For Singapore to be an equitable society, citizens must take collective responsibility for one another, especially in old age, Senior Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said yesterday.
In countries that have done away with, or cut down on the scope of, social security systems and left saving for retirement and healthcare to the individual, "what you find is that society becomes more divided and it becomes more unequal in the years when people are the most vulnerable, which is their older years", he said. "It happens in society after society."
That is why the whole aim of schemes like the CPF Life annuity and MediShield Life basic health insurance is to pool risks, with the Government providing additional support to help those in the lower-and middle-income group in their silver years, said Mr Tharman in a speech broadcast online from the People's Action Party's headquarters in Bedok.
For instance, Central Provident Fund balances attract a higher interest rate when a person turns 55, and the enhanced Silver Support Scheme will see low-income retirees get quarterly payouts of $900 from next year.
"You don't know who's going to live longer than the others, you don't know who's going to have the misfortune of having a serious illness," he said. "We don't know who's going to be at the wrong end of life's vicissitudes (so) we've to share risks together."
He was responding to the issue of retirement adequacy raised by opposition politicians ahead of Friday's election. The Workers' Party has called for wider use of Medisave and free public transport for seniors, while the Singapore Democratic Party wants the bottom 80 per cent of retirees over 65 to be given a monthly income of $500.
Mr Tharman said an inclusive society is "not just about pious statements, not just a set of political declarations", but a fair, progressive and sustainable system.
The community, too, has a part to play, he added, citing the popular Hokkien song Ai Piah Cia Eh Yia, or You Must Fight To Win.
He said: "The most interesting ditty within the song: What happens in life is determined 30 per cent by the will of the heavens and 70 per cent by hard work or, in those days, bitter hard struggle."
Singapore should retain the social ethos where people work hard for themselves, take responsibility and take pride in standing on their own feet, he said. "But you can't rely on the heavens, you can't leave people to fend for themselves either. That 30 per cent has to be community (effort)," he added.
