Singapore’s next challenge is to defy the odds of history: PAP’s 4G leaders
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Two of Singapore’s fourth-generation leaders on Monday rallied Singaporeans to defy the odds of history, sketching their visions for a future of progress by ensuring differences did not tear the country apart.
In an impassioned end to his dialogue session at a conference on politics, Chan, 50, said: “What’s my vision for Singapore? Defy the odds of history, show the world how a small city state without natural resources, without a common ancestry can come together, add value to the world, contribute to the world and bring forth people with a common set of values and visions.”
Heng, 58, who spoke earlier in the day, said leaders from the ruling People’s Action Party would “make every effort to build a future of progress for Singaporeans in the coming decades” and urged the country to remain united against the backdrop of other nations seeing their political consensus fracture.
“The key imperative for our politics should be to manage our differences, expand our common purpose to engender a greater sense of ‘we’, and ensure that society can progress as one – together,” Heng said.
Chan said it was important to think beyond the current generation.
“[It] is also about our stewardship to leave behind something better for the next generation just as the previous generation has left us with what we have today. That every generation of Singaporeans will not fear because they will start from a higher platform to scale a higher peak, that every generation will lend our shoulders to the next to stand taller and see further,” he said to applause from the audience of 1,120, which included public servants, business leaders, academics and members of civil society groups.