PM Lee Hsien Loong at the NTU Students’ Union Ministerial Forum 2009

President of NTU, Dr Su Guaning,

Chairman of the Organising Committee, Mr Teo Juay Tee,

Professors, students, ladies and gentlemen.

You have chosen an apt theme for this evening’s discussion: Is there room for more? It reflects the concerns of a young generation looking ahead into the future, asking themselves where do we go? CanSingapore continue to grow? Can we individual Singaporeans find good jobs in the face of competition in Singapore and in the region, competition from one another, competition from people from abroad, from the region, from foreign graduates?

I would like to talk and focus on the longer term issues tonight. But before I go and talk about longer term issues, let me first talk briefly about one item which was not on your elevator just now, and that is the outlook right ahead of us, which I suspect is quite near the top of your minds.

What’s the economy going to be like? What are the job prospects like for students entering the job market? I would say the economy for now has bottomed but from the bottom of the downturn, it is going to be a long hard climb to come back up. The stock markets have recovered, maybe faster than they should but the mood has been buoyant. The US economy has stabilised although major issues still remain unresolved. InSingapore, our economy has done quite well in the second quarter, and the third quarter looks not bad. Employers are hiring again, according to the NTUC. But I think the unemployment numbers will continue to go up somewhat for some time to come because that is the way downturns work. After output picks up, employment takes a while before it catches up again. New graduates are finding jobs even though it is probably taking them a bit longer this year. There are measures which the government has taken in the Resilience Package in the budget this year which is helping the job market and particularly helping new graduates to find jobs. For example, we have a programme to help employers to recruit fresh graduates as trainees and the government will pay part of their salary for training and for OJT. So I think if we look forward, the outlook is not bad. But please be psychologically prepared for a slow pick up and even for surprises. People talk about the V-shape recovery again, if you read the newspapers, but remember you may have two Vs put together and then it is a W shape recovery – up very fast but you may have a second dip. It is possible.

Those are immediate prospects. What is the longer term outlook like? I think if we look back over the last 50 years, we have achieved a great deal. We have come a long way and compared to where we were, there is no comparison. The question is, is this a forward base camp from which we will go ahead and scale greater heights or is this the peak from which we have to accept that at best we will maintain and maybe even gradually come down and that we have reached our limits. The answer depends on you. It depends on what type of Singapore you want. Do you want a buzzing cosmopolitan city or relaxed, quiet kampong? Some people say we can afford to be just a little bit more relaxed, no need to be number one all the time, just once in a while will do. But if you take that attitude, soon we will be number two, number three and then eventually we will be back at the kampong level again.

We certainly have the potential to do better. We have the motivation as well. The progress we have made in one generation has meant that what you enjoy in your lives is much better than what your parents have enjoyed in their lives in nearly every case. From where we are today, we have the resources, we have the capabilities, we have the reach to climb further and to become an outstanding city like London, like New York or Shanghai. I think the potential is there and I believe we have the motive to improve on what we have achieved. We cannot think that we have arrived that we cannot do better. We must always remain dissatisfied, always aim higher.

Why do we want to aim higher? Because we want to achieve a better standard of living for all, especially for the lower income citizens. Because we want better healthcare for all, especially for elderly Singaporeans. Because we want a higher quality education for all so that every Singaporean, every student can develop to his fullest potential and achieve all that his talents enable him to do. And all of this requires resources, requires economic growth, requires drive and effort. How can we continue to grow? The opportunities are there but the first thing we have to understand is that the limits, the constraints, the difficulties which we may face are not things which are fixed and immutable. There are limits, there are constraints but what we can achieve depends on how well we make use of what we have and how we can create more space and more opportunities for ourselves. We should not just passively accept constraints but must actively and creatively transcend them and expand our space in all directions. So instead of asking is there room for more, I would turn the question around and ask instead, how can we create more space and opportunities for ourselves to do better?

The future offers us many opportunities. We are in the middle of Asia which is the most dynamic continent in the world. We can ride on the growth of China, on India, on the countries around us - the East Asian economies. Singapore enjoys a high reputation all over Asia, so when we go as Singaporeans, when our companies go as Singapore companies, when people visit us and come to see our city, they say yes, this is something we have respect for, something we have regard for, something we would like to pick up value and learn from and make use of. Therefore, that means we have value and you have value. But of course at the same time, we also face competition. We are not going to have a free ride just because of our geographical location or just because of our name. Our companies, our entrepreneurs will have to compete against people from the rest of Asia and indeed from the rest of this world and it is in the competition that we will strengthen ourselves and do better.

The most obvious constraint when you ask is there room for more is physical space. Have we got more space, more area, more land to grow? We are a small island. All of you will learn from school that we have 700 square kilometres and that is it. Every time some activity needs to expand, something else has to give. If we have more land for roads, it means less land for houses or green spaces. If we expand our port, which we want to do, it means less seafront for premium waterfront recreation. If you want more space for universities, it means less space for something else. So there are trade-offs but nevertheless, we can find creative solutions to overcome these space constraints. You cannot make Singapore bigger beyond the international boundaries. We can reclaim land up to the boundaries but that does not push the boundaries outwards. We can intensify our land use, build higher. We can go deeper, have underground space. We can redevelop our land, replace less productive activities by more productive ones. And we can exploit the region around us, link up with our neighbours, link up with China and India, make use of what we can do overseas, so that what we do here is really valuable, is really optimal use of this space. Therefore we make the best use of what we have and continue to do better.

Land is the most obvious constraint but I do not think land is the most critical constraint for us. The most critical constraint for us I think is people. Why do I say that? Because if we have more good people, then we can generate new and creative ideas to overcome our other constraints, be it space, or be it resources. We can create more opportunities and add to our vibrancy and we can generate new ideas to take us forward into the future. Therefore, we have got to build our population and build it up in a considered and in a measured sort of way. Therefore, we need immigration.

Immigration is a long term issue for Singapore. We have discussed it many times but I would like to discuss it with you young students tonight because it concerns your future and eventually it is an issue which in your working lives as adults you have to face, think about and collectively decide how to manage it, which way to go. Our forefathers were immigrants who settled here and sweated and toiled and built this nation. And because of that wave of immigration decades ago - in the early half of the 20th century up to the war and a few years after that - therefore we had the basis to build today Singapore. So today our policy on immigration, our attitudes towards bringing in foreigners to boost our ranks will strengthen our nation and decide our competitiveness and the shape of Singapore in the decades to come. We will need immigrants for the indefinite future - a steady flow, a controlled flow. What I will talk to you about this evening is what our current thinking in our present approach. But this not a problem which you can solve one-off - just answer an exam paper, QED and that’s the answer. But it is a continuing issue which has no final solution. You have to manage it, adjust your policy from time to time and as circumstances change, adapt it in order to keep on going forward. And it is a problem where what we do does not just depend on the government, but on how open our society is, how well Singaporeans adjust to and integrate with the new arrivals. And that depends on you; the next generation of Singaporeans, what sort of Singapore do you want to live in.

We need numbers as well as quality of immigrants. We need people to man our factories and shipyards, to build our IRs and HDB flats or to serve in our shops and restaurants and provide domestic help to so many families. We need immigrants to make up for our low birth rates. We need talented individuals who bring valuable knowledge and skills. If you look at cities like New York and Shanghai, they thrive not because they have oil or gas underground, or money, but because they have an open culture that welcomes and attracts talent, and they have brought in people from hinterland all around them. In the case of Shanghai from the Yangtze River Delta and beyond, in China. In the case of New York, from all over the United States, in fact, from all over the world. And we in Singapore, if we are to become a great city, must do the same.

We are developing our local talent. We are providing students with the best possible education all the way from primary school to secondary school to polytechnics and universities. We are upgrading our existing universities, building new ones, and the latest one - the Singapore University of Technology and Design - is in the works. We are giving students space and opportunities to fulfil your dreams here. We are keeping in touch with Singaporeans who are all over the world, working and studying overseas and encouraging them to return to Singapore one day and to contribute to this society.

But while we invest in our own people, we also have to top up and strengthen our ranks. Because in a more competitive and integrated world, we need all the talent that we can get and we never have enough. I give you as an example another small country, slightly bigger than Singapore but a very interesting comparison — Israel. Seven million people, but one of the most vibrant and entrepreneurial centres of innovation outside of Silicon Valley. It has tremendous verve and energy. If you look at the companies which are listed on NASDAQ, the American Stock Exchange, the country which has the mostest companies on NASDAQ other than the US is Israel. They have got start-ups, they have got the technology, they have got bright ideas and they have got the entrepreneurs to take the ideas to market, list and try and grow big. And they can do this not because they have oil or gas or gold which they do not but because they have a wealth of talent. When Israel was formed 60 years ago, they brought in talented Jews from all over the world, especially America and Europe and then 20 years ago in the 1990s, they had an influx of one million highly educated Russian Jews which came when the former Soviet Union collapsed. They emigrated, went to Israel. They might otherwise have gone to America, Canada, Western Europe, Australia but they went to Israel and they brought tremendous amount of expertise with them. They tell the story that when the new arrivals came, you could see the people coming down from the aeroplanes, and tell what they do by the boxes they carry. The person carrying a big case, that is a double bass player. Person carrying the long case, that is the trombone player. Person carrying a small box, that is the violinist. Then came a person who had no box. That was a pianist. Every single one of them came with talent, skills, ideas and they contributed to Israel’s economy enormously. But at the same time, they also brought difficulties when they settled in with the Israelis who are already there. They were all Jewish but with different languages. The new arrivals spoke Russian. They had different cultures. The new arrivals are more conservative than the Israeli society. Different social habits, and so there was friction between the new arrivals and the existing Israelis. All Jewish, same religion, same basic orientation but not so easy to integrate as one society. So if the Israelis need to bring in Jewish talent from abroad, and have difficulties in integrating and have to make the effort, so much more Singapore. We too need to bring talent from all around the world to reinforce our team, create a better future for all of us and at the same time, we too must expect frictions from time to time and must make the effort to integrate the new arrivals into our midst.

I think Singaporeans understand why we need immigrants and foreign workers. I think they accept the explanation intellectually but I think that they have some concerns. They are concerned about competition from the new arrivals, they are concerned about different cultures and habits between the new people and the older Singaporeans, they are unsettled by changes to the social landscape and also they worry about the relative treatment between citizens and PRs and non-citizens. I understand and empathise with these concerns. These are worries which have grown because there has been a large inflow of new arrivals in recent years. Why did it happen? Because the economy was booming, because we needed more workers and therefore, we admitted many more foreigners. In recent years, more than 100,000 a year. Most of them are transient foreign workers, here to work, not to strike roots. But we also have taken in more permanent residents and new citizens than previously. I think it is just as well that we push for maximum growth when the world was booming before the recent financial crisis and we made the maximum headway we could by bringing in the workers, by growing our economy and by accepting PRs and new citizens when we are in demand and people want to come and settle here.

But we will not continue to admit people at this pace. First of all, we cannot expect to continue booming as we have done up to 2007. I think after the crisis, the world economy has changed and it will be quite some time before it picks up like this again. But we were in an exceptional situation; we permitted the surge to respond to this extraordinary opportunity. We always knew that we could not sustain this inflow indefinitely although we also knew that over the long term, we need to bring in a continuing flow of immigrants. But we have to do it in a way which is mindful of how quickly our society can absorb and can integrate these people, the new arrivals, and to keep the tone of our society. So we have to continue bringing people in but we will adjust the inflows, so that we will not dilute our national identity or weaken our social cohesion. We will moderate the inflows both for foreign workers and also for immigrants which means for permanent residents and new citizens.

I think it is useful for us to make a distinction between the foreign workers on the one hand and the immigrants, the new citizens and PRs on the other because the considerations are quite different. The foreign workers here are transient. More than half of our non-citizens in Singapore are in fact foreign workers like this. They are here temporarily as long as the economy needs them. They help us grow our economy and strengthen our competitiveness. At the micro level, person to person, I think they compete with Singaporeans and Singaporeans feel this and they sometimes complain the foreigner is “grabbing my rice bowl from me”. Yes, there is competition but this competition also raises our standards and makes Singaporeans sharper and more capable. If you look at it overall on a macro level, in fact the foreign workers and the non-Singaporeans are creating more opportunities for all of us and indeed creating better opportunities for Singaporeans because they are doing jobs and taking shifts that Singaporeans do not want or will not take. Because they are here, we have companies in Singapore which become viable and can operate here and they create jobs, often higher valued ones for Singaporeans. If we did not allow factory workers to work in our wafer fab plants, we would not have jobs in the wafer fabs for the engineers and technicians and managers, many of whom are Singaporeans. If we did not have talent from all over the world to be in our banks, to be in the media companies like LucasFilm, to provide a comprehensive range of experiences and skills and talents, then these companies would not be here and Singaporeans would not be able to go and work in them, either in the banks or in the new media companies or in the IT companies. So actually they are helping us to create new jobs. Without them, we would have less growth, we would be less vibrant and less attractive. And remember if the foreign workers were not here, they would still compete against us but just from other countries. In fact they would be adding strength to our competitors and making life more difficult for us. So better to have them here with us on our team than to have them outside on somebody else’s team.

When the economy turns down, the foreign workers provide us a buffer. This year has been a very bad year. Everybody knows the economy has shrunk. We have not a bad year like this for a very long time. But in the first half of this year, not many of you would know in fact the number of Singaporeans working has gone up. Local employment actually increased, not much - 7,000 more jobs - but in this environment to have more Singaporeans at work is amazing. And why did it happen? Because the impact was absorbed by the foreign workers and the shrinkage in the workforce was taken up by the foreign workers. We have 20-odd thousand foreign workers (net) who lost their jobs and they buffered us from the impact. Therefore, I think that the foreign workers do a good job in Singapore, for Singaporeans.

But nevertheless we know that we cannot take in an unlimited number of foreign workers. We already have almost a million foreigners working here and we cannot imagine simply expanding year after year and one day having two million foreigners working in Singapore. We just do not have the space for that. Even now, housing the foreign workers is a big problem. Last year we wanted to house some of them in an old school at Serangoon Gardens but the residents in Serangoon Gardens, some of you may live there, got very upset because they had security concerns and they were worried about the disamenities and worried about their property prices going down. So the MPs and the government had to make a major effort to reassure the residents and to work out a practical solution which is being done now. That is just with a million foreign workers in Singapore. If you have two million foreign workers, I think we do not have enough SerangoonGardens. Therefore, we have to manage the numbers and put emphasis on upgrading and enhancing their productivity; to do better with the numbers we have and not just simply expand and enlarge through more headcount. We have to grow by training the workers to do more and to do better.

One of the results of having more foreign workers, is that we have now got them in the service industries. So when you go to shops, when you go to restaurants, when you meet the shop girl or the server or the waiter in the restaurant, you will often be served by a foreign worker. As a result we now have Singaporeans complaining that serving staff in Singapore often do not speak English or they ignore people who do not appear to speak Chinese, and it causes awkwardness and resentment. I think most of these people who do not speak English are probably foreign workers and not PRs or new citizens. They are here because the employers cannot find Singaporeans to do the jobs, so the choice between having no waitress to serve you and you go self-service, queue up at the counter, or having a waitress serve you who does not quite speak good enough English, well, the employer has settled for the waitress who does not speak good enough English. If you look at it from the foreign workers’ point of view, I think it is not easy for them to struggle in a different society, trying to make a living and to work when they do not speak the language. But of course from the Singaporean point of view, there are frustrations too, which I read in the letters in the newspapers, especially the English newspapers. A couple of weeks ago, there was one in the Sunday Times which put it quite nicely, I thought quite reasonably. I quote from this letter, he said “Singaporeans do not demand that these workers speak the Queen’s English, merely that they understand basic words such as “chilli”, or “no chilli”. I hope the authorities will require firms to train their foreign staff to speak English.” I think it is in the interests of the employers to do this and some companies are already doing this. For example, the bus companies, SBS Transit. We need more bus services. LTA keeps on raising standards, they have to run services more frequently, they need more bus drivers, and they cannot get Singaporeans. In fact, they cannot get Malaysians either. So they have recruited I think about 300 PRC workers. On the familiarisation course, on the training programme, these workers are put through an intensive five-day basic English course, including role playing and a test. I suppose the bus drivers will ask where you going? Got money or not? Get on quickly, please sit down and so on. If they failed the test, they will have to repeat the course and stay in school. So they have made an effort. I asked how does it work out? They say, well, not bad but as a driver driving day-to-day, they do not get so much chance to have long conversations with the passengers, so their standards are not so high. But they make an effort and I think we will encourage other firms especially those in the retail and food outlets also to send their staff to learn some basic English. I think you cannot expect to teach foreigners English in a few days. Those of you who come from overseas and had to struggle over the language will know it takes a long time to learn it. But to learn a few words, to have what NTUC calls functional literacy, I think that is possible. The words you need, the phrases you need, carry a little phrase book with you, so you have all the words whether it is chilli, no chilli, whether it is laksa, no hum and so on. At least if you do not know show it to the customer, the customer can point to you what it is which you need to do. And I think we can adapt, accommodate and make do and get along. These are adjustments which are necessary if we are going to have a practical solution.

The other group of non-Singaporeans who are here are the non-citizens and the permanent residents. Their numbers are smaller, they only make up about 30 per cent of the non-Singaporeans who are here but their impact is longer and deeper because they not only contribute to our economy, they also enrich our society and make up for our population shortfall. From their point of view, it is a big decision to uproot themselves, come here, decide that this is going to be their new home and strike roots in a new place. We have got good people to come and join us and become Singaporeans. From the region, we have people whom you have heard of, like Olivia Lum, of Hyflux, Mustaq Ahmad who runs Mustafa (he came from India), Tao Li who came from China and she is a brilliant swimmer. We also have people from the advanced countries – Americans, Europeans, Japanese giving up their American and European and Japanese citizenship to become Singaporeans. You think about that. Not all of them are as prominent as Tao Li or Olivia or Mustaq but we make sure that the PRs and the new citizens are good people, and will raise the quality of our population in terms of education, in terms of skills, in terms of their drive. Over time, from the pool of the PRs, we will get more new citizens.

It is necessary but I know that some Singaporeans feel sore and particularly the men feel sore because the new citizens and PRs do not do National Service. It is true of the first generation arrivals. They come as adults, and it cannot be helped because it is not practical for us to call them up. First of all, if we made it a requirement, I think we will not get the people we wanted. Secondly, if they did serve NS at 30 or 40 or 50 years old, I would not like to be their platoon commander. So I think it is best that we let them come. But their sons whether brought here or born here, will perform NS. You may not know this, (maybe the men who have recently been in NS do know) but every year, several hundred new citizens and PRs who are not born in Singapore are called up to do NS and they make their pilgrimage to Pulau Tekong Hilton. They come from different races and countries. They have different accents, they look different but they have consciously committed themselves to do NS and they march together with Singaporeans. And when they have the passing out parade, they all have the same haircut and the same discipline and training and the same loyalties. A good number of them distinguish themselves. They go to OCS, they earn the Sword of Honor or the Sword of Merit. And we have had new citizens who have signed up as regulars and won SAF scholarships. Some of you may have read last year of Lieutenant Kok Khew Fai, who threw himself over a recruit to protect him from a dropped hand grenade. They were doing grenade throwing, the recruit fumbled and instead of throwing it forward, he dropped it behind him. The instructor pushed him down in the bay and covered him with his own body, saved both their lives. He was a PR, not the recruit, the instructor. Lieutenant Kok later became a new citizen and recently decided to sign on and he took up an SAF Merit scholarship. So this is the sort of people we want in Singapore.

We have integration problems with new arrivals, just like the Israelis do and we will make a greater effort to foster integration between the new arrivals and Singaporeans. The people who come here did not grow up here, and will come with different social habits which locals will find grating. They speak differently, they may speak more loudly, they may push a bit harder, be more aggressive but you have got to understand that they come from societies which are very different from ours. If you live in China and India and you are not assertive or even aggressive, you are not going to get anywhere.. If you come to Singapore, our social norms have become somewhat more restrained and considerate. I would not dare say that we are always gracious and polite and courteous but relatively speaking, we are not so aggressive. And the new arrivals will have to adjust to this. We have programmes to help them to do so. Show them that in Singapore, please queue up for the bus, please be more accommodating, less pushy, please get along with people of different races. The last aspect is one of the major differences between a Chinese born here and a Chinese born inChina or Indian born here and an Indian born in India. That we are used to interacting across racial lines and are comfortable with one another and the new arrivals have to become comfortable too. We will do more of this to help them integrate, to help them adapt. We set up a national integration council this year. Dr Vivian Balakrishnan is the chairman of the council. They have been applying themselves to this issue and they will announce some of the work they are doing and some initiatives soon.

As the new arrivals come here, gradually they become more like Singaporeans. Zaobao over the last few months have done several stories on new immigrants, highlighting their aspirations, their experiences, their concerns. And a couple of days ago, Zaobao had a spread about new citizens in Singapore. These were all new arrivals from South Asia, Indians mostly. Zaobao interviewed four or five families, very nice spread, the headline says, “印度新移民来新加坡 变含蓄了”. That means new arrivals from India when they arrive here, they have become “reserved”. So I read the story and it is very interesting. One of the persons interviewed is Mr Vijay Badami. He has been here for about more than ten years, brought his family from Karnataka from India. That is where Bangalore is. He said that Indians traditionally talked in a long-winded way. They talk about many things before they come to the subject but in Singapore, everything is short and sharp. So he says if you go to a shop, and you want to buy a tap, in India, you will say hello, do you sell sanitary fittings or bathroom things and long conversation, finally, “May you perchance have a tap?” Here inSingapore, you go to the shop, you say, “Got tap or not?” Since moving here, his family has adapted to theSingapore talking style. Now when the family visits India, their own relatives, their cousins find them “reserved”. He explains that in India, young people will try to contribute aggressively to the conversation but his son, who grew up here, educated in Singapore, finished NS and now studying in SMU, is easy going and quiet. I quote what he said to Zaobao. He says “India is a vast country and it is a rat race over there. If you do not know how to present yourself, you may be easily forgotten. If my children were in India now, I am afraid they will find it hard to overcome the competition.” That is the reality, the societies are different, they bring different attributes to Singapore. In fact, these are some of the attributes which make them valuable toSingapore. If they were just the same as us, I think the value would be less, it is just so many more numbers. But they are different from us, with different experiences, different drives, and therefore with something extra to add to the Singapore mix. But the social behaviour, the norms, these are things which we have to adjust.

Universities are a microcosm of society. There are many international students in our universities and I think it is the right thing for us to do because it is critical to the universities that we bring in international students. If you look at the outstanding world class universities, Stanford, Harvard, Cambridge, they all have a significant proportion of international students, especially postgraduates. They gather the best talent from around the world, they create a cosmopolitan campus environment which promotes cross-cultural learning and exchange of ideas and learning to get along with one another, learning about the world. Our universities and schools have to do the same. We will create enough places in them for our own students but the universities should take in a good mix of students, Singaporean and international, because this will help to raise standards and create a more stimulating environment which will benefit our own students. And it will also provide opportunities for Singaporeans to build networks, to prepare them to operate all over Asia. Of course, within the university environment, international students also bring stresses and strains. There is competition for grades, for scholarships, there is even competition for halls of residence. It is a sore point but it is true. And to a certain degree there is a mutual lack of comfort. I asked for some feedback on what Singaporeans thought about the foreign students, so I got a list of their views. Potted summaries of students from different countries, different stereotypes. So I decided to ask, what do the foreign students think of theSingapore students. And they came back with a similar list of views. What is interesting is that the foreign students consider the Singaporeans cliquish — prefer to mix with Singaporeans — and vice versa, the Singaporeans consider the foreign students cliquish, they like to mix with themselves because they are more comfortable amongst their own. And when it comes to project work, the international students feel left out or unwanted by the locals and unable to contribute, or contributions not valued. From the locals' point of view, they feel the international students sometimes do not put in enough effort. So both sides have not gotten used to each other, have not learned how to work with each other. There is frequent interaction in classes, canteens, corridors and from time to time, there would be some friction. But this is not a cause to give up. It is a reason to make greater effort to integrate the students. And the universities have to ensure that the faculties, the residences, the societies are diverse and they promote integration and not segregation and organise joint activities in halls of residence, clubs and societies. I think also because we have larger numbers of foreign students, so it is easier for the two groups to stay apart. If you have only a few students who are non-Singaporean in the group, then they have no choice, they have to mix with the Singaporeans because you cannot go hunting around campus for the other half a dozen non-Singaporeans. But with about 20 per cent of non-Singaporeans on campus, it is not so hard just to group together amongst people with the same background. If you do that, I think you are the poorer off. I think both sides have to make an effort. Local students to welcome the international students, make friends, learn about their cultures, work together on projects. Understand each other's different abilities, pool your strengths and deliver a quality product, and one day they will help you when you find yourself working in some overseas country. On your part, the international students should also make an effort to know Singapore. We welcome you, we want you to be part of this society. Be competitive, give us a run for our money. But also mix with Singaporeans, cooperate with one another and build friendships. I hope you will adapt to Singapore norms, not to become completely like us, but to be harmoniously integrated with us. Enjoy your time here, study, later working and I hope for some, eventually making this place your home.

But in the midst of all this discussion about Singaporeans and non-Singaporeans, I think I should emphasise one point. And that is that in Singapore, the interests of citizens always have to come first. Not a short term interest but the long term interests of Singaporeans. And this immigration policy is to benefit Singaporeans in the long term, rather than to benefit non-Singaporeans at the expense of Singaporeans. It is to safeguard our long term interests that we need a sustained and a calibrated inflow of immigrants. But to make quite sure that there is no misunderstanding, we make a clear distinction between citizens and permanent residents and between PRs and non-residents. So when we have budget packages, CPF top ups and so on, they are reserved for citizens. And among citizens, those who have done or who are doing NS will get more than those who have not. And if it comes to public housing, education and healthcare subsidies, we distinguish clearly between citizens and PRs. And I think people know this. Recently I had a meet-the-people session case. An old lady came to see me, she lived in Singapore most of her life, her husband was Singaporean, her children are Singaporean, but she was not. She kept her original citizenship, Malaysian, because her mother was there. So she became a PR. Now her mother has died, she is 70-something, she wanted citizenship, she has no more family ties back home where home was. So I asked her why do you need this? You are a PR, your family is here, there is no problem. She said, “拿公民权，有钱嘛。” If you pick citizenship, you get benefits. We will assess her case on its merits but I think it is right that we make a clear distinction between citizens and PRs and others. And we will make this differentiation sharper over time to reflect the responsibilities and privileges of citizenship. But of course, we cannot make it so onerous for PRs and non-residents that nobody wants to come to Singapore. So we have to keep a balance, see it in perspective. Make sure that people do not feel that they have been taken for granted in their own country, but at the same time not take so myopic a view that you do a policy which is short-term popular but long-term disastrous.

So your question at the beginning was, is there room for more? And the answer I have tried to give you is: it depends on you. The government will strive to create the preconditions for Singapore to stay competitive over the long term. But we rely on each new generation to push out the boundaries. Not just to be digits, factors of production, to be efficient and hardworking. Be all that, but also make our society more vibrant, more interesting while maintaining our cohesion and harmony and breaking new ground to make Singapore a different and a better place. Many of you would have gone on exchange studies, on exchange visits to universities elsewhere. You look at the best students in dynamic societies like America, like India, like China. They are not just bright, that is to be taken for granted. They are passionate, idealistic, driven, out to change the world for the better and to make a mark for themselves. They are full of energy, pushing causes, promoting all sorts of projects, working for the environment, helping disadvantaged families, promoting green energy and so on. Our students should similarly be charged up. Pursue causes that you believe in, volunteer, serve in the community or in NGOs, venture into many fields, including politics. Dare to dream, surprise yourself with what you will achieve and therefore create a better future for all of us. Thank you very much.