A ‘balancing act’ to respect the past but not allow it to constrain Singapore’s future: PM Wong

SINGAPORE: It is a “balancing act” to respect the past but not allow it to constrain Singapore’s options for the future, said Prime Minister Lawrence Wong on Friday (Aug 23) – his 100th day in office. 
Mr Wong said in his first National Day Rally speech last week that his team would honour and respect the past by upholding the fundamentals that served Singapore well. However, he added that his team must also be bold, look for better solutions and choose the best way forward for the country.
Elaborating on this during a press conference on Friday, Mr Wong said multiculturalism, an ethos of self-reliance and a focus on families are important values and fundamentals that his team wants to preserve.
“So if we understand what these are, then we don’t discard and we retain them, even as we think about making bold changes,” he said.
A “clear illustration” of this is how his team thought about unemployment benefits, he said. 
“It’s something that the government, all this while, for many, many decades, has had reservations about. For good reasons, because we have seen how unemployment insurance in other countries has led to negative effects.
“But it doesn’t mean that we cannot do something different in Singapore, appropriately designed for our circumstances and well-designed to minimise the negative effects we’ve seen elsewhere.” 
During his National Day Rally speech, Mr Wong introduced a new SkillsFuture Jobseeker Support scheme to help lower- and middle-income workers with temporary financial support if they lose their jobs. Job seekers will get up to S$6,000 (US$4,600) over up to six months while they go for training, job matching and career coaching.
“(The scheme) allows us to find that right balance, doing something different, something new. But at the same time, putting in place appropriate conditions that will also require individuals to do their part, to work hard, to get career coaching, to get skills training and job management.”
Before taking office in May, Mr Wong said in an interview that the fourth-generation or 4G leaders are prepared to re-examine all assumptions in taking the country forward.
During Friday’s press conference, he expanded on this, saying that Singapore cannot “cruise along” with the status quo and should continually question whether certain things can be done better.
“I think the biggest assumption of all is that we must never assume the good things in life just fall on our laps, and that things magically work, everything just works in place, everything is hunky dory in Singapore,” said Mr Wong. 
“It’s not so much to change for the sake of change alone but to always have the perspective that some things can be improved.
“There may be trade-offs, but perhaps circumstances have changed, perhaps our conditions are different, perhaps Singaporeans’ appreciation of the trade-offs is different today, and perhaps, there are new technologies (and) new solutions.
“So in each of these areas, across all our policies, (we’re) always looking to do better for Singapore and Singaporeans.”
However, the core principles and values underpinning the country’s policies, such as multiracialism, meritocracy and incorruptibility, are “sacrosanct” and cannot be compromised, said Mr Wong.
The question then is how these principles are manifested in policies here, observing whether there are any inadvertent consequences and looking at how they can be improved, he added. 
Responding to a reporter’s question about how the Budget will be adjusted to accommodate the additional expenses, Mr Wong said: “We will find the budget … a lot of the initiatives that we are undertaking under Forward Singapore, which I’ve announced, will require additional resources.”
He added that the government had already started thinking about rising expenditure requirements due to ageing populations and rising social expenditures, and knew that it would have to put in place tax changes and adjustments to ensure sufficient revenue for the medium term.
“We will make sure that … all of these new social initiatives that incur additional resources will be met by sufficient revenues in a way that’s fiscally sustainable.”
Mr Wong also spoke about cost of living concerns as another issue to tackle.
While different schemes such as Community Development Council (CDC) vouchers and U-Save rebates are in place, the government is looking at providing more help for specific groups, such as larger families with young children.
“We are prepared to and we are thinking about how we can provide more help. So we are indeed focused on looking at all of these different segments and thinking of different ways in which we can help them,” he said.
The government is also keeping an eye on inflation, which Mr Wong said has shown some signs of moderation.
He said 2023 was “a difficult year” with high inflation and weak growth of about 1 per cent. Many Singaporeans experienced a drop in real wages, said Mr Wong.
“So we will have to look at the data and what the indicators are with regard to income and inflation this year and next year. And think about how we can put together appropriate help,” he said, adding that the government will do so in Budget 2025.
Mr Wong added that the government is also looking at how to better support seniors, especially with their longer-term care and housing needs.
By 2030, seniors will make up nearly one in four of Singapore’s population.
“And it’s not just about helping those in their 70s and 80s – the older folks – but as we do more to take care of them, we will also be helping their children, who increasingly are not so young anymore,” said Mr Wong.
“They are 50s now, young seniors, and many of them do feel sandwiched because they have to look after aged parents, but still have children themselves to look after.”
Friday marked Mr Wong’s 100th full day in office, but the prime minster said he does not view his tenure in terms of “100-day, 200-day, and any of these milestones”.
He added that his immediate priority upon taking office was how to take Singapore forward in the next phase of nation-building.
“To do that, I took reference, of course, from the exercise which we had just completed, the Forward Singapore exercise, which indeed set out very clearly our shared ambitions for our next bound.
“One of my key priorities, at the beginning, is to flesh out what Forward Singapore means beyond the slogan … what does it mean in concrete terms?
“I’ve tried to do (this) … over the last few months, since taking over, in different engagements and different dialogue sessions. But the National Day Rally itself was an opportunity for me, for the first time at such a national platform to bring it all together and crystallise it, hopefully in clearer and more concrete terms.
“I hope I have been able to do that but this is not the end of it. As I said, there will be more to come, and we are continuing to work on different issues.” 
In May, Mr Wong pledged to hold more press conferences so that the government can better communicate its “thinking and considerations” to the public.
He said then that “when there are some new developments, new thinking”, it would be useful for himself or relevant ministers to meet with the media in press conferences.
Establishing good rapport with foreign counterparts, old and new, is another key priority, said Mr Wong, adding that there are powerful external forces that will have a direct impact on Singapore.
He said more shocks and crises can be expected in the coming years due to increasing geopolitical tensions and armed conflicts, as well as growing fragmentation in the global economy and rising barriers to trade, which will affect supply chains.
“It’s important for me to engage Singaporeans on these issues because I think everyone needs to understand what’s at stake, especially on critical issues where our collective security and fundamental interests are involved,” he said.
“We must be able to come together as one, despite our differences in perspectives, and take a common pro-Singapore position to advance our national interests together.”
Mr Wong added that he will attend several international summits in the coming months. 
The 44th ASEAN Summit will be held in Vientiane, the capital of Laos, from Oct 6 to 11, while the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro will host the G20 Summit on Nov 18 and 19. The APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting will also be held in November, in Peru. 
“These are all opportunities for me to touch base with my counterparts. Some I’ve met before, but it’s important I meet them in my new capacity and establish good personal relations at the leadership level, because that sets the tone for our overall relationship,” said Mr Wong.
The topic of encouraging more Singaporeans to have children was also raised at the wide-ranging press conference.
During his NDR speech, Mr Wong announced that parental leave would be increased to give working parents more time to bond and care for their babies. 
Speaking to reporters on Friday, the prime minister noted that getting married and having children were deeply personal choices and that everyone will have their own views. 
“For many young people that we engage, there are also competing aspirations and goals because they want to do well in their careers, they also want to pursue their own personal goals. They will have to find a balance for themselves,” Mr Wong said. 
What the government is focusing on, he said, is how to create a more family-friendly environment in Singapore. 
This means looking at areas of concern for young parents such as preschool and education, leave arrangements for working parents, as well as the cost of living.
“If we focus our minds on these areas and apply resources in these areas of need, I hope we can create, over time, a culture, a sort of appreciation that in Singapore we have an environment which is conducive for families,” Mr Wong said.
“At the end of the day, we must let Singaporeans decide, but hopefully, with that wider environment, more people will be encouraged and motivated to settle down and have kids.”