A 'We First' Singapore Is The Hardest Policy For PM Wong To Deliver

The idea that Singapore's social compact needs rejuvenation has run through much of Prime Minister Lawrence Wong's domestically oriented, big-picture speeches since he took office—and in the year before, as he prepared for succession.

- Bhavan Jaipragas

Fifteen months in as Prime Minister, with a landslide election victory in the bag, this looks like the golden thread in his governing philosophy.

So it is no surprise the theme coursed through Aug 17's National Day Rally—across his Malay, Mandarin and English speeches.

The big idea PM Wong gave Singaporeans to chew on was building a "we first" society—the antithesis of hyper-individualism and the ever-present "you do you" ethos, where life is seen as solely an individual journey towards personal fulfillment.

Instead, PM Wong said, each Singaporean also has a responsibility to contribute to and care for one another. For Singapore to succeed, "we" must precede "me".

Yet of all the big things he spoke about—help for youth, building Age Well Neighbourhoods—the most nebulous is surely this "we first" society idea.

PM Wong would probably be the first to concede that. This is not something his Cabinet and the bureaucracy can deliver through their world-beating ability to fulfill policy promises, or by simply spending, drawing on the republic's status as one of the world's wealthiest societies.

Here, the Government can be a guiding hand—but even at its best, it cannot drive this change on its own.

PM Wong put it aptly in his Mandarin speech, noting that if Singapore were to rely solely on top-down policies, it would never achieve true success. "Singapore's success is built on the efforts of every Singaporean—helping one another, sharing weal and woe, and braving challenges hand in hand," he said.

Any workable conception of a "we first" society starts with this: The Government is not the main character. Ordinary people are, and change spreads through a contagion of small gestures, with institutions, the state with its social policies, and the corporate sector playing important supporting roles.