1. A nation at 40 is very young. Some will question whether it has the depth and ballast to last as a nation. Indeed, some have called us a “little red dot”. But that has only strengthened our resolved to build our nation. Today we have a strong economy, sound finances, a good defence force, a well-educated people. Many would say that Singapore punches well above its weight.
2. At 40, I believe Singapore not only has the depth and ballast but also the strength to survive and excel as a nation.
3. This country has been built on sheer will, against a lack of resources. Today we have resources. Most Singaporeans have assets in their homes. But what is even more valuable is the education that they have. So long as we have the will, we should do even better.
4. This will is manifest in the way Singaporeans collectively met the challenges of economic downturns caused by the Asian financial crisis, the September 11 destruction of the twin towers of New York, SARS and the Iraq War. The spirit is manifest in the individual struggles and triumphs of ordinary Singaporeans, some of whom have been captured in the book Singapore Life Lines that was launched 4 days ago.
5. The collective will of our people derives from the harmony we have achieved in a multi-racial and multi-religious society.
6. This has come from constant effort.
7. Other societies develop differently. Recently the bombings in London led to many analysts searching for the answers to why Britain had home-grown terrorists. No study is yet conclusive, and none may ever be, but some interesting facts have emerged.
8. Britain and Continental Europe hosts many immigrants. However, the immigrants are not well integrated into society. The immigrants live in communities of their own. When immigrants move into a neighbourhood, the indigenous people move out. So immigrants and their children live in communities of their own. The result is that the children of immigrants go to schools where the vast majority of fellow students are children of immigrants. There is little mixing with the majority. When they finish school and look for jobs, they have great difficulty, especially when unemployment as a whole is a big problem. Such children of immigrants may well harbour a sense of injustice – they are citizens of the country of their birth, but feel discriminated against because they have no jobs. So they may well be fertile minds for deviant leaders who plot terrorist acts.
9. Ever since our independence, we have taken great pains to integrate our society. The racial riots of the 1960s taught us not to take racial and religious harmony for granted.
10. So, today our people live in multi-racial neighbourhoods. Our children go to schools with children of other races. Employment is based on merit, and our offices and factories are multi-racial and multi-religious in character. So our people constantly interact.
11 We go beyond that. In our hawker centres, we have food suitable for people of all religions. Our markets also. In the community, there is regular mixing. But we do not take that for granted. We have set up many grassroots organizations. They organize many activities for residents, and these activities aim to bring people together.
12. Sports too, bring our people together. Our football teams are multi-racial. Now even the race-based sports are becoming multi-racial. I see Chinese and Indians playing sepak takraw. I see Malays now taking to basketball, maybe inspired by televising of NBA games.
13. Still, we should never take our state of multi-racial and multi-religious harmony for granted. There is still ignorance, and ignorance breeds prejudice. We must constantly break down ignorance to build mutual respect and mutual understanding. We have to acknowledge that ignorance exists. It has led to Malays and Indians feeling discriminated when they look for jobs. Some say that employers ask whether they can speak Mandarin. The few who responded that they can were then asked if they could write Chinese. Employers should stop such tactics. Businesses thrive here because we have a harmonious society. If any minority group feels strongly that there is discrimination, there will be tension. Such tension can break down the harmony we have so painstakingly built up. Therefore all employers should play their part, and recruit on the basis of merit, not of race or religion. We have established a tripartite Code of Employment Practice. It is in our collective interest to observe this Code. It is in employers self-interest to observe this Code.
14. As we celebrate our 40th National Day, let us remind ourselves of our National Pledge, so that we will continue to live in harmony.
15. We have everything to live for. The future is ours to make.
16. As a trade union movement, what should we do, to help Singapore workers achieve a better life?
17. First, job redesign.
18 The economy has been restructuring. We should expect it to continue to restructure. If it is a dynamic economy, it must be restructuring all the time. So we should expect that workers will need to change jobs, and probably more frequently. To help workers manage change, we help them to acquire new skills. For this, we have built up considerable funds to support them.
19. Two years ago, we recognized that some workers have limits to how far they can go with upgrading of skills. We recognized that they will have to move into other jobs, especially in the domestic services sectors – cleansing, horticulture, healthcare, public transport … At our National Day Observance ceremony two years ago, we launched the Job Redesign Programme. Today we are happy we have made progress. More than 2,000 workers have found new jobs this way.
20. In the past year we have highlighted the need for workers to continue to work as they grow older. Looking at the employment rate of older Singaporeans, we realized that we should not be looking at legislation on the retirement age. We have raised the retirement age from 55 to 60 in 1993, and from 60 to 62 in 1999. But the employment rate for male workers above 55 years has not changed significantly. Therefore, our second focus is on restructuring jobs so that they are suited for older employees. I have said that we need to forge a national consensus on providing jobs for older workers. This means employers re-looking at the way work is done, so that older workers can be productively engaged. It means employees adopting a flexible approach towards pay and working patterns. It means the community at large accepting being served by older workers.
21. When workers have to move more frequently from job to job, workers will need a strong social safety net to meet their basic needs. Most Singaporeans have a roof over their heads. Today the lower-skilled-lower-income workers worry that a home is becoming less affordable. We must ensure that they continue to be able to buy their own homes. We should continue our push for flexible employment benefits, such as portable medical benefits, so that in times of need, workers know that they will be able to get some assistance. Pushing for flexible employment benefits is not easy, but we must persist.
22. This year, as we celebrate our 40th National Day, let us resolve to carry out these three tasks well.
Happy National Day!
