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Three biggest challenges Singapore will face up to SG100: Lee Hsien Loong
In the long term, maintaining a strong, unique national identity is key to prolonging Singapore's success story, says the Prime Minister.
POSTED: 23 Jul 2015 16:00 UPDATED: 23 Jul 2015 16:25
SINGAPORE: Enhancing the economy, the ageing population and maintaining a national identity are the three biggest challenges that Singapore faces over the next half-century, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said.
The immediate challenge over the next decade is getting the economy to the next level, he said in an interview published by Time magazine on Thursday (Jul 23).
"We are looking for a path which no country has yet found and we are not even an economy like the Japanese or Germans, or never mind the big power economy. So to get to the next level is a big challenge, if we don't get to the next level then we will have malaise and the angst, and even disillusionment which you see in many developed countries," he said.
In this time, the country's demographics will not have become a major issue - but it will be in a generation's time, on a 25-year timeframe, Mr Lee said.
If Singapore does not get the balance between its birthrate and immigration policies right, the country could end up in the same "tight spot" the Japanese currently face, he added.
But the key to keep Singapore successful in 2065 - 50 years from now, and a hundred years from Independence - is in maintaining a unique sense of national identity, he told Time.
"Before you can make any policies and get people to say 'I want to do this or the other', first, people must feel that we are Singaporeans and we want to be together and we are different from the others and we are special," Mr Lee said.
"And keeping that sense of unity and specialness over the long-term - I think it is critical and it is a very big challenge."
In the long term, maintaining a strong, unique national identity is key to prolonging Singapore's success story, says the Prime Minister.
POSTED: 23 Jul 2015 16:00 UPDATED: 23 Jul 2015 16:25
SINGAPORE: Enhancing the economy, the ageing population and maintaining a national identity are the three biggest challenges that Singapore faces over the next half-century, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said.
The immediate challenge over the next decade is getting the economy to the next level, he said in an interview published by Time magazine on Thursday (Jul 23).
"We are looking for a path which no country has yet found and we are not even an economy like the Japanese or Germans, or never mind the big power economy. So to get to the next level is a big challenge, if we don't get to the next level then we will have malaise and the angst, and even disillusionment which you see in many developed countries," he said.
In this time, the country's demographics will not have become a major issue - but it will be in a generation's time, on a 25-year timeframe, Mr Lee said.
If Singapore does not get the balance between its birthrate and immigration policies right, the country could end up in the same "tight spot" the Japanese currently face, he added.
But the key to keep Singapore successful in 2065 - 50 years from now, and a hundred years from Independence - is in maintaining a unique sense of national identity, he told Time.
"Before you can make any policies and get people to say 'I want to do this or the other', first, people must feel that we are Singaporeans and we want to be together and we are different from the others and we are special," Mr Lee said.
"And keeping that sense of unity and specialness over the long-term - I think it is critical and it is a very big challenge."
