Do what you enjoy very seriously: President Tharman launches SG Youth Plan with over 20 initiatives, urges youths to pursue interests

Pursuing what they genuinely enjoy can help youths develop "an aptitude for life" that will carry them forward, President Tharman Shanmugaratnam said.

He was speaking at the SG Youth Forum, at the launch of the SG Youth Plan on Jul. 25.

The plan, which comprises over 20 initiatives, aims to support Singapore’s youths and help them thrive in today’s uncertain world.

It will be implemented over the next five years.

"Do what you enjoy seriously"

While acknowledging that young Singaporeans face uncertainty today, President Tharman said they also have greater aspirations, including in fields that "never existed before".

Despite the changing times, one principle has remained constant, he said.

"If you spend time on what you are interested in and enjoy, if you take what you enjoy very seriously, you will develop an aptitude for life that takes you forward and keeps taking you forward.

And if you do what you enjoy with people of different backgrounds, as much as you can, it also broadens your horizon, and adds that much more purpose to your life."

Drawing on his own experience, President Tharman said sports played a defining role in his youth.

"I didn’t realise it at the time, but doing what I enjoyed, and doing it seriously, is what shaped me for life," he said.

Young people today have broader aspirations, 'constructive discontent'

Citing the National Youth Council’s engagements and its latest 2025-26 survey, President Tharman said young people today want more than just career success.

While they hope to acquire skills that can be useful in their careers, they also want to pursue their own interests and hobbies, and contribute to society.

"We must make this possible for this new generation," he said.

"We can and must defy the trends that we see in many other societies, where social belonging is weakening, whether along lines of race and ethnicity or educational status, or just socio-economic backgrounds."

President Tharman added that young people's "constructive discontent" — their belief that society can do better — can be harnessed to widen opportunities and build a fairer, more caring society.

"Not the cynicism that says that nothing can improve, but the restlessness and the fresh pair of eyes that says: surely, we can do better; surely, we can widen opportunities; we can give everyone the opportunity to live a life of greater purpose; we can create a fair and caring society.

And that constructive discontent, that restlessness, that desire to do better, is a force for good in Singapore."

The SG Youth Plan

President Tharman described the SG Youth Plan as a whole-of-society effort involving youths, the government, businesses and the wider community.

Among the key initiatives are expanding job exposure and overseas opportunities for young people, while teaching them to navigate through adulthood.

The plan also includes creating more spaces for them to meet and build friendships, starting with 12 new community spaces and a revamped Somerset Belt youth precinct.

"The SG Youth Plan is our way of saying that Singapore believes in you," President Tharman said. "The future is yours to make."