By Ethan Guo

Today is the annual National Day Rally (NDR) speech given by the Prime Minister.

We do not have a shadow government to provide an alternative take on issues from the incumbent. Hence, I will provide a citizen's take on the NDR.

It is not my intent to just criticise. The elected government was given a mandate by the people, and should be allowed to do its job. But there are better ways of running this country that I feel they should listen to.

Singapore's governments, today and in the past, have always pride themselves as "caretakers for the future generation". We have large reserves, built up over many years of disciplined budgets and spending, jealously guarded. Not a cent has been touched, for this - the government says - is money that belongs to the children of today, who'll be our productive citizens and carry the burdens of tomorrow.

I start with this nugget of information because my address will be focused on the future. The foresight to anticipate and plan for the unanticipated seems to be a lost art. It’s a craft I hope to revive.

We have a capable government. By and large, they keep Singapore humming along each day. The trash gets picked up every morning; the water flows when you turn on the tap; there’s food to be bought at the market.

Many of our ministers are respected on the world stage. We like to boast that we can “punch above our own weight” despite being just a little red dot. It’s a big accomplishment and the government should be lauded for it. We ought to be proud and not take it for granted. It keeps us relevant in this world. In advertising-speak, it’s referred to as “mindshare”. We stay in the minds of people even though we are a small country.

As is often said, however, Singapore is unique in being a country that’s just a city. Our ministers are in reality also governors and mayors of this city, which many of us would say should be their chief and primary responsibility. It’s not necessarily easier to run a nation that’s tinier than cities in other countries. The challenges are certainly different, but the impact of policies on our lives is no less great.

The relevance of the current CPF model in today's Singapore

Take the Central Provident Fund (CPF) for example. When the CPF first started in 1955, Singapore was nothing like what it is today. The CPF itself was a very different animal. It was a simple plan to help people save for their retirement. Along with the building (figuratively) of our nationhood, the fund evolved to allow for housing purchases, and then later on for medical expenses as well. It worked, because life was simpler and so were the challenges.

The CPF was studied by many around the world because it hinged upon personal responsibility. Unlike social welfare in the more developed countries, we don’t make future generations pay to care for us. We prepare ourselves for old age with this forced savings scheme. The very few who fall through the cracks get limited assistance and taxpayer money gets put to better use. Everybody wins!

If only it were that simple.

Costs of living have gone up, everywhere around the world. Economic growth is stagnating. People live longer. Property prices are sky high. These challenges are not unique to Singapore, but for Singaporeans, the CPF today is failing to stay ahead of the curve.

Measures are being taken to address this, most recently through the MediShield Life initiative. How that works out remains to be seen. But at the very least, the government is saying you don’t have to worry about your medical expenses as you grow old.

So what can we do about the CPF? We want higher interest rates but how can that be sustained for the long term? Some are saying we should switch to private pension funds but we know no investments are guaranteed or risk-free.

There are many experts who had already pointed out what needs improving, what can be changed.

What I want to point out is the changing landscape.

My parents have been classified as the “pioneer generation” because they were the workforce that built the booming economy as Singapore underwent industrialization. They had opportunities that my grandparents – the true pioneer generation of Singapore – never did. They had good education, they had jobs, they had access to cheap housing.

Those who had the foresight to invest in property in the 1980s and early 1990s would be sitting on a tidy, inflation-adjusted profit of at least double what they paid. Even those who merely bought a standard HDB flat for staying in would find that it has gone way up in value.

Such opportunities appeared out of reach from your average middle-income family. Moreover, you can forget about buying a landed house or even a nice condo without over-extending yourself financially.

So the generation that has benefited from the boom in property are now concerned about their retirement. All their funds are either locked into the home, or they want to have something to pass on to their children. We tell them, don’t worry – you’ll be taken care of. We’ll find ways to resolve these issues quite easily.

But the next generation (the working adults of today) and their children will have a new set of challenges.

Some of us may inherit these properties if we are lucky enough to. Again we may not wish to monetize it for sentimental reasons. Or we also want to have something valuable to hand down to our children, especially now that good property is so out of the common man’s reach. Or we face the dreaded 99-year leasehold issue, whereby we end up with nothing in the end anyway. The government has not given any assurance on how this will be dealt with.

At the root of these issues lie Singapore’s socialist underpinnings. We don’t really own anything given by the state. The community owns it all, with the government as caretaker. It robs Peter to pay Paul. Many forget or don’t realize this. We are also, for better or worse, a nanny state – where multiple aspects of our lives are controlled or dictated by the government. Not that Singaporeans generally hate this. Many see it as a small price to pay for the peace and order in which we enjoy compared to what’s happening in many other countries.

But with the state as central to everything also comes the fact that we turn to it for the solution to all our problems. Yet, it cannot please everyone or be everything to everybody.

Our youth today 

This cannot be truer than with our youth. Anecdotal evidence shows how this new generation perhaps is going to be different from what we have had so far. Not desiring to be shoe-horned into typecast roles and being in debt all their lives like their parents before them, they say this isn’t what they want at all.

This generation wants the freedom to see the world, to take on work that is meaningful, to live a life not bound by any rules. That is all very wonderful from a personal point of view, but completely breaks the social contract between government and Singaporean. How does a state plan for such a group that goes against all traditional conventions? This is a generation for which the CPF and traditional housing policies and consumption taxes may not be relevant at all.

Is this worth worrying about now? I don’t think so, but we can start planning for it today. Our youths are the crystal balls into the future. Their attitudes and behaviour will determine the kind of Singapore we’ll have years from now.

They want a more open society. And when I say “open”, I don’t necessarily mean liberal. More accepting of all kinds of people, definitely. They also want to be more caring. They look at the poor elderly folks, collecting cardboard boxes on the streets or clearing tables at fast-food restaurants, and they wonder why it has to be this way.

A catch-22 for government policies

Between the desire for meaningful work and that of wanting to do more for the needy, we’re already looking at a Singapore that’ll be markedly different. And it’s a sign even today’s voters are signalling to the government – it doesn’t have to be and shouldn’t be about dollars and cents all the time.

Yet any government will tell you it is political suicide not to care about the economy. Ever heard of the famous American slogan, “It’s the economy, stupid”? The fact is nothing else matters if the economy isn’t doing well. Without good jobs, everyone suffers, and no one would care about anyone or anything else.

Can there really be a “right” balance? Often, it’s not so much a choice of “don’t grow so fast” or “grow at all cost”, but one of “grow or don’t grow”.

We’re seeing results of the economic restructuring. Median income is rising, slowly but surely. Bus drivers are earning more, security guards are getting more, and so are cleaners. It’s a more equitable kind of growth. The type Singaporeans want.

That may be so, but it solves only half the problem.

Even if we paid bus drivers, construction workers and other such occupations highly, how many Singaporeans would want such jobs? Or the question should be whether we ought to waste the talents of Singaporeans on these jobs.

Then there’s the issue of rising costs. If we start to pay these people better, that needs to come from somewhere. It has to come not just from profit margins, but also from the consumers.

If we want society to be fair, we have to get used to paying more for our goods and services.

The trouble is - if everyone gets paid more, but we all also end up paying more for everything, then none of us are any better from this whole exercise.

Our living expenses need to go down in areas that are within the government’s control. These could include property, taxes, transportation, and utilities.

It’s catch-22. We want our homes to retain resale values but loathe buying them at high prices. We say bus drivers should be paid more but cannot afford to pay more for transport.

Creating our own hinterland

Let’s try to solve this creatively.

We’re constantly lamenting the fact that we lack a hinterland, a cheap countryside we can move to where things are cheaper. Well let’s create that artificially.

There’s plenty of land on the extreme outskirts of Singapore yet to be developed. We can consider these areas and some islands too as designated “EcoZones”. “Eco” would stand for both ecological and economical.

In these EcoZones, developmental costs would be lower, goods and services tax also lower. We try to get people to live off the grid through solar / wind power and water recycling. Let’s do large scale vertical farming too. In other words, we’re bringing a part of Singapore back into the kampong days, where life is simpler, the utility supply maybe not so reliable, but by and large you’ll survive so long as you can tolerate the trade-offs.

No cars will be allowed in this zone. You cycle or walk. No creature comforts like air-conditioning, but we make sure the homes are airy. We go back to basics in a way that could actually allow us to take the lead in promoting a sustainable way of living.

Anyway, such radical solutions are what need to be explored in an era of new and uncharted problems.

Having said so much, therein lies the question: Where are we now?

We are at the crossroads between the old and new. For a very long time, Singapore has gone in just one direction. This road has served us very well, but it’s now worn and filled with portholes. We can patch them and carry on, at the risk of sinkholes appearing!

There’s a turnoff just ahead to a brand new road. No one has travelled down this path before. It’s attractive but scary. What if we get lost or robbed along the way? So many things could go wrong outside of our usual boring but safe and predictable route.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Next year we mark 50 years of nationhood. Old enough to be a grandparent, yet still young enough to be hip.

We desperately need to find excitement in our lives again, to reignite our dreams for the future. It’s time not just for a facelift but a transformation.

If what we need is as drastic as a hip replacement then let’s get it done and be without painkillers for life. It’s high time we start coding towards Singapore version 2.0.

Top photo from Lee Hsien Loong Facebook.

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