This year's National Day Rally (NDR) was once again held at the now default NDR location ITE College Central.

Aside from the brief scare when he stumbled during his English speech, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong gave a candid talk about how we can progress, how to hold our place in the international arena, and the future of politics in Singapore.

We've summed up the 2016 National Day Rally into 6 key points that you need to know:

1. It's the economy, stupid.

PM Lee spoke about the need to embrace and adapt to disruptions posed by new technology and globalisation to our economy.

Using taxi services such as Uber and online grocery shopping as examples, he mentioned about anticipating new changes in every industry, and helping companies and workers adapt to these new changes. The key, he said, is to be able to spot changes, respond accordingly, develop resilience, and be constantly prepared to do new and different jobs.

These can be achieved by:

- Building new capabilities in our economy to respond to the fast changing trends and needs of the world.

- Promoting entrepreneurship to nurture optimism and create confidence that Singaporeans can achieve anything.

- Developing the skills of the workforce through SkillsFuture, in order to maintain relevant, in-demand skills necessary for a strong economy.

2. Singapore "need a network of friends" and her position towards the US and China remains unchanged.

PM Lee touched on the importance of Singapore’s friendship with both the US and China, reiterated that Singapore is trying to “be among America’s circle of friends, and China’s too,” and that good relations have to be maintained with both superpowers.

After his official visit to the US this year, which he mentioned was a significant gesture of friendship by America, PM Lee said that he will be visiting China next month. This includes a visit to Chongqing, where the third government-to-government project with China will be based.

"Singapore is good friends with China", he quipped.

Nearer home, Malaysia and Indonesia continues to be Singapore's two most important partners.

3. Singapore’s stance on the South China Sea issue has not changed either.

In particular, PM Lee emphasised that Singapore neither has interest nor take sides in the South China Sea issue. He acknowledged the pressure to side more with China, but spoke of the need to stand strong by our position in order to be credible, reliable and valuable to other nations.

With this stance in mind, he spoke about the three things that matter most to our nation in this issue:

- International law – as a small state, Singapore must strive for a rules-based international order, instead of one that works on “the basis that might is right”.

- Freedom of Navigation – the significance of the South China Sea as a channel that links our air and sea trade routes with the world must be guarded.

- A united ASEAN – the ability of ASEAN to deal with a major issue directly affecting its members is a test of ASEAN’s credibility.

4. The need to strengthen Singapore’s social fabric as the threat of terrorism looms ever closer to our shores.

PM Lee spoke about the global threat of ISIS, citing the recent foiled attempt by Gigih Rahmat Dewa and his group in Batam to fire a rocket towards Marina Bay Sands to emphasise the danger of terrorism we face. He said that “Singaporeans are not entirely immune to jihadist propaganda,” and that the government is carefully monitoring radicals who plan to join ISIS or plot against Singapore.

PM Lee added that there is a need to "build trust, strengthen bonds, maintain and expand our common space" so that when a terrorist attack occurs on our shores, Singaporeans will stand together as one, instead of reacting with distrust and fear.

Emphasising that each community is not mutually exclusive, PM Lee said that there has to be constant engagement and understanding such that our communities will stand together when Singapore come under terrorist attacks.

5. Why your next president might not be Chinese.

In case you were too busy trying to catch that Snorlax this past week, the Constitutional Commission that was tasked to review the Elected Presidency recently submitted their recommendations to PM Lee.

While PM Lee did not go into the specific recommendations, he did mention why there was a need for a review -- namely, to give more weight to the Council of Presidential Advisors, raising the bar so that we get better Presidential candidates, and to ensure minorities get the opportunity to become President.

To put things into perspective, ever since Singapore implemented the Elected Presidency in 1991, we have had only one minority President -- S.R. Nathan -- and he got in uncontested for the two terms he ran.

While tinkering with the mechanics of a meritocratic election might not sit well with some, all Presidential candidates, minority or otherwise, must meet the full qualifications, to ensure that even if the electorate votes a lesser minority candidate, he would still be good enough for office.

Guess we just have to keep our eyes peeled in 2017.

Now, the only question we will be asking is: When are we getting a minority Prime Minister?

6. Golden question: Who’s our next PM?

Minority Prime Minister or otherwise, PM Lee is definitely preparing to vacate his seat for his successor. Among other things, he reminded us that he and his team are mere mortals -- having experienced health scares collectively as a team.

The core of the next generation of leaders is already in Cabinet. They are currently holding portfolios in areas such as education, economic restructuring, and social policies. PM Lee is also quite adamant to have his successor take over from him after the next General Elections.

PM Lee also updated the audience on Minister Heng Swee Keat’s condition. He is currently able to do office work with minimal interactions. Minister Heng will be focusing on the 2017 Budget and the Committee for Future Economy while Minister Lawrence Wong will be assisting him with the operational duties at Ministry of Finance.

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