We must continue to strengthen our S'porean core: Tharman
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SINGAPORE: Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said efforts to strengthen the nation's Singaporean core must be kept up.
Mr Tharman said this can be done by providing the best opportunities for Singaporeans to develop their potential when young and have good jobs, and by ensuring that the country's social policies place Singaporeans at the centre.
The deputy prime minister, who is also the Minister for Finance, made the comments in a Facebook post following Sunday night's National Day Rally.
On the issue of how Singaporeans relate to foreigners, Mr Tharman said Singaporeans have reason to be concerned about the flood of foreigners in the last decade.
But he cautioned that there is a need to find the right balance, in Singaporeans' interests, when addressing the issue of foreigners.
Mr Tharman noted that the inflow of foreigners has slowed as the government has tightened foreign worker policies significantly over the last two years, but this has hurt local small and medium enterprises (SMEs) badly.
He said the government will do all it can to help SMEs upgrade and invest in labour-saving technologies.
Mr Tharman also highlighted the significant shifts that have been made to differentiate policies in favour of Singaporeans in the areas of housing, education and healthcare.
He also said that the government is "investing massively" to expand public transport and relieve congestion that has also gone up over the years.
Mr Tharman added that the government is doing more to help Singaporean couples have children and bring them up. This, he said, is key to Singapore's longer term future.
Mr Tharman also said that besides adjustments in policy, there is more that Singapore should be concerned about.
"It has to do with our national character -- the type of people we are and want to be," he said.
Most Singaporeans, Mr Tharman noted, are basically fair-minded, gracious people, but the vitriol towards foreigners in online discussions is quite out of our Singaporean character.
"Bad behaviour by a small number of foreigners does not justify spiteful comments about foreigners in general, or all foreigners of a particular race." he said. "It does no one good."
Mr Tharman urged Singaporeans to remain as people who show understanding and empathy towards fellow citizens of all races as well as towards foreigners working here.
But he stressed that "new arrivals must make the special effort to interact, make friendships with Singaporeans and respect our values".
He advised new citizens to learn English, if they did not grow up with the language, so that they can interact with Singaporeans of all races.
Mr Tharman also said improving the quality and affordability of pre-school for the country's children is one of the most important educational and social priorities of Singapore's future.
He said the country has to do all it can to help children from less advantaged homes in their early years to develop and gain confidence in themselves.
Mr Tharman added that opportunities must be made more equal so that every child will be given the best chance to find his strengths as he grows up.
This, he said, is the best chance to sustain social mobility, which is expected to slow down over time.
- CNA/wm -
Before you tell us to be tolerant and call us "du yan long", please go and fix yourself.
If $600 chair, $2,200 bike and high official corruption dun ring a bell, then you should step down.
Although Ah Kong also tell us what to do, he and his team set a very high standard and get his basic act right.
So, what you have done so far beside flooding the place with cheap labour ?
Dun push the blame to us as we are the one facing the problem and issues you have created (Inflation, Transport, Retrenchment, High cost of Living).
Forget all the jorgan "Leave no one behind" and "Moving ahead together" as I know they are meaningless empty talk and no concrete actions behind.
Singapore Core ? what is that ?
Please dun throw any more smoke.
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SINGAPORE: Labour Chief Lim Swee Say said the biggest challenge now is ensuring that Singaporeans take shared ownership of the country's future. He called for a consensus to forge new success areas for Singapore in the two decades, including having a more gracious and inclusive society.
Mr Lim on Monday asked the Labour Movement to take action in a National Day Observance Ceremony.
Shaping the country's future involves everyone and Mr Lim said the next chapter of the Singapore story does not belong to the government alone.
He said: "Instead of spending time pointing fingers and blaming each other, I think we should all play our part, take action to create and re-create, to make sure that this new Singapore will be something we can all be proud of."
Recognising domestic tensions that have developed due to the influx of foreign workers, Mr Lim said a better Singapore would mean a nation where both locals and non-locals understand the need for each other.
He said having foreign manpower supplement the labour force reflects the country's success, where there is a shortage of workers because jobs outnumber the local workforce.
Turning to low-wage workers, Mr Lim said what they do must be respected, and noted that a key problem lies in how people view certain types of work.
He said: "To succeed, it's not so much about changing the legislation for this to happen, because if legislation can make this happen, then we will not have the issue of a widening income gap, or low-wage workers. Because at the end of the day, the solution has more to do with changing mindsets."
Touching on the national conversation the government wants to have with Singaporeans, Mr Lim said it is an "all-way engagement". He urged members of the labour movement to actively participate in this dialogue to chart a shared vision for Singapore for current and future generations.Since when do Singaporeans look down on low wage workers, it is loose foreign policy that drive every one wage low.
So, we are looking down at the man or woman in the mirror ?
The people are already engaged but their engagement is deemed as negative and xenophobic.
So, do they want to waste time and money to form useless committee to conduct fruitless conversation with single eye dragonian singaporean ?
In the end to tell us the same thing, dun rely on cheng hu and you better integrate.
When there is no more noise but lots of licking, the place is doomed.
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cannot be what? 5 million people in singPORE, BUT STILL BIRTH RATE LOW?