Parliament
Four areas to beef up to emerge stronger
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Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat highlights ways Singapore can emerge from the pandemic in a stronger position and Leader of the Opposition Pritam Singh lays out how his party will scrutinise policies.
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Constant adaptation, restructuring and transformation have been central to Singapore's economic story over decades, Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat told Parliament, as he highlighted four areas for the country to strengthen its economic capacity to emerge stronger from the pandemic.
1. Take an even more integrated and coordinated approach to economic transformation.
The Republic's economy has multiple stakeholders, and tripartism - the Government, businesses and the labour movement working together - has been a tremendous source of strength in the system.
But there is room for greater collaboration, said Mr Heng, citing the Netherlands and its "triple helix" model where government, businesses and academia work together to build knowledge, test prototypes, and scale innovation.
But there is room for greater collaboration, said Mr Heng, citing the Netherlands and its "triple helix" model where government, businesses and academia work together to build knowledge, test prototypes, and scale innovation.
"Singapore can build on our tripartite partnership, to be a test-bed that creates deeper linkages with an expanded set of stakeholders - including our education and research institutions, our community groups, and interested partners from around the world," said Mr Heng. This can create good jobs for Singaporeans and new opportunities for entrepreneurs, he added.
2. Redouble efforts to develop everyone to their fullest potential, so that people can take on new opportunities and flourish in their chosen pursuits.
Mr Heng, who is also Coordinating Minister for Economic Policies and Finance Minister, said: "We need a holistic approach for this that spans the lifetime of individuals, from birth to pre-school, to schools, all the way to lifelong learning as part of SkillsFuture."
He noted that half a million people took part in SkillsFuture programmes last year.
The country has to explore new possibilities for developing its people fully, Mr Heng emphasised, highlighting that the National Research Foundation is supporting research programmes that address the broader goal of enhancing human potential through measures during pregnancy and childhood, including nutrition, parenting and learning.
3. Strengthen Singapore's path-finding capacity to find new bright spots amid economic disruption.
On the Emerging Stronger Taskforce, which was set up four months ago to identify and seize new opportunities in emerging trends, Mr Heng said: "The ideas being explored are promising. They range from environmental sustainability to smart commerce, supply chain digitalisation, and the use of robotics. These can create new growth markets for our businesses and good jobs for Singaporeans."
Many hawkers and small businesses islandwide are going digital, Mr Heng added, citing a fruit seller known as "Ah Boy" who operates a stall in the market at Block 58 New Upper Changi Road. The hawker also sells his fruits online and takes orders through text messaging service WhatsApp.
In addition, Singapore will invest in incubating and accelerating start-ups, and supporting established companies to expand their research and development to build competitive strengths, he said.
4. Find new ways to be a vital node with rich and deep interconnections with the rest of the world.
Being open is Singapore's strength and opportunity as a small city state, said Mr Heng. "We cannot take for granted that, in a post-Covid-19 world, we can continue to be the same kind of hub that we used to be. We must, therefore, forge new forms of connections, such as digital economy agreements, while deepening our linkages with regional markets to ride on Asia's potential," he said.
Mr Heng also emphasised the need for Singapore to remain open to investment and talent from around the world, as he acknowledged that many Singaporeans are anxious about their livelihoods.
"Our starting point is that our economic strategies must serve the interests of Singaporeans," he said, adding that the foreign investments attracted must create meaningful jobs for Singaporeans and strengthen the country's corporate ecosystem, and Singaporeans must receive fair consideration.
He said manpower policies are being adapted to changing circumstances to ensure that Singaporeans' interests are upheld, but Singapore must resist the temptation to turn inwards. "We cannot close ourselves to the world, or make foreigners unwelcome in our society."
The best way to serve Singaporeans' interests, he added, is to ensure Singapore remains useful and relevant to the world by keeping its economy vibrant and competitive.
It must also continue to develop its people fully, to have the confidence to seize new opportunities post-Covid-19, including by working with partners from around the world.
Acknowledging labour MP Patrick Tay's suggestion to refresh and relook the Industry Transformation Maps' strategies to address future challenges, Mr Heng said Singapore should enhance the linkages between what it does to develop its people and job creation, in the form of skills maps, job redesign, and reskilling workers to take on new job opportunities.
"In particular, we must also make a deliberate effort to develop Singaporeans for leadership roles in companies, so that they can take Singapore forward. Singapore, as a regional operational headquarters, has what it takes. Singaporeans, in a multiracial, multi-religious, multicultural environment, can connect with people all around us and build deep linkages with our friends in the region," he added.
