"What is a defining characteristic of a Singaporean?"
"Do you see Singapore today as an inclusive society?"
These are some of the questions that were asked to Senior Minister of State for Law and Education, Indranee Rajah, at the hour long Pre-U seminar on Monday.
Students questioned the Senior Minister on issues such as the National Identity, integration and also the new internet regulations.
In reponse to questions about unity, Indranee responded that the best example was how Singaporeans came together during the SARS crisis a decade ago.
"That period showed singaporeans at their best. Because, despite the fact that we had this danger hanging over our heads, we went about doing our everyday jobs... I would call it tenacity; we just hang on in there. It is that sense that when it comes to the crunch, we will stand together and that despite the fact that when things are going well, we will grumble and complain, when the chips are down, we will all come together."
On what could be done to help the disabled become an asset of society, or to improve work-life balance, Ms Indranee candidly said the government does not have all the answers.
"When trying to achieve something on the national level, everyone has to play a part."
A students pointed out that Singapore would be an integrated society when we no longer needed to talk about integration.
When asked about the new internet regulations and whether or not they would restrict our freedom of speech, she gave a typical response that it was only bringing certain online publishers inline with current content standards.