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Govts must ensure all citizens feel they gain from open economy: DPM Tharman

SINGAPORE — Rapid urbanisation and ageing, as well as the influx of immigrants in many cities have brought on anxieties that governments need to manage by making sure everyone can take advantage of the global economy, while a stronger social compact must also emerge, said Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam.

DPM Tharman Shanmugaratnam. TODAY file photo

DPM Tharman Shanmugaratnam. TODAY file photo

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SINGAPORE — Rapid urbanisation and ageing, as well as the influx of immigrants in many cities have brought on anxieties that governments need to manage by making sure everyone can take advantage of the global economy, while a stronger social compact must also emerge, said Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam.

Speaking at a forum at the World Cities Summit yesterday, Mr Tharman, who is also Coordinating Minister for Economic and Social Policies, said the bottomline is that people must feel that their lives can improve and that an open economy “need not be a zero-sum game”.

Ensuring that there are good jobs at every stage of one’s career is one example of government intervention needed, he said.

“We need strategies that give people good jobs — starting from the young, those in mid-career — and good lives as they enter retirement. They must feel that the models we have — social models, economic models — are ones which they are included in, and their lives can improve,” he said.

The forum’s moderator, Ambassador-at-large Professor Tommy Koh, noted that in Europe and America, there seems to be stronger opposition to free trade, mobility of people and new immigrants, and asked Mr Tharman if he was worried about the trend.

He responded that the situation is worse in the developed world, citing the social dissatisfaction underlying Brexit and other events. In Asia, on the other hand, people are “moving up” across the board, even if there is some inequality.

“We have to find ways to take advantage of an open global economy in a way that doesn’t mean some people win, some people lose. It need not be a zero-sum game. There will always be some people winning more than others. But everyone has to basically see their lives improving.”

“It requires government intervention, and it requires social compacts. We’ve got to help everyone who’s losing out — (those who are) retrenched from their jobs, or whose industry is down because of new industries (replacing them), technologies that displace people. We’ve got to help them quickly when that happens, provide them training and resources to get new jobs available,” he added.

Mr Tharman also spoke on the ageing population challenge that many Asian countries are facing, with Prof Koh asking if Singapore can be the best place to grow old and whether the Government can “abolish compulsory retirement”, as many elderly do not actually dream of “playing golf, or lying on the beach”.

In response, Mr Tharman said: “We don’t actually have compulsory retirement. We have a retirement age and indeed I think, at some point, this has to go.”

Pointing to Singapore’s tight labour market in setting out a case for needing more workers, he added: “What’s critical is that employers mustn’t see older workers as just an add-on because you need more workers. But older folk are not just an add-on because we cannot find younger folk. They are an asset which we have to keep investing in.”

Another aspect to manage in an ageing population is healthcare, he added, noting that a sustainable system is key. This means making healthcare humane, affordable and convenient for patients, he said.

Social capital is also important, he added, citing the example of a heatwave in Chicago in 1995, where fatality rates were higher in neighbourhoods with elderly who live behind locked doors, and lower in areas where people looked out for each other.

Mr Tharman said society must get involved in creating a liveable city, where key elements would include common spaces for people to interact, and a social capital and culture. TAN WEIZHEN

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