New Year Message 2020

In his New Year Message, PM Lee said:

My team and I will strive to continue deserving your trust, to keep on strengthening our social compact, to sustain the promise of Singapore as a fair and just society, and to help you achieve your hopes and dreams. We are determined to give every Singaporean equal opportunity to do well, to prepare you to take advantage of opportunities in a different world, and to help you deal with life’s inevitable setbacks.

What the world will look like post-COVID-19 is far from certain. But Singapore must emerge strengthened by the shared experience of this crisis. Whether we indeed become a more vibrant economy and resilient society will depend on us, and on the decisions that you and I make in this crisis and beyond.

Just as we have come together to overcome the challenges of the pandemic, the defining crisis for this generation, so too we must come together to rebuild better and stronger. A new generation of Singaporeans has shown we have what it takes to make our small island nation survive and succeed, but the fight against COVID-19 is not yet won. In the months and years ahead, we will face new and unexpected hurdles. Things may happen that force us to change our plans. But as long as we stay together as one Singapore, I am confident we will blaze a path forward. 

PM Lee's new year message 2021: Let's not falter in this final stretch.

PM Lee's new year message. Let's not falter in this final stretch.

Through enormous effort and sacrifice, we have stabilised our situation in Singapore, even as the virus continues to rage on elsewhere in the world.

Now is not yet the time to celebrate. That time will come. Meanwhile, I ask for your support to keep up our efforts, and not to falter in this final stretch.

What has stood out in our response to COVID-19 is the trust our people have in our system and in one another. In many countries, COVID-19 has deepened old fault lines and created new tensions. Singapore has thankfully avoided major divisions among our people, and the pessimism and loss of trust that have happened elsewhere.

Trust in our system remains high. Singaporeans have cooperated with the government and complied with the COVID-19 rules, because the government has been open and upfront about the facts, and justified your faith that it is doing its very best to deal with the crisis.

- PM Lee

PM Lee Hsien Loong's New Year Message 2021: all out support for businesses and workers

A report by the Washington Post says that theft in the US has risen during this pandemic. What is striking is that this rise is driven by theft of essential food items, like bread and baby formula.

About 26 million American adults reported not having enough food to eat in Nov 2020. Many have lost their jobs and are desperate.

Singaporeans are fortunate. The Singapore Government went all out to support businesses and workers, digging into our reserves stored up through prudence, and set up a National Job Council to create jobs, opportunities and traineeships for Singaporeans.

This new year, let's count our blessings and be thankful for what we have, and work together for a brighter tomorrow.

In his new year message, PM Lee said:

The Government has gone all out to support our workers and companies, to prevent massive job losses and business failures. We passed five Budgets, totalling close to $100 billion. We drew heavily on our past reserves to help businesses and workers through the Jobs Support Scheme, the Self-Employed Persons Income Relief Scheme (SIRS), the COVID-19 Support Grant, and many other schemes. We set up new channels, virtual and physical, to help jobseekers get matched to employers that were still hiring.