NDR 2025: More avenues for S’poreans to be heard, get involved will be opened up, says PM Wong

SINGAPORE – From citizens’ panels that study and propose policy changes to hackathons that use technology to solve problems, more avenues for Singaporeans to be heard and get involved will be opened up in this new term of government, said Prime Minister Lawrence Wong on Aug 17.

Building on his commitments to take a consultative and collaborative approach in his leadership, PM Wong said during

his National Day Rally speech

that his team is “not just doing things for Singaporeans, but doing things with Singaporeans”.

Invoking what he called the “Singapore spirit”, the Prime Minister urged Singaporeans to partner the Government and fellow citizens to “roll up our sleeves, come up with solutions, and turn good ideas for a better Singapore into reality”.

“The process will not always be smooth. It can be messy, iterative and slower than we would like,” he said in his first rally speech after

the General Election in May

and his second since taking office.

“But if we persevere, I am confident we will reach better outcomes because we will build stronger trust, deeper ownership and a greater sense of common purpose.”

PM Wong acknowledged that there are areas where the Government can and should do more, especially when it comes to providing those in need with stronger social support.

But he said the desire is not to have a society where people rely solely on the state.

“It’s about all of us – government, businesses, workers and unions, community groups and civil society – doing our part,” he added.

PM Wong said the Singapore spirit – the people’s collective will to defy the odds, confidence in a shared future, and belief in one another – has always been the Republic’s driving force.

Singapore’s pioneers, he said, embodied this spirit and grew closer as a people through the trials and tribulations of their time.

Later generations did not undergo the same crucible of hardship, and the Singapore of today is the only one that younger Singaporeans have known, said the Prime Minister.

But the current generation has faced its own challenges and trials, such as the Covid-19 pandemic.

And it was because of a collective Singapore spirit, and not just because of government measures, that the country emerged from the pandemic, he added.

“The spirit we summoned then must not fade. And it shouldn’t be something that emerges only during a crisis,” PM Wong said.

“We must keep this spirit alive, through good times and bad, and make it part of how we live and relate to one another every day.”

In his speech, the Prime Minister cited several examples of Singaporeans who have stepped up of their own accord and embody the Singapore spirit.

One is former management consultant Koh Seng Choon, 66, who was

named The Straits Times Singaporean of the Year 2024

for his work founding Dignity Kitchen, a foodcourt that has been employing people with disabilities since 2010.

Ms Siti Adriana Muhamad Rasip, meanwhile, was inspired to co-found the Empowered Families Initiative, which invests in lower-income families, after she interned at the Ministry of Social and Family Development.

“The Government cannot force or direct this,” PM Wong said. “But we can encourage and support, and we will certainly recognise and celebrate these efforts.”

He noted that in other countries, such ground-up collective actions are the result of ineffective governments.

“People are frustrated at the lack of action and progress, and they step forward to take matters into their own hands.”

Singapore is in a different position, said PM Wong. “No one wants the Government to do less. No one wants the Government to become ineffective. Instead, we strive to be more efficient and responsive,” he added.

Having earlier painted a picture of a troubled world, where it is every country for itself, PM Wong said good plans and strategies are just the first steps for Singapore and Singaporeans to continue progressing in a “complex new era”.

“To keep Singapore going, we must be a ‘we first’ society. Because if everyone only thinks about ‘me’ and puts ‘me’ ahead of ‘we’, then we are finished. Society will fray, and things will fall apart,” he warned.

“But if each of us does our part for the ‘we’ – care, contribute and look out for one another – then the ‘me’ will thrive and flourish... because when the whole is strong, each of us becomes stronger, too.”

PM Wong had said in earlier speeches that broadening and deepening government-citizen partnerships is a key plank of Forward Singapore, an exercise aimed at forging a new social compact that he and his fourth-generation leadership team helmed.

Since then, several initiatives have been launched, including

a new Singapore Government Partnerships Office

set up in January 2024 to serve as the first port of call for those who have ideas and want to work with the Government on them.

Mr Yasser Amin, chief executive of Stridy, a non-profit that organises community clean-ups, said ground-up initiatives are powerful because the Government cannot do everything.

“There’s a need for policies. There’s a need for enforcement… That’s why Singapore is so clean, right? But it’s not enough because we’re overly reliant on our infrastructure and our cleaners,” said the 29-year-old, whose journey into volunteerism was cited by PM Wong in his rally speech.

Dignity Kitchen’s Mr Koh similarly believes everyone has a part to play in making Singapore a more caring and benevolent society, especially for those with disabilities.

“The Government can only build the foundation, create the impetus. But in the end, it’s the people who make the country,” he said.

Read more: Key announcements from PM Wong’s first National Day Rally

Watch PM Wong’s National Day Rally speech here: