PM Lee Hsien Loong at Swearing-in Ceremony on 1 Oct 2015

MALAY

Presiden Tony Tan,

Teman dan rakan-rakan seperjuangan,

Warga Singapura sekalian

Pilihan Raya yang baru lalu, begitu penting. Ia diadakan semasa SG50. Ia membuka satu lembaran baru untuk kita.

Sebagai satu masyarakat, kita berdepan dengan pilihan yang genting dalam pilihan raya ini. Kita harus memutuskan siapa yang kita mahu dalam Pemerintah, pasukan mana yang harus dipilih demi masa depan kita dan apakah hala tuju yang kita mahukan untuk Singapura. Kita mempersoalkan bagaimana kita dapat perbaiki mutu kehidupan kita, bagaimana membawa Singapura ke tahap yang lebih tinggi.

Saya dan pasukan saya sangat berbesar hati dan berasa rendah diri bahawa 70 peratus rakyat Singapura, memilih PAP sebagai Pemerintah. Anda telah memberi kami mandat yang sangat jelas untuk membawa Singapura ke tahap seterusnya. Dan inilah yang akan kami lakukan.

Keputusan yang sangat tegas itu hanya boleh dicapai dengan sokongan dari semua kumpulan. Ia adalah satu kemenangan besar bagi Singapura. Kita memiliki Pemerintah yang kukuh dan mapan, dan berupaya untuk membawa Singapura ke tahap seterusnya dengan yakin.  Kita bersatu-padu untuk memutuskan masa depan kita. Pada pilihan raya ini, kita berikrar untuk melangkah ke hadapan bersama-sama sebagai satu masyarakat, satu bangsa, satu Singapura.

Mandat yang anda berikan membolehkan kami melantik satu pasukan yang kukuh untuk bekerja Bersama anda, Untuk anda, Demi Singapura. 

Dalam membentuk Kabinet ini, matlamat utama saya ialah memastikan Singapura mempunyai Pemerintah yang paling berkesan. Saya juga mahu mempersiapkan pasukan seterusnya untuk mengambil-alih tugas saya dan rakan-rakan pemimpin kanan saya.  Itulah sebabnya saya telah memperkukuhkan pasukan saya dengan menaikkan pangkat dan melantik beberapa anggota baru termasuk penyandang jawatan Melayu. Saya harap anda akan terus memberikan saya dan pasukan saya, sokongan padu anda.

Kini, masanya untuk kita mencatat lembaran seterusnya bagi Kisah Singapura.

Kita tahu bahawa Singapura istimewa bukan hanya kerana apa yang telah kita capai, tetapi apa yang boleh kita jangkakan. Sebagai rakyat Singapura, kita bukan dikenali dengan pencapaian kita, tetapi semangat juang kita yang sentiasa mahu memperbaiki pencapaian, biarpun dicabar pelbagai rintangan.   

Dari itu, mari kita bersatu padu dan memastikan kepentingan Singapura menjadi agenda utama kita dan bekerja sama demi masa depan yang lebih baik untuk kita semua. Marilah kita jadikan kepelbagaian, kekuatan kita. Marilah kita membentuk ruang-ruang persamaan di antara kita. Dan bersama-sama kita akan membawa Singapura melangkah maju menuju ke hadapan. Terima kasih.

CHINESE

总统先生

各位同胞

大家晚上好！

刚才各位见证了新内阁成员宣誓就职的庄严仪式，这意味着新一届政府已经站在起跑点上，部长们正式开工了！

这次的全国大选对新加坡意义重大。今年是我国的金禧年，这是新加坡重要的里程碑。在我们反思新加坡建国以来所取得的成就的当儿，全国人民也关心着接下来的发展道路要怎么走，并且认真思考如何一起谱写新的篇章。

在这样的大前提下，选民在投票箱前做出了选择，选出了他们所要的新加坡愿景。行动党团队在这次选举中获得了将近70%的高得票率，我要由衷感谢新加坡选民给予我们的明确委托，而所有当选的议员们也必定会尽心尽力为人民服务，带领新加坡向前迈进。这次的明确委托，也让我们可以做出更周全的部署，以最快的速度和最稳定的方式栽培更多年轻一代的部长，为领导层的更新做出最好的安排。

这次的选举结果，最大的赢家是新加坡。如果没有各个社会群体的大力支持，我们不会取得这么好的表现。这也显示，在关键时刻，新加坡人很清楚国家所面对的紧要问题，能够放眼未来，共同决定了新加坡的命运。我们会开创新方向，带领新加坡更上一层楼。

我对这次新内阁的职务安排，做出了大幅度的调整。这是为了确保在下一届大选后，新一代的部长们可以完全胜任和接替我和一些资深同僚的任务。希望大家会继续支持新政府。

我们要牢记，新加坡的特别之处，不仅仅是我们取得了今天的成就，也包括我们能为下一代提供各种机遇，让他们可以追逐和实现梦想。新加坡的特质，并非体现在这些年来所获得的种种殊榮，而是我们所拥有的刚强勇猛、不怕困难、刻苦耐劳和自强不息的精神。

接下来，我们会继续同人民合作，实现所立下的目标和愿景。希望大家也会积极参与，跟我们分享各种宝贵的意见和提议。虽然我们在一些课题上可能会有不同的看法，但是只要大家的出发点都是为了新加坡好，希望国家拥有更美好的未来，相信就能够凝聚共识。这样，我们的社会就会是一个具包容性的社会，人民相互尊重，求同存异，和谐相处。让我们齐心协力，迈向辉煌百年！谢谢。

ENGLISH

Mr President,

Friends and Colleagues,

And fellow Singaporeans

We have had a pivotal General Election. It took place during SG50, marking the beginning of a new chapter for us.

As a people, we faced critical choices in this election. We had to decide whom we wanted to form the Government, which team to choose to secure our future, and which direction Singapore should progress in. We had to ask ourselves: how do we keep improving our lives, taking Singapore higher, and building something worthwhile and lasting for our children?

My team and I are honoured and humbled that 70% of voters chose the PAP to form the Government. You gave us a clear mandate to take Singapore forward, and we will do so.

Such a decisive result could only have happened with support from all groups of Singaporeans. All 89 seats were contested, and every adult citizen had to vote. The real winners in this election were Singaporeans. We have a strong, stable government, able to take Singapore confidently into the future. Singaporeans showed that we knew what was at stake. At a critical moment, we united to decide our future.  We pledged ourselves to forge a new way forward as one people, one nation, one Singapore.

The election result sent an important signal to the world: that we Singaporeans are determined to keep Singapore special. Through the decades, our political stability and our quality workforce have attracted many MNCs to invest here. In recent times MNCs have watched our politics more closely, to see which way it is heading.  After the election, EDB told me that an MNC that has been here for many years had just decided to increase its stake in Singapore and make another billion-dollar investment here, creating many more good jobs for Singaporeans. I have no doubt that the election result boosted this investor’s confidence that they were making the right decision, and that they could be confident Singaporeans would keep our funda­mentals strong. I am sure that our neighbours noticed too, as have others.

Assembling the best team for Singapore

Your clear mandate has enabled me to form a strong Cabinet. My new team comprises both experienced Ministers who will provide steady hands in a challenging environment, and younger Ministers who will bring new perspectives and ideas. They will have to master the issues quickly and ready themselves to lead Singapore.

My first objective in forming this Cabinet is, as always, to provide the most effective government for Singapore. We are entering a new phase of our nation­hood. We face more complex challenges and new issues that cut across multiple domains. Therefore, I have appointed Coordinating Ministers to oversee work in three major areas.

The first area is national security, which remains a vital pre­condition of our success. The SAF and Home Team have kept us safe, but new dangers and threats are emerging around us. ISIS and jihadist terrorists are a serious problem for Southeast Asia and Singapore, because they threaten our physical safety and our racial harmony. Tensions in the South China Sea are unsettling our region. Political problems or racial tensions in neighbouring countries can complicate bilateral relations, or spill over to affect our society. Therefore, I have kept DPM Teo Chee Hean in charge of national security.

Another area is economic and social policies, which form a major part of our agenda. With an ageing population and uncertain global conditions, growth will be harder to come by. Yet our economy must grow to create opportunities for Singaporeans and to improve our lives. At the same time, we must use the fruits of growth wisely, both to invest in our future and to strengthen our social safety nets. Every citizen should benefit from Singa­pore’s success, and those needing an extra helping hand should be looked after. DPM Tharman will oversee this critical area.

The final major area is infrastructure. Good infrastructure provides the physical basis for our quality of life, and our economic competi­tiveness. Compared to most other countries, we have done well. Singaporeans live in good homes, enjoy a well-planned, green environment, and travel in an efficient public transport system. But we have ambitious plans to build on what we already have over the next 20-30 years to create a new city, and an outstanding living environment for all of us. We also know where we need to do more work to improve standards and remedy shortcomings. Khaw Boon Wan will be responsible for making Singapore a beautiful and endearing home for all of us.

These complex challenges require fresh and bold ideas, careful balancing of different goals, and close coordination across multiple agencies. This is what my new cabinet, with a mix of experienced and new ministers, is designed to do. Many countries and cities, even in the developed world, have found similar challenges too hard to resolve. But here in Singapore, we can get things done and we will make it happen. We have a government that enjoys strong support. We have a competent public service. More importantly, we have a sense of national purpose. We can work together, think long-term, and focus the efforts of the whole government, indeed of the whole nation, to take Singa­pore forward. This is what makes us unique and will continue to keep us special.

Leadership Renewal

My other major goal in forming this Cabinet is to prepare the next team to take over from me and my senior colleagues. My responsibility, as it was with ESM Goh Chok Tong and Mr Lee Kuan Yew, is not just to govern Singa­pore well today, but also to prepare the next team to take over from us. This will secure Singapore’s future beyond this generation, and take the country another step towards SG100.

Leadership renewal was one of my major themes before and during the election campaign. I am grateful that with your support, I can reinforce my team and pursue renewal vigorously.

The clock is ticking; we have no time to lose. Therefore, I have made a decisive move now. In this new Cabinet, nearly all ministries have new Ministers, Ministers of State and Parliamentary Secretaries.

I have reinforced my team with backbenchers and newly-elected MPs, and entrusted major responsibilities to younger ministers. They have to be tested, learn the ropes, prove themselves, and shake down as a team. Increasingly they will carry the government’s programme – initiating, explaining and executing policies, and persuading people to support these policies, which will increasingly be their policies.

The older ministers are staying on in Cabinet. They will provide my team with depth and breadth to think more deeply about issues and to plan more systematically for the future. They will also help me to mentor and guide the younger ones. My overriding goal is to have a new team ready to take over soon after the next elections, to work with you, for you and for Singapore.

The Next Chapter

We are planning ahead because Singaporeans expect their leaders to do so. You have entrusted Singapore to me and my team, not just because of what we have done, but also because you are confident of what we will do.  You trust that we will act on our words and live up to our promises, and we will.

I ask you to have that same belief in our country. Singapore is special not just because of what we have achieved today, but also because of what we can look forward to tomorrow. Singaporeans are not defined by the accolades we receive, but by our constant striving to always do better, whatever the circumstances.

In this SG50 year, we discovered what it means to be Singaporean. When our founding Prime Minister, Mr Lee Kuan Yew passed away in March, we grieved together. During the week of National Mourning, we came together as one people, to pay tribute to Mr Lee and to reaffirm what our pioneers stood for. On 9 August, we celebrated 50 years of independence, and remembered how a rugged people overcame adversity together. At the National Day Parade, we sang Majulah Singapura, recited the Pledge, and sang Home in one voice, committing ourselves anew to the nation. This year, we showed what Singapore can do and what promise our nation holds.

SG50 is not just about looking back but also looking forward. The last major SG50 event will be “The Future of Us” exhibition, which will open in December at Gardens by the Bay. The exhibition will showcase our journey from Third World to First, but more importantly, look forward to the many possibilities we have beyond SG50.

The themes of the exhibition include:

  a. The Future of Lifelong Learning – How Singaporeans can follow multiple paths to chase our rainbows, while also pursuing art, culture and sports;

  b. The Future of Greening Singapore – How our urban environment can be more liveable and better accommodate different rhythms of life in our lush City in a Garden;

  c. The Future of Caring – How we can come together, as one Singapore family, whatever our social background or age, regardless of race, language or religion, to volunteer, and to care for and support one another; and

  d. The Future of Smart Living and Working – How technology can transform the way we live and work, and free us to develop the human spirit.

I hope the exhibition will launch us into the next chapter of our Singapore Story. We – the Government and the people – have to write this chapter together. We will debate and argue over what this chapter should contain, how the story should develop. We will do that online and offline, in civil society and in Parliament. That is normal, and healthy. But at the end we are all co-authors of the chapter. We all have to work together, and we all want the story to have a happy outcome.

In the last term, we held the “Our Singapore Conversation”. 50,000 Singaporeans from all walks of life shared their hopes and dreams for themselves and for Singapore. The exercise helped us understand what we share in common, and brought us closer together.

Now we will take this one step further, to explore how we will build our future together – how we will learn, work as one people, and celebrate life together. We will organise focussed discussions around the themes of “The Future of Us” exhibition. 

I invite all Singaporeans to participate actively in these programmes. We welcome all views and will engage widely because every voice counts. I also urge Singaporeans to go beyond making suggestions or discussing ideas or critiquing policies. Commit to what you believe in, roll up your sleeves, get involved, and come together to make things happen. 

One important area needing reviewing is our economy.  We must create opportunities even in a weaker global economy, and move faster towards higher skills, innovation and productivity.  These are urgent tasks, because both global economic conditions and also because of domestic demographic trends. Both will pose us severe challenges. We have to create more good jobs and pathways for our workers. We have to help enterprises, especially SMEs, adapt to a lean workforce, and build links with the region and the world.  Minister Heng Swee Keat will chair a committee on “The Future Economy” to study this.

The Singapore Story belongs to all of us. If we have faith that Singapore will endure and thrive, and put our heart and soul into building Singapore, then we will prevail, and secure our place in history. As Mr Lee Kuan Yew once said, “We intend to see that [Singapore] will be here a thousand years from now.  And that is your duty and mine.” 

Conclusion

We can achieve so much when we work together.

Two weeks ago, I attended an SG50 musical. It was called “Our Lives, Our Story”. The show was a grassroots effort, put together by residents from Ang Mo Kio and Sengkang West. They were all volunteers who invested energies and time, to celebrate Singapore in song and dance. The musical traced Singapore’s journey from independence, decade by decade, and explored our way forward to SG100.

This amateur production embodied the essence of what makes Singapore special. People of all ages and races shared wholeheartedly in a national celebration, and gave something of themselves. We found a wide range of talents from among ourselves – the producer, the creative director, the volunteers and children who sang and danced, the backstage crew, the props and the costume designers. They came together to rehearse and present an original musical, in the beautiful theatre at ITE College Central, to a full house.

During the performance, each one played their part, and everything fell into place. The audience too participated actively, clapping, cheering and singing along. It was a joy experiencing this moving rendition of our nation’s story, and being part of it, part of the story and part of the performance. This could only have happen in Singapore.

That is what Singapore is and will always be about: each of us giving of our best, united by our shared ideals, our faith in this nation, and our belief that here we can build something special together.

We are not done building Singapore, and we will never be done. In this general election, Singaporeans have reposed their trust in me and my team. My team and I take this trust and our responsibility seriously, and will continue to earn, honour and to grow this trust. Together, as one united people, regardless of race, language and religion, we will achieve happiness, prosperity, and progress for our nation. Good night.

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