Speech by Minister Desmond Lee at Launch of "From Mudflats to Metropolis" Exhibition
Sep 4, 2023
Introduction
Good morning, and welcome to the launch of this exhibition, 'From Mudflats to Metropolis'.
This year, we mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of our founding Prime Minister, the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew. Together with his generation of founding leaders, Mr Lee was a key figure in Singapore's urban transformation.
Our city skyline has transformed dramatically over the last few decades. This exhibition looks back on the key milestones of this journey, and gives us the opportunity to reflect on how the values that our founding leaders embodied, had guided and shaped this transformation.
Values such as multiculturalism, boldness, resilience, service to others before self, integrity, and openness have enabled our early generation to overcome challenges and enabled Singapore to thrive. We continue to be guided by these core values, as we look forward to our future and continue to grow and shape our city to meet the needs and aspirations of Singaporeans.
From Mudflat to Metropolis
Just last month, we celebrated Singapore's 58th birthday.
Shortly after our independence in 1965, Mr Lee had said: "Over 100 years ago, this was a mud-flat, a swamp. Today, this is a modern city. Ten years from now, this will be a metropolis. Never fear." Indeed, as Mr Lee envisaged, Singapore has not only transformed into a bustling metropolis, but one that ranks among the most liveable in the world.
Singapore's transformation did not come easily, nor did it take place overnight. It was the result of decades of long-term planning, bold policies, and a determination to provide a liveable home with quality infrastructure and a good environment for Singaporeans.
As a small city-state without a large hinterland, we had to be very careful in our planning and optimise our limited land to meet the needs of current and future generations.
Let me share a bit more on three areas that have shaped the Singapore of today: our greening story, our public housing story, and our water story.
Singapore's greening story
Mr Lee was dedicated to greening Singapore from the onset. He believed that a well-maintained Garden City will attract visitors and investors. More than that, he saw greening as a social leveller, where all Singaporeans lived in areas which were lush and green. He believed in the uplifting quality of nature in an otherwise harsh urban environment.
This laid the foundation for Singapore's early vision of a Garden City. Even as our city was rapidly being urbanised, Mr Lee set our clear policies and directions to integrate greenery into our urban landscape.
Since then, we have expanded on Mr Lee's early vision and evolved into a City in a Garden. Building on the past 60 years of greening Singapore, we are now transforming Singapore into a City in Nature, safeguarding many more natural spaces and integrating greenery throughout the city.
Singapore's water story
To make clean water a way of life and build up a diversified supply of water, our founding leaders invested heavily in researching and developing innovative solutions, such as recycled NEWater and desalination, as well as cleaned up our waterways, including the Singapore River.
Today, NEWater is Singapore's third water source and allows Singapore to close the water loop, while the Singapore River is an attractive waterfront lifestyle destination with a good mix of commercial, residential and hotel developments, as well as pedestrian-friendly promenades and public spaces. The clean-up also paved the way for construction of the Marina Barrage, creating the Marina Reservoir - Singapore's first freshwater reservoir in the heart of the city.
Singapore's public housing story
In 1959, when Singapore was a young city-state with fewer than 1 in 10 Singaporeans residing in public housing, most of our citizens lived in overcrowded shophouses or rural kampung houses. Sanitation was poor, fires and floods happened frequently, and there was no running water.
Our founding leaders set right out to improve living conditions and provide basic housing. But beyond just building flats, our founding leaders encouraged homeownership to ensure Singaporeans had a stake in nation-building. They achieved this by establishing HDB and rolling out policies for affordable public housing.
As a result, we have one of the highest homeownership rates in the world today, with 8 in 10 Singaporeans owning their own HDB flats.
These initiatives demonstrated boldness in pushing through policies that may seem risky for an improbable young nation. Our leaders showed innovation and foresight, pushing ahead with seemingly radical plans: such as combining seven small islands to form Jurong Island for industry, and uprooting a thriving airport from Paya Lebar to Changi to accomodate future growth.
Collectively, these efforts, supported by a foundation of strong values, have shaped Singapore to become the green, modern and liveable city that we call home today.
Our Journey Forward
Looking ahead, our urban transformation journey is far from complete. In fact, the Singapore story will always be a work in progress, with one generation writing this chapter and the generation after writing the next.
Last year, we concluded the Long-Term Plan Review, which sought to understand Singaporeans' aspirations for our city over the next 50 years and beyond. Through our conversations with over 15,000 Singaporeans, they shared the hope for Singapore to be distinctive and endearing home with greenery and waterways safeguarded for current and future generations.
We also embarked on Forward Singapore to refresh our social compact and held dialogues with thousands of fellow Singaporeans, as we recognise that all of us have a meaningful part to play.
As part of Forward Singapore, many Singaporeans came forward and shared their housing aspirations with us during MND's "Our Housing Conversations".
As we continue to plan for Singapore's future, we have kept in mind the aspirations and the ideas that you have shared.
For example, at the recent National Day Rally last week, Prime Minister Lee announced that we will be changing the way we classify new public housing flats. From the second half of 2024, BTO projects will be offered under the Standard, Plus, or Prime models based on their locational attributes. Flats in choicer locations will come with more subsidies - thereby making it more affordable and accessible - but also with tighter restrictions for fairness. This major change seeks to reinforce our social objectives of: affordability, a good social mix, and a fair outcome.
Beyond this change, we will also be enhancing our existing HDB homes and precincts to better meet the needs of our seniors. These are major moves that reflect our evolving social compact and ensure that we keep up with the changing social and housing landscape.
Moving forward, we will be embarking on the review of the Master Plan this year. The Master Plan will guide Singapore's development over the next 10 to 15 years, and we look forward to your active participation and feedback as we work together to further develop our vision for Singapore. We will share more details soon.
Closing
In closing, let us celebrate the achievements of our urban transformation and look forward to the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.
Let us be inspired by the spirit of our founding leaders, who led this remarkable journey for Singapore, and remain guided by the values of boldness, resilience, and more, that have been our foundation as we write the next chapter of Singapore's urban transformation story together.
Before I end, I would like to express my thanks to all the agencies and venue partners involved in making this exhibition, which will be roving to other locations across Singapore in October and November, possible.
Thank you. Please enjoy the exhibition.