As long as we live, remember this year, says PM

SINGAPORE — The SG50 celebrations are coming to an end, but Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong hopes that Singaporeans press on and keep the spirit going.

While the nation’s Jubilee anniversary and the death of founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew are “one-off” events, Singapore is now in the post-LKY era and the people must “build on what we’ve experienced together”.

“This emotional year has left a deep mark on all of us, individually and as a society,” Mr Lee said yesterday (Dec 6) at the PAP Convention.

Whether one is a pioneer or a young student, there was a collective “moment of grief” when the late Mr Lee died and a “moment of celebration” when Singaporeans sang the national anthem and recited the pledge on National Day, he added.

“So for all of us here, because of 2015, I think we have a new consciousness; we were changed,” said Mr Lee. “As long as we live, remember this year.”

Mr Lee cited the SG50 Celebration Fund created to encourage people to organise ground-up initiatives such as documentaries, movies, plays, art exhibitions and publications that captured the stories and hopes of Singaporeans.

“(We had) cook-outs, block parties, barbeques and picnics, for different people to come together to share meals with one another. We did projects for the needy ... projects like Wheels@Ubin, which brought 100 wheelchair users to Pulau Ubin,” he noted.

“The spirit is get involved, get your hands dirty, get things done together.”

This is why the Government organised The Future of Us exhibition as a capstone to SG50, said Mr Lee. There is also the SGfuture engagement series to inspire Singaporeans to talk about their shared future.

And he hopes this series of conversations will be “jump-off points” that lead to initiatives and projects in which Singaporeans will come forward to take part.

“This is the kind of society we want to build in Singapore ... a democracy of deeds,” said Mr Lee, using a phrase coined by founding Cabinet member S Rajaratnam.

By working together, Singapore will be a more united society, he stressed.

“If the society is divided, the politics will become divisive, we will go into a downwards spiral and things will get worse,” he added.

“But if society is cohesive, if we work together ... then we can have (our) politics bring us closer together constructively.”

Then, the PAP can also continue to be a national party representing many Singaporeans from all walks of life and working in the interest of all of them, said Mr Lee.

“So that’s the most important lesson from this General Election,” he added.