S'poreans expect more as Govt is 'not poor': PM
04:45 AM Oct 01, 2012
SINGAPORE - Singaporeans think their Government is "not poor" and, thus, expect it to do more for them, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
Mr Lee, during a wide-ranging interview with The Australian newspaper that touched on US-China relations and rising Chinese nationalism, was responding to a question on whether he thought the Western world was suffering from "a crisis of entitlement spending" and whether there were lessons for Singapore.
He said: "People are not so poor. They think their Government is not poor so they expect the Government to do more for them.
"They're not poor but they feel less well-off relatively than others they can see in society. There is that relative sense that 'I should get my entitlement'."
The United States, Britain and Europe see a large part of their budget go towards entitlement spending, he noted.
"How do you cut back on spending when benefits, once given, cannot be taken back?" Mr Lee said.
"(Singapore) started with very minimal welfare and we've gone on the basis of growth and high employment and low unemployment. If you're out of a job you can find a new job. You will get help but the help is not something you're absolutely entitled to. We have to adjust that without going overboard and ending up where the Americans are or the Europeans are or where the New Zealanders were."
The interview, published on Saturday, comes ahead of Mr Lee's official visit to Australia this week.
Asked how he felt about the US-China relationship, Mr Lee said: "I think the powers-that-be on both sides, Chinese leaders and the US administration, after they get elected, have shown they don't want to go on the route of confrontation, whatever might be said during presidential elections."
As for the rising Chinese nationalism, he noted the proliferation of "Internet opinion" as well as the new generation of Chinese who grew up during a period of China's rapid emergence and growing self-confidence.
"The younger generation have not seen the horrors of war, or the turmoil of the Cultural Revolution, and they just see China getting bigger and stronger every day. They just say the time has come for us to take our rightful place. The Chinese government has to take that into account."
