‘When we say we’ll do something, we make sure we deliver it’: PM Lawrence Wong at opening of Thomson-East Coast Line Stage 4

Political stability key to large long-term infrastructure projects: PM Wong

By Esther Loi and Whitney William, The Straits Times, 22 Jun 2024

It is easy to take for granted how things get built in Singapore, where the authorities ensure that projects get done and are delivered, said Prime Minister Lawrence Wong at the opening of the fourth stage of the Thomson-East Coast Line (TEL) on June 21.

“We say we want to do something, and eventually it gets done,” said PM Wong at Marine Parade station, one of seven new stops along TEL Stage 4 (TEL4). The others are Tanjong Rhu, Katong Park, Tanjong Katong, Marine Terrace, Siglap and Bayshore.

He noted that in many other countries around the world, including advanced ones, there may be difficulties in completing projects due to funding issues, resistance from residents or people who are inconvenienced.

“Sometimes, political parties change and the new party comes into power, and they shelve the plans from the previous party,” he added.

“So, in many of these places, people talk about wanting to do things, but after a long time, things still cannot get done. Here in Singapore, when we say we will do something, we make sure we deliver it.”

Transport Minister Chee Hong Tat, Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong and former transport minister Khaw Boon Wan also attended the opening ceremony on June 21.

They were joined by MPs for the various constituencies that TEL4 serves, including Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat (East Coast GRC) and Manpower Minister Tan See Leng (Marine Parade GRC).

PM Wong said the TEL is just a part of the Government’s investment in the public transport system and that “we are certainly not done expanding our rail network”.

He noted that more than 50 new MRT stations will open over the next decade, including those along the new Jurong Region Line and Cross Island Line, which will improve connectivity within Singapore’s west, east and north-east.

New stations and extensions will also open on the North-South, Circle and Downtown lines.

By the 2030s, eight in 10 households will be within a 10-minute walk of an MRT station, said PM Wong.

The seven new stations along TEL4 were opened to the public on June 21 for a preview that drew around 380,000 people, two days before passenger service starts on June 23.

PM Wong recounted his days growing up in Marine Terrace in the 1980s, when he had wished for an MRT station closer to his home.

While he no longer lives in the estate, he said residents along TEL4 can enjoy fast, convenient and affordable public transport.

A direct train ride on the TEL from Marine Parade to Shenton Way, in the heart of the Central Business District, will take 20 minutes, halving commutes for residents who had to take a combination of bus and train before, he noted.

Students stand to benefit, too, with more than 10 schools within walking distance of a TEL4 station, said PM Wong.

The new stretch will also bring the East Coast area, including Joo Chiat and Katong, closer to Singaporeans from other parts of the island, and make it easier to reach East Coast Park.

“If you grew up in the east, there’s always a special place here. You know that there are excellent food options in Joo Chiat, in Katong, and I think some people have even called this TEL4 line the ‘makan’ line,” PM Wong quipped.

“Makan” means to eat in Malay.

The Prime Minister noted that people with special needs were among the passenger groups the authorities had in mind when designing the line.

For instance, station signs have larger fonts and there are more braille texts to aid the visually impaired.

Hearing enhancement systems that minimise background noise for those with hearing aids and allow them to communicate more easily with station staff have also been fitted at passenger service centres in TEL stations.

The stations come with more lifts and entrances, too, making it more convenient for those with mobility challenges, said PM Wong.

The next stage of TEL, comprising Bedok South and Sungei Bedok stations, will be completed by 2026.

Singapore’s first underground service reservoir in housing estate to supply water to Bidadari residents

By Shabana Begum, The Straits Times, 19 Jun 2024

Beneath a green field at Bidadari Park, at a depth of about two basement carpark levels, lies an underground reservoir that will supply water to the new neighbourhood from the third quarter of 2024.

Holding three Olympic-size swimming pools’ worth of treated drinking water, the $27 million Bidadari underground service reservoir (USR) – the first of its kind in a housing estate – will boost the main water supply to about 8,800 homes in the estate during peak periods to ensure users enjoy good water pressure.

Like the 10-plus other service reservoirs in Singapore, it also serves as a back-up during emergencies or disruptions to PUB’s main water supply. These service reservoirs are not to be confused with catchment reservoirs such as MacRitchie and Bedok, which are among the 17 scattered across the island to collect rainwater that is subsequently treated.

The Bidadari USR, built by national water agency PUB at the site of the former Mount Vernon Columbarium, has two large underground tanks – each about 6.5m high – to save on surface space and keep the surroundings unmarred.

Just a pumping station above ground, occupying a 700 sq m plot of land, hints at its existence. The USR was designed to be largely unmanned, with an automated control room and five centrally operated pumps.

During off-peak hours when household water demand is not high, the two tanks will be filled with potable water from existing service reservoirs such as Bukit Kalang Service Reservoir.

While other service reservoirs like Fort Canning – built in 1929, it is the only other underground service reservoir – and Mount Faber are sited on high ground to leverage gravity to channel water to homes and offices, Bidadari’s is on low terrain.

The Bidadari USR is currently undergoing testing and commissioning, and is expected to be operational in the third quarter of 2024.

The completion of the Bidadari USR was announced by Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu on June 19 at the joint opening of the biennial Singapore International Water Week and CleanEnviro Summit Singapore conferences.

“It will help fortify water supply to meet the water demand of present and future Bidadari residents,” she said, at the Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre.

The Bidadari estate will have about 10,000 homes comprising both public and private housing. As at February, more than 70 per cent of the 8,872 Housing Board flats there have been handed over to their owners, while the remaining flats are on track to be completed by 2025.

The concept of piloting a reservoir that optimises land use and is integrated with a park in the estate was announced in 2013.

“This approach has enabled PUB to save about 1,500 sq m of space by integrating the land above the water tanks with the adjacent Bidadari Park,” the agency said.

What the West can learn from Singapore

Data shows that in key areas, Singapore is better at governing than the US and Britain.

By Graham Allison, The Straits Times, 12 Jun 2024

When asked whether the US government works, most Americans say no. According to recent polling by Ipsos, more than two-thirds of adults in the United States think the country is going in the wrong direction. Gallup reports that only 26 per cent have confidence in major US institutions, such as the presidency, the Supreme Court and Congress. Nearly half of Americans aged 18 to 25 say that they believe either that democracy or dictatorship “makes no difference” or that “dictatorship could be good in certain circumstances”. As a recent Economist cover story put it: “After victory in the Cold War, the American model seemed unassailable. A generation on, Americans themselves are losing confidence in it.”

Most Singaporeans have a very different outlook on their government, a managed political system that has elections but nonetheless facilitates the dominance of one party, the People’s Action Party. According to a Pew Research Centre report, three-quarters of Singaporeans are satisfied with how democracy is working in their country. Moreover, 80 per cent think their country is heading in the right direction – the highest number in any of the 29 countries surveyed in the May Ipsos poll.

In 2024, both the United States and Singapore are facing one of the most challenging tests of any system of government: the transfer of power from one leader to the next. Textbooks on government identify this as an arena in which democratic systems have the greatest advantage over authoritarian or managed alternatives. Yet, as 2024 shows, that isn’t always the case.

In May, as then Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong passed the baton to his chosen successor, Mr Lawrence Wong, Singaporeans almost unanimously applauded the orderly, peaceful transition. In contrast, Americans’ sense of gloom is growing as they approach a presidential election in which voters will have to choose between two candidates who claim that the other’s victory would mean the end of US democracy. According to an April Reuters/Ipsos poll, ttwo-thirds of US voters believe that neither candidate should be running.

These comparisons invite the question: Is Singapore simply better at governing than other countries?

To answer this, consider the following three Report Cards, which use data from international organisations to assess Singapore alongside two countries holding major elections in 2024: the United States and Britain. Each report card grades the countries on how well they have fulfilled the requirements that Singapore’s founder and first prime minister, Mr Lee Kuan Yew – the father of Mr Lee Hsien Loong – believed were the functions of government: to “improve the standard of living for the majority of its people, plus enabling the maximum of personal freedoms compatible with the freedoms of others in society”.

The first Report Card considers citizens’ well-being, which we’ve assessed based on categories for which there is ample data, such as income, health, safety and sense of security.

The second Report Card covers what the World Bank calls “governance”, or a government’s effectiveness in facing issues, making policy choices, executing policy and preventing corruption.

The third Report Card, which considers both individual rights and citizens’ satisfaction with their government, is more difficult to interpret. It includes the judgments made both by international organisations and by polls that gauge how citizens feel about their democracy.

It’s worth reflecting on nine takeaways related to these Report Cards. First, Mr Lee Hsien Loong left to his successor a population that is now wealthier than Americans – and almost twice as wealthy as their former British colonial overlords.

When he took office in 2004, the so-called Singapore miracle had already happened: Singapore’s economy had soared since the 1960s, taking the country from poverty to having a gross domestic product (GDP) per capita that was approximately three-quarters of that of the United States, where many analysts thought it would remain. Yet 20 years later, Singapore’s GDP per capita is more than 4 per cent higher than that in the United States: $88,500 compared with $85,000.

Second, while rapid economic growth often produces greater income disparity, over the past two decades, Singapore has reduced inequality significantly – from 0.47 to 0.37 (as measured by the Gini coefficient, a measure by which 0 equals complete equality and 1 represents complete inequality) – while the United States has remained around 0.47. (For comparison, China’s Gini coefficient is 0.46, and the country with the highest level of inequality is South Africa, with 0.63.)

Third, Singaporeans are generally healthier and live longer than their counterparts in the United States and Britain. Just 20 years ago, life expectancy in all three countries was approximately the same. Today, the life expectancy in Singapore is longer (83 years) than that in the United States (76 years) and Britain (81 years). Singapore’s infant mortality has fallen from 27 deaths per 1,000 births in 1965, to 4 in 2004, to 1.8 today – considerably lower than both other countries. Furthermore, 93 per cent of Singaporeans express satisfaction with their healthcare system, in contrast to 75 per cent of Americans and 77 per cent of Britons.

Fourth, Singapore was clearly best prepared for a major public health crisis. Because the Covid-19 pandemic struck all countries around the same time, it provided a clear test of their response systems. On a per capita basis, around 10 Americans or Britons have died from Covid-19 for every one of their counterparts in Singapore.

Construction of Founders’ Memorial begins, opening slated for 2028

A memorial that honours Singapore’s founders and keeps alive their ideals in our nation-building journey

By Ng Keng Gene, Correspondent, The Straits Times, 6 Jun 2024

Construction of the Founders’ Memorial – dedicated to Singapore’s pioneers and the values they exemplified – has officially started, and it is scheduled to open in 2028.

The memorial at Gardens by the Bay’s Bay East Garden will offer visitors an “integrated gallery and gardens experience”, said the National Heritage Board (NHB).

Within its two two-storey buildings, which will be connected by a common basement, will be a viewing gallery that overlooks Singapore’s city skyline, exhibition galleries, and multi-purpose rooms for workshops and programmes.

NHB said multiple paths will extend from the memorial into the larger Bay East Garden, with the memorial itself designed to depict a path – a symbol of the nation-building journey that Singapore’s founding generation and its leaders undertook.

The ground-breaking ceremony was held at Bay East Garden on June 5, and officiated by Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong. It was on June 5, 1959, that the first Cabinet of self-governing Singapore was sworn into office.

At a reception held at Gardens by the Bay’s Flower Field Hall after the ceremony, SM Lee said the memorial will tell of how the nation’s founding leaders “overcame the odds to build a strong, united, and independent Singapore”. Stories will capture “how they led the people of Singapore through successive battles”, he said.

“First against colonialism, then communism, and finally communalism; and how they then built a nation based on the values and ideals embodied in the pledge, launching us on the journey that has led to the Singapore that we see today.”

He was joined at the ceremony by Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Edwin Tong, Minister for National Development Desmond Lee and Founders’ Memorial Committee co-chairs Lee Tzu Yang and Tan Tai Yong, as well as community representatives including students, memorial volunteers and donors.

Those who participated in the ground-breaking planted saplings that were grafted from trees planted by Singapore’s leaders during the early years of the nation’s greening journey.

Species planted included the yellow flame (Peltophorum pterocarpum), a native species that was planted by founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew in 1971 at Tanjong Pagar Community Club; a sea grape (Coccoloba uvifera), planted by Dr Goh Keng Swee in 1975 at Labrador Park; and a sea apple (Syzygium grande), which Mr S. Rajaratnam planted in 1980 at Block 12 North Bridge Road.

The saplings planted on June 5 will be featured in the Founders’ Memorial’s landscaping in the future, said NHB.

The memorial – mooted in 2015 following Mr Lee Kuan Yew’s death – was previously slated to be completed in 2027, but its construction timeline was affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Its design by Japanese architecture firm Kengo Kuma & Associates, working in collaboration with Singapore firm K2LD Architects, was announced in March 2020 following an international competition launched in January 2019.

NHB said the memorial “aims to inspire Singaporeans to commit themselves towards a better future, as it will serve as a space to capture the spirit of our nation and unify Singaporeans”.

Between June and December in 2024, a mural titled Our Memorial, Our Singapore by local illustration studio 8EyedSpud will be displayed at Bay South Garden, near the Cloud Forest and Flower Dome.

By scanning a QR code that accompanies the mural, people can select activities they are most keen to engage in at the memorial and Bay East Garden – “a continuation of the memorial’s public engagement journey”, said NHB.

They may also leave well-wishes, which may be part of future hoardings for the memorial during its construction.

Mr Lee Tzu Yang said the committee will continue to engage Singaporeans “because the Founders’ Memorial is envisioned as a space owned by every generation, including future generations of Singaporeans”.

Public workshops and a pilot exhibition – titled Semangat Yang Baru: Forging A New Singapore Spirit – have been held to gather feedback for the upcoming memorial.

More than 900 stories and artefacts have been received for the memorial thus far following a public call, and over 140,000 people attended the exhibition, Mr Lee Tzu Yang said.

A Project Citizens campaign will be launched as part of the engagement to invite Singaporeans to contribute stories about the country’s founding history.

Commemorating the nation-building journey

SM Lee said that besides focusing on key leaders in Singapore’s first two decades of nation-building, the memorial’s project team is curating an installation specially to commemorate the founding generation.

“Through their words and deeds, the memorial will bring alive the values and ideals these pioneers exemplified, championed, and inculcated into Singaporeans,” he added.

Citing the backdrop to Singapore’s independence in August 1965 – the race riots of 1964 and Indonesia’s Konfrontasi – SM Lee said that unlike the independence of other post-colonial nations, the mood in the Republic was sombre.

The founding leaders rallied the population, and Singaporeans, whatever their previous political allegiances, united behind them, said SM Lee, adding that they witnessed various milestones, such as the withdrawal of British forces and the development of the Singapore Armed Forces, as well as housing and educating the people.

Even more importantly, they established fundamental values and ideals that set the country’s long-term direction: democracy, justice and equality, meritocracy and a drive for excellence, an unwavering commitment to honest, clean government and, above all, a multiracial society, SM Lee said.

He added that while the founding leaders did not get everything right, they made the right choices on the most important issues and Singapore succeeded beyond their wildest dreams.

Singapore’s origin story is unique, he said, noting that in the post-war era, many former colonies became independent countries like the Republic.

“But not many successfully shifted from the independence struggle to nation-building, from rousing revolutionary mobilisation to the patient slog of improving people’s lives. Singapore did,” he said.

He added that while Singapore has several memorials that mark significant events in its modern history – the Civilian War Memorial and Kranji War Memorial, for instance – “we do not yet have a memorial to commemorate our nation-building journey”.

“Now, almost 60 years after Separation, and 80 years after the Second World War, the time has come for us to build one,” said SM Lee.

He added: “I hope this Founders’ Memorial will become a space where Singaporeans reflect on our ongoing nation-building journey; appreciate our precious inheritance from the founding generation; and resolve to continue building a harmonious and successful Singapore, based on our foundational values and ideals, for generations to come.”