‘Build on S’pore spirit’ for next lap
The “Singapore spirit” must be built on and strengthened, said Mr Heng. TODAY file photo.
SINGAPORE — With the jubilee year drawing to an end, the “Singapore spirit” that was drawn out from the various SG50 activities must be built on and strengthened as the country thinks about its future, said Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat.
“This belief that we should stay harmonious and that each and every one of us has a role to play in building our future … This is the Singapore spirit we must build on and deepen in our coming years,” he added in an interview this month with Mediacorp reporters, where he gave a wrap-up of the year-long celebrations to mark the nation’s 50th anniversary.
To deepen this Singapore spirit, Mr Heng, who also chairs the SG50 Steering Committee, said they will continue to get Singaporeans to think about the future, how the people can stay united, work together, share their dreams, overcome challenges and seize opportunities.
“We can build a better future if we first imagine it, and then we can come up with great ideas as to how we might get there. Importantly, we must commit ourselves to action, what is it that you and I will do in order to get us there,” he added.
Apart from the Future of Us exhibition, the capstone event for the year-long activities, Mr Heng said the “conversation and action” that come out of the exhibition — as well as efforts to develop strategies for the future economy — will “build on this whole year of celebrations and this spirit”.
The exhibition at the Gardens by the Bay looks at the possibilities of how Singaporeans can live in the future.
Seeing the “interesting” various ground-up initiatives suggested by Singaporeans for SG50, the minister said he thought that it would be good to continue with some of these initiatives even beyond the jubilee year.
For instance, one of the seven directors plans to develop 7 Letters, an SG50 film anthology, into a full-scale movie. Other artists on Singapore: Inside Out, a travelling experiential showcase of Singapore’s creative talents in arts, architecture, design, film, food and music, are also planning for further collaboration.
Saying that he hopes to see more of such initiatives in the coming years, Mr Heng added: “We are looking at how we can support these many ground-up initiatives and that together ... with our different agencies, with our different groups, we can create a more vibrant, more creative Singapore.”
The Care and Share initiative is also on track to reach its S$500 million target and has seen more than 200,000 volunteers participating in its activities. This “spirit of giving” is also something Mr Heng said he hopes to build on.
The programme is a national fund-raising and volunteerism movement led by the Community Chest for the social service sector to mark SG50.
Eligible donations will be matched dollar-for-dollar by the Government and go towards building the capabilities and capacities of the social service sector.
Looking back at Singapore’s story in the last 50 years, one constant has been change and how Singaporeans have been able to adapt to change, noted Mr Heng.
“If you ask me, what is the change that we need? Well, it is that we have to make many changes in the years ahead — in the way we do things, in the way we think about how we adapt to technological changes, changes around the world, changes in the
social fabric and the norms around the world.”
“But in the midst of all these changes, we must keep certain things constant and our constant has to be our sense as one people and our spirit as (one) people,” he added.
