• Covid-19 fracturing societies because some are more affected than others, said PAP’s Tharman
• Building an inclusive society post-Covid “a challenging task that involves all of us” he added
• Younger Singaporeans must strengthen inclusivity that “doesn’t just mimic efforts in other societies”
• “We can emerge from Covid not more divided, but with a more cohesive society,” he said

SINGAPORE — The Covid-19 crisis has made building an inclusive society even “more important”, said Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam on Tuesday (July 7), as he called on Singaporeans and younger citizens in particular to collectively “take the initiative” to get involved in the effort. 

“It’s about all of us getting involved, by taking an interest in others,” the veteran People’s Action Party politician said, as he outlined the ruling party’s strategies for an inclusive society in a speech that was live-streamed on the party’s Facebook page from its headquarters.

“The task of building an inclusive society post-Covid is going to be a challenging task that involves all of us… we have to evolve further than where we were in the years past,” he added.

He cited a popular Hokkien song on striving for victory that talked about how one’s lot in life is determined 30 per cent by “the will of heaven” and 70 per cent by hard work.

While Singapore should retain the ethos of hard work and standing on one’s own feet, “we can’t rely on the heavens”, he said.

“We can’t leave people to fend for themselves either. That 30 per cent has to be community. We have to take collective responsibility for each other.”

He noted that this is a “challenge of a generation” for younger Singaporeans, who must build an inclusive society that “doesn’t just mimic efforts in other societies”.

Instead, they should do it “our way” to encourage initiative among the citizenry and to “create a cohesive network that involves spiralling up hope and opportunities”, he added. 

Describing this as an “exciting challenge” for the younger generation, he suggested that they get involved in their neighbourhoods, work with kids who are less privileged, reach out to working adults who have had lesser education, and also help seniors get used to a digital era.

“Find your niche, find your passion… and help spiral up our whole system, our whole society. It can be done.” 

Mr Tharman, who is leading the PAP team contesting in Jurong Group Representation Constituency, said that improving inclusivity is a “core agenda” of the PAP Government.

While it has “significantly stepped up” its strategies in the last 10 years to promote a fairer society, there is much more to be done going forward, he said.

Explaining the importance of promoting inclusivity in the current crisis, he noted that the pandemic has become a “major social crisis” in many countries around the world.

“It's fracturing societies, because it's impacting some people much more than others," he said. 

"It’s leading to a loss of hope in large parts of the population, particularly younger people in many countries and with slow growth that's going to come out of Covid-19, it's going to lead to greater tensions between people, and we must avoid that.” 

He noted that Singapore’s aim is to build a society that “tempers inequalities at every stage of life”, where "the young have hope, everyone advances in the course of their careers and the elderly look forward to full lives with some security".

"It is not just a set of goals, not just about pious statements, not just a set of political declarations. This is about real programmes... that can last into the next generation,” he said, noting that building an inclusive society is a never-ending process.

IMPROVING PRE-SCHOOL SECTOR

Mr Tharman noted that most of life’s inequalities start in the youngest years of one’s life and “a lot more” has to be done to reduce life's inequalities by intervening when children are young.

This can be done by working with families, professionals and social workers to give Singaporeans hope and to “catch up regardless of where they started”.

“It requires a sense of realism and it requires passion,” he said.

He noted that many countries have found it extremely difficult to lift social mobility particularly as societies become more advanced, citing the examples of the United States, the United Kingdom and Europe where money has gone into trying to reduce these inequalities but results have been limited.

To give children a good start here, Mr Tharman said that the Government has been making improvements in early childhood and preschool education by providing “quality programmes” in the neighbourhood.

Among other things, the Government will double its expenditure on the preschool sector over the next few years to raise the “quality of the preschool sector as a whole”.

In five years’ time, 80 per cent of the preschool sector will be government-supported, he noted, adding that the Government is “determined to make every effort” to help children from low income families to “have hope in life, to have confidence, and to enter primary school brimming with enthusiasm”.

PREVENTING LOST GENERATION

When it comes to those entering the working life, Mr Tharman said that the Government has to “make sure every Singaporean is on a moving escalator”.

And with the Covid-19 crisis, there is a further need to prevent “a lost generation” of young Singaporeans who miss out on job opportunities and see their skills journey diminished.

“We will make sure that doesn't happen in Singapore,” he said, adding that the Government will also make sure that middle aged Singaporeans and mature workers “do not find that the escalator has suddenly stopped midway through their career” and that employers will not be able to give easy excuses for not hiring this group.

“We're doing it through a massive effort to invest in skills of every Singaporean — young, middle age, mature. No country has embarked on it on the scale that we are doing today, a massive infusion of skills at every stage of one's career,” he said, adding that this can be done because the Government has a system that involves a tripartite partnership.

In his 45-minute speech, Mr Tharman also spoke about how Singapore’s productivity and median wage has grown by about one-third over the past decade and how both the Government and society should take responsibility for the retirement needs of seniors and Singaporeans, as leaving individuals to do so could lead to greater inequality over time.

He concluded his speech with a rallying call on building a more inclusive Singapore amid the current crisis.

“We can emerge from Covid not more divided, but with a more cohesive society. We can become a society that is inclusive for the next generation, not just today,” he said.