Govt is changing to help move people into the future: Tharman
PAP East Coast GRC candidate Lim Swee Say greeting supporters after a rally at Simei, where Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam also spoke at. Photo: Don Wong
SINGAPORE — The Government is changing to help “move people into the future”, forsaking the days of top-down leadership as it changes with the times, Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said last night.
Calling the old style of government “often quite heavy-handed”, he said what is needed today is different from what was necessary two or three decades ago.
“Strong leadership means listening, actively engaging, changing your mind when the situation changes or when you get better ideas from others, continually adapting, but leading all along the way. Strong leadership is … moving with people, but also moving people with you into a better future,” Mr Tharman said as he wrapped up a People’s Action Party rally in East Coast Group Representation Constituency (GRC).
One big change is the way the Republic has rebalanced economic and social policies as it moves towards a more equitable society, he said.
“A successful economy by itself will not give us an inclusive and fair society. Economic policy has to go together with active social policies to help those who start with less,” he added.
Mr Tharman, who is also Finance Minister, said that while the Republic starts from a position of strength as a united society with a healthy economy and a “government that listens to the people”, there is still some way to go in tackling challenges such as safeguarding social mobility and ensuring that the elderly age with dignity.
Social mobility has to be part of the Singaporean identity, he stressed. “Meritocracy alone will not produce social mobility … starting from young, through working life and into the retirement years, we have got to take care of our poor, help them to uplift themselves, and make sure that everyone feels they are progressing with each other as Singaporeans.”
Pre-school education, for instance, has not only been more affordable, but also enhanced in quality. More specialists, such as those who concentrate on students with learning difficulties, have also been employed in primary schools to ensure that children “have equal chance” regardless of their backgrounds.
“No matter who you are born to, what type of background you have, you can advance in life, discover something about yourself, you can do well and contribute to Singapore,” he said.
Turning to the workforce, he said more must also be done to help those at the lowest rungs of the wage ladder, and pointed to a group of 50,000 Singaporeans who work full-time and draw less than S$1,000 a month.
This group makes up about 3 per cent of the resident workforce. “It doesn’t sound like a high percentage, but 50,000 is a big number,” he said.
The Progressive Wage Model, which sets a minimum salary and is targeted at specific industries such as cleaning, landscaping and security, and Workfare, where the Government tops up wages of lower-income Singaporeans, have succeeded in helping some, he said. “Our approaches are succeeding without losing jobs for older, low-skilled workers,” he said, adding that this group will be “most vulnerable” to a “simple” minimum wage strategy. “(These are) very significant government interventions,” he said.
When it comes to retirement, one “critical improvement” the Government has made has been to add to the savings of lower-income Singaporeans through the Central Provident Fund (CPF) system. With housing grants and Workfare payments added to their CPF accounts, the low-income worker today will earn 6.5 per cent in interest on his Ordinary Account throughout his working life, and 6 per cent after retirement, he said.
A panel tasked to look into changes to the system is also studying how to help members who are better off to invest long-term in the hope of getting better returns.
While the CPF scheme is not perfect, Mr Tharman said it guards against problems faced by other countries with their social security systems, such as placing an “inequitable burden” on future generations and leaving individuals to make their own investment decisions.
People cannot be left to fend for themselves amid a changing world today, stressed Mr Tharman.
“In the old days, you had to depend on yourself ... Every speech by Mr Lee Kuan Yew said: Work hard, depend on yourself, raise your family well, that is the way to progress ... That has to change. I don’t think we can depend on the heavens, and the world around us is also a very unfriendly place,” he said.
While self-reliance was often touted as the way to progress in the past, the new times call for an active Government’s support and a community that “reinforces what people are doing for themselves”.
