Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong invited three younger ministers to speak at this year’s National Day Rally. They are Minister Heng Swee Keat, Senior Minister of State Lawrence Wong and Minister of State Halimah Yacob. Giving reasons for the change in format, Mr Lee explained that Singapore is in transition. Last year, he brought in new ministers to the Cabinet to have fresh people, fresh voices and the best team for Singapore.
| No | Date | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 26/08/12 | Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong - Part 4: Our Best Home Besides Hope and Heart, Singapore must always be the best home for everyone. Singapore must be a home where people want to get married and have children. Mr Lee also highlighted some of the ideas received by the National Population and Talent Division so far, including some form of paternity leave and Medisave for each child at birth. |
| 2 | 26/08/12 | Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong - Part 3: A Bigger Heart Besides Hope, the future Singapore must have a bigger heart. This means having care and compassion for the needy and the elderly. To build an inclusive society, the government will spend more on social services. But the widening of the social safety nets must be coupled with self-reliance and resilience. Besides social welfare, having a heart also means knowing how to treat one another. And one difficult area Mr Lee said we should be big-hearted is on the relations between Singaporeans and non-Singaporeans. |
| 3 | 26/08/12 | Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong - Part 2: Brighter Hopes PM Lee said that Singapore must always offer hope of a better future - an economy that creates opportunities for its people and a nation where children will live better lives than their parents. Mr Lee also announced that SIT and UniSIM will be Singapore's fifth and sixth universities. This will enable 40 per cent of each cohort to go to university, up from 27 per cent today. On pre-school education, Mr Lee announced that the government will play a more active role and invest substantial resources in this sector. To this end, a new statutory board will be set up to oversee pre-school education. |
| 4 | 26/08/12 | Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong - Part 1: A Home with Hope and Heart In his speech in English, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong touched on his vision for Singapore, 20 years from now - the next chapter in the Singapore Story. Mr Lee said Singapore must keep improving in a rapidly changing world or fall behind. The next chapter of the Singapore Story he said can be best summed up in three words: Hope, Heart and Home. |
| 5 | 26/08/12 | Education Minister Heng Swee Keat Education Minister Heng Swee Keat was tasked to lead a committee of younger ministers to engage Singaporeans in a national conversation called "Our Singapore" on Singapore's future. In his speech, Mr Heng gave the reasons for the national conversation. |
| 6 | 26/08/12 | Minister of State for Community Development, Youth and Sports, Madam Halimah Yacob In her speech, Minister of State for Community Development, Youth and Sports, Madam Halimah Yacob said that Singapore has not departed from the principles upon which it was founded. It continues to give opportunities to everyone, provided they are prepared to work hard. Madam Halimah also spoke on the need to help those who, due to personal circumstances or through no fault of their own, are unable to help themselves. |
| 7 | 26/08/12 | Senior Minister of State for Education and Information, Communications and the Arts Lawrence Wong Senior Minister of State for Education and Information, Communications and the Arts Lawrence Wong spoke about achieving happiness for the nation by creating opportunities, enhancing the quality of life, and building stronger communities. Mr Wong also gave details about the focus of the new Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY) which he will helm in November this year. |
