The Best Is Yet To Come!

We zoom in on some of the key highlights from Singapore President Tony Tan’s speech at the opening of the Second Session of the 12th Parliament of Singapore on 16 May.

Among the tasks in the pipeline:

• Strengthening safety nets to help the vulnerable and elderly cope with the vicissitudes of life.
• Enhancing retirement adequacy to give greater assurance and peace of mind to all Singaporeans.
• Supporting strong families and communities, so that values such as empathy, filial piety, respect and mutual help continue to be part of Singaporeans’ lives.
• Creating the conditions for every Singaporean to enjoy a better quality of life, with improved transport options, more recreational spaces and rejuvenated neighbourhoods.
• Creating more opportunities for working adults to have fulfilling careers, to keep learning all their lives, and to realise their dreams and aspirations.
• Enabling young Singaporeans to fulfill their potential, pursue their dreams, and follow their interests in diverse fields.

Lifelong Learning
Stressing that the Government will pursue new strategies to achieve these goals, President Tony Tan also addressed the importance of lifelong learning.

“Through lifelong learning, the Government will help our workers upgrade skills and develop expertise in every vocation, and stay abreast of changing industry demands. This is critical because jobs are changing faster, and knowledge is becoming obsolete more quickly.

“We will focus not only on low-income workers, but middle-income Singaporeans and PMEs (Professionals, Managers and Executives) too. We are strengthening our system of Continuing Education and Training (CET), including the two new CET Institutes – the Devan Nair Institute in Jurong and the Lifelong Learning Institute in Paya Lebar,” he said.

President Tony Tan also noted that the Government has made major shifts over the last decade to build a more inclusive society and to transform our economy.

It introduced ComCare and Workfare to take care of the needy as well as our low-wage workers.

And with social issues becoming more pressing, the Government introduced the Wage Credit Scheme and the Progressive Wage Model to help raise wages.