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Speaking the truth key to resolving crisis in Greece

During a dialogue session yesterday at the SG50+ conference, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam was asked by American journalist Fareed Zakaria what the Singapore Government would do if, hypothetically, it took charge of the Greek crisis. Here is his response:

During a dialogue session yesterday at the SG50+ conference, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam was asked by American journalist Fareed Zakaria what the Singapore Government would do if, hypothetically, it took charge of the Greek crisis. Here is his response:

 

Mr Tharman: I’ll put it in a way that will make it easier for me to answer: What if we were Greece? And we had a Greece situation here? I would say, first, there has to be great value in the politics of speaking straight. Telling people what the problems are, how there has to be some pain, in order that we see the light at the end of the tunnel. And we can get out of the tunnel together, but it’s going to take some time and everyone has to make a sacrifice.

It includes the rich, who are parking their deposits overseas; it includes the pensioners, who are not rich but have benefits that no young person can dream of getting in the future, so someone has to adjust. So everyone has to adjust.

Let’s share the pain, but let’s work our way out of this. So just speaking the truth is a critical requirement, whether you are on the left or right. You’ve got to speak the truth. And secondly, you’ve got to do what you say, because the population believes what you say only if they see you doing it and see you doing it repeatedly and with some firmness and assurance.

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