A better pre-school education, a fight against diabetes and a drive to be a Smart Nation were highlighted by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at his National Day Rally last year as efforts that could benefit Singapore in the long run. A year on, The Straits Times looks at progress and challenges in these areas.
Diabetes: Cheaper screening, low-sugar options in war against disease
Multi-pronged diabetes fight includes helping expectant mums and healthier food choices
By Salma Khalik, Senior Health Correspondent, The Straits Times, 18 Aug 2018
At last year's National Day Rally, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong spoke of the need to tackle diabetes here.
The silent killer increases people's risk of contracting other serious medical problems such as stroke, heart attack and kidney failure.
About 400,000 people here have the disease, though not all are aware of it as there are no symptoms in the early stages. This makes Singapore the developed country with the second-highest rate of diabetes, after the United States.
If nothing is done to curb the disease, the number of diabetics is projected to rise to one million by 2050 - and cost the country $2.5 billion a year in treatment and lost productivity, up from about $1 billion now.
Since the Prime Minister flagged the need to fight diabetes in August last year, the Health Promotion Board (HPB) has made it cheaper for people to screen for this and other chronic ailments.
For a flat fee of $5 - it is $2 for Community Health Assist Scheme card holders and free for pioneers - eligible Singaporeans can be screened for up to five conditions, including diabetes.
Diabetes: Cheaper screening, low-sugar options in war against disease
Multi-pronged diabetes fight includes helping expectant mums and healthier food choices
By Salma Khalik, Senior Health Correspondent, The Straits Times, 18 Aug 2018
The silent killer increases people's risk of contracting other serious medical problems such as stroke, heart attack and kidney failure.
About 400,000 people here have the disease, though not all are aware of it as there are no symptoms in the early stages. This makes Singapore the developed country with the second-highest rate of diabetes, after the United States.
If nothing is done to curb the disease, the number of diabetics is projected to rise to one million by 2050 - and cost the country $2.5 billion a year in treatment and lost productivity, up from about $1 billion now.
Since the Prime Minister flagged the need to fight diabetes in August last year, the Health Promotion Board (HPB) has made it cheaper for people to screen for this and other chronic ailments.
For a flat fee of $5 - it is $2 for Community Health Assist Scheme card holders and free for pioneers - eligible Singaporeans can be screened for up to five conditions, including diabetes.
The fee covers the follow-up consultation should the person have any of the conditions.
By May this year, more than 45,000 people had been screened.
The HPB also funds food manufacturers to encourage them to come up with products containing less sugar.
White rice is a major source of sugar intake here, so the HPB is also pushing for more people to turn to brown rice, which does not spike blood sugar levels as much.
It also works with hawkers to offer healthier options such as brown rice noodles and to add some brown rice in rice cakes and glutinous rice.
Health Minister Gan Kim Yong recently spoke of making water more widely available with drinking points in public places.
It has already become a must for water to be served at all government and People's Association functions, instead of just the ubiquitous syrup drinks.
He is hoping to make drinking water the default. Today, about 100 million cans of sweetened soda are sold here every month - or more than one billion cans a year.
Women with gestational diabetes during pregnancy face an increased risk of getting diabetes.
Women with gestational diabetes during pregnancy face an increased risk of getting diabetes.
The same goes for their babies. Public hospitals are now working with women planning to have children to reduce their risk of getting gestational diabetes, as well as controlling diabetes in pregnant women.
But the effects of these measures will take many years to surface as diabetes is a problem that creeps up over a long period.
Hopefully, picking up these good habits will prevent diabetes in the younger generation and control the disease in those who are already affected.
Hopefully, picking up these good habits will prevent diabetes in the younger generation and control the disease in those who are already affected.
Pre-school education: Improvements to early childhood education sector ramped up
By Sandra Davie, Senior Education Correspondent, The Straits Times, 18 Aug 2018
Childcare featured prominently at last year's National Day Rally speech. In it, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong pledged that the Government would provide more childcare places, and more quality kindergartens, and produce better-trained pre-school teachers with the setting up of a new national institute for the profession.
He said that about 40,000 childcare places will be added by 2022, and the Ministry of Education (MOE) will run 50 kindergartens by 2023. This scaling up would give the ministry the ability to exercise greater influence over the kindergarten sector and raise standards.
The Government is well on track to delivering on its promises.
The National Institute of Early Childhood Development (NIEC) has been set up and is due to offer certificate-level and diploma-level training courses from next year. It will also offer continuous education and professional development courses for teachers and leaders in service.
With regard to childcare places, parents with young children, especially those living in Punggol and Sengkang, last month cheered the news that five new large childcare centres were set to open in their estates over the next two years, creating an additional 2,600 childcare and infant-care places in these estates.
Minister for Social and Family Development Desmond Lee, who made the announcement, said that parents could expect 40,000 more pre-school places over the next five years, especially in new Build-To-Order estates with more young families.
Just two weeks ago, MOE announced that it would open seven new kindergartens by 2021. This means there would be a total of 36 MOE kindergartens across the island in three years, double the current number, Second Minister for Education Indranee Rajah said on a visit to the MOE Kindergarten @ Punggol Cove.
MOE kindergartens were first set up in 2014 with the aim of providing affordable pre-school education and raising the quality of early childhood practices here.
The ministry is now poised to become a catalyst for raising teacher quality in the sector.
By Sandra Davie, Senior Education Correspondent, The Straits Times, 18 Aug 2018
He said that about 40,000 childcare places will be added by 2022, and the Ministry of Education (MOE) will run 50 kindergartens by 2023. This scaling up would give the ministry the ability to exercise greater influence over the kindergarten sector and raise standards.
The Government is well on track to delivering on its promises.
The National Institute of Early Childhood Development (NIEC) has been set up and is due to offer certificate-level and diploma-level training courses from next year. It will also offer continuous education and professional development courses for teachers and leaders in service.
With regard to childcare places, parents with young children, especially those living in Punggol and Sengkang, last month cheered the news that five new large childcare centres were set to open in their estates over the next two years, creating an additional 2,600 childcare and infant-care places in these estates.
Minister for Social and Family Development Desmond Lee, who made the announcement, said that parents could expect 40,000 more pre-school places over the next five years, especially in new Build-To-Order estates with more young families.
Just two weeks ago, MOE announced that it would open seven new kindergartens by 2021. This means there would be a total of 36 MOE kindergartens across the island in three years, double the current number, Second Minister for Education Indranee Rajah said on a visit to the MOE Kindergarten @ Punggol Cove.
MOE kindergartens were first set up in 2014 with the aim of providing affordable pre-school education and raising the quality of early childhood practices here.
The ministry is now poised to become a catalyst for raising teacher quality in the sector.
More importantly, such moves can ensure that a high-quality early-years education is eventually accessible to all families, especially to children from disadvantaged homes who need it most.
That is why the policy to reserve at least one-third of the places in MOE kindergartens for children from low-income homes is to be applauded.
There is a powerful body of research done by people such as Nobel Prize-winning economist James Heckman that shows pre-school education, especially one that is of high quality, is the way to give children the best start in life.
The evidence shows the benefits percolate across all domains of life.
For example, the Perry Pre-school Project - which ran from 1962 to 1967 in Michigan, in the United States - provided high-quality pre-school education to a group of three-and four-year-olds living in poverty and assessed to be at high risk of school failure.
The pupils were taught by certified public school teachers holding at least a bachelor's degree. The average child-teacher ratio was 6:1, and the curriculum emphasised active learning. These children were tracked for decades after leaving pre-school. Not only did more of them go on to complete high school and enter college, they also landed better jobs and earned higher salaries than their peers.
The evidence is clear - quality early education pays off. It has enduring benefits for children and the societies that invest in it.
Singapore has now embarked on this journey.
That is why the policy to reserve at least one-third of the places in MOE kindergartens for children from low-income homes is to be applauded.
There is a powerful body of research done by people such as Nobel Prize-winning economist James Heckman that shows pre-school education, especially one that is of high quality, is the way to give children the best start in life.
The evidence shows the benefits percolate across all domains of life.
For example, the Perry Pre-school Project - which ran from 1962 to 1967 in Michigan, in the United States - provided high-quality pre-school education to a group of three-and four-year-olds living in poverty and assessed to be at high risk of school failure.
The pupils were taught by certified public school teachers holding at least a bachelor's degree. The average child-teacher ratio was 6:1, and the curriculum emphasised active learning. These children were tracked for decades after leaving pre-school. Not only did more of them go on to complete high school and enter college, they also landed better jobs and earned higher salaries than their peers.
The evidence is clear - quality early education pays off. It has enduring benefits for children and the societies that invest in it.
Singapore has now embarked on this journey.
Smart Nation: Myriad e-payment choices, but cash is still king
By Hariz Baharudin, The Straits Times, 18 Aug 2018
On entrepreneur Hazree Mohamad's mobile phone is a folder with GrabPay, DBS iBanking and FavePay - three different e-payment applications that he uses to pay for his food and shopping.
And if these options are not available, the 26-year-old can also tap his phone or debit card on one of the many readers at the cash register. "But I still use cash pretty regularly," he said. "Cash is accepted everywhere, and it is easy to find an ATM in Singapore."
It has been a year since Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong made the push in his National Day Rally speech for a cashless economy as part of Singapore's drive to become a Smart Nation.
More than eight in 10 Singapore consumers have adopted e-payment schemes, and nearly three in five merchants accept them as well, according to government data. And since its launch last year, transfers via PayNow - where a mobile or NRIC number is all that is needed for transactions - have hit nearly $900 million.
Consumers here are spoilt for choice. They can currently choose to pay using credit and Nets facilities, or one of the many mobile payment portals such as Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, Alipay and GrabPay, and apps such as Eatsy.
For transfers, they have options like DBS Paylah and OCBC Pay Anyone, besides PayNow.
But it also means consumers have to install different apps for different payment services, and merchants have to set up different systems to accept all these cashless options, said Mr Jonathan Yap, a research analyst at Frost and Sullivan.
"With multiple schemes and systems that do not communicate with each other, businesses would have to install multiple readers to cover all types of electronic payments, which lead to additional costs.
"Instead, businesses continue to accept cash as a fail-safe option," added Mr Yap, who specialises in telecommunications and payment strategies in the information and communications technology field.
The ubiquity of automated teller machines (ATMs) also means cash remains king. "There are currently more than 2,000 ATMs in Singapore, which translates to approximately one ATM every 600m... This encourages cash usage," said Mr Yap.
CIMB Private Bank economist Song Seng Wun echoed Mr Yap's views, adding: "Most of us just find it more convenient to transact by carrying money around, and the reason is there are so many ATMs."
The extensive ATM network has made cash the most prevalent way to pay for "smaller, daily spending such as eating a meal at a hawker centre", according to GrabPay Singapore head Gary Wong.
A simpler, more unified system is needed to dethrone cash, said PayPal South-east Asia managing director Rahul Shinghal, who cited the development of a national common Quick Response code, SGQR, by the Monetary Authority of Singapore, and the PayNow platform by the Association of Banks in Singapore, as examples of such initiatives.
Added Mr Shinghal, who is also head of merchant operations for PayPal Asia-Pacific: "At the end of the day, collaboration, not competition, will go a long way in addressing a fractured digital payments landscape. All players in this landscape should not see one another as competition, but rather, view cash as the common enemy."
Earlier this week, Enterprise Singapore, the National Environment Agency (NEA) and the Housing Board said that in the coming months, they will appoint at most two firms to unify the fragmented e-payment landscape and bring cashless payments to all 12,000 stalls at hawker centres, canteens and coffee shops in Singapore.
CIMB's Mr Song said people used to paying cash, like older consumers, may feel reluctant to change their ways. So, it is important to demystify cashlessness to convince them to adopt it.
"There is a reluctance on their part. It is not hard to just get cash, and there is an ease in dealing with cash because they are so used to it," he said. "It takes time and effort to change this."
By Hariz Baharudin, The Straits Times, 18 Aug 2018
On entrepreneur Hazree Mohamad's mobile phone is a folder with GrabPay, DBS iBanking and FavePay - three different e-payment applications that he uses to pay for his food and shopping.
And if these options are not available, the 26-year-old can also tap his phone or debit card on one of the many readers at the cash register. "But I still use cash pretty regularly," he said. "Cash is accepted everywhere, and it is easy to find an ATM in Singapore."
It has been a year since Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong made the push in his National Day Rally speech for a cashless economy as part of Singapore's drive to become a Smart Nation.
More than eight in 10 Singapore consumers have adopted e-payment schemes, and nearly three in five merchants accept them as well, according to government data. And since its launch last year, transfers via PayNow - where a mobile or NRIC number is all that is needed for transactions - have hit nearly $900 million.
Consumers here are spoilt for choice. They can currently choose to pay using credit and Nets facilities, or one of the many mobile payment portals such as Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, Alipay and GrabPay, and apps such as Eatsy.
For transfers, they have options like DBS Paylah and OCBC Pay Anyone, besides PayNow.
But it also means consumers have to install different apps for different payment services, and merchants have to set up different systems to accept all these cashless options, said Mr Jonathan Yap, a research analyst at Frost and Sullivan.
"With multiple schemes and systems that do not communicate with each other, businesses would have to install multiple readers to cover all types of electronic payments, which lead to additional costs.
"Instead, businesses continue to accept cash as a fail-safe option," added Mr Yap, who specialises in telecommunications and payment strategies in the information and communications technology field.
The ubiquity of automated teller machines (ATMs) also means cash remains king. "There are currently more than 2,000 ATMs in Singapore, which translates to approximately one ATM every 600m... This encourages cash usage," said Mr Yap.
CIMB Private Bank economist Song Seng Wun echoed Mr Yap's views, adding: "Most of us just find it more convenient to transact by carrying money around, and the reason is there are so many ATMs."
The extensive ATM network has made cash the most prevalent way to pay for "smaller, daily spending such as eating a meal at a hawker centre", according to GrabPay Singapore head Gary Wong.
A simpler, more unified system is needed to dethrone cash, said PayPal South-east Asia managing director Rahul Shinghal, who cited the development of a national common Quick Response code, SGQR, by the Monetary Authority of Singapore, and the PayNow platform by the Association of Banks in Singapore, as examples of such initiatives.
Added Mr Shinghal, who is also head of merchant operations for PayPal Asia-Pacific: "At the end of the day, collaboration, not competition, will go a long way in addressing a fractured digital payments landscape. All players in this landscape should not see one another as competition, but rather, view cash as the common enemy."
Earlier this week, Enterprise Singapore, the National Environment Agency (NEA) and the Housing Board said that in the coming months, they will appoint at most two firms to unify the fragmented e-payment landscape and bring cashless payments to all 12,000 stalls at hawker centres, canteens and coffee shops in Singapore.
CIMB's Mr Song said people used to paying cash, like older consumers, may feel reluctant to change their ways. So, it is important to demystify cashlessness to convince them to adopt it.
"There is a reluctance on their part. It is not hard to just get cash, and there is an ease in dealing with cash because they are so used to it," he said. "It takes time and effort to change this."
PM Lee Hsien Loong to address cost of living, housing, water prices and medical costs at National Day Rally 2018
By Yasmine Yahya, The Straits Times, 18 Aug 2018
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong will speak on four issues that are on people's minds at the National Day Rally tomorrow.
These are: The cost of living, water and electricity prices, medical costs and housing.
He also said in a video posted on his Facebook page yesterday that the Government is closely watching the changes taking place internationally.
"Domestically, we are working hard, improving people's lives, addressing problems, preparing to grow further," he added.
PM Lee will deliver his speech at the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) College Central campus in Ang Mo Kio.
He will commence the rally at 6.45pm in Malay. He will then speak in Mandarin, and begin his English speech at 8.15pm.
Widely seen as the most important political speech of the year, the National Day Rally is traditionally used to map out the country's direction and announce new policies.
In his annual National Day Message, PM Lee had touched on concerns over the cost of living, noting that people worry about education, healthcare and housing.
He also said in his message that existing housing estates will be maintained and upgraded as the years pass. "Though the leases still have many years to run, we should think ahead about how we can keep older estates in good living condition, and also start to redevelop them, in order to build new homes and towns for future generations," he added.
PM Lee had cited the need for bold, creative planning to take the country forward.
He held up the newly developed Kampung Admiralty retirement community as an example of what the Government is doing to transform education, healthcare and housing to improve lives.
Kampung Admiralty, which is in Woodlands, is Singapore's first retirement community and took in its first residents in August last year.
The 11-storey complex comprises public housing for seniors integrated with healthcare, wellness and eldercare facilities.
By Yasmine Yahya, The Straits Times, 18 Aug 2018
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong will speak on four issues that are on people's minds at the National Day Rally tomorrow.
These are: The cost of living, water and electricity prices, medical costs and housing.
He also said in a video posted on his Facebook page yesterday that the Government is closely watching the changes taking place internationally.
"Domestically, we are working hard, improving people's lives, addressing problems, preparing to grow further," he added.
PM Lee will deliver his speech at the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) College Central campus in Ang Mo Kio.
He will commence the rally at 6.45pm in Malay. He will then speak in Mandarin, and begin his English speech at 8.15pm.
Widely seen as the most important political speech of the year, the National Day Rally is traditionally used to map out the country's direction and announce new policies.
In his annual National Day Message, PM Lee had touched on concerns over the cost of living, noting that people worry about education, healthcare and housing.
He also said in his message that existing housing estates will be maintained and upgraded as the years pass. "Though the leases still have many years to run, we should think ahead about how we can keep older estates in good living condition, and also start to redevelop them, in order to build new homes and towns for future generations," he added.
PM Lee had cited the need for bold, creative planning to take the country forward.
He held up the newly developed Kampung Admiralty retirement community as an example of what the Government is doing to transform education, healthcare and housing to improve lives.
Kampung Admiralty, which is in Woodlands, is Singapore's first retirement community and took in its first residents in August last year.
The 11-storey complex comprises public housing for seniors integrated with healthcare, wellness and eldercare facilities.
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