It was an innocuous quip but it appears like a symbolic passing of the political leadership baton.

Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) Teo Chee Hean told Social and Family Development Minister Chan Chun Sing that he was among those who just missed the cut-off for the $8 billion Pioneer Generation Package and joked that Chan would "know what to do if you want my vote."

Chan was responding to a question from the audience at the Singapore Perspectives (SP) conference on whether the PGP will be expanded in future.

Teo and Chan were the guest speakers of Institute of Policy Studies (IPS)'s annual flagship conference that look at the policy challenges that Singapore will face in the future, an event attended by about 900 people including civil servants, academics and professionals from the private sector as well as civil society groups.

If we expect DPM Teo to lead or dominate the dialogue session, we were mistaken.

The incoming NTUC Deputy Secretary-General more than held his own in the company of his more senior compatriot. In fact, there were times where DPM Teo deferred to Chan and allowed Chan to tackle the questions beyond Chan's social and family development portfolio.

Perhaps Teo was feeling jet-lagged after representing Singapore at the official mourning of Saudi Arabia's late King Abdullah in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Sunday.

Or it was his intention to showcase his younger colleague in front of the tough audience that consisted of vocal public intellectuals.

The mainstream media seemed to get the hint too, as they featured Chan's statements instead of DPM Teo's on its front pages.

Below are three comments Chan made at IPS' Singapore Perspectives that caught our eye: 

1. On political diversity in Singapore

"Diversity in itself is not a weakness. Diversity in itself can be a strength. The key is not in diversity per se. The key is how do we as a society achieve convergence after the sharing of diverse views?

And because the world is so uncertain going forward, the more perspectives we have, the more able we can check our blind spots as a society. The question is do we have the mechanism, the maturity to find convergence beyond diversity so we can take our country forward.

(As) Karl Marx would say: There is thesis, there is anti­thesis; the question is, can we find a synthesis?Synthesis can be achieved only if people put the greater good of society ahead of personal preferences, but this is easier said than done."

2. On social welfare and social transfers

"It is one thing to just give out some token, cash, or financial assistance. But that may not resolve their problem. Very often, in the next lap of our social services, we have to emphasise on helping people to stand up to be independent.

We have to mobilise volunteers to contribute their time and talent, not just their treasures. Time and talent to come and hand hold many of these families. Their challenge is not lack of money per se. That is a symptom.

Their challenges very often arise from the inability to do simple financial planning, investing in their children's education, providing a positive role model, providing a stable home environment, so that the next generation can be uplifted. And that is where I think we need to put our focus on, in the next lap, beyond just the transfers."

3. On a demanding and affluent citizenry who felt that they need help

He recalled a conversation with a group of citizens who paid income tax but felt that they were "middle-class" citizens.*

"So sometimes I think we need to have a more honest conversation with ourselves...How do we organise our society to really do more for those with less? And we have to be frank with ourselves about whether we are those with less."

*Only the top one-third of income earners pay income tax.

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