Spore Must Look Ahead and Prepare to Ride the Next Wave of Change

In his National Day message, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong calls on Singaporeans to stand together in building the country's future.

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Sixty years ago, Singapore became "forever a sovereign democratic and independent nation", as you heard Mr Lee Kuan Yew declare in the Proclamation of Singapore.

We didn't intend to become independent. We were not meant to exist as a country. Up to that fateful moment, the prevailing conviction - among our founding leaders and pioneer generation alike - was that Singapore had to be part of Malaysia.

We were simply too small, too exposed, too vulnerable to stand on our own.

But circumstances forced our hand. We had to summon the resolve and will to survive as an independent nation.

Looking back, we can see just how precarious our position was. At many points, history could have easily taken a darker turn. Yet, against all odds, we made it.

This is what makes SG60 so significant - not just that we endured, but that we prevailed and prospered when few believed we would even survive.

More than once, we ourselves feared we might not pull through. But we did not falter. We overcame every challenge - from racial strife and the British pullout, to economic crises, terrorism and global pandemics.

Each time, we picked ourselves up, learnt from our setbacks, and found the strength and will to carry on.