THE term 'velcro city' was evoked by Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean on Friday as something that Singapore should avoid turning into. In such a city, connections come undone as quickly as they are made, much like passengers who tap in and tap out of a bus, he told 1,000 Raffles Institution students at the school's annual Lecture on National Issues.

RELATED LINKS  SPEECH BY MR TEO CHEE HEAN

New network technologies and the global flow of talent and resources are challenging personal bonds. People could be spending more time chatting with virtual friends than with their neighbours.

And while Singaporeans have more - whether in terms of housing, university education or life expectancy - he asked if these translate into a greater attachment to the country. His gut feel is yes. He cited examples such as the recently concluded Asian Youth Games, where athletes and volunteers alike demonstrated pride and enthusiasm, and the National Education show last Saturday when 20,000 primary schoolchildren braved the rain to sing Stand Up For Singapore as one.

Reminding the students to forge deep ties and to feel rooted at heart, he said something valuable would be lost if emotional attachment becomes missing in relationships.

He hammered home his point, even before he began his speech, by showing the boys two videos made to commemorate Total Defence Day, including one by tuition teacher Kalaivani, who gave reasons for defending the former premises of her alma mater, Upper Serangoon Secondary. It was an unremarkable and decrepit building but for her, he noted, it was a repository of precious memories. He also traced his boyhood, growing up in the 60s and 70s when the foundations of today's Singapore were laid, and old Rafflesians like former chief minister David Marshall and Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew steered the country.

DPM Teo went from sketching the tumultuous past to the prosperous present before listing the challenges for future pioneers. The challenges ranged from the preservation of cultural heritage and biodiversity, to the maintenance of water security and a high standard of living.

One challenge he cited appeared to strike a chord with the students: How to welcome permanent residents and foreign-born citizens and still make this a home for born-and-bred Singaporeans?

A student asked how the Government would balance tapping into the advantages of a globalised world with maintaining a sense of rootedness in citizens. Mr Teo replied that the answers do not lie in Government initiatives but in how a person feels about Singapore, the ties which have been built and what that all means to him.

Mr Teo, who is also Defence Minister, said that the country is on track to develop into a thriving global metropolis, attracting top talent from the world over. He said: 'While you compete to get into the top universities in the world, others from around the world compete to get into our universities.'

Asked how social cohesion can be maintained with the influx of foreign talent and different cultures, he referred to cosmopolitan cities such as Shanghai and New York. 'If we...close our borders, we are going to starve ourselves of the oxygen that is feeding all these other cities and making them thrive and grow.' Still, he noted, Singapore is not just a city but a country, and immigration policies can be used wisely to prevent potential social problems.

Read the full story in Saturday's edition of The Straits Times

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