S’pore’s new path ‘will give citizens optimism for future’

What will give Singaporeans optimism for the future is the opening up of new opportunities for everyone, said Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam yesterday, declaring that Singapore must maximise its people’s potential “in a way no country has achieved”.

This will be done through education, such as the expansion of polytechnics, universities and Institutes of Technical Education, and through the SkillsFuture initiative, he said at the People’s Action Party election rally at Bukit Panjang.

“We are going to make it possible for everyone to keep developing through life. Because everyone has a talent, everyone has a strength. Not all of us realise it when we are young, but we can develop over time — while we’re at work, outside work, in the community, every way in which we can keep learning, discovering our strengths and our interests,” he said.

The Government is doing more for children who start off with less, and takes seriously inequality in the workforce, difficulties faced by middle-aged Singaporeans “who may not have been adequately developed by their employers”, as well as the needs of the elderly, the poor and the middle-income, he said. For instance, 50 per cent more is spent in primary schools on children who are weak in learning compared to the average child, and this has taken place over the last decade, he said.

Singapore’s new path is one that will enable everyone to make the most of life and one with society taking responsibility and caring for one another, he said.

“That’s our new path and I feel proud to be here as a Singaporean to say that we start on this path from a position of strength, not weakness unlike so many countries. Because our pioneer generation saved up when they were young, our subsequent generations kept the same ethic of working hard and putting something aside and future generations will now benefit … Let’s go forward with strength and unity.” NEO CHAI CHIN