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“As a city-state, it is imperative that we take care of today and tomorrow, but also constantly maintain bandwidth to keep an eye on the future, because there is no alternative,” said Minister for National Development Desmond Lee.

Speaking at a plenary session at St. Gallen Symposium, an annual conference held in Switzerland from May 4 to 5, Lee touched on topics such as the importance of land to Singapore, long-term planning, navigating the Covid-19 crisis and staying connected to citizens.

“Permacrisis”

The theme for the discussion was “Thinking Long-Term in an Age of Permacrisis”, centred on how longer-term developments could be overshadowed by immediate challenges.

Speakers were therefore involved in a discussion on how decision makers can continue to think for the long-term while juggling concurrent crises.

It was moderated by Cathryn Culver Ashbrook, a German political scientist and vice-president of Bertelsmann Stiftung, a foundation that promotes causes like social welfare, education and democracy.

No alternative city

Because of Singapore’s geography, “it's really not so much of a choice between us focusing too much on the here and now, and, versus spending effort planning for the long term,” said Lee.

Comparing the size of Singapore to Switzerland, he noted how “there is no plan B, there's no alternative city,” because the city itself is the country.

“[The] city succeeds or fails. That determines the fate of the nation. And for those who have followed history, the improbability of our independence makes our earlier generation and indeed my generation work extra hard to make sure that the city-state continues to thrive, and that we hand it over in better condition than when we took it over from our predecessors.”

We need to think of the people not yet born who can't speak up: Desmond Lee

In the later part of the session, Lee was asked by an audience member on decision-making and infrastructure.

Acknowledging that it was an act of “ultimately balancing the needs of today's generation and tomorrow's generation,” he referenced a quote on how one does not inherit the Earth from one's ancestors, but borrow it from one's children.

Therefore, sometimes difficult decisions have to be made with regard to land use to keep the optionality for “for people not yet born, who can't vote, who can't speak up,” he remarked.

Lee had made a similar point during the St. Gallen Symposium Singapore forum held in January 2023.

Having a crisis “playbook”

In relation to the theme, Lee also spoke at length about the Covid-19 crisis.

“There will always be trade-offs in determining where you place your emphasis. And for a crisis as existential as Covid-19, particularly for a city-state like ours, where everything changes all at once, and there's such a tremendous fog of war.”

He then illustrated how Singapore managed to establish a Covid-19 task force and work together with people from various sectors to develop long-term solutions.

Responding to Ashbrook’s question on key lessons learnt from dealing with H1N1 and SARS, Lee said that the government managed to “develop a playbook” which came into use for the Covid-19 crisis.

With Covid-19 turning out to be “more extreme in its amplitude”, he noted how the authorities recently reviewed their pandemic performance to “make sure [they] develop a playbook for the future" and continue to maintain citizens' trust.

Not just about technocratic decision-making

Lee then talked about staying connected to citizens and “trying to navigate a diverse electorate with complicated needs that may differ from each other”.

This included concerns on housing and cost of living, which have been hot topics of discussion locally.

He also responded to an audience member’s question on whether “love” had to do anything with decision-making, who felt that their discussion sounded rather technocratic .

To that, Lee replied that his experience dealing with the Covid-19 crisis “was not technocratic at all”.

“It was a baptism of fire. And there were many occasions where it was not the logic or the instruction. It was the sense that we are fighting this together.”

He then recounted an emotional experience of visiting workers at a quarantine facility during the pandemic.

“They broke down in tears. They were worried for their health, and safety for their children when they go home. You have to assure them, it's about the heart. It's not about ‘you do that job’. You must be with them.”

“So it is not just about technocratic decision making, crisis or no crisis, decision is an act of faith based on the best known data that you have."

Lockdown

Lee also referred to the circuit breaker period and said he had a discussion with Health Minister Ong Ye Kung about nursing homes. They noted that in other parts of the world, nursing homes were at high risk due to residents getting infected by Covid-19.

Lee and Ong mused that they would have to consider the unthinkable, asking the staff working at the homes to quarantine together with their patients on the same floor for a month.

It was a tough ask as it was the month of Ramadan and some staff were Muslim, and they would not have been able to go back home. If they couldn't quarantine in the facilities, they would have to be put up at hotels instead, totally segregated from the public.

"And I talked to the health minister and said, we must go and talk to the frontliners, go down to the facilities. When we arrived, they were waving at us from different floors. It was very emotional. It was like, 'we are asking a lot from you, and we don't know (whether it) is the right decision. Please trust us. We'll be with you.'

And we got thumbs up, we had tears and none the worse for wear. Thankfully, none the worse for wear. So it is not just about technocratic decision making, crisis or no crisis, a decision is an act of faith based on the best known data that you have. And working with your public officers and the private sector. You make the call and you stand or fall with it."

This drew much applause from the audience.

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Top image via YouTube/StGallenSymposium