PM Lee Hsien Loong at the 41st Pre-University Seminar 2010

I am delighted to see so many happy faces and so many participants present here today for the 41st Pre-U seminar. The theme of our seminar today is “one people, living our pledge”. If you have done your national education, you will know that the pledge was crafted by Mr S Rajaratnam back in 1966, one year after independence. And it represented the aspirations of a newly-independent nation about the sort of society we wanted to become and the future that we should strive to create together. And in the 40-plus years since then, we have made a lot of progress as a nation and also towards the ideals of the pledge. But it is always a target which is in front of us and the pledge remains an ideal that we need to continue to strive towards; and every generation of Singaporeans has to ask yourself, what the pledge means to us, how we will seek to realize it and how we can pass on a better Singapore to the next generation.

I have borrowed a few words from the pledge — happiness, prosperity and progress — for the theme of my speech today. We have enjoyed happiness, prosperity and progress but a great deal of this has been due to the work of the first generation Singaporeans working with the founding leaders of Singapore. One of these founding leaders passed away recently - Dr Goh Keng Swee. Dr Goh was one of the ablest and most gifted persons in his generation. With his talents, he could have done well for himself in many fields, but he committed himself to public service and became a key architect of today’s Singapore. We held a state funeral for Dr Goh so that the nation could pay its last respects to a great man. The media covered his life and work extensively and many Singaporeans reading about him who had grown up after he had retired, came to realize how much we owe to him and his generation. Without their hard work and sacrifices, without their imagination and drive, we would not enjoy the peace and prosperity that some of us take for granted today. And indeed Singapore is an improbable and extraordinary nation. This present state of affairs which is so real and solid to us, was not inevitable and neither did it happen by itself. There were many points in our history when things could have gone wrong, when the outcome could have been quite different. But we got here via many twists and turns, and some of that story is told in the panel on the slides outside which you saw before and I hope you will look at again.

We have made enormous strides since independence. Today, we enjoy a standard of living that is one of the highest in Asia. We live fuller, more secure, more comfortable lives than before, not just a minority of us but the vast majority of Singaporeans, and the next generation can look forward to something better still. This year again, Singapore was voted the most livable Asian city by one of these management surveys. This one happened to be by Mercer Consulting. But if you ask me to choose one telling statistic of where we are doing well, I would say it is in infant mortality. We lead the world in infant mortality. I think it is about two deaths per 1,000 live births. It is an indication not just of the peaks of our success but of the high standards of our public health and the living conditions for all Singaporeans, and including the poorest members of society, because when people are poor, when they are impoverished, unable to take care of pregnant mothers, that is when their children and the mothers are at risk and your infant mortality rates go up. But we have the best infant mortality performance in the world. We are not the wealthiest country in the world. But I think we are the one which has most succeeded in providing good health, and stable, decent lives for all.

In education too, today’s situation is very different from what it was in the 1960’s when we were newly independent and I was in school. In those days, almost half of students dropped out before they reached secondary school. Think about that. Half of students never made it past PSLE and quite a number dropped out before PSLE. But today the dropout rates are negligible, 99 per cent complete secondary school and more than 90 per cent go on beyond secondary school to ITE or JCs or Polys. And in all our institutions, youths have many opportunities to develop their talents because as we have prospered, we have invested heavily in education. We built outstanding school facilities and university facilities, we recruited and trained good and committed teachers, and we have made sure that in every school across the land, students benefit from good teaching, a varied curriculum and wide range of CCA and enrichment activities. We have given the schools and the principals more resources and a lot more discretion on what they can do with these resources. There are the Edusave funds - every school receives them, every student receives Edusave money, and including kids with special needs, they get Edusave support too. MOE has an internationalisation fund for which you can organize activities, go overseas, learn about the world. Therefore, every student can enjoy a rich and interesting but rigorous educational experience beyond just mastering the basics, the 3Rs – reading, writing and arithmetic.

Many schools have exchange programmes with schools abroad or community involvement programmes to see how people live elsewhere. Many students have travelled overseas on such programmes. I would not be surprised if I ask for a show of hands in this room, many of you at some stage in your education would have gone on some school trip overseas. Can I see how many have travelled? Wow, I am surprised they are all here today. But it shows how comprehensive and how rich what we are offering is and how important it is for you to take the opportunities which are before you. The students who go overseas have generally done well, either academically or in their CCA performance. But they come from across the system, different streams, different schools, very often from not so-well-off families. And the families who go, feel a deep sense of pride because it is a rare opportunity and a great sense that their young one has done well. As some of the schools tell me, the whole extended family comes to see off the young man or the young lady because they are all proud of him or her and maybe his sister or his younger brother will be inspired and in future will do the same.

A few weeks ago, I visited Bowen Secondary School. It is a neighbourhood school somewhere in the northeast, some of you may have come from there. But it is a very good school, with competent, caring teachers and the resources and the imagination to do many exciting things. They have a school display band which put on a performance for me. Maybe they knew that I used to be in a school band long ago, so they wanted to show me how things have changed. And it was a very elaborate routine, way beyond anything which we could have put up in our time. There were musicians, playing, dancers, cheerleaders, an outstanding drum major, working in unison to depict a touching love story. They won a gold with honours at the Display Band Competition this year and will be performing in the Youth Festival opening in July. The school invested in the band. They have got the resources, their kids are not rich but the school can muster the resources. They invite special instructors from Japan to conduct master classes for the students and the key band members, not the whole band which is about 100, but 20, 30 of the key members get to travel to Japan. They go to Nagoya, where there is a community band there and they train with the community band there. They tell me that the Japanese band has kids from five to old people 80 years old performing together and that is something we have to learn from them. That also was unimaginable when I was in school. So this is an education system which provides something for everyone. Not just in a few top schools but in many good schools and JCs all over Singapore”.

Recently in February, there was a debate in the newspapers on the fierce competition to enter the elite junior colleges. It was a good debate. I think the participants who spoke up spoke sense and I read two good letters in the Straits Times Forum. One was from a student, I think, who pointed out that many non-elite junior colleges offered a solid education and that students had ample opportunities to excel if they put in the effort. Another one was from a former student of Pioneer JC. I do not know if there is somebody from Pioneer JC here. But this was one of your alumnus who wrote a very good letter and he told of how he had received an excellent education there from the exceptionally dedicated teachers. He said “I enjoyed the interaction with the teachers who are exceptionally dedicated to their jobs. I participated in a multitude of events that helped me develop as a person. I am in a local university now and will graduate in a few months. My former classmates at Pioneer JC are now all in the working world and actively contributing to society. I cherish the friendships that I still maintain with my former teachers who made the effort to engage us on a very personal level. There was no invisible teacher-student barrier and tribute must be paid to them for that.” So he concluded “I received an excellent JC education” and he said the whole issue boils down to three things — first, we should not define success merely as entering top educational institutions because there is more to life than that; secondly, that being in an elite JC is neither necessary nor sufficient indicator of future success and thirdly, no JC in Singapore are inferior. And with the synergy and the capabilities of our teachers and the efforts put in by the individual, the rewards will be there for each student to reap. Well said. He reflects a lot of credit on his teachers and on his alma mater. So those who put up your hands, bravo to you!

Many students have seized these opportunities and done well. When they graduate, they are in demand from employers. When they go overseas, they distinguish themselves. If they go overseas to study in universities, they often win prizes. If they go overseas to work, there is a certain Singapore reputation which they carry with them. And each one of you can be proud of your success because you have made it through your own efforts. But please also remember that the Singapore system has enabled you to succeed. And in some other societies, equally talented individuals have far fewer opportunities, either because they face discrimination or perhaps, their country lacks the resources to give them the opportunities which we take for granted in Singapore.

Now that you have done well, the question is what do you want to do with your lives? Dr Goh Keng Swee chose to go into public service, not because he had weighed the pros and cons of different options and then made this career choice but because he believed this was the right thing to do. You too have to think what you will do with your lives and make your choice before long. A few of you may yearn for relaxing lives, hang around on Orchard Road and watch the world go by. But I think most young Singaporeans are more ambitious and especially young Singaporeans who attend the Pre-U seminar. You want to achieve something for yourselves. There are so many vistas open to you, so many doors wide open in Singapore and overseas. You have a good education, you have a grasp of English, you have grasp of mother tongue, you are fully equipped to do well anywhere in the world. Many of you will want to go to university, possibly overseas and pursue fulfilling and rewarding careers. Some will hope to venture and work abroad, to see the world and seize the many opportunities in Asia or even in America, Europe, Australia or further afield. I encourage you all to pursue your dreams. Go for it but wherever you are, whatever you are doing, please also remember you have an obligation to society and please make an effort to contribute back in some way.

Happiness is not just making your own life a success but also helping others to do better and making a difference to the lives of others. You may take part in community work, volunteering in a welfare home, doing social work with your church, mosque, or temple, participating in grassroots activities, organizing youth groups or volunteering for the YOG, soon to come. You may do some public service. For example, working on drug abuse or problem gambling or promoting the arts or protecting the environment or serving on school advisory committees, overseeing schools or hospitals. You could help the government with your time, your expertise, your passion to solve our problems and make Singapore work better because the government does not have all the solutions to all our problems. We do not know all the answers and the more young and old Singaporeans can participate in defining and tackling our problems, the better it is for Singapore.

We also need some of you to join the public sector as a career. The public service may not sound as glamorous as the private sector, but the foundation of a stable and prosperous Singapore is an honest first-class government and you must have the intangible aspects, social cohesion, good defence capabilities and a strong spirit among the population because they are key to our national well-being and success. Having a good government has been one of the key competitive advantages for Singapore and is one which we must maintain and enhance. It is, I think, one of the most enduring advantages we have because people can see it. It is not so hard to learn about it but to do it likewise in a different country or society, in a different environment and context, that is very hard. But we have it and we better preserve it and make it better. And that requires a dedicated and outstanding team of public servants and ministers, working closely together for Singapore. The public service offers exciting and rewarding careers. But it is a calling as much as a job. We need teachers, nurses, lawyers, administrators, SAF and Home Team officers and many other vocations. We need people with a wide mix of skills who will dedicate time and energy to serving the public well and make our system better so that more Singaporeans can succeed as you have done. We are a successful country today. But as Dr Goh said, you should regard the present condition of the Republic not as a pinnacle of achievement but as a base from which to scale new heights. So each generation has to aim to build a better Singapore. And indeed we have a lot of possibilities and a lot of work to do, and there are many important challenges ahead. Let me just list briefly four items for you to think about. It is not comprehensive but these are four significant areas where we have an important challenge, where we must do creative thinking and put in a lot of hard work, the Government but also with the people.

First of all, we have to upgrade the economy, improve the standards of living for all our people, and I stress that improve the standards of living for all our people. It is not an easy task. Many countries grow but to have that growth spread out and enjoyed by everybody, that is a challenge. America has prospered but over the last 30 plus years, incomes of those lower down have stagnated. At the top, they have gone up a lot but as a broad base, incomes have stagnated and there is no easy solution. In China, growth has been even more rapid. But their income distribution has also spread out and those at the top have become wealthier much faster than those at the poor have come out from poverty. Everybody has benefited but there is a gap which has been widening and is causing them social stresses and strains. Singapore is subject to the same pressures from globalization and we have to overcome these pressures and build an economy that provides a wide range of good jobs. Not everybody will end up at the top of the pile. But all should have a chance to do better for themselves and for their children. And this is a continuing challenge for us because new competitors will move into our present areas of strength and we have to develop new expertise and find new niches for ourselves. How do we do that? That is the first challenge.

Secondly, we have to educate each citizen to do well in a dynamic Asia, in a dynamic world. We have improved our education system. There are many peaks of excellence and many alternative pathways forward. You can go into pre-U, you can go into JCs, you can go to the Poly. You can go on after that to work, you can come back into the university. If you do well, you can move from one step to the next, cross over from one stream to another and eventually succeed in your own domain and there are many domains where you can succeed. We are building a system which recognises the innate differences in each child and enables each one, him or her, to go as far as he or she can. The future challenge for us is to get him ready for a rapidly changing world. We can teach him what we know today. But we cannot predict what the world will look like in 20, 30 years’ time, what knowledge and skills he will need and how, but what we need to do is to prepare him to be able to absorb those knowledge and skills as he goes along in life, after he has graduated from school or university or even post-graduate; but as he is working, continues learning, continues absorbing, continues adapting himself and continues to be productive and to be up-to-date. How do we develop our education and training system for children as well as adults to achieve this? It is not the facts which we teach you. Please remember them now, you need them. It is a discipline, you need them for the exams. But long after you have left those facts behind, you must learn how to learn. We have to somehow imbue in you the habits of learning how to learn, so that you can use those for yourselves, not just when you are 20 years old when it is not so hard, but even when you are 30, 40, when it is a bit tougher. And even when your children are in school, you are learning with them and moving on with the timesThat is a big challenge.

The third challenge is to continue to build a harmonious and cohesive society. We have able, talented individuals. But we must be more than just so many able and talented individuals. We have to develop as one people. We must never be split by race, language or religion or by social strata or income levels. We have made much progress but it is still not easy to build this common identity, for a few reasons. Firstly, because this is a common identity based on shared ideals not based on a common race, language or religion. In fact, we belong to different races, languages and religions, languages less but race and religion and these are differences which will take a long time to narrow and may never disappear and yet we are building one people with one consciousness, one identity. So that is the first difficulty building a one nation. The second challenge is that we are not at war. Fortunately. If we were in the sense of threat, the sense of danger, you pull together because that is how you survive. But we are living in peaceful and plentiful times. There is no major threat which we can see. Now, we know there are challenges ahead. But in times like this the sense of instinctive togetherness is harder for us to build. The third challenge of course is that more Singaporeans are living and working overseas. You are not here, you are abroad. You keep your links back home, you visit back home, you have family here. But you may be in China, in India, in Central Asia, in Europe. And many of our able people are abroad. To maintain that network and that sense of identity as ‘one Singapore’ takes extra effort. But nevertheless we must still continue to foster this common identity and sense of belonging because feeling and working as one nation is a precondition for us to succeed economically and in so many other fields.

Finally, we should continue to improve our living environment. Ours is a small crowded tropical island. With imaginative planning, good execution, we have built an outstanding urban living environment. But we can do better. If you can go down to the Marina Bay, you can see it being transformed and it is full of life and vitality. I was there last weekend and saw thousands of people taking the air, looking at the sites, maybe looking at the IR, but enjoying themselves and feeling proud of our new downtown. But it is not just in the new downtown. Even our HDB estates where people lived — projects like Punggol 21 — have amenities comparable to private developments. And we will similarly upgrade our HDB estates, our schools, our infrastructure all over the island to make this a truly first-class place to live work and play. But the key to doing this are economic growth so that they have the resources, political stability so that we can think long-term and talented planners, architects and builders to conceive it and make it happen. And of course a population which is proud of it and looks after and will make it better.

These four items — the economy, education, nation-building and urban building — these are among the major challenges for us to move closer to the ideals of our pledge - one united people regardless of race, language or religion; to build a democratic society based on justice and equality; to achieve happiness, prosperity and progress for our nation. A few words but a lifetime of effort. We can break through in all these areas and help Singapore to progress for another generation, provided we have good people at all levels, whether in the government, in the private sector or in academia. People who can conceive of a different future and mobilize others to help to achieve it. As Bernard Shaw said, “Instead of people who see things and ask why, people who dream things that never were and ask why not?”

We may not produce a Goh Keng Swee in every generation. But every generation can produce many talented individuals who form an inspired team, who spark off ideas against one another. Who develop an esprit d’corp and a collective sense of responsibility for Singapore. Who believe that everything is possible, provided we put ourselves together to achieve it. Who will take the nation forward for another generation. Thank you very much.