Rethinking our individual approach to life and ageing: DPM Teo Chee Hean

ADD LIFE TO YEARS AND NOT MERELY YEARS TO LIFE

As a community, we can all play our part to enable our seniors to embrace the opportunities that come with longevity, and live life to the full.

For example, to enable those who want to work, to stay in work for longer, we raised the re-employment age from 65 to 67 from July last year. 

SPECIAL EMPLOYMENT CREDIT

Alongside this, we have introduced the Special Employment Credit, which HELPS COMPANIES TO PAY PART OF THE WAGES of workers aged 55 and above earning up to $4,000 a month.

This benefits about 340,000 workers.

GRANTS FOR COMPANIES TO RE-DESIGN WORK PLACES AND JOBS are available.

But these grants and credits are meaningful only when employers value and tap on the experiences and skills our seniors can offer.

Our SENIORS seniors too have to DO THEIR PART to keep up with new skills required in the workplace and make themselves relevant.

SkillsFuture is targeted at this.

FLEXIBLE WORK ARRANGEMENTS

We can also re-design jobs to have more flexible work arrangements, so that there is part-time work, job sharing, and working from home.

Technologies offers so many opportunities.

The gig economy is not only for millennials. Because if we re-design jobs with more flexibility, seniors can take part too.

CHANGE OF MINDSET AND CONCERTED EFFORT NEEDED

Only through a change of mind-set and a concerted effort can we help make it possible for our seniors to remain in the workforce for as long as they are able and willing to.

The Singapore Public Service is also doing its part. As at December 2016, we have close to 3,000 public officers aged 65 and above, up from 500 in 2010.

These officers continue to contribute well.

In fact, our oldest serving public service officer, Mr Puteh bin Mahamood from the Elections Department, is 84 years old and first joined in 1947.

Within our communities, there is much that we can do to build community spirit and look out for one another.

And we can always stay young at heart, keep ourselves active and vigorous, and encourage others to join in and do so.

Uncle Chong, one of my Pasir Ris residents, exemplifies this spirit well. At age 90, he continues to conduct weekly swimming lessons for other seniors, encouraging them to remain active and fit, even in their advanced years!

COMMUNITY NETWORKS FOR SENIORS (CNS) TO BRING PROGRAMMES TO SENIORS' DOOR-STEP

The Community Network reaches out to seniors to support them to age well in place.

It coordinates the efforts across government agencies, VWOs and grassroots organisations to bring senior-centric programmes and services to their doorstep.

Volunteers such as Pioneer Generation Ambassadors and grassroots leaders encourage our seniors to attend HEALTH SCREENING AND TALKS, as well as EXERCISES AND SOCIAL INTEREST GROUPS.

REACHING OUT TO LONELY SENIORS TO BUILD A CLOSE-KNIT COMMUNITY

We are also matching seniors living alone to befrienders and neighbours who can help them.

Seniors living alone is another rapidly-growing sector of our population.

The goal is to build a close-knit community in our neighbourhoods where our seniors can age happily, healthily and actively in place.

PROMOTING INTER-GENERATIONAL BONDING

To promote inter-generational bonding, we are also co-locating childcare and eldercare facilities.

The first such site is at Kampung Admiralty where a Child Care Centre and Active Ageing Hub are located side by side.

Over the next 10 years, we will extend this to some 10 new HDB housing precincts.

FAMILY SUPPORT FOR SENIORS IS IMPORTANT

Finally, as individuals, and as families, we also have to do our part to support our senior family members to age well and enjoy their silver years.

The warm embrace of families play an important role too, to provide meaning to life, support, mutual love and care.

The Government recognises this and our policies are designed to encourage family members to help one another, and to live close to one another.

HOUSING GRANTS AND PRIORITY TO ENCOURAGE CHILDREN TO LIVE NEAR PARENTS

We encourage children to live together or close together with their parents by giving priority for housing and grants.

We have special incentives, to encourage individuals to top-up the CPF accounts of loved ones.

Our tax policies encourage inter-generational support through Parent Relief and Grandparent Caregiver Relief.

In addition, we need to re-think our individual approach to life and ageing so that we can all lead long, happy, healthy and purposeful lives.

LIFE-LONG LEARNING, KEEPING ACTIVE AND FINDING MEANING THROUGH COMMUNITY AND VOLUNTARY WORK

Life-long learning to learn new skills, keeping active through work, exercise, finding meaning through community and voluntary work, and fulfilment with our families.

Living longer does not mean being old for longer. It means staying young for longer. We need to keep fit, keep learning, and keep contributing. Instead of merely adding years to life, we should be adding life to years.

AGE WELL WITH VIGOUR

We need a COLLECTIVE COMMITMENT – what can I and my family do, what can we do in our own communities and workplaces, and what can we all do together as a nation to prepare ourselves.

Our pioneers laid a strong foundation for us.

Each one of us and our families, businesses, employers, our community need to shift toward a notion of ageing with vigour – to live a full life, and life to the full, and create a vibrant and vigorous Singapore for all ages.

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Excerpt of speech by DPM Teo Chee Hean