Empower people, and enable them to earn their own success.

Doing more for people in such a way that that gives everyone the pride of contributing in their own way - by empowering people and enabling them to earn their own success. 

 

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No government can have a hands-off strategy, where people are left to fend for themselves.

Neither should we have handouts all along the way, because that just takes the dignity out of people.

Let's instead keep providing hand-ups, especially for those who start with less, helping them develop their strengths and have a real chance of doing well.

Empower people, and enable them to earn their own success.

We've got to make sure too that this doesn't end up the way it has in many other advanced societies, where it becomes a contract between me and the government - "I pay these taxes, I want this much back in benefits".

Civic society is far weaker today in almost every advanced country compared to a few decades ago. We've got to keep a culture of responsibility across our society: individual responsibility, government responsibility, but also a civic culture where we all feel involved and take the initiatives as individuals, voluntary bodies and as businesses.

And we should never lose our Singapore culture, of thinking about our children and grandchildren. As the Chinese saying puts it: the ancestors plant the trees, the next generation enjoys the shade.

But it's not just for one generation. We've got to keep planting trees for the next generation, and know too that each generation will enjoy the shade as they grow old.

Let's keep that culture in Singapore. Not making the short-term political calculation as to what's best, but always looking out for the opportunities beyond today. That's how we got to where we are, a society that has transformed itself for the better, for all its citizens, and that's the way we go forward.

The Economic Society of Singapore SG50 Distinguished Lecture by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Tharman Shanmugaratnam