Singapore National Day Rally 2009

This is our National Day Rally 2009. PM Lee is giving the speech.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• National Day Rally
• PAP
• PM Lee
• Lee Kuan Yew
• Singapore

[illusiveBeing]

I cannot understand why you choose to focus on the negative. You should be glad that you are born in Sg and given an education for you to think and be creative.

I presume you are young and idealistic, so perhaps you can be forgiven for your ideals. I am already crossing my half century mark and I can say that life is indeed better compared to the time when I was young. to be continued ..

[kojakbt]

Firstly, there is no denial of the contribution to Singapore by the PAP old guards. Remember, Singapore is not built by MM Lee alone. There were a whole bunch of old guards like Toh Chin Chye, Rajaratnam, Goh Keng Swee etc who helped lay the foundation and build our modern Singapore too.

I think one shouldn't just keep on romanticising on how well we have become after 44 years of independence. Sure, life is better now than 44 years ago. But moving forward, would we be even better or worse?

[Giveaplant]

->

US: Each citizen provides only $4496 for the country.

SG: Each citizen provides $48683 for the country.

by looking at (per citizen), we are far far better then US.

[kojakbt]

And most impt, the GINI indexes of Denmark, Norway, Ireland and Finland are much lower than Singapore's. SG's is the highest among the 1st world nations. That means to say, income distribution is uneven in Singapore. Most of GDP pie in SG goes to the rich.

[Kin94285]

How big is Singapore compared to these other countries?

Do u realize that most of the countries u state have natural resources? Their environment is different from Singapore.

Not that I want to pop ur bubble or to compare Sg against "lesser" countries but shouldnt u compare to countries that are nearer to ur geographical location, and maybe of the same size?

[kojakbt]

The point is, you want a better life for your own citizens, right? Hence, you compare with those countries which provide good life to their citizens, regardless of the geographic area. If you want to keep comparing with lesser countries in our region, we can all stop work now cause we have already beaten them several times round.

[kojakbt]

It is true that those countries I mentioned: Ireland, Finland, Norway, Denmark have got natural resources and we have zero but their economies are not driven entirely by their endowments.

Take Denmark for example, with very few natural resources, the economy of Denmark relies almost entirely on human resources. The service sector makes up the vast amount of the employment and economy. Its industrialized market economy depends on imported raw materials and foreign trade. We're no different.

[passwordnom]

Can't believe there are still so many of these pappy dogs barking for their despicable dictators here while poor Singaporeans suffer in silence.

[illusiveBeing]

MM Lee never said he built Sg alone.

Anyway, if you are generally concerned, get the job done right instead of being abusive. Do proper research on how many homeless and poor. See how much Sg can spend per year so that we can have the best balance between a welfare state and self reliance.

Seeing that you are so motivated, go forth and present clear facts rather than rely on old photos about the poor and homeless.

Like you, I don't wish to see old people working. It is just not right.

[illusiveBeing]

Sg can certainly improve further. I share the same concerns as you about the old and aged (especially when I am getting there) and the homeless. We can do with more kindness here.

There is a right way to help people and a wrong way. Your way started with wrong intention, more to glorify your own ego than to help the unfortunate.

Freedom of speech is actually freedom of right speech. Please put your creative energies to really make Sg and the world better.

[kojakbt]

Giveaplant, you made an error in your calculation. Per GDP capita of US is not so low. I think you miss out 1 decimal place. Anyway, from IMF (2008) data, per Capita GDP (nominal):

US: $46,859

SG: $38,972

Frankly, I would rather compare our situation with Denmark, Norway, Finland and Ireland. These countries are of roughly comparable population with Singapore's. The citizens there also enjoy much better quality of life:

NO: $95,062

DK: $62,626

IE: $61,810

FI: $51,989