LKYSPP 13th Anniversary Dialogue with Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong

[Music] [Applause] my first point will be about the achievements of the school in our 13th year and since we are here to celebrate we should know what you're celebrating then I'll talk about somewhat unusual position that the school is in of having a very close affiliation with two prime ministers and then I had the great pleasure of introducing our guest of honour ESM go-to octone when he comes to speak here so let me talk briefly about what our school has achieved in the last 12 months or so in three areas one how we have enhanced our global standing - how you share the Singapore experience globally and how we have continued to improve the school and in terms of improving our global standing this is actually been quite a remarkable year because just this year alone we organized two major conferences the first was the a peer conference which is the Association of Professional schools of International Affairs which is probably the most prestigious Association of schools of international affairs and we also organized the world's largest public policy conference with 1,300 participants from all over the world at our small bukit timah campus and i emphasize our small bukit timah campus because the only practical problem we had was that we weren't sure there would be enough toilets for 1,300 people but the good news is that we are enough and the conference went very well we also by the way continued our partnership with the Naza by the University of Kazakhstan and signed a new five-year contract in terms of our research output we are an outstanding year with 99 journal articles 20 books edited books monographs and 193 op-eds written by our colleagues and in the digital space we also expanded our in a sense mind space dramatically and on Facebook for example we have over 400,000 fans and that's more than n us or NTU and we are only a small school of 300 students now in terms of sharing the Singapore experience there were two innovations this year significant innovations one we launched handbook of Singapore public policy innovations we placed it on our website and it's good the good news is that the readership is soaring it went up about 1300 percent in the course of four weeks shows that shows the interest that the world has in Singapore's public policies and we also started a new course the Lee Kuan Yew School course which is now a compulsory course for the students at the Lee Kuan Yew School now finally also let me talk a bit about what our school has done in number one in terms of applications for admissions through our school we achieve a record number of 1200 applications the highest number we ever had and this year we also don't welcome our first intake of m.i.a students and we also had a wonderful 25th anniversary celebrations with our MPP and last but not least I want to mention that even in terms of our administration I think we are now the first school to have achieved the Singapore quality class with people nish this year so on many fronts our school has lot to celebrate so all this brings me to my second point which is also a point of celebration which is that someone unusually was in Singapore's history in our 52 years we've only had three prime ministers a mr. Lee Kuan Yew mr. Goh chok Tong and mr. Rishi and all in the same period United States has ten presidents Japan has at twenty-four Prime Minister's Italy 23 Prime Minister's even militia six prime ministers and I say that because what makes our school rather unique as an institution in Singapore is that we are of course named after the first prime minister of Singapore the founding primary Singapore mr. Lee Kuan Yew and now we have the second prime minister of Singapore mr. Goh chok Tong as the chairman of our board since first April this year so a special round of applause and appreciation for mr. Goh chok Tong for being to be this my next job is to briefly introduce mr. Goh chok Tong because I think if I try to tell his life story in his accomplishments he might take me one hour but I would just say a few brief things about some remarkable achievements in his 14 years as Prime Minister and I can say this with some confidence and conviction because I actually had the pleasure working with him very closely when I was in the foreign ministry in Singapore so just to mention three areas of his achievements in foreign policy had many achievements but the two that stand out is the ASEAN free trade area that was signed in 1992 and of course the brilliant if Europe meeting initiative that Prime Minister go initiated himself in the 1990s founded on the domestic front is actually quite remarkable how many new programs were launched under his prime ministership they include Medisave marathon illusive prime skills redevelopment program Singapore Workforce Development Agency and the political front GP C's GRC nominated members of parliament and of course the elected president which as you know is also being refined right now so there were remarkable number of new initiatives on the domestic front but what is also equally remarkable about the prime ministership of mr. Goh chok Tong is that he actually saw Singapore through several crisis and they were actually I want to emphasize a major crisis including the 1997 Asian financial crisis the threats of terrorism we face following the 9/11 attacks in New York and as you we were supposed to be number two after New York then we had to go through the 2001 to 2003 economic recession and also the incredible paralyzing SARS outbreak in 2003 so if there's one man in Singapore who knows how to handle crisis is ESM go Choctaw so therefore is it's truly wonderful for us that he's agreed to come here today to share with us his reflections on governance his reflections and where the school can go ahead he will speak for us for 15-20 minutes and then we'll have a Q&A session we should be followed of course as part of the tradition of the Lee Kuan Yew School of free food we will have a wonderful reception in the week youngja Lobby so with that please join me in welcoming ESN coach optimistic well I think welcome to the new students and welcome to the alumni and of course the other members here as well in a way this is also homecoming for me how many years ago and looking around I think that's before most of you were born I was a student over here so I am quite familiar with the ground except for this hall which was not built at a point of time so I'm happy to be talking to you about the importance of our public policy the government schools are Guinea prestige around the world researcher study of public policy have become more relevant and urgent in the face of pressing national regional and global challenges yet it is a fairly new field compared to the more established schools and business Mason law and so on so as market low as MBAs and other degrees are that graduates do not purport to solve society's problems it remains the special purview an imperative of governments to lead the effect powerful reforms through programs legislation and regulation and unleash the full potential of these for the common good it is for the students of Public Policy to answer society's call of duty and to serve so my question to you is what is the value of a good and stable government it cannot be measured like a company or a stock market that we all know instinctively when there is a good government or when there isn't one we can certainly see it in the faces of the people the harmony and standard of living in a country for Singapore the government has been the architect for success and a foundation for nation building from the day or from day one is a Lee Kuan Yew and the founding fathers set out to build and strengthen national institutions like parliament judiciary and the silver service they went to great lengths to recruit and groom the best of every code to lead a country the canoe School of Public Policy was established to spread that philosophy to build the next generation of private leaders to serve the people and deliver positive change that's why you are here I have experienced a similar cause as yours as the young still versus welcome there is no chief banker well excuse well I've experienced a similar course as yours but it's in development economics as a young stable servant I was sent to Williams College to do a masters in developing economic s-- there was a special cause for some 20 students you might call in my class from 16 countries Asia Africa Central America and Europe so in return I was able to put into practice what I learned on economics because I was then working in the economic planning unit but yes after I left Williams I always felt instructive to look back and track the progress of the 16 countries which are represented there as how they had done so using the framework of good bad and ugly from the movie starred by Clint Eastwood I would consider only four admitted to a good category since for me the ugly group an amongst them are countries that have since broken up so in Singapore's keys few give us a chance when we became independent in 1965 so what was the secret of our improbable success I want to focus on one important element moral leadership this is the most underrated expects of successful societies and leadership winning elections and having the legal legitimacy to govern is not enough you must have the moral authority to govern moral authority goes beyond personal property and character it is the leaders value system for himself and people it is the basis for building trust in government that is often missing Lee Kuan Yew who gained independence to Singapore established his moral authority to govern with a set of values to underpin hold and by the Singapore together they include a fair and just society based on the rule of law putting country before self family and claim integrity and incorruptibility tolerance and multiracialism family as a building block of society hard work arrghh ality meritocracy there is eco opportunities a reward according to merit compassion and helping hand for those lagging behind this values are deeply embedded in the Singapore leadership they also entrenched in a society moral values are not just for political leaders and office holders you need to give full meaning and perpetuate them as part of the national character here the public service is key ministers you need to rely on competent and honest officials to help them formulate policies and very importantly to implement them if you have a public service run by bad people the letter will corrupt and under midis system conversely if you have good public officials supported by upright political leaders they will find a way to reform a bad system force in Singapore we have built up in ethical efficient public service with values as core integrity service excellence our silver servants appeared and marked a competitive salary but they do have an increasing desire to serve and to improve people's lives how to attract retain and promote the right people I hope you'll be curious to find out more during your time in the school because an outstanding ethical public service is the backbone of the Singapore story we set up the school not just the owner Lee Kuan Yew on his 80th birthday but also to share Singapore's developmental and public service experience with other countries since its inception the school has grown significantly students come from all over the world I'm told that we have students from 38 different countries currently enrolled in the school we also have alumni taking on prominent and interesting roles in many different areas of work I was given a long list of whether this alumni but our just mentioned to Aditi Prasad are you here some way additive process at raise your hand if you are here No well nevertheless I'll go on a an MPP 2011 graduate she is the co-founder of robotics how s a company with a mission to inspire the next generation of innovators and creators she helped lay the groundwork for Indian girls code a free hands-on coding and robotics education program for underprivileged girls the Indian ghost code initiative was to inspire and educate young girls to learn to code and developed real-world programs for real-world applications next Virtua also not here there isn't your hole but was given a list of names of a loom net will be here there from hand I've met him area at the last function also an MPP 2011 graduate who is now an entrepreneur in 2014 he co-founded follow fun for lo-fi hours of feet or loved ones in Johor Bahru photo farm is an urban farming community that aims to change the way we look at our waste in a way we grow our food follow from collects three tons of food waste per day from hotels and restaurants and send it into nutrient-rich compost we use a compost organically grow vegetables for a community of almost 100 families the school has done well much of this is due to the hard work put in by Dean Kishore his management and staff but when you want to do better how do we climb higher pigs so let me share some ideas I hope the faculty will study them with an open mind and take on board those tissue help the school to do so first strengthen the link between theory and practice public policy theories are useful in developing and evaluating policies and the school needs to continue to have rigorous teaching in this area but it is good to go beyond theories the school today has many good practice professors with deep experience in public service you should find ways to better integrate the experience and lessons the respective professors can impart within their cannibal lectures of our professors second bring the Singapore insight home if the art of government is a lot a big spot we would have one more than one gold medal because they have innovated many groundbreaking political social and policy ideas foreign delegations come here all over to study the singapore journey at the lqy school of public policy you have a front-row seat the dissect analyse and contribute to the continuing work here in this regard the school has introduced the lqi school course this year to provide an overview of Singapore's policies this module is compulsory for all besides rigorous teaching on a theoretical side we can offer Singapore's experience through practice and adjunct professors beyond stepping on the experience of past officials we can consider inviting serving service servants whose knowledge his current may be practice fellows this integration of theories and practice your set a score apart from other public policy schools third I think the school has reached a comfortable size it should now shift his focus to qualitative growth in my view the school is in a good position they'll examine how I can provide greater value add to policymaking in Singapore as our Minister for law and home of Home Affairs mr. Shah Morgan said in a speech last month think tanks like the off high school play a critical role in policymaking by putting forward quote practical viewpoints they help the country unquote take a missed invitation this does not mean that we should agree with the government all the time in fact I think it is more variable where we can critically but constructively provide the government with alternative perspectives from research and analytical studies forth looking back to my experience at Williams College I found he did not teach one fundamental lesson essential to nation-building there is the importance of political leadership teaching this is not going to be easy but a school should continue to emphasize the importance of a fair competent and honest leadership and an excellent ethical public service as the covering Board Chairman I look forward to working with the management team in faculty staff the Builder better click on your school for our students and for Singapore for discussions I'll be happy to share with you my experience in formulating public policies and a trade trade-offs required so thank you very much so yes I'm you spoke quite a bit about leadership at both of the beginning and the end of your remarks I wonder you know if you have to tell the story or two about one or two leaders that you met that either you enjoy working with or you impress by who would you sort of mentioned as a sort of readers well I think it's easier to mention something than to mention one I made it a point to have if I could personal relationships with the leaders on the other side and a couple of leaders who come to my my readily one is the Canadian Prime Minister Jean chrétien of course both of us work in coffers and each time we attended Commonwealth his government meeting we would enjoy each other's company conversation and of course golf the other be President Clinton I met him over golf I wouldn't go into a long story but actually the way I met him was this before I met him Singapore had the audacity to go against President Clinton's letter to the president not a king a white American boy caught microfiche well we had decided to transfer the boy you know to give him six trucks at the Rohtang because the boy had vandalized the vehicles buildings and so on how would you say no good a most powerful person on earth six strokes of the rotund say don't don't kill him so Cameron had thought it over we said well and how queer not clean him because your parents would think if you don't chain an American boy how could you change a Singaporean who would have more right in an American foreigner so we decided to reduce it from six trucks of four strokes of course commentators went to town President Clinton's believed was worth only two strokes and I wrote on my desktop my story my story was when I asked to visit President Clinton in a White House my request or rather Miami faced request never went through to him never had a chance to meet him then I happened to meet another American whom I knew very well to bring off so when you get the Singapore you asked me if you met President Clinton yet that was probably after 12 to 18 months after I became both a became president or became prime minister so I said no I'm not mad I'm not mad him yet and explain why I cannot meet him my request I suspect I never went rude to him of course I was very annoyed how could that be this is between states just because you can avoid it did not mean just you not see you see I'll do something about it so I was wondering how what could he do say don't worry I'm from Arkansas I have little rock you Clinton was from Little Rock so I know him so when I went to Vancouver for my Commonwealth meeting zone trade journal the Canadian Prime Minister was the horse lo and behold I got the request the President Clinton has invited you to play golf so I said ah there was this way of circumventing the White House aide who would block any requests to see him so golf I mean that's not a meeting so I take off with him and after that of course we play golf I often and the pinnacle of success in playing golf was when I played over him in Brunei at APEC meeting after midnight at 2 a.m. in the morning as the president could I discuss the business matter so yes so how about doing an American sniper FTA within 1020 many spot of us agree just do on us nor FTA we pressed on Donald Trump you say no what is they he did it for me say but President Clinton's thinking was different strategic do it with Singapore we are anchored in the US yet into Southeast Asia so these are the two names of cost if I haven't mentioned my good friend John media but the most impressive meeting I had not on the personal level was with teleshopping already very impressive man but no I won't take too long in answering over this yeah no question of that just a quick aside on President Bill Clinton's golf I happen to be the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs then and after we are requested a meeting within you and Bill President Bill Clinton ambassador Channing she was ambassador in Washington called me she said hey the Americans have insulted us we asked for a meeting and they offered a golf game so I said please accept my golf game is four hours a meeting is a half an hour I would have been furious because she sure doesn't play good call she doesn't play go they do not understand the importance of golf so our first question so please introduce yourself and ask the question Thank You Dean my name is Wang Shi I'm a Chinese graduate yeah of our school good evening yes M yeah we are honored and very happy to have you serving as a chairman of our school so as a chairman what was your vision for our school and what are your expectations our students especially how should we balance principle and pragmatism in practice yeah as I mentioned just now but I summarized it you know in in another way the school has done very well but in my few months over here I sensed that maybe we need a little change out there to take it to a new peak and how do we do it it is to offer more Singapore insights into the lecture I asked dinner last diminishment committee staff why do students come to Singapore if it's the rigor of academic teaching in public policy school we can be one of the best medical it can go anywhere it must come to Singapore for a special reason and that's to understand the Singapore experience the secret of Singapore success so how do we impact them so I'm trying to work on that because you have very good professors from outside Singapore who might not fully understand Singapore but they are very good public policy professors you need them so the way to supplement will be true practice professors and jam professors understand good enough this are normally top civil servants were retired so the new element will be what a core practice fellows look for good civil servants at the very senior level who are still very current in their jobs getting to come and share what you are doing bring the lessons alive we are dealing with real-life issues today so that's where I hope to impart a new level of teaching and thinking into the school other areas have been discussing with the Dean to see how we can you know add maybe new content here and there and perhaps make it more useful for these students but I was interested omission to add value add I find that as the government I'm not getting my money's worth not from the students but from ideas from the school to the government so that's where I made a point five ways to do research make constructive critical perspectives offer alternatives to the government so if they could do something and shake the government's thinking on some very basic policies then we get a value add this so my thinking is a bit different I want to get this flow back to the government it's a good school you must have very good appearance must be able to challenge the thinking of the government in some areas but unfortunately the genius is very sensitive you know I speak from personal experience no leader likes to be criticized no no trouble they enjoy being criticized and neither do we another device but we constructively you must build up debt trust between one another so for the students in fact you should tell us what you come here for which areas you want to know which are missing from the lectures in the school then we know that not just you alone but many students this is what I come here for but somehow I don't get the satisfaction in the skuas flow in this syllabus then we can improve upon that so that dest my vision for us then Kishore thought you know we could do no more you stand the best that's it I don't believe you there's always another pictogram like I agree I agree this one another it's okay so Jack and then I hope I student will come up or so currently we've had two alumnus two alumni now maybe after a student please go ahead I have a question how do we breach liqui new school of public policy with the civil service college I think the two should not be teaching differently there must be a flaw so that the civil service college I'm saying this because I find that every time I give an idea to a politician he will say let me connect you with one of the directors and then somehow the idea will disappear so how do we capture like you say good ideas and not get it lost a politician those seems to have a problem but when you go to the civil service something get lost how do we solve this problem yes I'm glad you mentioned that we have no problem with politicians Jack sim Jack's team actually raises idea with me a boy's world trailer organization and my colleagues would say why are you spending time on toilets with him I said no I support him because it's a very important issue I was thinking in terms of a cleanliness of our public toilets in a coffee shops in a public places I mean they were terrible so to have someone taking an interest in hygiene in your fabric Tallis was very close to my heart so I supported him then from debuted of the idea how about helping people in India and elsewhere it's a good idea he found that when he went to India that people prefer to defecate outside in the field that's organic compost but it's a good effort so your question is several servants well first I think we should try and get the silver service which is a very good one to think beyond what you are doing and you know when you have new ideas they must be prepared to consider and surface them out so your specific question is how do you connect like when you school with the civil service college there are links between them but you know and didn't you don't mind my saying so I discovered that there was no bridge between them then they have been interactions our people do lecture there they do lecture over here they do share case studies so they are inter linkages but in a very informal way when I said no bridge there is no formal mechanism where we should share ideas and how we can do things together better and separately so that is being done and that will be done but how to get the worst service services to listen to you that is another issue because we are not Union one of so many people with bright new ideas and I can recognize one or two here who also would have good ideas but seldom listened to by the civil servants I mean no we got to find a way to do that well if you can't do it go to a political leader who listen with a good idea but your so you listen and we get things done okay over there please identify yourself yes that's you go ahead I know that Singapore has always been pragmatic and I think that's embedded in a DNA of early leaders up to now as well but I think pragmatic is a little bit like a skill they have knowledge skills and maybe pragmatism should be more acumen part what the what is your take on how can we better train that and even our definition of pragmatism teach always the aerial surely he's right yeah he's right here whoever I just met him he's a mystery oh yes return you know several books on Israel has come here to learn about Singapore and our question was very relevant or the conversation before I came because he yes many people and the idea he got from them is Singapore is the primitive Society no ideology no philosophy he did not believe that because many elements for success but there's a deeper with philosophy in what we do and if you look at the whole thing you'll discover their order past a link to one another something happens here you know you you you you you sundry certain things they all help together there is a different philosophy so he's going to write a book on this Singapore philosophy or Singapore secret the nearest dollar for half an ass conversation was as I'm available as a resource person for him and is coming back in a different time so then you answer your question so when it comes out okay thank you James I'm trying to give more time to the others otherwise could go on in and not a feather the other than yeah thank you James Crabtree is from a current Financial Times correspondent Lulu sexy a faculty member at our school right now so James and he's just finished writing a book on India that's what my questions about I was gonna say that as the tallest member of faculty here I'm delighted to welcome the tallest politician in Singapore today chairman of our board when when you were Prime Minister yes MgO one of the defining characteristics of your Premiership was the relationship you built between Singapore and India you were known for developing a sort of look West policy towards South Asia in all of the elements that you talked about in a clean civil service organization there's all sorts of things that there's huge appetite in India to learn from the Singaporean example and I wondered whether you had any particular ideas as to how the school could begin to capitalize on that that demand from from India well I think let's try and get more officials to be dear to attend of school this is public policy school adapt your public policy level it may be at your public management level and so on then you can have interaction over there we also have a in Institute for South Asian Studies maybe to get professors from or former former civil servants who are no professors over here so those are ways where we can impart you know what we do so primarily for the school we got we targeted get the Indian government to know that we're something to offer over here and get them to send your young officials who can become senior officials if they can have a pipeline of these officials who can come later on top officials in India then maybe there is an impact of our thinking on the Indian bureaucracy just scattered few people here they won't make any difference in the big bureaucracy and a big population good evening mr. Tong I am Manu and I'm a student at the MPA program my question is regarding the statement of Dean Mabel bunny he said that you were the crisis manager prime minister of Singapore so I would like to know which one of the crisis you found the most challenging and how you went about resolving it well first I would say is not one person is a team and is supported by a very effective efficiency of a service the crisis which Nina Kishan mentioned was different crises one is the Asian financial crisis easier to manage just economic that's economic and of course no Singapore was in good state you had could reserve so it didn't affect us very much the next one would be the terrorists and SARS so SARS would be the most difficult to handle because there was life and death matters and something wish we could not understand what was causing people to die just to contact is it airborne is it a true proximity and so on so to get a better understanding itself when I was was difficult and then who would attend to those afflicted by the SARS just the doctors nurses knew that cross contact could mean death for you and quite a few doctors and nurses diet is in the initial days but very soon the doctors and nurses discovered what was the cause and how to take preventive measures and it was through not breathing the viruses so they cover themselves and so on so that was frightening at the same time at the same time you know you have to show courage the live go honest normal because you're losing tourist business hotel occupancy rental from 80 90 percent to 10 20 percent so we got to know be seen and at the same time demonstrate that we would take such a precaution so my public functions went on as normal but the wendy'll recipients of awards came up they put up their hand was checked my hand I told em this way you know see let's not chicken just take all preventive measures in case I might have SARS virus you would shake my hand and you breathe in there you go so a little gesture so that was the most frightening of the different crisis but a team was marvelous came from the hospitals the gospel leaders we have community gradually ders there was a marvelous they went out to distribute food to those patients were quarantine at home when they leave it all on the outside the door not gonna dog the food is over yeah then they went away you know and then the victim or chemically the food and so on so it's a collective community effort okay good evening minister go thank you very much for presentation I my name is Arvind and I'm from Singapore from MPP my question was race and ethnicity seems to be quite a big issue around Asia at the moment but Singapore success story seems to have come despite that I wondered if you had any thoughts of why Singapore was so successful despite that and also if you had a political role model when you were a student in this school model know if you who would have been your political role model or who would have been my preferred role model yeah first for Ali Khan you know I mean it was the first p.m. and doing a very good job for us so that would be my model you have to treat all races equally they straightforward nobody would dispute that but in real life the results of competition meritocracy may not end up with all races performing equally well there's the problem so when one community doesn't do so whereas the other one or two community how then do you up live this community the better and feel that they are part of us the Nexus religion we say everybody must live equally in a region as government agency so underground is different the Christians in the early days they will go and Priscilla ties who convert others to to being a true Christians the Muslims protested the Buddhists are quite flexible they won't mind you I listen to you I may not believe you provided you doing in some way religion and prepared to leave if you're listening here well the Muslims are different you don't try and convert them so when I knew of the uproar you know amongst certain people we just for the Christians why am I so try and convertible team tried it on the Chinese and Indians on the Hindus us all right because it's a political problem if you insist on draygon don't run on the Muslims in other words you must be fair and just and yet be practical to know where are the problems so give him an example of religious buildings the Christians could pay a McAllen price to build your churches the Chinese have no problems the Buddha's no tau is the canoe so but the Muslims the Malays here would have a tremendous problem because also as I mentioned earlier in terms of income and wealth the awards for year at a time for a community no resources but the most were very important as they are today for the Muslims so as the government you couldn't make sure they have places to go and worship how do you do that and yet not attract unhappiness from the other religious groups well we found a solution first in every state so many Muslims there should be one most day who deserve the sight for them normally and our system you must tender for a piece of land and has bid get it the Muslims would have no chance you record attend every season we haven't got a money so we reserved the site for them so that they do not have to tender but they have to pay market price so that the other groups would not be too unhappy and this is market price yes but was there for them but whether they get the money well we facilitated them through the pay mechanism every Muslim and we pass law on this we have to contribute at that time fifty cents to start with to a most building fund the Muslims are very happy because they are Muslims didn't know they could contribute and the Chinese the Christians the news were happy because you are not using government money to build more so you gotta balance interests various groups and they be seen to be fair I will use our budget to pay for most I think the Chinese the Indians of Christmas they have a right to object how can you use my taxes to pay for the boss it's a principle it'd be wrong but this is the money we only facilitate using the mechanism of you know hey and so on due to Clement hip tubular moss so that's how we you know do this and the ethnic quota policy we do not allow a public housing to be enclaves of Chinese Indian Somalis so in every housing estate in every block you have a multiracial population walk along any corridor you'll find that here for Christian a Hindu a Catholic no Muslims think together same floor of course occasionally they will be neighborly dispute but by and large no every block this multi ratio so this is a policy you see promoted plans that you had a question just now or is it philosophical something deeper I see that we are trying to do you try this in other countries forced them to stay together I think the government will be out or there'll be riots and so hot we're succeeded because she started very early from day one everybody's equal and yet you know the differences and you're trying to make them equal in result where we can all affair and just principle basis okay professor Wilmington faculty member just a minute you know I mean you are not going to ask the question I may not answer it that is why we have a reserved election for president reserve election for the minority community this is part of our multiracialism policy but there was a seminar on this yeah I see I just came from a chairing a discussion with mr. Shanmugam organized by IPS on the new provision for reserve election and I Minister Shamburger Mike she spent 45 minutes explaining very well but he also went in like you he went into this history and he explained how Singapore's multi racial harmony is a result of decades of intervention he cited some of the policies that you cited here like housing and so on so forth so so the reserve election is another piece of intervention on the part of the government to and continue to enhance multiracial so read about it tomorrow yes I think I'm quite serious for the Singaporeans over here to understand why we do this which is quite unpopular with a large proportion of the population because the ghost against the principle of meritocracy since multiracialism meritocratic why why do you force us to choose somebody from a minority community so read the explanation tomorrow yeah I actually study economic growth and development in Asia and in my observation Singapore have been so successful in the past 50 years because it I perform the neighboring country must be better than another country but I do believe that in the next 50 years Singapore will be even better by helping and making the neighboring country doing to do much better than before so it means the conclusion of Singapore can help Singapore a lot and also help easier a lot in the next 50 years so somehow is a critical conviction I do believe Singapore should ticket and in my observation actually Singapore success actually depend on three s factor you know Singapore I think Chris s was here the first one strategy the very good strategy in terms of you know strategy establishing very wise positioning dealing with complex CP and only stay now enters somehow very variable known nation the second sustainability we are coming from outside you surprised you know here people with different religion can work together so closely friendly productively amazing and sustainability in terms of you know excellent urban planning Environmental Protection and also actually a very good foundation with educational system that's it but is the first thing I think quite important the surprising on we surprised the people and the neighboring country the world with some initiative we never imagined before now I would like to test your reaction about my proposing here more Singapore because Singapore actually have national service for the men two years because they're a C&L actually have established their ASEAN Economic Community and we need a lot more connectivity into action and innovation so can you send your men for six-month help to go to pen ASEAN country to do whatever you want but receive low pay and you every say what do you have enjoy in Singapore but you can also have policymaker there are people there to do better whatever we do so Sigma come back and you know Thurmond lab or our Ataman lab serve in the army but in that way you can strengthen Singapore a lot and strength to actually help 10 ASEAN country from you know Myanmar to Vietnam Indonesia because I just met you know Indonesia anything Singapore can play a lot of role in helping you know other countries you know upgrade their strategy coordination and collaboration so I asked to give you a reaction on as I scared of you an SMS service for the manner even woman is a future for Singapore we will help other countries first unless our neighbors prosper Singapore cannot prosper unless the world grows Singapore cannot grow because we are dependent on trade and investments so we will help other countries but your suggestion is actually a non-starter you trying to convince parents to send your sons to spend six months out of Singapore to help others they say this how does he helps in the boy each development I understand but National Service chose to defend Singapore's security of Singapore so parents are going to object I don't mind your drink two years two and a half years to defend Singapore but how about the stand please I'm not going to allow early disease so you can clear the parents can clear their the boys to agree easy now secondly let's say that our national servicemen had done one and half years national service the last six months Center on the urban countries you think you will not be suspicious your national service understand our growl very well and ordered everywhere we never agree they give you never do you okay next next question please identify yourself yeah so you said Singapore from oh sorry from Indonesia you said Singapore is the anchor of Southeast Asia and do you think with the emergence of neighboring countries like Indonesia and Thailand Singapore has what it takes to maintain this position did I you so what anchor for Southeast Asia I don't think so right because anchor doesn't move no I think catalyst the way would like to be the catalyst in our enemies of ideas of programs innovation then we catalyze change for you that's what we want to do so your question is can we continue to play this role and say is yes we must try and play this rule to benefit the others which benefit does well Singapore suggested when I was Prime Minister that we have an Aston economic community and of course I was able to persuade them the other leaders to understand this is not for Singapore Lord although we would benefit from economic community is for all of us so the area is called true so for the next stage what can we do I think there's a new idea which I've been thinking about when selling them to the government in Singapore and that's to have smart ASEAN digital a.cian now if you can find ways to help our neighboring countries to go digital and ways to connect our various economies and we are considered as one intelligent or digitally connected economy our startups entrepreneurs innovators can compete against China China they have Alibaba or tens ten and so on because they got a market and this enterprises could make profits through very small margin Philippines how many people 80 million Singapore six million Indonesia because 250 million by itself is not big enough so if we can have this concept of a linked smart ASEAN we go digital our entrepreneurs can I think go and compete against China so what is Singapore do it can be a catalyst I'm not thinking of Singapore being the base for all these startups we can have multi stopper corridor I'll call it moti super corridor 104 Internet in Malaysia look for Indonesia which part of Indonesia maybe Jakarta maybe some other parts Thailand look up all these then we have our own us in Silicon Valley I think can be done but it should be a vision then young people's are just something I can look up look forward to so Singapore can therefore play a role of being a catalyst we've got the resources we can help in initial to build up their digital capabilities if necessary well anchor no ankle you don't move anywhere sorry I didn't press it in Clinton said that President Clinton you mentioned President Clinton said he came to Singapore because it's a anchor of Southeast Asia city no never mind ok no it's okay I mean somebody some people do it you think about we never because you know that's this thing opposed the anchor right you know this year decides to zero we'll just in case of no use Thank You super tanker to small an anchor Indonesia can be the anchor of Southeast Asia and it must be the anchor stability for the whole region that I'm prepared to use we can't really provide that ballast that anchor no for Southeast Asia so tell President jokowi be the anchor for Southeast Asia gentleman up there there the lady at least with me my name is Evie I'm a second year MPP student my question is school MPP oh all right I'm a Singaporean that's right surprised in cannot recognize accent Singaporean this is the global audience here how are Singaporean value if you cannot recognize it my question is related to the sustainability of Singapore it's about filling Singapore more children we we have many policies to encourage more more the birth of more babies in children and one of which is flexible work arrangements to encourage the private sector to have flexible arrangement so parents can have the peace of mind to go into Parenthood a common sentiment I hear from many of my friends working a private sector is that working hours are too long so much so that they are just pushing their marriage and Parenthood plans oh you know further behind belaying and that is going to be very difficult to balance having with work commitments particularly in the private sector how can we make flexible arrangement more attractive to the private sector because there seems to be a common sense of cynicism they don't feel employers have really bought into flexible work arrangements so how can we make flexible arrangement more attractive for the private sector and you know to contribute to the sustainability of our population I will not answer the question on how to make it more flexible but I can discuss attractive whether making a flex pay yourself a produced children I'm not sure because we are a very urbanized place and people now have many insurance many challenges for their lives and I don't understand you know you are there maybe millennial generation or younger the motivations are very different the life for you is so exciting and you've got the resources can do so many things first people are getting married later because they can enjoy so much life and they don't need to work to support themselves people I cast them David graduated will go for a first job decay belong right and ambition was to get married to quickly have children but thinking is very different now have journalists latest possible marry as late as possible generally speaking so flexible working hours you are allowed then doesn't mean you spend time they will spend time traveling or they spend time doing things when so on we do have flexible arrangements many places can come anytime you like go by any time you level from home so we haven't found a way despite all the measures that we have taken to get people to be able to have more children having Followill so we study countries that Finland Sweden France and so on some of the countries they've done better with some policies they're gonna study those policies is fine or what you'll work so your idea your concern is a very good serious concern your suggestion can be looking to and it should be should be looking to but I'm not sure by itself you can change this is the change of the whole environment at thinking younger generation what will have a generation want to do with it but it's for you to tell them if you don't produce ourselves reproduce ourselves sooner or later they'd be fewer and fewer still importance and it's a joke but maybe may come true the Singaporean population now forms a thing if I'm right about 60% of the population and if you don't reproduce ourselves we bit of all these resources we have new Singaporean sticking over Singapore because the proportional Gua and you've won them we give them pl I mean the new citizens then the original natives to be small and smaller in proportion so if you are you don't like the idea but the queen of moisture are you married I'm I'm single yeah how old are you 28 - dear friend by what age do you think you'll be married no serious questions yeah in all seriousness actually I would like to settle down by 30 years old okay we're 30 year I mean I'm working hot yeah and she said yes no you're working hard to get marry or what he had in the office he's dating is dating no but you're working hard in office office take flexible time off and if you take time off your productivity is lower are you prepared to sacrifice one promotion to get married no I mean this is a serious balance no because you say no no look at lawyers for example lawyers they got a choice you've all worked very hard to become a panel sooner say no I just look as a legal assistant five to six maybe what my protector is what five to six o'clock I want to get married that's attitude but people don't want to do it I've got a capability I can do more why should I and then they'll walk the walk no long hours why it's a choice it's a choice by ourselves but we all choose to work very hard it's a culture thing so 30 yeah but yeah you wish yeah you didn't know 28 No to school I'm in my second year so finally so you come and celebrate with us alumni you know your wedding ceremony [Laughter] we are all invited her know and then you have your first child if I'm the chairman I'll make sure you get a bonus from us okay good luck to you and now appropriately we have two ladies thank you thank you where is the serious question which you asked no no no easy answer I'm a MPA students from China and my name is fetching and I still remember during the orientation week the deans lecture I asked you a question it's like what do you think the most difficult doctrine is facing faith imposed democratically and both International one and I still remember the answer you tell me China yeah I need to go go to my note you're quitting me or you're squatting because this question is from the answer from the team the question I want to ask is from the answer of the team expect from that [Laughter] yeah the answer didn't give it to me is like first it domestically China need to the political system need to adjust a rice rising middle class and the international problem that we are facing it's like to prevent you know the neighbors around China see see see we like as SS rat so my question is from from the the international was so so how do you think what China should do to prevent the end you know the neighbor countries see us as really SS rat and you know China now that the the foreign policies we see like more confident and was your opinion about this no my opinion is to speak frankly as China grows it's going to be more assertive even though it is trying to restrain yourself just to assure size it's going to crowd out space for the neighbors whether it's in ite or whether it's a manufacturing you know whatever you do you can do as well and very often better so that means you're cutting out the space of other people Hong Kong is an example Hong Kong used to be the port for China very important port the first the largest in the world in terms of container shipment today Hong Kong is relatively a smaller port because the Chinese poster grown and because any manufactures from China and you could do direct shipping from the port in Shanghai Shenzhen to Europe without going through Hong Kong so my project is as China grows is going to no elbow space big and bigger and others to be crowded out so what should we do I say China you're growing please do not show your muscularity so quickly even there are others around you so when you are trying to be too muscular in the advancing of policies they are going to make the others a bit cautious of you right ok thank you for your critical are you gonna convey this to the Minister for Foreign Affairs I know I can understand why China is doing the weight is doing but as neighbors to say you know you are being too muscular in your approach and this question is here I'm not in government now I can see it a bit more frankly no Minister for Foreign Affairs will say this the way I said it thank you thank you thank you for that out for your answer but because this quite honor that we can ask question whether there's a little bit you know another question you are obviously a very successful person and I just wondering like what's your most you know success for you experience that you see like you're wrong you know they I am being a Muslim person when I graduated I apply for the research fellowship I wanted to do my Master's and later my PhD and be a professor I never became a professor so I I feel there to realize my dream so success depends on how he defined it in advancing your childhood dream we shine you know I could not get and then when I was shipping I became the managing director I was selling quite comfortably living a nice lifestyle I never they never was able to hold on to that job I became a politician so am i successful or have I failed to achieve something which I love to do shipping wars and still is very exciting I could not do that so you think I'm successful do I look happy thank you yes I'm running out time can I be there two questions together if you don't mind it's three minutes away so if you don't mind two questions identify yourself and please go ahead what young do you want oh man that's--you want oh and can you since yaha what woman teachers new champions yeah oh my god do you see what you through 30 29 I sound out a god he seemed quite she went to do my yoga tacho printer hello take a toxicity and to serve our dearest G&T gemiini jungle a college at home the lowest I entered and she wasn't in Georgia when teachers a year later in the week when she took nine isn't a solution he has three she nah just me and Cheney can't either how usually it's the most worried he's in the consider the imminent ocean woman the community and I charge honey you know use Regency Hotel want ISA you're Mayo she could see the ship Onizuka kuzia didn't arrange for transmission you told me they have interpretation so yeah that's interpretation okay yeah good afternoon I'm Dean and mr. go I indeed feel very honored to have the chance to ask the opportunity to ask the questions I'm from a trend Oh China I have this question so early on you mentioned that is very important to link the theory together with the practice and in China we have a well-known educator a housing jury also at a way advocate the same thing so I'd like to understand based on your personal experience oh you think it's easier to practice to to learn a theory always rather which one is more difficult to understand to acquire the knowledge or to actually practice what we have learned as my first question and second question how do you actually balance the two oh I think it's easier to learn theories that's very good to our University for I will learn all the theories but the put them into practice it's not so easy living as a public policy they say the theory of she learn is true business school or what marketing that you must innovate you must you know destroyed before you can reconstruct the theories are right but how do you do it so my own view is implementation the practice part is much more difficult so how do you balance our two and this is what we should try and do that theories are important he must be rigorous because you must understand that philosophy behind certain theories are based on past practices which then became theories and principles true not deep studies by others so understand that then you've got to extract elements on the theories to put them into practice and in practice where the scoober try I think to get people are practicing it to explain how to practice it and I hope in the school the professors who said it carries this practitioner said that we're not quite in accordance with theories then you try and embarrass a tool but at the end of the day implementation is most important good ideas which are poorly implemented well become bad ideas in the eyes of the people who so you've got to focus on implementation which means the practice be practical about your theories wait for the translation she had it she said she has had the translation favorite obermeyer thank you next great last question of your past time but we'll take one last question yes so my question is based on the fact that given our today's climate where we do face a lot of uncertainties as well as the talk about how young people are a strawberry or avocado generation yeah so what are the kinds of potential crisis that Singapore face in the future as far as the kinds of advice that you give to us in preparing ourselves for these crises well let me try to scare you first terrorism is closer than you think I see Sara Deever are we and I think Isis probably may have a chance to establish yourself in Rakhine State in Miami and today you know it just allows arrested to local population as potential or tries to to us oh one man is very catered is the managing director of a logistic company wanted to go to Syria to fight those who were against the Muslims there and if he sees no porins over there you know because we do have people there to help you know people going against Isis the city was chosen opponent so you know miss we do have such people and they are self-radicalized the lady one woman just went online you know and wanted to enjoy them a luckily she didn't go too far she was net or trying to rehabilitate her so they are ready in Singapore those whom we have arrested and how many out there who we do not know maybe they are not there potentially you don't know mother threat Maura Maura we in sulawesi where years ago the Muslims and Christians was killing off one another and I think they were trying to create a ground for that so that is a big challenge for us and the government is already passing a message more or less trying to condition all of us you start a question of when you know it's done question of if a bomb or truck will be driven into sound crowded place places in Singapore it's a question of when so mentally you are prepared to react so when this happens they will know how to react and a big worry for us the interaction is will like other crises of handle is not the bomb per se or the casualties of fatalities per se it is the aftermath what would that mean for race relations that's number one if it's the result of that race relations become fragile broken collapsed then know that terrorists have a chief is purposed we would have been much worse off so just one challenger and that's a live challenge which the security agencies are every day worrying about this then the other challenge will be how to sustain a high economic growth for Singapore that will grow to three percent I think we can do it but politically with people like you accept to 3% growth in your wages that's the big political question my time grows us at 9% because we had so much slackness in the economy land their labor was very cheap benign to external environment at 9% we are all very happy a new generation to cheapest and growth seeing that your parents have enjoyed such good growth in the past you are going to be very unhappy so can we change on myself this is the new growth be very happy up your your foundation is that high the foundation for your parents definition for my parents down here see by people compared so my father no was the taxi driver he could own a fair room fled I'm 9 engineer accorded by the fallen fled I was off quite right compared to your father you're worse off interests of achievements but there's a reality so it's not a growth that we cannot sustain it's how the gas singaporeans to accept politically that from now on and off to 2% growth in the income is considered very good because the starting base is so high if you can't convince you on that well they'd be a change in government and people think life will get better I can tell your life again worse very quickly because the new carbons you will not be able to produce you by 6% growth but young people don't understand say things just work and that's the big problem with many people Singapore works because there are people in the government in the civil service they make it work and the private sector to their people that they make things work but you know anybody can works in the poor I've heard this many times what's so difficult about your job anybody can do it what sort of coming up Minister anybody can do it but if you you know ask questions which my friend from Israel has been asking what is the secret that everything works not just things are working therefore we can take liberties easy that's a challenge politically how the comments people don't take a Liberty with Singapore got two small things work don't take liberty that's a big political political challenge which the new government has got to pull across to the people so there are the challenges but I think Lynnea looking at a time I like to add in a question what to you is the biggest challenge for Singapore going forward which I am NOT answered in ordered questions god this is like an exam I know I know I know let me let me give a very quick answer and it's actually similar to the answer I gave about China which is that we have created one of the most successful middle class societies in Singapore with probably one of the best education systems with a very globalized population with globalized expectations and so the political culture of Singapore has got to change and adapt I think through this new environment also and I think I see that as the challenge your mastery of political culture maybe did what do you mean by political cultures attitude towards people are you know I I do is not I'm not making a personal statement but more sort of in a sense the going back to the Irish obvious question about the philosophy or governing Singapore and I think the philosophy or governing Singapore they work very well in the first 50 years did not necessarily work well in the next 50 years so that I think that's and in many ways we are changing we are clearly Singapore is becoming more open in many ways but I think that that process of continuous change is what I see is the biggest challenge but it's not what is this new particular philosophy and chase you are looking after it's a very important thing we got to change but as a theory it's got to change but practice is changed to what yeah you are the whole school of public policy is a stage resting on your shoulders this is part of a continuing discussions we are I should with the students but let me say this has been this has been truly as you can agree fascinating and I know I'm gonna be answer the question ESM go asked about himself was he said am i successful so I think you know one of the most difficult jobs in the world is to succeed a great leader and it is a fact that Singapore's first Prime Minister mr. Lee Kuan Yew was a great leader and frankly if you are asked to succeed him it's one of the world's most impossible jobs and most people fail very few people succeed after great man one of the few persons I know who successfully stuck with the shoes of great men and then did a brilliant job as a Prime Minister is mr. ESM core chok Tong so please join me in thanking him and congratulating him I want to have the last word No in case you are misled by him I've succeeded because the great man wanted me to succeed that's key if liquid using you take over and you know you didn't bother whether succeeded or not it would be very very difficult so the great man understood how Singapore should move on they must have this pipeline of leaders with values to know look after Singapore so you want to meet us actually only helped me to succeed so don't say I've succeeded just because I was very able man no no teamwork all right thank you and that's the formula of success [Music]

Channel: Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy

Views: 12,436

Rating: 4.4226804 out of 5

Keywords: LKYSPP, lky school, lee kuan yew school of public policy, goh chok tong, kishore mahbubani, nus, singapore, singapore success, lecture, dialogue, anniversary, public policy, policy, 13th anniverary

Id: C9h2SBo287A

Length: 81min 56sec (4916 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 15 2017