LIMA (Peru) – The deep social divides laid bare by the recent US presidential election and the Brexit referendum must be avoided in Singapore by developing a sense of identity and togetherness, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on Sunday (Nov 21, Monday morning Singapore time).

“There is no magic formula… The Government must have policies which generally will be working for people,” he told Singapore reporters as he wrapped up a five-day trip to Peru to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) Summit.

Mr Lee noted that in the United States, the Democrats are found in large numbers in cities and both coasts of the country, while Republicans populate the Midwest and the heartland. In the case of Brexit, there was a split between London and the rest of the country, as well as a divide along education and income levels.

Such social divides cannot be allowed to widen in Singapore as rebuilding bridges will be very difficult, he said.

Businessman Donald Trump won the recent US presidential election by appealing to voters in the Rust Belt states such as Michigan and Ohio who felt they had lost their jobs in the once powerful industrial sector because of globalisation.

In June, the British people voted to leave the European Union, in part due to anxiety over immigration. Last week, academic Gillian Koh described Singapore’s 2011 General Election as a “mini-Brexit vote” as immigration was a hot-button issue during that election.

Asked about that comparison, Mr Lee said “there’s massive difference in scale” between Brexit and the US elections and what happened in Singapore.

“The changes induced by globalisation, the Rust Belt problems, the uncertainty of jobs, these are real problems which people feel. You have to address them, you have to make people not only deal with the problems but make people feel that their concerns have been heard and have been attended to,” he said.

Also, leaders must get people to understand that certain issues, such as technological and economic changes, “are not something which the Government can wish away or which are a result of the wrong set of policies”.

Mr Lee pointed out that in Singapore, there is a lot of focus on equipping people with the right skills to do well, through the education system and the SkillsFuture initiative to encourage lifelong learning.

At the same time, the Government has put in place schemes such as Workfare and the Pioneer Generation package “to make sure that everybody feels fairly treated and if you’re not doing so well on your own, well you get an extra leg up”.

“Which makes everybody know that if you’re in Singapore, not everybody is equally well off, but even if you’re not well off, you’re not badly off,” he said.

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PM Lee in Peru for APEC summit

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This article was first published on November 21, 2016.
Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.

SINGAPORE – A day after seemingly sounding the death knell on the Singapore Grand Prix, Formula One chief executive Bernie Ecclestone has clarified his comments, saying that F1 wants to keep Singapore on its calendar.

In an exclusive phone interview with The Straits Times on Monday (Nov 21) evening, the F1 supremo said: “F1’s stand is to hopefully continue in Singapore. Everybody is happy to be in Singapore and (we) don’t want to lose Singapore.”

In an interview with German publication Auto Motor Und Sport published on Sunday, he was quoted as saying: “Yes, the Grand Prix has cost Singapore a lot of money, but we’ve also given them a lot of money.

“Singapore was suddenly more than just an airport to fly to or from somewhere. Now they believe they have reached their goal and they do not want a Grand Prix anymore.”

Read also: Bernie Ecclestone hints Singapore no longer wants to hold F1 race

F1 race heats up in Singapore Grand Prix

Click on thumbnail to view photos. Source: 

The Straits Times, The Business Times, Reuters

Asked about this, he told ST: “My words were taken in a funny way. What I said was simple – no decision has been taken yet.

“Negotiations are ongoing and will be sorted out shortly… before the end of the year, I’m sure. We want to extend long-term. We’ll see what happens.”

His comments with the German publication were surprising, given that Ecclestone had previously called Singapore the “crown jewel” of the sport.

The Singapore GP is F1’s only full night race, one that has proven a hit with fans and drivers. For example, international television audiences for the race have stayed constant at around 80.7 million, despite the sport’s global viewership dropping from 600 million in 2008 to 425 million in 2014.

Drivers like Max Verstappen (Red Bull) and Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) have also gone on record stating how much they have enjoyed taking on the 23-turn Marina Bay street circuit.

Read also: Malaysia’s tourism minister says country will host last F1 race in 2018

Before F1, Singapore had Grand Prix from 1961-1973

Click on thumbnail to view photos. Source: 

The Straits Times

This article was first published on November 21, 2016.
Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.

Malaysian student Benjamin Tan was injured and so exhausted at one point of the race that he was just limping around the running track – but he knew he could not give up.

“I was so tired, my legs were killing me but I know I was running for a greater cause to help people who are enslaved and being trafficked around the world,” said the 17-year-old.

Tan was among 2,500 high school students who on Sunday completed 24 hours of relay races in a student-led campaign in Asia to end modern slavery and human trafficking.

The races were held simultaneously in Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong over the weekend. A similar race was held in Seoul in September.

Founded in Hong Kong in 2010 and run by students, the ’24 Hour Race’ initiative under the charity Running to Stop the Traffik seeks to raise awareness and funds towards combating modern slavery through the endurance race.

Tan said the race helps him to get closer to understanding the conditions of modern-day slavery, as he and his teammates cannot not quit running despite the exhaustion.

There are eight runners in each team and they take turns to run non-stop for 24 hours. “I still won’t be able to relate to what slavery victims are going through but it helps me to understand their condition a bit better. I have a choice to give up any time, slaves don’t,”said Tan.

Almost 46 million people around the world are living as slaves, forced to work in factories and mines, or trapped in debt bondage, according to the 2016 Global Slavery Index by the Australia-based Walk Free Foundation.

Asia, which provides low-skilled labour in global supply chains producing clothing, food and technology, accounted for two-thirds of the people in slavery, according to the index.

Another Malaysian student Michelle Lee said the race gave young people a platform to understand and explain modern slavery to the public when they embark on the fundraising campaign.

She cited the example of migrant domestic helpers who are commonly employed in Malaysian households to do cleaning and cooking but many of whom are denied their basic rights.

This includes cases of employers confiscating the domestic workers’ passports or denying helpers their weekly day off. “Modern slavery affects us on many different levels but sometimes we see it, we just don’t realise that is modern slavery,” said Lee, 17, who organised the Kuala Lumpur race.

The fundraising campaign this year aims to raise HK$3 million (S$550,000) and the fund will be donated to six charity groups which help slavery and trafficking victims.

The campaign, which runs until mid-December, has raised about a third of its target so far, according to its chief executive Paul Balluff.

More than 150,000 students had taken part in the race in previous years.