We moved to a system where each HDB is priced differently to reflect its real value.

In the 1960s, most Singaporeans lived in over-crowded shop houses or squatter huts. People were poor and life was hard. There was no running water, no modern toilets, no expectation of a better future.

The immediate task of the Government was to tackle this housing crisis, and build homes in the shortest time possible. It would have been easier and simpler to build simple rental one and two-room flats to give people a roof over their heads, Mr Lee said.

But right from the start, Mr Lee Kuan Yew wanted a home-owning society to give every citizen a stake in the country. Mr Lee said ownership is critical because we were an immigrant community with no common history.

"Our peoples came from many different parts of Asia. Home ownership helped to quickly forge a sense of rootedness in Singapore. It is the foundation upon which nationhood was forged."

When HDB first launced the homeownership scheme in 1964, there were many skeptics.

"We had little reserves then. Singapore was still in Malaysia. Our future looked bleak. The post-war baby boom and the high unemployment added to our pressures. Our construction industry was low in skills and lacking in building management. Few believed a home-owning Singapore was possible."

"Against the odds, through grit and determination, we housed the nation progressively and systematically.

"By the end of the 1960s, 35% of the population was living in HDB flats. By the 1980s, HDB had housed 85% of the population. Few nations have managed to house its population in such a short span of time."

"Singaporeans know that the HDB flat gives them a tangible and valuable stake. If Singapore prospers, their flat values will appreciate and they will share in the growth. Home ownership motivates Singaporeans to work hard and upgrade to better flats for a better quality of living. The HDB story reflects the social mobility in Singapore. ... The home ownership programme is the success story of Singapore, shared by all Singaporeans.

From the 1980s...

"We moved to a system where each HDB flat is priced differently to reflect its real value. We cannot price a new flat in Punggol or Tanjong Pagar the same, because when they are resold, we know there will be a tremendous difference in price. From the 1980s, we moved towards a market-based system. By liberalizing the resale market and allowing HDB prices to move in tandem with the economy, we unlocked the value of HDB flats to allow citizens to share in the fruits of the nation’s growth. Home ownership of a HDB flat is a store of value that can be monetized when needs be."

"𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐚𝐜𝐥𝐞@𝐃𝐮𝐱𝐭𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬 .. 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐰𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐝. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐢𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐇𝐃𝐁 𝐟𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐬. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐮𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐦𝐮𝐦 𝐨𝐜𝐜𝐮𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐧𝐮𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐮𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐩𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐬.

"The Pinnacle@Duxton is a strong testament to our tenacity and capabilities as a people, to get to where we are today.

"𝐖𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐚𝐜𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐚𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐭𝐡. ... 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐭𝐡 𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐒𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐚𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐢𝐟 𝐰𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐲 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝."

- Excerpt from Mr Lee Kuan Yew's speech
KEY HANDOVER CEREMONY FOR THE PINNACLE@DUXTON, 13 DECEMBER 2009 

Which country in the world has produced homes for every family?

Governing Singapore is not easy because Singaporeans are a demanding lot.

They want their BTOs. They want it quick. They want it big.

But each time a forest is earmarked for housing, they accuse the government of 'development at all costs'. They also want every tree and every green.

Enough is enough, they said. Vote them out.

They think land should come at zero cost when land is so scarce and some of it did not even exist at first. The government had to create them through reclamation.

They don't like so many foreigners here. WP and PSP said if construction workers are paid well, Singaporeans will be happy to build BTOs. WP and PSP make them happy but they also want their BTOs cheap.

How to govern a people like this?

People in countries much, much larger than Singapore cannot afford to own their homes. In Singapore, even 80% of the lower income group are home owners. This is despite the acute land constraints we face.

Foreign workers steal your jobs? No, they bring jobs to you.

Back in 2011 when there was a backlash because of foreign workers, Mr Lee Kuan Yew still said the same thing: foreign workers bring jobs to Singaporeans. Take it from Ah Gong. He always had Singapore's interest in everything he did.

Without access to highly skilled workers, investors will not come here. If investors do not come here, there will be no jobs for you.

The Singaporean is a confident man/woman who takes steps to improve himself/herself, not afraid of competition because he/she cannot become a global leader if he/she is afraid of global competition.

That is who you are: confident and not anxious. Have a positive attitude and seize the opportunity to learn from the best and those who are better.

Foreigners bring jobs to you: LKY

Foreign workers steal your jobs? No, they bring jobs to you.

Back in 2011 when there was a backlash because of foreign workers, Mr Lee Kuan Yew still said the same thing: foreign workers bring jobs to Singaporeans. Take it from Ah Gong. He always had Singapore's interest in everything he did.

Without access to highly skilled workers, investors will not come here. If investors do not come here, there will be no jobs for you.

The Singaporean is a confident man/woman who takes steps to improve himself/herself, not afraid of competition because he/she cannot become a global leader if he/she is afraid of global competition.

That is who you are: confident and not anxious. Have a positive attitude and seize the opportunity to learn from the best and those who are better.

What happens when a leadership and a people forget the constraints we face? Lee Kuan Yew

A reminder of how we can go down, and go down very quickly.

Because we have had success for the past 50 years , some have forgotten that we are an improbable nation. Perhaps they do not even understand what it means to be an improbable nation, a small island without any natural resources.

In fact, success has turned to arrogance when people think companies have no choice but to come here to do business.

In any parliamentary debate, the outcome is either Singapore wins, or Singapore loses.

Parliament is a place to further the interests of Singapore and Singaporeans, not a place to further the political agendas of any political party.

Global companies are here to play the global game. They are not here to serve the Singapore market. They are here to serve the region and the world. They want to bring together an international team. That is our value proposition to them and that is why they find Singapore attractive. If they cannot bring in an international team, why would they find Singapore attractive?

Would you turn away a company that has 69 high end jobs for Singaporeans because they want to bring in 31 foreigners?

Wrong ideas have to be challenged before they influence public opinion and make for problems.

Wrong ideas have to be challenged before they influence public opinion and make for problems. This is especially so in today's world where social media is a medium for propagating and entrenching wrong ideas.

Not only wrong ideas need to be challenged, hypocrisy needs to be exposed.

Wrong ideas like revealing the full size of Singapore reserves and encouraging currency speculation to stabilise the Singapore dollar put Singaporeans' jobs, livelihoods and careers at risk.

For a long time, the WP has pressured the government to spend more from reserves including the direct use of land proceeds for recurrent needs.

Yet, when the government had to dip into reserves because of a unprecedented crisis, they suddenly became very concerned with the dip and asked for an independent budget office to scrutinise the spending for outcomes.

WP calls for an independent body to examine spending, but you will also recall that they resisted an independent audit of their town council finances all the way from the beginning of the saga, fighting every step of the way in court against an independent body to review their finances. They talk, but do not walk their walk.