Making Singapore the City of Good

Thank you. Good morning everyone!

It's always nice to come to a place like this, standing on a piece of land that wasn't here maybe 30 years ago, and we are looking at the future of Singapore. Not just the exhibition, but the future of the city is actually going to be right here, where we are standing on. So it's really, at this moment, a blank canvas for us to imagine what are the possibilities and the aspirations that we have.

I was involved in planning SG50 right from the very beginning. It took us actually seven years of planning, but intensive planning was two years ago – 2013, 2014. I'm not sure if you have noticed, but SG50 actually took a certain rhythm. The beginning of the celebration – it started about 2014 – is really about honouring our pioneers. So if you recall, in Istana, for pioneer teachers, pioneer soldiers, and this whole series of pioneer generation packages, and so on. 2015 – most part of it is about appreciating what we have right now. So we have many tours to bring people around, having great sessions to enjoy food with your neighbours, with the community; just really appreciating what we have and the kind of progress we have made as a country; how tolerant the society is, how multi-cultural and multi-racial we are, peace and harmony, and so on and so forth. Things to really feel proud of as Singaporeans.

And then we were looking at how to end the celebration – it's where we are right now, nearing the end of a series of celebrations. We want to leave behind legacies, not just a series of fireworks and concerts; we want to make this a change moment. But the change moment really cannot be something directed by the Government; it has to come from the heart, come from the people. We looked at what's going to make us proud of being Singaporeans. It's no longer going to about how clean we are, good public housing and so on. We really need to be proud of ourselves as a people, how we treat one another.

When we look at our fifty SG icons, we will see things like 'kiasu', 'Singlish' and the 'dragon playground'. But there are not that many that say, “I Care”, “I Love”, “Singapore is really a place where caring and graciousness is a trait”. I think that has to change. We want Singapore to be known to be a City of Good. Hopefully, when we look back after another 50 years, we will say that what defines us as Singaporean is not just that we have the best airport, the best seaport, or we have good jobs, but that we really are a caring nation, a caring people; that, as successful as we are, we want to bring along the people who are less successful, people who need our help, a leg up, we're there to provide. People are gracious to one another because this is who we are; this is what we're made of.

We've seen in the video, about how just a simple act of hugging someone, saying hello to another person, helping someone who has fallen. These are all good examples. We should have Singaporeans understand this and practise it – it has to come from within.

So SGfuture is a series of engagement sessions to do this, exactly this, to bring like-minded people together, to talk about the kind of future that we all want, collectively, as Singaporeans. And also what we are going to do about it, because Singapore belongs to all of us. We are stakeholders, every single one of us, and we have to make this a place we are proud of in years to come. It's going to be an extensive engagement session. We're going to bring as many Singaporeans together as possible, as extensive interests as possible, covering all areas from caring, like what we're doing today, to sustainable development, to life-long learning, among others. I hope that today will be the start of many conversations, and that you will create a movement to develop a caring society.

You are here, because of your expertise, experience, and your willingness to serve. And I think you bring along with you unique inputs, suggestions and ideas. Every small idea actually matters. It will bring along a big movement, if we are able to bring along people with us. Whether it's as an individual, or corporates, who would convince and bring your bosses, leaders and colleagues along as you reach out to help others. Even if you're in the VWO/NGO sector, you have a role to play in this as well. You can make a difference. So if we are to go out of this place and think about what my goal would be to shape Singapore, I hope that you will find renewed conviction to make caring a distinctive attribute of Singapore and Singaporeans.

You've come today; you've decided to spend your precious time with us, because you believe in the cause. You believe in giving; you believe in changing Singapore for the better; you believe in making us the City of Good. Thank you very much from the bottom of our hearts; let's together make Singapore a different Singapore, a better Singapore, for the future!