Speech by Minister Khaw Boon Wan at the National Day Observance Ceremony 2015

Aug 6, 2015

Colleagues and friends, Happy National Day!

We have achieved much

Our younger colleagues here and our two emcees may not fully appreciate how much we have come and how much we have achieved. They certainly had not experienced how backward and deprived Singapore was, back 50 years ago. 

In those early years, our challenges were truly daunting. Very few people betted on Singapore being able to succeed, many expected us to fail. So when PM Lee held his press conference, many people were truly worried. Many left, many went back to their home countries; they gave Singapore very little chance of success. They thought it was logical – we had nothing here, really nothing - no water and definitely no money. We had acute housing shortage - people were living in slums, most of them squatters. Many of our parents and grandparents were in that situation. The British declared that they were pulling out, so unemployment was really very high. At the same time, it’s a multi-racial society and racial relations were truly tense. But our founding leaders and our pioneer generation did not buckle. They were determined to succeed and they set out to build homes, attract investments, create jobs, clean up and green up Singapore. 

Even after the initial years of stabilisation, our journey continued to be plagued with crises. There were so many. Fires – I remember I was in the Ministry of Health then, collapse of Hotel New World, Asian financial crisis in 1997, more recently, the Lehman Brothers. And of course before that, the SARS outbreak. 

But we fought and survived each of these trials, and at the same time emerging stronger and more united as a country, and strengthened our national identity. Singapore’s transformation is a near miracle. We raised the Singaporean quality of life, transformed the city, built good homes, and forged strong communities. We became a global hub of trade, finance and transportation. We became a metropolis, as promised by Mr Lee Kuan Yew. Our success is the envy of the world.

We owe what we have to our pioneers. We are reaping the fruits of their efforts and sacrifice. In particular, we owe it to Mr Lee Kuan Yew. Many had hoped that he could still be with us during this Jubilee Year, but it was not to be. Mr Lee devoted his entire life to Singapore. If we just focus on his legacy in MND alone, that already defines a significant part of the Singaporean way of life: HDB living, Garden City, Marina Bay development and our very beautiful skyline. His team of pioneer leaders included legends like Dr Goh Keng Swee, Mr S Rajaratnam, and in particular for MND, Mr Lim Kim San, who as the founding Chairman of HDB, moved more than 400,000 Singaporeans from slums to modern HDB flats.

Because they dared to dream the impossible, they turned adversity into opportunity. One simple example which has to do with MND - see how they cleaned up the Singapore River. On that strong foundation, URA was then able to, in recent years, rejuvenate the area into a vibrant Live, Work and Play destination. Singapore’s success was built on our founding fathers’ governing principles of excellence, meritocracy, pragmatism and incorruptibility. I think our job is to build on that legacy to create an even brighter future for Singapore and Singaporeans.

We have much to do

For this, we need to up our game. Singaporeans are well-travelled, better educated, better informed and naturally have higher expectations of public service. While our approach has to change, the principles of good governance and the underlying values of public service remain constant.

Good leaders. Good officers

First, we need leaders who can anticipate change and have the self-confidence and courage to do what is right - and not what is popular, even if they are unique. Even though our solutions may not be made use of in other countries, so what? I think let’s have the confidence that our situation is different and if we think it is the right thing, we’ll just do it. Our pioneers set the tone and have the guts and determination to venture into the unknown.

That is why, as a simple example, we have the MND Minister’s Team Awards. These awards encourage and recognise projects that support public service transformation, exhibit innovation, and improve efficiency, effectiveness and productivity. Many teams will receive the awards later this morning.

Whole-of-Government

Second, we work as One Public Service. We work seamlessly across agency boundaries to improve service delivery and collectively resolve issues for our people.

That is why we set up the Municipal Services Office or MSO to improve overall coordination and efficient and effective delivery of municipal services. Never become silo, each one looking at your own areas so you may optimise for yourself. But from your customer’s point of view - Singaporean’s point of view, the solution may be totally sub-optimal.

Co-create with Citizens 

Third, we actively engage and consult our people when we formulate policies that will impact them.

That is why, in the past two years, we conduct “Our Singapore Conversations” and in the case of MND, “Our Housing Conversations”. And we do it often. That is how we implement the Ubin Project, to preserve and enhance the rustic charm of the island, with the help of stakeholders and their suggestions. That is also how we are going to plan the Rail Corridor - again involving as many stakeholders who are interested to come forward to share their ideas. We are confident that this joint approach of the public, private and people sector will be able to render a Rail Corridor that we can all be very proud of.

We are very confident that the Rail Corridor shall be world-class, as we have done with the other projects, like Gardens by the Bay. I was there just a couple of days ago to open the Floral Clock and I was stuck by a couple of things. One, the Gardens is only entering its third year. First year, they saw 5 million visits – these are not unique visitors as many locals visit repeatedly; it is not a small number. Year 2 – which was last year, they saw 6.3 million visitors; that is quite some thing. Dr Kiat Tan was very confident that it shall, in no time, be 8 million a year. Second, the sponsor for the Floral Clock. I asked them, “You must have sponsored many such floral clocks in various parts of the world, where are the others?” They said, “No, this is their very first”. It is a family business company that has been around for 150 years and they decided that they shall sponsor a floral clock, and their target was Singapore. I asked Dr Kiat Tan if he approached them and he said, “No, they approached us!” They wanted to be associated with a world-class project; they wanted to be associated with Singapore; and this is their SG50 gift to Singapore and Singaporeans.

We rededicate ourselves to serve

The future is bright for Singaporeans. The recent inscription of Singapore Botanic Gardens as a UNESCO World Heritage Site was a timely SG50 gift. Our “Roadmap to Better Living in HDB Towns” will deliver an even better living environment for all HDB residents, which means practically every other Singaporean citizen. We will shortly launch our SG50 Exhibition and I invite all of you to visit it. 

We celebrate this National Day by remembering the work of our pioneers who took up the call to serve and to transform Singapore into the endearing home and the distinctive city we live in today. I am happy that some of our pioneers from the construction industry who contributed their labour to the building of this country are able to join us today, including two of what we call, samsui women. 实在厉害啊! 八十多岁了还是很壮, 跑上跑下都没有问题!

The future of Singapore is ours to shape and what we make of it. For MND, while we have lost our chief gardener Mr Lee Kuan Yew, we shall build on his legacy and make Singapore even better. That is our job. Thank you.