Singapore's continued success will require stewardship and courage

First World Singapore has a lot to lose and must avoid squandering its accumulated wealth. But it should avoid the trap of complacency too.

- Ong Ye Kung

We can re-engineer Singapore to become a crucible for innovation, said Coordinating Minister for Social Policies and Health Minister Ong Ye Kung at the Asia Future Summit on Oct 9.

(LIANHE ZAOBAO FILE PHOTO)

In our early years, Singapore's hopes were straightforward: to move from mudflats to metropolis. We wanted modern roads, mass transit systems, comfortable housing, schools and hospitals. The only way was up, and our pioneers pursued progress with single-minded determination.

Today, our hopes are more nuanced. We want to leverage our high base of development to seize opportunities and progress further. At the same time, we are nostalgic for the kampung spirit. We lament certain crafts and certain trades that are lost, and we worry that the old values and ethos may be weakened. In charting Singapore's future, we are a bit like time travellers, navigating between the past, the present, as well as the future.

Today, it is too simplistic for us to say we need the pioneering spirit of the first generation of Singaporeans, because our pioneers started with almost nothing. They were fearless, idealistic, fuelled by their ambition to achieve something audacious, and they had little to lose. They were like the founders of startups who, with very little to lose, devoted all their energy and resources towards the hope of creating a unicorn.

STEWARDSHIP AND ENTERPRISE

First World Singapore is different, because we have a lot to lose. Our first instinct is and should be stewardship. We must avoid recklessness and wastage, and never squander what an earlier generation built for us.

There is a Chinese saying, "Wealth does not last beyond three generations". The first generation builds it, while the second generation preserves it, and the third generation unfortunately sometimes squanders it away. When that happens, it is a failure of stewardship.