WHETHER Singapore makes it to SG100 will depend on whether people feel they have a sense of national identity as one people and a shared obligation to help one another – in particular, the less well off, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Chan Chun Sing said yesterday.
He cautioned against going the way of other countries that are well-endowed but where people quibble over resources.
Speaking at a dialogue with youth leaders at the end of a visit to Geylang Serai ward, Mr Chan addressed questions that participants had submitted and voted on through their smartphones.
The top-ranked question asked why youths should want to stay in Singapore till SG100, when the cost of living is high.
Mr Chan, who is also labour chief and deputy chairman of the People’s Association, sought to differentiate between a “transactional” national identity that hinges purely on the benefits of citizenship and a citizenry committed to Singapore “even when the chips are down”.
“Is your staying in Singapore conditional on certain factors, particularly material or otherwise? Is it contingent on certain conditions being met?” he asked the audience of more than 200 at the dialogue at the Lifelong Learning Institute in Paya Lebar.
“What if somebody else can give you better, cheaper cost of living? What if there is a serious recession in the next few years and you cannot find the jobs you like?
“Your answer to that question will decide whether we have an SG100,” he said.
Mr Chan held up the 1965 generation of Singaporeans who stayed here “in spite of”, who chose to throw in their lot with Singapore and work to create a successful country at a time when the nation’s continued sovereignty was itself uncertain.
“If enough of us stay here in spite of, then don’t worry about SG100 – even SG1000, we will be here,” he said. “But if the majority of us are here only because of what the country can give us, then we will be in a very different position.”
How cohesive Singapore can remain as a society will also depend on whether people have a mindset of trying to maximise what they can get from the state, or if they accept that there are others who need more help, he added.
“We don’t want to end up in a situation like some other places where, even when you have resources to share, people fight over the resources,” he said.
The dialogue with youths came at the end of Mr Chan’s ministerial visit to Geylang Serai ward in Marine Parade GRC, where he spoke to residents at Haig Road Food Centre and met community and religious leaders at Khadijah mosque for a closed-door dialogue.
Such visits are held monthly and Mr Chan’s was the first ministerial visit – meant to help younger ministers get a better sense of issues on the ground – since last year’s general election.
yanliang@sph.com.sg
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