CG Ong Siew Gay's Speech at National Day Dinner

Your Excellencies,

Ma Lixin

Deputy Director General, China Banking Regulatory Commission Shanghai Office,

Sheng Lei, Vice Mayor, Suzhou Municipal Government,

Dr Stenson Tan, President,

Shanghai Singapore Business Association – Singapore Club Shanghai

Mr Steven Joo, Vice President, SSBA-SCS

Excellencies,

Distinguished guests, ladies and Gentlemen

I am honoured to be among you today.  This evening, the Singapore community in Shanghai and the neighbouring provinces, and our friends in the Yangtze River Delta celebrate our 47^th National Day.  47 years is not a long time for a young nation like Singapore.  But we can be truly proud as a nation and as a community of what Singapore has achieved in this time.

In less than a week, Singapore will turn 47.  The theme this year of our celebrations is “Loving Singapore, Our Home”.  The objective of the theme is to remind Singaporeans to take a few moments to reflect what it means to love Singapore, what we appreciate about Singapore and how we can contribute to Singapore. 

Few countries in Asia, and in fact few nations in the world, can claim to progress from being a backwater island in the Third World to being a modern, industrialised city-state of First World standards within a generation.  Across the world, Singapore is known not just for its economic modernisation but more importantly, as a hub at the crossroads of East and West, melding different cultures and civilizations. 

We are a diverse people comprising different races, religions and languages, making up a melting-pot of varied perspectives.  Despite our differences, we are united as One People; as Singaporeans, we possess a unique culture, a common heritage and a shared destiny and identity.

Singapore is a small country with little resources and cannot survive on its own.  Our links with international markets is a key to our survival.  Many Singaporeans deal with the outside world in order to earn a living, and some even have to relocate overseas.  But we must not forget our roots and what it means to be Singaporeans.  How our meritocracy, bilingual education system and stable economic and political environment had given us a leg up in our lives.  How we have managed to harness our diversity and leverage on our collective strength for almost five decades, with Singaporeans of different ethnic groups, religions and languages coming from different parts of the world, working towards a common cause – building a better home for ourselves, our children and grandchildren.  In less than five decades, we have built a strong, inclusive and cohesive society.

But these fundamental tenets of life in Singapore cannot be taken for granted.  It is something we constantly work at, as a country and as a people.

The past year has been a watershed period in our nation’s short history.  Politically, there is a new leadership in place.  There is a new generation of voters too, who expect to be consulted and their views to be taken into account and factored into policies.

Amidst all these changes, I am sure that fellow Singaporeans who have had the opportunity to witness the rapid developments in Shanghai and eastern China while making a living here will agree with me on one point.  That is, a small and resource-poor country like Singapore can only survive and thrive by being useful and relevant to the rest of the world.  We know it because in a competitive and rapidly growing market like China, we have to live by this dictum every day.  We can only tap on the bountiful opportunities available here in eastern China only if we stand up to the international competition.  Everyone wants to have a bite of the pie in this market and we have a right to this pie only if we have something special to offer.

And that is where Singapore is well-positioned to tap the emerging opportunities in this emerging market.  As a country, we have a good brandname in China – the Singapore public sector is well-regarded for its efficiency, long-term planning and incorruptibility.  In the private sector, our companies are known for credibility, trustworthiness, competence and respect for the rule of law.  As China continues to urbanise at a dramatic pace and restructures its economy to move up the value chain, our competitive advantage in the retail and services sectors will be critical in helping us engage this key Asian market.  Long before “liveable cities” (宜居城市) became a catchphrase in China and the rest of the world, Singapore had already lived by this label day by day, year by year.  Because our small piece of land worth 700 square kilometres is the only home we have.  A recent survey by the Asia Competitiveness Institute under the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy showed that Singapore is the third-most liveable city in the world, ranking behind Geneva and Zurich.

We have done not too badly for the past year.  Despite a global slowdown, we expect to register growth – modest growth – this year.  Not quite in the same territory as in 2010 when we roared back from the recession with double-digit growth but respectable enough.  Next year, the global climate will remain uncertain.  The Eurozone crisis will continue to cast a pall over the global economy while the US economic recovery seems to remain tepid, with no end in sight to the fiscal gridlock.

But we have been through worst times in Singapore.  Our shared history, albeit a short one, shows that we have the ability to muster the will, and the unity, to surmount tougher challenges.

There will be challenges ahead.  As a nation, Singapore is in a new phase of development.  As the Prime Minister said in a statement last week in announcing the new Cabinet changes, social and community issues are increasingly important in our shared home.  First, we need to strengthen our families and enhance our social safety nets to help those in need.  Second, we must foster the arts and sports and build social capital through volunteerism.  Third, we have to improve public communications and engagement to reach out more effectively to our increasingly diverse society in the age of social media and rapid technological progress.

The National Population and Talent Division is engaging the public and seeking Singaporeans’ views as we examine our population policies and goals comprehensively this year.  The engagement exercise will be conducted through the Internet, and its website will set out our demographic challenges, in order to understand the trade-offs and choices we must make as a nation.  The site also seeks ideas and feedback from the public that will help formulate policies towards a vision of a sustainable population. It will carry resource materials, including key speeches, papers, videos, infographics and brochures to help visitors to the site have a better understanding of the issues and current Government efforts to address them.  I hope Singaporeans in Shanghai and China will participate actively in this exercise.

As we continue to step up engagement with the Overseas Singaporeans community, the SSBA-SCS will have a crucial role to play in Shanghai.  In this regard, I want to register my personal gratitude for its leadership and contribution in keeping Singaporeans in Shanghai united.  I hope that we will continue to stay in touch with Singapore and the Overseas Singaporean community this way.  Lastly, I would like to thank our Chinese friends from Shanghai and the neighbouring cities in the Yangtze Delta region for joining us and sharing in our joy today.

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(13 Aug 2012)