prosperity just by good intentions," said Mr Lee. Singapore needs resources to grow the economy and give its people better lives, he said.
Keeping Singapore open to foreign workers is a key part of this economic growth, said Mr Lee, even as he acknowledged the dilemma that this threw up.
On the one hand, Singaporeans know that there are too few workers to build homes and MRT lines and work for companies here. On the other hand, foreign professionals vex Singaporeans because they compete with locals for good jobs.
"(But) if we are too tight on the foreign PMEs, I think many companies will be deterred from coming here and the jobs for Singaporean PMEs may not even exist in the first place," said Mr Lee.
He pointed to the balance that the Government was trying to strike on this tricky issue. While making sure that people were comfortable with the pace of immigration, the Government was keeping the inflows moderate, he said.
As for the comments hurled online at Schooling, Mr Lee said: "I am ashamed and dismayed when I read such virulent and nasty attitudes, and I am sure, so are many other Singaporeans." He added: "We have to stand up and have the courage to say so, and not be cowed into being silent."
Exiles shouldn't get to air 'self-serving accounts'
By Nur Asyiqin Mohamad Salleh, The Straits Times, 4 Oct 2014
THE political exiles featured in a documentary that cannot be shown in public or distributed here should not be allowed to air their "self-serving accounts" of the fight against communism, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
Local film-maker Tan Pin Pin's To Singapore, With Love had to be seen in the historical context of the communist insurgency, an armed struggle for power that raged for 40 years and killed thousands, he pointed out.
Ms Tan has submitted the film - unchanged - to the independent Films Appeal Committee and said on Thursday she hoped the classification could be reviewed.
It came up at last night's National University of Singapore Society forum when Institute of Policy Studies senior research fellow Gillian Koh cited it as she asked Mr Lee how the more "controversial" points of history could be discussed more normally.
He said there was no hindrance to discussing the past in a normal way, noting that some historians propound revisionist views of history and others rebut them.
But Ms Tan's film involved people who figured in the communist insurgency. "It was a violent struggle; it lasted for 40 years from 1949. On one side, you had the non-communists, democratic groups; on the other side, you had the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) and their sympathisers in the Communist United Front... It was an armed struggle for power," he said, adding that these were matters of historical record, not seriously disputed.
The six self-declared CPM members in Ms Tan's film do not deny having been guerillas, and one even shows himself in jungle green carrying weapons.
After the insurgency, many communists returned to Singapore with their families after owning up to their actions.
They included former communist leaders Eu Chooi Yip and P.V. Sarma who returned from China in 1991. "They were superiors of some of the people who are in the movie - cleared their accounts, made their peace, lived and died here," Mr Lee said.
There is nothing to stop the exiles in Ms Tan's film from doing the same, he added.
"Well, they've chosen not to do so. It's their prerogative. But if they have chosen not to do so, why should we allow them, through a movie, to present an account of themselves, not of documentary history objectively presented, but a self-serving personal account conveniently inaccurate in places, glossing over inconvenient facts in others?"
This, he said, would sully the honour and the reputation of security forces, and the people who fought the communists to build the Singapore of today.
A film, he added, is a different medium from a book.
"You write a book, I can write a counter book. The book, you can read together with the counter book," he explained. "You watch the movie, you think it's a documentary. It may be like Fahrenheit 9/11, very convincing, but it's not a documentary. And I think that we have to understand this in order to understand how to deal with these issues."
Professor Tommy Koh, who chaired the forum, noted that the influence of communism had waned, and would no longer pose a security threat to Singapore.
But Mr Lee replied: "Communism is over, but I don't think the people who used to support communism... have given up the fight for a place on the winner's podium."
Outside interference not helpful: PM Lee
By Tham Yuen-C, The Straits Times, 4 Oct 2014
THE responsibility falls on Hong Kong and Beijing to make "one country, two systems" work, and the involvement of other parties would complicate matters, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong last night.
Replying to a question at a dialogue after his National University of Singapore Society lecture, Mr Lee said Hong Kong is in a very unique and delicate position.
Tens of thousands have taken to the streets to push for universal suffrage in demonstrations that started on Sunday night. They are against election rules that will see Beijing vet candidates for Hong Kong's elections.
Mr Lee said that when the British handed Hong Kong back to China in 1997, an agreement was made that Hong Kong would be governed under one country, two systems, with some limited form of democracy that would be gradually extended to universal suffrage.
However, with this principle of one country, two systems, there would always be grey areas for interpretation, he said. "It's a delicate business because where exactly does one country end and two systems begin?" he said.
But he added that on these matters, the people of Hong Kong, as well as the central government in Beijing, would have to work jointly to make things work.
He warned that if other groups got involved, and used the occasion to "pressure or change" China, the situation could get complicated. Citing an example, Mr Lee said he had read in the news that former activists who were part of the Tiananmen protests in Beijing in 1989 had gone to Hong Kong to give advice to student protesters there.
Those involved in Taiwan's Sunflower Movement, a protest movement led by students to oppose trade deals between Taiwan and Beijing, had also gone to Hong Kong to "compare notes" with student protesters there, he noted.
"I don't think such help is helpful in any way," said Mr Lee.
He said the "geopolitical reality is that Hong Kong is now part of China", and that China is prepared to go very far to help Hong Kong succeed.
But it would not want Hong Kong to "become a problem on the other side of the Shenzhen River", referring to the natural border between mainland China and Hong Kong.
Mr Lee added that if the election rules for the Special Administrative Region were not "moved forward", then the status quo would remain.
"It's workable, but you have to ask yourself whether that's the best outcome for Hong Kong," he said, adding that he wished the city well.
