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The Prime Minister of Singapore talks to young people
Extracts of a speech on National Day
"Come forward and contribute"
For the future, we have to focus on the
post-independence generation. They are different from their parents.
We've grown up in different circumstances, we have different points of
reference, different expectations, different values, much more exposed
to the outside world. And it's the same all over Asia.
I was in Korea recently and they gave me a definition
of youth. They said, a young man is somebody who can do an SMS with one
hand with the phone in his pocket. And they should know because in
Korea, young men like that changed the government, they kicked out all
the old team and they put in a totally new team with no experience. But
then I came home and found out that the world SMS champion is a
23-year-old Singaporean girl. But I'm proud and confident of this new
generation.
I've met them, some of them — Footprints Of A Nation,
we had a TV programme two years ago. More recently the younger ministers
had i-Contact, the series. Vivian Balakrishnan, Khaw Boon Wan, Ng Eng
Hen and company. I was impressed with them. They are not all from the
top schools, they are idealistic, they are articulate, they have high
ambitions and they are growing up to be responsible adults on the cusp
of adulthood — just the point of no longer being a child, able to think
broader, more responsibly, participate and speak up with confidence. And
we are distinguishing ourselves internationally. We do well.
I noticed recently we won a RoboCup Soccer. I don't
know what it was. What it is, is you programme robots to play football.
And our robots were smarter than other people's robots, which means our
robot programmers were smarter than other people's robot programmers. We
go for choir competitions, we win gold medals and we distinguish
ourselves academically too. We have a social conscience. There are many
young groups which are organised which do this social work. Last year I
went to one function organised by Mercy Relief, which I was impressed
by. They were started off by a Malay group, by Perdaus. And they have
gone beyond being a Malay group to stand on their own as a multi-racial
secular group doing international work: 700 young volunteers of all
races, students, professionals, organising themselves, raising funds.
And they're doing humanitarian work, refugees in Cambodia, Afghanistan,
flood victims.
So I asked them: 'Are you going to Iraq?' They said
maybe later on. But they have the spirit and they have the goal and they
will do it. And the young people are willing to try different paths.
We have a sports school. The response is good. We are
building an arts school. We already have Nafa and Lasalle-SIA and they
are doing well. They have very good students and they go in for all
kinds of courses and even fashion design. We have Singaporeans winning
prizes. And recently I was walking along the Esplanade on the waters by
the sea, and I found people drawing beautiful pictures on the pavement
using chalk — young people. So I thought to myself: Fifteen years ago we
might have caned them! But today we have Mica (Ministry of Information,
Communications and the Arts). So I think that we have changed.
There is a spectrum. Not all are engaged.
I read in, I think Today, that they went along Orchard
Road and asked who's the PM and some people didn't know. What to do? And
there are some who have difficult backgrounds and lack opportunities.
But, by and large, we have groomed a strong generation ready for the
future. And we have to groom this generation to give them wings and to
give them roots. We need to give them wings, expose them to the world,
build their character, let them set their own goals and choices, let
them learn from their own mistakes, let them grow and blossom and be
themselves, guide them but don't constrain them. But also we have to
give them roots, emotional experiences. We should bind them here,
playing together with each other, roughing it out, taking challenges
together because then they will create friendships, they will create
ties, they will have memories and bonds to their friends and to the
places where they made these friends. So even with wings, they will fly
all over the world but come back and be a Singaporean in Singapore.
And so I renamed MCDS to become MCYS — Ministry of
Community Development, Youth and Sports — and I appointed Vivian as the
minister. He is the youngest in the Cabinet. And I think that they will
be able to spark off something to engage the young people to get them
enthused in this project of Singapore. A lot of this has to do with
education which I will talk about later on. One critical aspect of
rooting Singaporeans here is to empower them, to give them a say in
their lives, to make them feel that they can make a difference. If you
are in China or in America, you can't do that. One person out of 1.3
billion, can you change China? How many can become like Deng Xiaoping?
If you were one person out of nearly 300 million in America, can you
become the President and change America? How many people can go on stage
and say, 'I am John Kerry, I am reporting for duty'?
But in Singapore you can, and you must.
My generation felt that. That's why when we went to
university, we felt and I felt I had to come home, there was an
obligation, I had to serve.
The Singapore Armed Forces sent me. I studied maths.
After one year I took the exams, my tutor met me and he said: 'You must
stay on.'
I said: 'But I have to go home. I got an obligation. I
got a bond.'
He said: 'Forget about the bond. You must do maths.'
I said: 'I can't. I have to go back, people depend on
me.'
In a big country, I can say: 'Chuck it! I am doing
maths. Somebody else will look after the country.'
Three million, you may or may not be in politics. But
your contribution does count. People expect you, they send you, they
want you back, you have to go back and do what is the right thing for
you to do. And you can make a difference. There is a lot of things to
do, a lot you can shape. I think I persuaded him when I came back, and I
think I made the right decision. And many people of my generation did
that too. And we've got to get this new generation to feel the same.
We've got to involve them in the community and in national affairs, to
take ownership of the country and of the problems.
Don't ask what the Government is going to do. I read
that some people are asking: Now that you want young people to get
engaged, what is the Government going to do to get young people engaged?
Actually we are going to wait. No, get up, do it. Nike says, 'Just Do
It'. Engage your ideals, your ideas, your energies, build a new
generation, build tomorrow's Singapore. Don't wait or depend on the
Government. Find your own leaders, organise your own solutions, move!
Politics is not the only way Invalid leading Invalid leading you can do
it. There are many ways to contribute. You can be in community service,
you can be in social work, you can be in education, you can be in the
arts. But politics is one way to do it and it's important that enough
people come into politics so that we have self-renewal and we have a new
leadership team.
Political self-renewal is critical to Singapore.
Goh Chok Tong started talent scouting before he became
PM. That's how I came in, aged 32, one of the youngest in 1984. But all
the people who came in with me in 1984 were in their 30s: Lee Boon Yang,
Yeo Cheow Tong, Wong Kan Seng, Abdullah Tarmugi, Mah Bow Tan, who
contested in Potong Pasir. We were all in our 30s. We didn't think of
ourselves as being particularly young. But I suppose if you look back
now, we were.
Because if you compare it with the people who came in
in 2001, when we tried very hard and had a lot of young people —
our seven Ministers of State from 2001, the Seven Samurais I think we
call them — the samurais' average age is 43 years old. And the youngest
one was Vivian who was then 40. So we need to have young people come in
in their 30s, then you have time to learn, to develop. In your 30s you
are not ready to take charge but you are ready to learn, to absorb and
you are young enough to absorb. And then in your 40s you are tested, you
gain the experience and then 50s you can take charge, you are energetic
but ready to go. And so we have an experienced team today.
And I've got to do the same. I can connect with the
young people. I mean if I do another Footprints Of The Nation, I think
I'm okay. Or i-Contact. But the generation after that who are now five
and six years old, I think they will need new leaders by time they
become 21. Mr Lee Kuan Yew became PM, he was 35 years old. Those were
revolutionary times. Goh Chok Tong became PM, he was 49. I became PM,
I'm 52. The next PM, I think, we have to try harder.
So come forward to serve, don't wait to be asked. And
if you know your friend, somebody whom you think is capable, put his
name up. We will take a look at him because Singaporeans are shy,
sometimes they're afraid...You put yourself forward — mao sui ji jian —
people may misunderstand that you are offering yourself and perhaps you
got an agenda. But if you know somebody else who is good, who's showing,
doing good work quietly, let us know. We will try him out. We want you
to be part of our team. We don't mind if you have different views but
you must have some views. If you have no views, I have a problem. If you
have different views, we can talk about it. And let's come in, let's do
something about it together.
24 August 2004
http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/singapore/story/0,4386,268854,00.html?
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