Standing Tall: The Goh Chok Tong Years Volume 2

ESM Goh Chok Tong launches second part of biography titled Standing Tall on 7 May 2021

4G leader will have to bring rest of team together: PM Lee Hsien Loong

He urges younger Cabinet colleagues to take reference from Goh Chok Tong and his team

By Linette Lai, Political Correspondent, The Straits Times, 8 May 2021

As the People's Action Party's fourth-generation (4G) ministers deliberate on their next leader, their eventual choice has to be someone who is able to bring the rest together, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said yesterday.

He urged his younger Cabinet colleagues to take reference from Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong and his team.

"Whoever will be prime minister must first and foremost be someone who can bring the rest together," PM Lee said in a speech at the launch of Standing Tall, the second of a two-part biography of ESM Goh.

"Pull them together, make the most of the strengths of each minister, and make the whole greater than the sum of its parts."

He said this was the secret of ESM Goh's successful premiership.

Singapore's leadership succession was set back after Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat announced last month that he would step aside as leader of the 4G team, paving the way for a younger person to succeed PM Lee when he retires.

PM Lee said the latest Cabinet reshuffle - which saw seven ministries get new ministers - will give Singapore's 4G leaders a chance to work with one another in new capacities as a team.

This will strengthen their mutual understanding and teamwork and prepare them to take over from the current leadership, he added.

ESM Goh, who retired from politics last year, spoke at the launch about how his team enjoyed good camaraderie and had warm personal relations with one another.

"We might have had different points of view, but once a decision was made, all of us rallied behind it," he said. "We trusted each other. We worked as a team, with members looking out for one another. We had a shared sense of purpose. We were united."

ESM Goh also had words of advice for the 4G team - to continue working closely as a team to set the agenda for Singapore. "Show confidence and leadership as a group. Hone your political skills and prepare yourselves to take over the reins from the 3G."

He urged Singaporeans to give the 4G team time to make the important decision about their leader for the country's next lap.

Standing Tall was written by former Straits Times news editor Peh Shing Huei - now a partner at content agency The Nutgraf - and published by World Scientific.

One topic that comes up several times in the book is the difficulty of getting good people to join politics, a challenge that ESM Goh and PM Lee addressed in their speeches.

People who think that political succession is an "internal PAP problem" cannot be more wrong, ESM Goh said, referring to the People's Action Party.

"It is a national issue. We need people of ability and integrity to serve the nation," he added. "Many have answered the call, and more must do so."

PM Lee said he and ESM Goh often discussed the matter at their regular lunches, and noted that his predecessor's main motivation in having his biography written was to inspire more people to take the leap into politics and serve Singapore.

The Prime Minister acknowledged that the opportunity costs for any individual entering politics are significant, ranging from the loss of privacy to having to give up a promising career.

"But regardless of how difficult the task, we must persevere, and for Singapore's sake, we must hope that we succeed," PM Lee said. "Singaporeans deserve the best people that can be found and developed to serve and to lead them, as one united national team."

This is the only way to maintain the quality of government that Singaporeans have become used to, and the confidence in Singapore that attracts investments and creates jobs, he said. It is also the only way to assure the country's success, to secure the future of generations down the road.

PM Lee thanked ESM Goh for handing over a better Singapore to his successors.

"Now your successors must strive to do the same," PM Lee added.

Dialogue by PM Lee Hsien Loong at the Atlantic Council Front Page Online Event on 28 July 2020

Singapore hopes US can stabilise its relations with China
Asia depends on this to have a secure and predictable environment to prosper: PM Lee
By Charissa Yong, US Correspondent, The Straits Times, 29 Jul 2020

Singapore hopes the United States is able to stabilise its relationship with China because Asia depends on stable ties between the two countries to have a secure and predictable environment to prosper, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said yesterday.

He made the point in an online interview when American businessman David Rubenstein asked him what he would say to an incoming US president asking for advice on how to strengthen the country's relationship with Asia.

PM Lee said he would also encourage the next president, be it Republican President Donald Trump, who is running for re-election, or his Democratic rival Joe Biden, to develop a bipartisan consensus on US-Asian relations so that American foreign policy would last beyond the president's administration.

He cited how the previous Obama administration's rebalance towards Asia had been supported by many Asian countries, but the Trump administration had a different take on the issue, wanting Japan and South Korea to pay more for the US troops stationed on their soil.



"If you can establish a stable, predictable policy with bipartisan consensus, I think it would be a great help to all your friends and partners who want to be able to depend on you and to rely on you, without the risk that one day, the big power may suddenly decide its interests lie elsewhere," he said.

PM Lee also urged Washington to find a way to return to the Trans-Pacific Partnership mega trade pact it had withdrawn from at the start of the Trump administration.

Worries about the direction of US-China relations featured heavily in the interview on Asia's response to tensions between the two major powers and COVID-19, hosted by the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based think-tank.

PM Lee described the US-China tensions as very unfortunate, saying: "Actions have been taken which have provoked counter-actions, and the issues have metastasised and spread into all fields of the relationship... The way things have developed over the last several years, you have very many areas where there is not only contradiction, but also deep distrust, and this is corrosive and it is making a very difficult relationship very dangerous."



He noted the relationship historically tends to get tangled with presidential campaigns in election years, but that things settle down after the new administration settles in.

But this year's election - due on Nov 3 - and its aftermath may be different, he said.

"I am not sure whether it will happen this time because the feel is quite different, and the degree of animus and... bipartisan consensus on treating China as a threat is quite extraordinary. I fear that it may carry on past the election and if it does, I think that bodes ill for the world."

Prime Minister @leehsienloong worries that US policymakers will choose either a path of “colliding with China” or “deciding that you have no stake in the region and leave us to our own defenses,” @DavidAWemer writes. https://t.co/SAkBqmtg5Q

— Atlantic Council (@AtlanticCouncil) July 28, 2020

PM Lee set out two outcomes, both of which worry Singapore.

The first is that the US will collide with China, and the other is the US will decide it has no stake in the region and leave Asian countries to their own defences. Singapore and other countries in the region want good relations with China while keeping their deep relations with the US at the same time, he added.

"Maintaining that balance and for the US to be able to play that role, and tend to your many interests and your many friends and your influence in the region, I think that requires a significant amount of attention from the United States policy establishment," he said.

"Otherwise, a part of the world which has been crucial to you since the Second World War may become a problem rather than an asset to you."

The dialogue was moderated by Mr Rubenstein, who heads the American private equity firm The Carlyle Group and is chairman of the US non-profit think-tank Council on Foreign Relations.

Mr Rubenstein asked if PM Lee was worried that China's tech companies would become so dominant that Singapore would be dependent on them for technology, noting that the US government had expressed concerns that telecommunications equipment from Chinese tech giant Huawei could pose threats to national security.

PM Lee said Singapore did business with Huawei and did not exclude it from its 5G network bidding process, although Huawei was not chosen this time round.



Noting that no system was 100 per cent secure, he said: "It is a balance of the risks and the purposes to which it is going to be put, and how you can minimise the risks and operate in a way which does not lead you to conclude that you must do everything yourself."

He added: "If the supply chain bifurcates, it will be painful. It may still happen, but we hope there will be trust between the two sides and it will be possible for cooperation to continue.

"It does require a significant degree of trust and a willingness to want to work together, rather than to have a one up, one down outcome. And I am not sure that is the way things are going now."

$48 billion Resilience Budget 2020 to combat impact of COVID-19

Singapore Government pumps in $48 billion more to fight COVID-19 fallout, on top of $6.4 billion already announced at Budget 2020

Singapore is allocating nearly $55 billion, or about 11 per cent of its gross domestic product, to deal with challenges that have come in the wake of COVID-19



10,000 jobs to be created over a year, $800 a month to be given to those who lose job amid COVID-19 outbreak

Self-employed persons to get S$1,000 a month for nine months



Firms to get wage subsidies of up to 75% for local workers

Up to $900 cash help for Singaporeans amid coronavirus outbreak



Government freezes all fees and charges for a year till March 2021; student loan repayment and interest charges suspended for one year from June 1, 2020 to to May 31, 2021

3-month deferral of income tax payments for businesses, self-employed as part of COVID-19 support



Rental and property tax waivers and other help for businesses hit by COVID-19 pandemic

PM Lee and ministers to take three-month pay cut in solidarity with Singaporeans coping with coronavirus

$17 billion to be drawn from reserves for stimulus measures

 



Another $48.4 billion to weather 'mighty storm' caused by virus
President gives support to draw up to $17 billion from past reserves
Economic growth forecast for 2020 reduced to -4% to -1%
Support package comes as 52 new coronavirus cases are reported on 26 March 2020
By Royston Sim, Deputy News Editor (Politics), The Straits Times, 27 Mar 2020

Singapore will roll out a landmark $48.4 billion package to support businesses, workers and families as the country grapples with an unprecedented crisis fuelled by the coronavirus pandemic.

This is in addition to the $6.4 billion worth of measures it announced just over a month ago to cushion the fallout from COVID-19.

In all, Singapore has marshalled nearly $55 billion - 11 per cent of its gross domestic product - to respond to what Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat described as "the most serious crisis we have faced in a generation".

Unveiling the supplementary budget in Parliament yesterday, he said: "This is a landmark package and a necessary response to a unique situation." In economic terms alone, "this will likely be the worst economic contraction since (Singapore's) independence", he noted, as he sketched out the grim global economic outlook.

The Ministry of Trade and Industry yesterday slashed its 2020 growth forecast to a range of minus 4 per cent to minus 1 per cent, from an earlier estimate of minus 0.5 per cent to 1.5 per cent. Singapore last registered a full-year recession in 2001, when the economy contracted 1 per cent.

The pandemic, which has infected more than 410,000 people across more than 190 countries, is likely to take at least a year to be resolved and the economic repercussions would last even longer, Mr Heng said. "This extraordinary situation calls for extraordinary measures."



He said President Halimah Yacob has given her in-principle support to draw up to $17 billion from the past reserves to fund part of this "Resilience Budget". This is only the second time Singapore has drawn on its national reserves to fund special budget measures. It drew $4.9 billion in 2009 during the global financial crisis.

The $48.4 billion Resilience Budget amounts to nearly half of the Government's $106 billion Budget for this year. It is also more than double the $20.5 billion Resilience Package in the 2009 Budget.

It focuses on three areas, the first of which is to save jobs and protect livelihoods by taking "bolder and more aggressive moves".

In all, $15.1 billion will go to an enhanced Jobs Support Scheme to support 1.9 million local employees.

Mr Heng, who is also Finance Minister, said the Government will co-fund 25 per cent of wages of every employed local worker under the scheme, up from 8 per cent.

The monthly wage cap will be raised from $3,600 to $4,600, while the payouts will cover nine months instead of the initial three.

Companies in sectors worst hit by COVID-19 - aviation and tourism - will get 75 per cent wage offsets for every employed local worker.

The $1.6 billion Care and Support Package will be boosted to $4.6 billion, with cash payouts for all adult Singaporeans tripled from a range of $100 to $300, to $300 to $900, depending on income.

Mr Heng also announced measures to help businesses overcome immediate challenges, from deferring income tax payments for companies and self-employed persons to enhancing property tax rebates and rental waivers.

Another $1.9 billion has been set aside to build resilience in Singapore's economy and society.

The $48.4 billion package will raise Singapore's overall Budget deficit for the 2020 financial year to a record $39.2 billion.

"Our prudence and discipline in saving and growing our reserves give us the wherewithal to respond decisively when our nation faces extraordinary circumstances," he said, calling the COVID-19 outbreak a "black swan event that comes only once every few decades".

The Government will keep monitoring the situation closely, and he is prepared to propose a further draw on reserves if necessary.

COVID-19 is a defining challenge - one that will test Singapore's social cohesion and psychological resilience, he said. The country yesterday reported 52 new coronavirus cases, taking the total to 683.

While people are understandably fearful, they must not surrender to fear or panic, Mr Heng said.

"The Government will take all the social and economic measures we need to keep our people safe, keep our economy growing and prepare ourselves for the recovery. Now, more than ever, we need Singaporeans to be strong and ride through these challenges together."

The Government will stand with Singaporeans from all walks of life to battle the crisis. "I am confident that together, we will ride through this storm and emerge even stronger," said Mr Heng, who received a standing ovation in Parliament.

Parliament will debate the measures when it next sits on April 6.

Budget 2020 debate in Parliament

Parliament passes $106 billion Budget aimed at meeting immediate challenges like Covid-19, while keeping eye on the future

President and ministers to take 1-month pay cut; special bonus for front-line public officers tackling Covid-19

Singapore is able to respond strongly and effectively because of trust between people and Govt: DPM Heng Swee Keat
By Tiffany Fumiko Tay, The Straits Times, 29 Feb 2020

All Cabinet ministers - including the Prime Minister - and political office-holders, as well as the President, will take a one-month pay cut to show solidarity with Singaporeans coping with the coronavirus outbreak.

Meanwhile, public officers on the front line will get up to one extra month of special bonus in recognition of their sacrifices battling the Covid-19 disease.

They include healthcare officers in restructured hospitals and the Ministry of Health, as well as some officers in other front-line agencies who have been directly involved in containing the spread of the virus.



A one-off grant will also go to the 900 general practitioner clinics that have been designated as Public Health Preparedness Clinics to support them as they care for patients with respiratory symptoms.

Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat announced these in Parliament yesterday in rounding up the debate on this year's Budget, which comes at a trying time for businesses, families and workers, especially those on the front line.

"Our front-line workers, especially healthcare workers in the restructured hospitals, have shown outstanding courage and dedication," he said.

"While we cannot thank them enough, we can show our appreciation and support in a tangible way," he added at the close of debate on Budget 2020, following speeches from 57 MPs over three days.



In addition to the pay cut for office-holders, all MPs will take a one-month cut in their allowance. Senior public service officers, including permanent and deputy secretaries and statutory board chief executives, will also take a half-month pay cut.

Mr Heng, who is also Finance Minister, said this year's Budget debate took place under "exceptional circumstances", with businesses, workers and households facing a softening of the global economy and the Covid-19 outbreak that has hit sectors like tourism, hospitality and retail especially hard.

As MPs like Mr Vikram Nair (Sembawang GRC) noted, the entire population needs to come together to weather the storm, said Mr Heng.

They have done so, at a time when it is tempting to just look out for oneself, he added, citing various efforts by groups and individuals to help those affected. He said: "We will win this war over the virus by fighting as one united people."

"Singapore has been able to respond strongly and effectively to Covid-19 because there is strong trust between the people and the Government, and the sense that we are all in this together," he added.

Such trust also enabled the Government to make decisions quickly and carry them out effectively, with people confident that those responsible know what they are doing, said Mr Heng.

"We do not hide bad news, we do not flinch from doing the right thing, we will go the extra mile to help every one of us come through this together. That is why people comply with stringent quarantine orders, people accept reassurances about masks, people feel safe and carry on with their lives," he said.

"The fundamental basis for this is trust and solidarity between the Government and the people."

Noting that Singapore will face challenges in the weeks and months ahead, he added that it would need to draw on its reserves of trust and solidarity.

"This unity of purpose across our whole society is what will see us through these challenging times."

"And if we conduct ourselves well in this crisis, we will replenish those reserves, and strengthen our resilience and unity for another generation," he said.



President Halimah Yacob welcomed the bonus for those on the front line, saying on Facebook: "They truly deserve it. It is a small recognition, but it goes a long way... We must not underestimate their sacrifices."

Nominated MP Walter Theseira, one of several MPs who sought more support for front-line staff, welcomed the move.

On MPs' questions over whether the Government could provide businesses with more sizeable support, and for longer, Mr Heng said the hope was that this would not be necessary.

"But if it does, for example if the outbreak becomes a worldwide pandemic, and the global economic impact is deeper and longer, we have the fiscal resources to do so, and the will to act," he said.



Parliament will continue to debate the spending plans of the various ministries all of next week.

Ministerial salary structure totally transparent, with no hidden perks: DPM Teo Chee Hean

Parliament: DPM Teo explains clean wage system for ministers
Salary structure is totally transparent, with no hidden components or perks, he points out
By Yasmine Yahya, Senior Political Correspondent, The Straits Times, 2 Oct 2018

All the bonuses paid to an entry-level minister form part of his $1.1 million normal annual salary, Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean said yesterday, refuting online falsehoods that the bonuses ministers receive are in addition to that amount.

Mr Teo set out in detail the components that make up a minister's pay package, a move that comes about three weeks after Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong issued a written response to a Workers' Party (WP) query on ministerial bonuses.

"The salary structure is totally transparent. There are no hidden salary components or perks," said Mr Teo.

He was replying to Mr Alex Yam (Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC), whose question follows that of WP's Non-Constituency MP Leon Perera, who asked last month about the bonus paid to Cabinet ministers. Mr Perera wanted to know the average total of bonus months, and the highest and lowest total of bonus months paid to a minister in the last five years.

Replying, PM Lee said political office-holders of all grades received an average annual performance bonus of about four months' pay in the last five years, with the sum for each individual ranging from three to six months of their pay each year.

Some online reports used the data to spread falsehoods that the Prime Minister is paid $2.2 million a year as a base salary that does not include bonuses, and that his total pay is $4.5 million. These reports also said the Government was not transparent about ministerial salaries.

Yesterday, Mr Teo said this was not true, and that all components of a political office-holder's annual pay are set out clearly in the 2012 White Paper on "Salaries for a Capable and Committed Government", which was submitted by an independent committee after extensive consultation with MPs and Singaporeans.

A minister's salary comprises fixed pay plus variable pay, which includes performance and national bonuses. They add up to form the normal annual salary of $1.1 million for an entry-level minister.

The Prime Minister's salary of $2.2 million, however, does not have a performance bonus component because there is no one to assess his performance. But to keep to the principle of making a significant part of the Prime Minister's total pay subject to performance, that is 35 per cent, the Prime Minister's variable pay has twice the national bonus compared with that of other ministers, to reflect national outcomes.

Mr Teo noted that the WP in 2012 endorsed the three principles on ministerial pay set out in the White Paper. The WP also proposed a ministerial pay formula during the 2012 debate on the issue. It would have resulted in a similar total annual salary for an entry-level minister as that set out by the independent committee.

WP chief Pritam Singh (Aljunied GRC) asked if Mr Teo agreed the Government could have pre-empted the online misinformation by issuing a fuller reply to Mr Perera's question.

Mr Singh said a parliamentary committee, tasked to look into the issue of deliberate online falsehoods, had concluded that it is "more propitious to give all the information in an easy-to-understand manner for people, thus reducing the prospect of misinformation online".

Mr Perera, who wanted a written answer on ministerial pay, said he asked for total bonus months, and not just performance bonus. "Would that not have been an opportunity to... disclose and publish the national bonus level in addition to a performance bonus level?"



Mr Teo replied that the data Mr Perera wanted was given, but it was then "misinterpreted and became a widespread basis for false information".

And so, he said, he would clarify the issue, adding that he was delighted Mr Singh and the WP "are all for transparency and debunking falsehoods... I hope the WP will help us to clarify that position by putting it on its website also".

In wrapping up, Mr Teo said ministerial pay is a difficult subject to talk about. "It is an emotional one. There are misconceptions sometimes deliberately propagated. It is easily politicised."

Widening gulf between politicians and voters in Singapore?

Is the ground sour? Time for the 4G leaders to tackle it
Fourth-generation (4G) leadership can address recent grumblings by forging trust and respect with a new generation
By Han Fook Kwang, Editor At Large, The Sunday Times, 26 Aug 2018

Singapore celebrates its 53rd year as an independent nation with much to be proud of. The city has been transformed, the economy is humming along even if it's not quite buzzing the way it used to, and Singaporeans live in peace and stability.

What's not to be happy about?

Yet, there seems to be a certain sourness on the ground, with more grumbling than usual about issues especially to do with the Government. In the many chat groups I belong to, more people seem to be getting worked up. The latest was over ministerial salaries, always an evergreen topic but recently stoked up by comments made by former prime minister Goh Chok Tong, now Emeritus Senior Minister.

Earlier this month, a doctor, who said he meets people from different backgrounds in his clinic, wrote to this newspaper that the feedback he gets from them about the Government has been "far from encouraging".

"It is further aggravated when ordinary folk who are struggling to make ends meet conclude that those in authority lack empathy and that those making policies do not understand the sentiments on the ground," he said.

"I am also concerned about the responses of the younger generation, who pepper their comments with vulgarities, showing little respect for the office of those who are given the responsibility to govern."

The mood reminds me of the run-up to the 2011 General Election when public unhappiness over housing, immigration and overcrowded MRT trains caused the ruling party to suffer an unprecedented setback at the polls.

What accounts for this?

Unlike 2011, I do not think that the moodiness this time has to do with any particular policy.

The public housing shortage and spiralling prices have been tackled by the HDB's building programme. More new MRT trains and buses have been added, relieving some of the overcrowding, and the immigration tap has been tightened.



Rather, I believe it has to do with the disconnect which that good doctor referred to.

But my sense is that this gulf between leaders and the people does not stem from a lack of empathy and understanding of what is happening on the ground.

Singapore is a small, compact place and it isn't hard for leaders to know the public sentiment, provided, of course, that they are willing and prepared to listen.

The problem is a more fundamental one to do with how the country is to be governed and what needs to be done to ensure its continued security and prosperity.

Ministers not paid enough; harder to attract people to government in the future: Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong

ESM Goh responds to 'heated reactions' to remarks on ministerial pay, says salaries not starting point in talent hunt
He welcomes feedback, says key factors such as character, selflessness matter too
By Elgin Toh, Deputy Political Editor, The Straits Times, 9 Aug 2018

Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong has acknowledged the "heated reactions" from Singaporeans to his comments on ministerial salaries last week.

Mr Goh had said at a forum with residents from the South East District last Thursday that Cabinet ministers are not paid enough, and that it would become harder to attract good people to join the Government in the future.

His words have attracted mainly critical feedback online from Singaporeans.

Some said high salaries may attract people for the wrong reasons. Others noted that the salaries of ministers are already among the highest in the world.

Responding through a Facebook post yesterday, Mr Goh said he saw a silver lining in the comments: "It shows Singaporeans care deeply and hold leaders to account for their words and performance."

"I welcome diverse and dissenting views. I hope to engage them, perhaps through a forum in due course," he added.



On his point about ministerial salaries, Mr Goh stuck to his guns, explaining in his latest post why he sees pay as important.

"In times of prolonged crisis and upheaval, I have no doubt that Singaporeans will step forward to serve. Money would not be a key vector.

"In peace and prosperity, however, there are no dragons to slay. Personal aspirations, freedom, privacy and lifestyle take precedence," he said.

Singaporeans, he added, "know quality costs money - from durians to clothes to football players to military weapons".

He said: "Having run Singapore for 14 years as prime minister, my main concern remains how to bring Singapore forward. Leadership is key."



Mr Goh also addressed another remark that some people have taken issue with, in which he appeared to say that those who are not able to command a high salary are "very, very mediocre" people.

In his post yesterday, he said: "I do not mean nor believe that Singaporeans at whatever level of income are mediocre. Those who have worked with me know people matter the most to me. That is what I am in politics for."

He said some Singaporeans have written to him directly to express their views.

He published an excerpt of his reply to a final-year medical student in an overseas university, in which he argued that a person's abilities, competence and performance are reflected in his salary.

But other attributes not reflected in the salary matter too, Mr Goh also said in the reply.

He wrote: "Salaries are not our starting point in looking for ministers. Character, motivation, commitment, selflessness, practical abilities, competence and proven performance are the main attributes we look for. The first four attributes are veto factors."

The student "seemed to be persuaded by my response", and has offered to volunteer at Mr Goh's Meet-the-People Session in Marine Parade GRC, he noted.

"I hope more Singaporeans will think deeply about how to ensure Singapore succeeds," he concluded, adding: "Singapore deserves the best. Happy National Day!"

Committee of Supply 2018 Debate Highlights: MOM, MOE, MHA, MINDEF, MFA, MTI, MinLaw, PMO

Tighter rules to support Singaporeans and raise quality of foreign workforce
Rules on employing foreigners to be tightened
More opportunities for locals on Jobs Bank; qualifying salary for S Pass to be raised
By Joanna Seow, Manpower Correspondent, The Straits Times, 6 Mar 2018

Rules on the hiring of foreigners are being tightened, in a move to give Singaporeans a fair shot at more and better jobs.

More companies will have to give locals a chance to apply for higher-paying jobs by advertising them on the national Jobs Bank for at least 14 days before they can hire a foreigner for the role.

This rule will be extended from July 1 to cover firms with at least 10 workers and for jobs paying under $15,000 a month, Manpower Minister Lim Swee Say said yesterday. Currently, it applies only to firms with at least 26 workers and for jobs paying under $12,000 a month.

The ministry did not provide the share of jobs posted on the Bank that eventually went to locals, but noted that the local share of net growth in professional, managerial, executive and technician employment has increased - to 78 per cent on average from 2015 to last year, up from 68 per cent on average in the previous three years.

Meanwhile, companies will have to pay semi-skilled foreigners more for them to come to Singapore under the S Pass scheme. For the first time in five years, the minimum qualifying salary will be raised. It will go up from $2,200 to $2,400, with the hike taking place over two tranches, on Jan 1 next year and one year after.

The moves are part of efforts to raise the quality - and productivity - of foreign manpower in Singapore while ensuring locals get access to good jobs, said Mr Lim.

This is especially critical as Singapore's manpower growth slows. From 2015 to last year, net job growth was under 10,000 a year on average, down from over 100,000 a year in the previous three years.

"Probably one of the most critical challenges is to ensure that slower growth of our Singapore workforce will not become the bottleneck in the future growth of our Singapore economy," Mr Lim said during the debate on his ministry's budget.

He outlined how it navigates the tightrope in considering the competing demands of companies and Singaporeans. "Employers say they cannot find enough locals who have the skills and are willing to do the jobs," he recounted. "To them, MOM is not pro-business enough.

"But on the other hand, we hear (on the) ground feedback that there are still too many foreigners, too much competition here for jobs."

Foreigners, numbering 1.1 million, make up about a third of Singapore's workforce of 3.4 million.

Mr Lim said foreign manpower policies have to be open enough to support business growth, yet tight enough to enhance local employment growth. "We are pro-business, but only to those who are pro-worker."

For instance, the ministry has over the past two years placed 500 companies that unfairly favour foreigners in hiring on its watchlist. Such firms have a harder time getting Employment Pass (EP) applications approved.

Singapore Summit 2015 Dialogue with PM Lee

PM to actively push for succession in new Cabinet line-up
Deliberate planning for leadership change key to well-prepared leaders, seamless transition
By Charissa Yong, The Sunday Times, 20 Sep 2015

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has signalled that he plans to move decisively with leadership succession in forming his new Cabinet.

The Government and people do not want to be in a position where the front bench is greying and people ask what happens next, he said.

"That means you have to plan for succession very consciously, deliberately, and push it aggressively," he told 400 policymakers and business leaders at the Singapore Summit at the Marina Bay Sands yesterday.

He recalled how first prime minister Lee Kuan Yew had colleagues who said: "But we're still not old, why are you doing this?"

PM Lee, 63, said: "Between me and my colleagues, we all know that we're not old, but we're not getting younger. Therefore we have to push it aggressively, and that's what I'm intending to do when I announce my new Cabinet."

He is expected to name his new Cabinet over the next fortnight.

Leadership renewal was a key message of the People's Action Party in the Sept 11 General Election, and dialogue moderator Piyush Gupta, who is DBS Group's chief executive, asked PM Lee why he seemed to be in a hurry to retire.

Mr Lee replied that he wants to continue the system of having leaders who are well prepared, where the transition is seamless, and everybody is assured Singapore is well taken care of not just for the next five years, but the next 10, 15 years.

And active succession planning is key, even though he and his current team of ministers can keep things going for another five years.

PM Lee was also asked whether he was surprised, relieved or vindicated by the election results, which saw the PAP win 83 out of 89 seats and get 69.9 per cent of the popular vote, a near-10 percentage point swing from the 2011 elections.

He said he was surprised and relieved. But he would not use words like vindicated, as "you only know you're vindicated after 100 years have passed". As for what led to the election outcome, he said the PAP will study it but it was hard to say for sure. But it seemed that voters approved of what the PAP Government had done over its past term and wanted them to continue on the same track, he said.

The opposition's storyline, he noted, was "the Government is doing good; you vote for us, the Government will work even harder". "That's a very dangerous approach and it goes against human nature," he said. "If you have a friend and your friend is nice to you, you're nice to him or her.

"Most Singaporeans agreed with us that the way to build a relationship and develop close bonds for the future was to work with the Government. The Government fully intends to honour that and to work with the people and to engage them in the decisions which we have to make, going forward."

As for whether the results validated the shift to the left in social policies, Mr Lee said he did not see this as "more welfare or less welfare".

Rather, the Government tries to address specific sources of anxiety, such as housing and jobs. But aspirations are hardest to meet, he said, for new ones emerge even as old ones have been fulfilled.

Lee Kuan Yew: In His Own Words

The Straits Times, 27 Mar 2015

When Parliament convened yesterday to pay homage to its longest-serving member, speaker after speaker referred to the major speeches that Mr Lee Kuan Yew had made in the House at key moments in the nation’s history. Perhaps the Parliament’s most electrifying presence ever, he pulled no punches and spoke with clarity and conviction on the challenges facing Singapore at various stages of its evolution.

Here are edited excerpts from 10 significant speeches he delivered in the House over his 60 years as MP for Tanjong Pagar.



Vow to cleanse the system of the evils of the past

The People's Action Party had just swept the 1959 Legislative Assembly General Election, winning 43 out of 51 seats. It was the first time the PAP, which up till then was an opposition party, had come to power. Mr Lee Kuan Yew was 35 years old when he delivered his first speech in the Legislative Assembly as Prime Minister, attacking those who stood against the PAP and even the civil servants opposed to its policy changes. He also assured voters that the PAP stood with the masses and that party leaders remained dedicated to the service of Singapore.

JULY 21, 1959

SURVIVAL

"MR SPEAKER, Sir, may I say that the PAP Government had put its cards on the table before it assumed office. We did it over three months of campaigning beginning from the famous day of 15th February at Hong Lim.

It was there the Deputy Prime Minister said things and set off a chain reaction which finally ended with the routing of the rogues and scallywags that used to haunt this Chamber.

We have placed before the people the mandate that we sought of them. We did not try to deceive anyone.

We know exactly what is expected of us because we have made these promises. Unlike the previous government, we gave no hostages to fortune.

Plainly and simply, we took the stand which we knew was necessary and in the interest of the survival of the democratic state in order, first, to cleanse the system of the evils of the past, and to retrieve some of the liberalism, the tolerance which were the good things we should carry into the future.

I tell the Opposition this. They provide us, and I hope they will continue to provide us in the next five years, with that vivid contrast which will throw up the virtues of the PAP into magnificence.

But if we fail, let me tell them that this is not a constitutional position of Tweedledum and Tweedledee, Democrats and Republicans in America, or Tories and Labour in Britain.

If we fail, and we are unable to make the system work, it is not they who are going to come back.

They will be fleeing for their lives, because behind us there is no other alternative which is prepared to work the democratic system.

And therefore, in the last analysis, if we fail, then brute force returns.

I am sure no one in this House nor anyone in the country would want this to happen. And therefore, I say to all those who wish us ill, that if we fail, woe betide them.

But to those who wish us well, I give this message. This is a Government consisting of people who put their ideas, their ideals and the welfare of their people above themselves.

This is a party which has the courage of its convictions, which is prepared to pursue what it believes to be right in the interest of the people without deviating for opportunist reasons.

This will be an era which will light up the dark pages of the history of Singapore, post 1945.

If we succeed, as we intend to, in building a climate not only of national solidarity but a climate in which the ordinary people begin to believe that institutions of government in the country are run by people who are loved and revered because they are working for the mass of the people, then we will have done a service, not only to ourselves, our party and our movement, but we will also have done a service to the democratic socialist movement.

Until the advent of the PAP, no group proclaiming the democratic socialist cause ever struck roots in the mass of the people.

Let me say, Mr Speaker, Sir, judge us not in the next five years by the standards of the British House of Commons and the British Government in Whitehall.

Judge our performance in the context of our objectives and the realities of our situation, and at the end of five years, you will certainly not find us wanting in courage, in skill, and in sincerity."