Motion on President’s Speech – September 2025
Chua Kheng Wee Louis
Introduction
Mr Speaker, as we mark SG60 this year, it is clear that Singapore has attained significant achievements by most standards. From third world to first, from mudflats to metropolis, as the Singapore story goes. Today, Singapore stands as the world’s fourth richest country by GDP per capita, at US$93,956 according to the IMF's 2025 projections, and ranks 26th globally by total GDP notwithstanding our modest size, making us ASEAN’s second-largest economy, surpassing Thailand which has a population exceeding 71 million.
We often label ourselves a small country with “limited resources, no hinterland of our own,” but perhaps in this century, physical size and natural resources have become secondary. Singapore’s population exceeds most of the top 10 GDP per capita countries, and many of which do not enjoy abundant natural resources. Africa’s struggles with the “resource curse” remind us that natural endowments are no guarantee of prosperity.
I’m sure everyone knows of Nvidia, now the world's most valuable company at more than US$4 trillion or roughly S$5.5 trillion. Yet, it employs merely 36,000 workers. Consider instead one of the largest palm oil plantation companies listed on the SGX, which employs over 100,000 workers and yet creates far less value, with a market capitalisation of about S$4billion. Which model do we aspire towards? Human capital and financial resources now loom larger than natural endowments or physical space. According to a recent article from the Financial Times, they believe GIC could well be the world's largest sovereign wealth fund, with assets worth somewhere between US$1-2 trillion, a testament to Singapore’s success in capital accumulation at the national level.
Yet a troubling paradox remains. According to ADP Research, 60% of Singaporeans are living paycheck to paycheck as of 2024, a figure that surpasses regional neighbours like China, South Korea, Japan, and Indonesia. Why is cost of living the top voter concern according to the IPS post-election survey, when we are supposedly one of the richest countries in the world? In our day-to-day interactions, we witness residents anxious about their financial security and seeking help through Meet-the-People Sessions.
Moreover, are Singaporeans truly happy and satisfied? Though ranked the world’s third happiest city by the Institute for the Quality of Life in 2025, one can’t help but feel a healthy dose of scepticism, as to whether this reflects the lived reality of most Singaporeans. Numerous surveys in recent years point to widespread workplace burnout. One in four primary school students experienced bullying. And we see all these manifestations of anxieties and stress around us—from growing neighbour disputes and noise complaints, to road rage and superiors lashing out against junior employees. What gives?
Our Economy at the Crossroads
Singapore’s economy is at the crossroads. Economic growth, growing the pie, has always been the Government’s fundamental goal, and DPM Gan Kim Yong recently affirmed that we should “grow as much as we can,” aiming for rates faster than the eventual 2-3% long-term target. This is not wrong in principle, but we must now ask: is it more important to grow the pie, or to grow most Singaporeans’ share of the pie.
President Tharman reminds us, “the old playbook is no longer sufficient.” Yet in the short term, much remains largely unchanged.
On the capital front, the focus remains on attracting FDI, to anchor multinational corporations here. Singapore is still keen to continue incentivising MNCs in spite of BEPS2.0 and the global minimum tax. And with regulatory certainty and the rule of law in place in Singapore, as opposed to what we are seeing in the US right now, I am sure there will be companies keen to locate themselves here.
On the labour front, again in this fractured world, there will be many who will want to call Singapore home. Non-resident employment growth continued to stay at elevated levels of 152,000 across 2023 and 2024 according to MOM statistics, reflecting both the demand and supply of non-resident labour.
However, there are limits to growth by boosting capital and labour. The world’s largest economy, the United States, increasingly ties trade agreements to domestic investment for tariff reductions. How will global supply chains shift, and will Singapore’s economic relevance endure in this new world order?
Meanwhile, Singapore’s population has touched 6 million, raising questions: how much further can we drive economic growth through workforce expansion, in one of the most densely populated cities in the world? While the Government had anticipated for our population to remain well below the 6.9 million mentioned in the 2013 Population White Paper, a 2% annual increase, the same rate as that of last year, would see us reach roughly 6.8 million by 2030; even at 1%, we would still hit 6.4 million.
So, Mr Speaker, I fully agree with our President that we need to urgently rethink our playbook.
Reshaping Our Economy – Growing Our Own
I acknowledge that we have been attempting to refresh our economic strategies. Singapore has never lacked task forces and committees: the Economic Strategies Committee launched in 2009, the Committee on the Future Economy in 2016, which was followed by the Future Economy Council, Future Economy Advisory Panel, Industry Transformation Maps, then the Emerging Stronger Taskforce in 2020, and most recently the Economic Strategy Review and Singapore Economic Resilience Taskforce this year. Many even have multiple subcommittees of their own.
However, if we take stock of where we are today, our economy remains very much driven by attracting global MNCs and capital. This is a model that’s prevailed since Albert Winsemius advised Singapore in the 1960s. Looking at the share of value-added to indigenous workforce and citizen-owned companies, this declined from roughly 70% in the late 1980s to 50-60% in the decade prior to 2015. Unfortunately, MTI shared in response to my PQ in 2022 that the DOS ceased indigenous GDP and GNI data compilation from 2011 and 2016 respectively due to perceived lack of public interest.
But these numbers are crucial. The Yearbook of Statistics 2012 noted eloquently that Singapore's economic development depends heavily on foreign capital, foreign technology, and foreign workers, with a large share of employee compensation and operating surplus accruing to foreigners and foreign enterprises. “Per capita Gross National Income as conventionally defined on a residential basis may not therefore reflect correctly the income accrued to Singaporeans”. How, then, can we reverse this? How many home-grown Singapore firms have become global giants?
AI is the buzzword of the day, prompting reflection. You don't need huge physical space or underground natural resources. Mira Murati's Thinking Machines Lab is valued at US$12 billion with just around 50 employees. Why don't we have our own OpenAI equivalent, despite Singaporean students having one of the best math and science PISA scores for decades?
When local entrepreneurs succeed, many still choose overseas listings and foreign bases to access supportive ecosystems. This despite our financial hub status and acclaimed business friendliness.
PM Wong’s addendum to the President’s Address highlights investing in productive capacity, ensuring stable tax, customs, regulatory environment, and infrastructure investment. To me these are necessary but insufficient conditions, as what President Tharman said, "Above all, we must foster an outgoing and experimental spirit among our enterprises and people".
Reinvigorating Our Workforce – Securing Jobs Today and in the Future
In the near term, it's crucial to prevent a lost generation by securing jobs. Young graduates are justifiably anxious. AI-driven, seniority-biased technological change may disproportionately impact juniors and entry-level workers.
The GRaduate Industry Traineeships (GRIT) Programme is a good start, but full-time entry-level role creation must be incentivised, for example, reintroducing the Jobs Growth Incentive for fresh grads. If GRIT@Gov traineeships mimic full-timer duties, the government should take the lead in levelling pay and benefits.
Long term, reinvigorating our workforce demands that our education system foster critical thinking and independent learning, not rote memorisation. As Alvin Toffler wrote in 1970, “The illiterate of the future are not those who can’t read or write but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.”
Replacing Ourselves – Raising Our Total Fertility Rate
More pressing still is raising our Total Fertility Rate (TFR), which slipped below 1.0 in 2023 and stayed low in 2024.
Looking at our population pyramid, one might be forgiven for thinking we don't have an ageing population, thanks largely to immigration. We recently debated the families motion, and without repeating myself, our low TFR remains an existential threat to Singapore and our identity.
President Tharman pledged: "In this term, we will do more to help parents better manage their work and family commitments, and work with stakeholders such as employers and community partners to build a culture that celebrates and values families".
Minister Indranee has said earlier that our marriage and parenthood policies are not incremental. But perhaps the most urgent task force we need now is one to tackle the critical challenge of our record-low TFR. Do we show the same resolve in tackling population as we do economic challenges? Because without enough Singaporeans, there will be no Singapore economy to speak of.
Our Biggest Challenge – Refraining from Rent-Seeking Behaviour
Ultimately, our greatest challenge in my view is how to refrain from rent-seeking or rent-maximisation behaviour as a society.
To develop an entrepreneurial culture and let a thousand flowers bloom, we must encourage open-mindedness and diversity of ideas. More entrepreneurs mean more risk-takers. But this also requires robust social safety nets, so Singaporeans can pursue entrepreneurial or vocational change without risking destitution.
We see rent-seeking across our society: individuals buying investment properties, prompting ABSD measures; companies prioritising property over their core business; even a government that focuses on maximising rents and nothing less than market value for land, lest it be seen as raiding the reserves.
But such behaviour permeates every corner of the economy, raising costs everywhere. We must set the right tone at the top. Policy should not inadvertently reward the highest bidder at the expense of wider societal outcomes.
I am encouraged that there are initiatives for more price-quality tenders downstream, and as a matter of policy, whether it’s for GP clinics or hawker stalls, we need to move away from simply awarding sites based on the highest price alone. I agree with Minister Ong Ye Kung in his response to the $52,000 monthly rental bid for a GP clinic at a HDB estate, where he shared that: “this must translate to higher cost of healthcare one way or another”, and that “higher rental bids do not necessarily translate to the best healthcare that the community needs.”
Upstream, however, we must go further. State land forms part of our reserves, but excessive land prices push up development costs and rents, impacting tenants and consumers. As a local C-suite member of one of Asia’s largest real estate groups has recently shared, in Singapore, land costs now form roughly 70% of total project development expenditure, up from just 4% in the 1980s for Raffles City. These costs inadvertently get passed down. Perhaps it’s time to consider reviving two-envelope or concept-and-price land tenders, focusing on desired development outcomes beyond highest bids.
Mr Speaker, allow me to say a few words in Mandarin.
第十五届国会在一个关键的时间点开议，我们任重道远。国家正面临严峻的挑战：地缘政治、美中之间的角力、贸易战，以及人工智能带来的革命性变化，都将考验国人的集体智慧和韧性。
总统慷慨陈词，强调团结、信任和一个以“我们”为优先的社会。我认为“团结” 和 “我们” 为优先的新加坡精神并不是大家异口同声，而是我们能够针对问题，以理智开放的态度交换不同的意见。一直以来，工人党的议员在国会是少数。但我相信工人党议员的存在，能体现出多元声音的价值，更能完善总统和总理所说的 “我们” 为优先的新加坡精神。
尤其接下来的五年，国际局势的变数和全球经济的转型将会越来越快速，如何集思广益，应对急剧的变化，是我们必须做的功课。所以我希望政府能以客观、理性和开放的态度，聆听来自国人不同的意见。
从一个政策制定的角度来看，有些核心议题是环环相扣的。比如，人工智能和经济转型带来的各种问题。总理提到，新加坡要拥抱人工智能来提高生产力，创造新的就业机会。我们认同人工智能和新科技确实能帮助企业提升效率、推动创新，但同时也必须看到，它将永久改变就业环境。如果我们不及时准备，许多新加坡人会被抛在后面。
为了确保没有人掉队，我们必须在短期内加大稳就业政策，鼓励公共部门和私营企业增加就业机会。同时，工人党也呼吁政府加强社会安全网，以应对人工智能所带来的冲击。
最关键的是，在人工智能时代，教育不应该只是为了考试，而是要为人生做好准备。我们需要让教育和经济需求保持一致，更需要帮助学生培养重要的软技能。这些人性特质是人工智能无法取代的，也是未来社会与经济发展所必需的。
总而来说议长先生，一个以“我们”为优先的社会，也需要我们坚持集体利益高于个人利益的原则。但团结不能建立在不平等之上，当国家取得成功却仍有众多民众感到被遗忘时，信任便难以维系。我们需要的不仅是经济增长，更需要包容性增长，确保每位新加坡人都能共享国家未来。衡量我们成功的真正标准，不在于GDP排名或主权财富基金规模，而在于年轻的新加坡夫妇能否负担得起组建家庭，我们的长者能否体面地退休，以及我们的孩子是否愿意将这座岛屿称为家园。
