Prior to taking questions from students at the conversation session which survived for almost two and a half hours, Mr Shanmugam gave an opening speech where he talked at length regarding the internal and external challenges experienced by Singapore.
The household issues include a “tight balance” that the Federal government has to strike when it comes to the country’s budget amid the inability to raise taxes while dealing with higher spending requirements, a rapidly ageing population in Singapore and income inequality.
The ressortchef (umgangssprachlich) also talked about external threats, where he mostly emphasised on economic competition.
Mister Shanmugam raised good examples to depict competition faced by Singapore’s two key industries – maritime plus aviation. For instance, the former, which supports about 170, 000 work opportunities and accounts for 7 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product, faces challenges like shifting trade ways and the emergence associated with newer ports in the region.
He went on to cite a survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers, which estimated regional economies such as Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam, to be among the world’s trillion-dollar economies by 2030.
“If all of the our neighbors are doing extremely well and if they have a full suite of services, then the query is what’s your relevance?
“We want them to do well but we would like to be relevant so the key task would be to find a way in which we can continue to be relevant, ” he said.
Mr Shanmugam also pointed to brand new trends brought on by the particular COVID-19 pandemic, such as the trend of remote control working.
“The more workers state I want to work from home, the more employers are going to say home doesn’t have to be Bishan or Ang Mo Kio. Home can be Bangalore or Shanghai or Manila, where people are prepared to work for one third (or) one quarter (of your salary).
“So what’s your own value proposition? So why should people invest in Singapore and employ you? ” he questioned students gathered on Lee Kong Chian Lecture Theatre.
So far, Singapore has “done well” but the minister cautioned this “is because of the past” and “doesn’t predict the future”. Including that Singapore provides succeeded in creating an economy which is “so substantial and thus out of proportion to (its) land dimension and population”, the risk now is “complacency”.
Singapore’s current benefits such as rule of law and zero corruption may be duplicated by others, he or she cautioned, while incorporating that other nations also have their own advantage like the availability of property and cheaper price of doing business.
“So there are these issues to think about and whether you believe in 10 years, two decades, 30 years, we will be capable of keep up our family member effectiveness, or whether or not others will overtake us. ”