Singapore’s Minister for Law and Foreign Affairs, Mr K. Shanmugam, was at the Singapore Management University (SMU) on 4 September to grace the SMU Ministerial Forum 2013. Organised by SMU Apolitical for the second consecutive year, and supported by REACH for the first time, the Forum was an opportunity for students to engage the Minister on a variety of issues.
Speaking to about 250 students from SMU and other tertiary institutions, Minister Shanmugam highlighted the challenges that Singapore faced, as well the opportunities that the city-state can leverage on. He said that faced with a low replacement rate and a fast-ageing population, Singapore risks becoming in future the slowest growing country in the world’s fastest growing region. He painted a stark picture of how demographic trends combined with rising costs and external competition could cause Singapore to fall behind its neighbours in ASEAN.
Citing the examples of Kuala Lumpur, which is currently making significant progress towards becoming a regional financial hub, and Bangkok, which is geographically better-placed than Singapore to be an air hub, Minister Shanmugam iterated that Singapore has to focus on providing unique value propositions to stay at the top of its game.
[Photo: A few light moments were shared during the Forum, which discussed a number of serious challenges that Singapore was facing.]
He also highlighted to the students the need for foreign workers here in Singapore, as the Government plans to increase the ratio of Professionals, Mangers, Executives and Technicians (PMETs) to non-PMETs in Singapore from 1:1 to 2:1. “If Singaporeans need to have jobs at the top or near the top… then you need a base of people who will do the other jobs. If you don’t have a foreign worker population to support the base, how do you become middle management? Who’s going to work for you?”
When the question-and-answer segment kicked in, SMU students once again demonstrated their eloquence and confidence as they posed their questions to the Minister, ranging from education, foreign affairs, haze, population, freedom of speech as well as women leadership in the government.
[Photo: Tan Eng Teck, second-year School of Social Sciences student, observed that youths are chasing grades for fear that they become obsolete.]
Second-year SMU Social Science undergraduate, Tan Eng Teck, who has worked as a relief teacher and interacted with young school children, asked if societal values could change such that students do not ‘chase grades’ but instead find time to pursue their passions. To that, Minister Shanmugam responded, “Constant chase for grades does not make for better minds.”
“My answer to you is if people see that the economy has opportunities outside of being on a very narrow track, then the values will change. So we have to create such an economy,” he added.
[Photo: Minister Shanmugam interacting with the student leaders prior to the SMU Ministerial Forum 2013. On his right are: Professor Ong Siow Heng, SMU Dean of Students, followed by Professor Yeo Tiong Min, Dean of SMU School of Law. He was speaking with (from left) Siraj Shaik Aziz, President of SMU Apolitical; Ada Chua, fourth-year Law student and moderator for the dialogue session and Dierdre Grace Morgan, Vice-President (External), SMU Apolitical.]
[Featured Photo: Minister Shanmugam met with 250 students from SMU and other tertiary institutions at the SMU Ministerial Forum 2013.]