The results were good for the PAP, for two reasons. First, it secured a solid mandate. Trust in the PAP to run government and do what is best for Singaporeans is intact. Second, the swing in votes (though from an unrepeatable high in 2015) is leading the party to review its own game so as to win the hearts, and not just the minds, of a changing electorate.

The results were also good for opposition politics - and not merely because they won more votes collectively. The stronger vote for the WP than others, with its more reasonable brand and eschewing of campaigning around a single political figure, reflected a discerning public and a political culture that bodes well for Singapore.

The opposition also fielded more candidates who were credible in the public’s eyes. The PAP too had a strong cast, with several candidates bringing fresh perspectives. But the opposition benefits from another major factor. When the PAP with its long-standing, dominant position contests in the GE, people hold the PAP and opposition to different standards - that’s human nature. It also reflects a desire among Singaporeans for a new balance in politics.

We have to make this new balance work well for Singapore. That will happen if we have vigorous and informed debate in Parliament between the PAP and the opposition on the policies that each advocates, with both sides treating the other with equanimity.

Our aim, in both the government of the day and the opposition, must be to serve Singaporeans’ interests through policies that can stand the test of time - rather than gain popularity today by telling people what they would like to hear, or promising benefits without revealing the costs and making clear who will bear them.

We have to do more to achieve social justice, but in a way that enables it to last - strengthening social mobility; raising the pay of our lowest income workers without risking unemployment; ensuring middle-aged Singaporeans continue to have good careers; giving greater peace of mind to our retirees and being able to sustain the benefits for them over time.

We can never claim to be a model for anyone else in politics - each society moves forward out of its own history and social circumstances. But there are challenges that all democracies face that we too must address, and we must do so in a way that reflects the changing aspirations of Singaporeans.

- We must be a democracy with a strong centre, even as politics gets more contested - avoiding the polarized politics that many other democracies have drifted into.

- We must be a democracy that keeps working to promote multiracialism in society. That’s already our strength, and it’s what evades most societies, but we must strive to build on it in the coming years. It must include efforts to breed closer interactions as kids grow up, and to reduce the soft or implicit disadvantages that minorities still face in many workplaces.

- And we must be a more tolerant democracy, with greater space for divergent views, and a more active civil society, without the public discourse becoming divisive or unsettling the majority.

It will be good for Singapore if we evolve in these three ways. They will each help ensure stability in our democracy in the years to come. And they will tap on the energies and ideas of a younger generation of Singaporeans and their desire to be involved in public affairs.

The short video below: the five newly elected Jurong GRC MPs last Sunday as we went around all our markets. There is much more to be done on the ground too. People are going through tough times. We will be working even harder, individually and as a team of MPs, to make Jurong a warm and supportive community for young and old.