Minister for National Development, Khaw Boon Wan, criticized young Singaporeans at the World Cities Summit Mayors Forum in front of 250 representatives from 50 different cities yesterday.
He spoke about the importation of foreigners into Singapore, saying that many felt 'unsettled', 'anxious' and even 'suspicious'. The minister also warned that if these sentiments turned into an anti-globalisation mood, the world would be poorer for it.
“Some of our youths are losing optimism, as they remain unemployed or under-employed for months or years."
Khaw recognized that many people are blaming the influx of foreigners for their lack of employment, but also pointed out that it is not just Singapore that was seeing 'greater competition' in the job market. He pointed to rapid changed in technology and globalization as the causes for this increased competition. It appears that the Minister does not recognize that there is a problem with the level of job competition in Singapore, he thinks that looking for a job for "months or YEARS" is a normal and acceptable consequence of globalization.
He said that it is the government's job to "steer the economy in the right direction and inspire the people". He said this would be through "strong leadership".
Again, it appears our government may be confused about what a 'strong' leadership to 'inspire' the people means. Implementing strict regulations and ruling with a strong iron fist is not the way to inspire the country.
Mr Khaw also urged cities to constantly transform to stay relevant saying that it is part of the process to make change sensitively to enable the people to feel that their lives are improving with the changes.
Perhaps the Minister should practice more of what he preaches or teach his own government how to make change 'sensitively'.
You just need to look at the recent changes to the MDA regulations to see that Singaporeans don't feel that our lives are 'improving'.