SPEECH BY MR ONG YE KUNG, MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND COORDINATING MINISTER FOR SOCIAL POLICIES, AT THE SPH MEDIA ASIA FUTURE SUMMIT, 9 OCTOBER 2025

Mr Khaw Boon Wan, Chairman, SPH Media Holdings & SPH Media Trust

Mr Chan Yeng Kit, CEO, SPH Media

Excellencies, distinguished guests

Ladies and gentlemen

1.          Thank you for inviting me to give the Closing Address and participate in the Q&A. I am very happy to join you today at this year’s Asia Future Summit. I thank all dignitaries, speakers and participants for the insights you have shared. I will close the conference with some thoughts – mostly on the attitudes and spirit that Singapore should have at this juncture of our very interesting history.

Kampungs

2.          Let me give a throwback to ‘kampungs’, which in Malay means village. There is only one left in Singapore, called Kampung Lorong Buangkok. Yet, in our HDB estates, we always describe our housing estates as ‘kampungs’. When you move around the estates, you see banners always describing it as ‘our kampung’. In my constituency, we have Kampung Admiralty. But those of us who had lived or spent time in kampungs will know that today’s HDB estates are a far cry from the kampungs of the old days. 

3.          Kampung living was very easy going. Everyone knew one another. In my kampung, we drew water from a well. My aunties would always cook a lot – and so long as you were in the kampung, you could go into the kitchen anytime and eat, so long as there was food. There was no strong sense of personal property, and that frustrated my mother a lot. Whenever she left an umbrella outside the house, it would be gone later. But you were free to take someone else’s. That was the social compact of the kampung. 

4.          Compare that with urban living in HDB estates today. We live in our own apartments, we cook our own meals, and we value our own personal space. And you better not take any items from your neighbour's house!

5.          So we are not being literal when we describe our HDB estates as ‘kampungs’. We cherish the modern facilities, we enjoy our privacy; in fact, we are constantly working very hard to improve the facilities there. But what we hope to bring back is the spirit of cohesion, the warmth and the care of kampungs. ‘Kampung’ is an expression of nostalgic endearment, reminiscing qualities that we missed, even as we develop new towns.

6.          I share this story to make a larger point. In our early years, Singapore’s hopes were straightforward: to move from mudflats to metropolis, we want modern roads, we want mass transit systems, comfortable housing, schools, hospitals. The only way was up, and our pioneers pursued progress with single-minded determination. 

7.          Today, our hopes are more nuanced. We want to leverage our high base of development to seize opportunities and progress further. But at the same time, we are nostalgic for the kampung spirit, we lament certain crafts and certain trades that are lost, we worry that old values and ethos may be weakened. In charting Singapore’s future, we are a bit like time travellers, navigating between the past, the present as well as the future. 

Stewardship and Enterprise

8.          Hence today, it is too simplistic for us to say we need the pioneering spirit of the first generation of Singaporeans, because our pioneers started with almost nothing. They were fearless, they were idealistic, they were fuelled by their ambition to achieve something audacious, and they have little to lose. They were like the founders of startups who devoted all their energy, all their resources, had very little to lose, but with the hope of creating a unicorn. 

9.          Today, First World Singapore is different, because we have a lot to lose. Our first instinct is and should be stewardship. We must avoid recklessness and wastage, never squander what an earlier generation built for us.    

10.      There is a Chinese saying “Wealth does not last beyond three generations” (富不过三代). The first generation builds, the second generation preserves, and the third generation unfortunately sometimes squanders it away. When that happens, it is a failure of stewardship.   

11.      There are many family businesses that did not last three generations. But there are also many that lasted many generations. For those who lasted, inevitably, there are stewards who made sure no one fights over what was accumulated, and energy is channelled to build capabilities and grow the wealth further. They form trust structures to separate shareholders from the management team; they hire the most talented people, not necessarily family members, to run the organisation.

12.      Countries that have accumulated wealth face the same challenge – the temptation to spend is there, and there is always a challenge to preserve. Years ago, I was in Switzerland and attended the St Gallen Symposium. I had a dialogue with a group of international students. One African student told me, "Minister, in Singapore you are so lucky that you do not have oil. In my country we have oil, and as a result it has led to corruption and our politicians are always fighting over how to spend the oil money."

13.      Her point was very striking – what we lacked in natural resources has forced us to focus on building strong institutions and human capital. Without striking any lottery of nature, we made our own luck.

14.      We must now guard against the squandering of accumulated wealth, including our national reserves, and we must do so with utmost seriousness. That is why we have an Elected President to help protect our reserves, and the Constitution of Singapore stipulates how the Government can use the returns of investment of reserves. 

15.      That said, there is also a risk to focusing only on stewardship. Because for every story of a new generation squandering away their inherited wealth, there is also one of atrophy, because they were so focused on protecting the past that they could not renew and keep up with the times. 

16.      It is often said that Singapore’s biggest threat today is complacency. But there are different kinds of complacency. One kind is associated with the hubris and decadence of success. Empires have fallen because of that. But there is also another that is being too timid, too inhibited, too constrained by tradition and old rules in order to chart bold new directions. 

17.      Professor Ray Huang said it quite well in his classic book on the demise of the Ming Dynasty, called ‘1587, a Year of No Significance’. He attributed the downfall of the Ming Dynasty to accumulated weaknesses in the system. His biggest punch, I thought, is in the last paragraph of the book. I will read it to you:

“A highly stylised society wherein the roles of individuals were thoroughly restricted by a body of simple yet ill-defined moral precepts…by that time the limit for the Ming Dynasty had already been reached. It no longer mattered whether the ruler was conscientious or irresponsible, whether his chief counsellor was enterprising or conformist, whether the generals were resourceful or incompetent, whether the civil officials were honest or corrupt, or whether the leading thinkers were radical or conservative – in the end they all failed to reach fulfilment.” 

18.      That is a very scary thought. By that time, it does not matter what kind of individuals you have – the entire system inhibits progress. Such severe societal inhibition is a far more insidious form of complacency. When we see hubris and decadence, at least we can recognise it and know it is wrong. But societal inhibition and timidity are dressed up as being loyal to the past, and faithful to the ethos and values that led to today’s success, and therefore not to be questioned. 

19.      There is an example in Netflix, in the corporate sector. Today, the company is synonymous with streaming entertainment. People may not remember that Netflix started in 1998, and their business was to rent you DVDs, sent to you by mail.

20.      But when technology advanced, Netflix went forward. They started a new business model where you paid a monthly subscription and you could rent as many DVDs as possible, and they would send it to you. But not content to rest on that success, Netflix took another bold step in 2007 to develop a streaming platform and invested in content, including its own production. 

21.      Netflix contributed to the demise of its old business of DVD rental, but by doing so it preserved its purpose of bringing entertainment instantly and conveniently to the world. 

22.      It is not enough to be a steward, especially in a fast-changing world with intense competition. We also need the courage to be enterprising, building upon what was handed to us, transforming it into something better. A failure to be enterprising to chart a new future is just as damaging as a failure to steward accumulated resources from the past. 

23.      In the final analysis, understanding how the environment has shifted, exercising judgement to know when to harness the courage and resources to seek a breakthrough, what to preserve, what to change, is one of the biggest challenges of this generation of Singaporeans. 

Health and Education

24.      I lived through two such balancing acts in the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education. I present this to you as case studies.

25.      Let me start with the Ministry of Health. For decades, our main preoccupation was the spread of infectious diseases like tuberculosis, cholera and measles. With better sanitation, hygiene, vaccinations and medications, these diseases came under control. As healthcare standards improved, infant mortality fell, and life expectancy rose all around the world.

26.      But we became victims of our own success. As people lived longer, we got non-communicable diseases, and took centre stage. Today, we worry about heart diseases, diabetes, cancers, dementia – driven partly by the lifestyles of progress and the modern day.

27.      That is why the measure of success of healthcare is no longer just lifespan, but also health span. Lifespan is just how long you live, health span is how long you stay healthy.

28.      A key mission in healthcare today is not just to prolong life, but to narrow the gap between our health span and our lifespan – in Singapore it is about 11 years – and that way our added years are healthier. That is why preventive care, population health, and better chronic disease management are at the centre of our healthcare strategy today. We are leveraging all our traditional know-how, skills, and strengths to pursue this new strategy.

29.      A similar dynamic between preservation and breakthrough is playing out in education. In the early years of nation-building, our priority was clear: reduce the dropout rates of students, keep the students in school.

30.      To achieve this, we developed a highly structured curriculum and introduced standardised national examinations like the PSLE. A major policy intervention was school streaming, teaching students differently according to their abilities, and that reduced dropout rates to great success.

31.      Years later, these very practices that worked also created rigidity and stress. Some students came to believe that they were only as good as the course they were placed in. With the rise of the knowledge economy and the Internet, rote learning to prepare for national examinations was no longer enough as well.

32.      Hence, in recent years we have injected more flexibility into the system. We reduced the number of school examinations, particularly mid-year examinations, to free up curriculum time for students to learn more.

33.      We gave every secondary school student a personal smart learning device, like the iPad. There is a risk that students get hooked on using the iPad and spend too much time on it, and some students did. But on balance, this was a necessary but bold move, given that devices have already become an integral part of our lives.  

34.      By making personal learning devices part of national education policy, we opened up a new mode of learning for students, and educators were now involved in guiding students to develop a positive relationship with technology, including AI. The latest OECD survey therefore showed that 75% of teachers in Singapore use AI to help them teach or to support students’ learning, which is more than double the OECD average.

35.      We phased out secondary school streaming in favour of a more refined arrangement, where students pursue each subject at a level that matches their strengths. Our schools, and especially Institutes of Higher Learning, now provide diverse pathways for progression, to cater to the different strengths and interests of students.

Charting our Future

36.      So these are case studies of health and education. Beyond these areas, how do stewardship and enterprise help chart Singapore’s future in a fragmented world? These are beyond my scope of responsibility, but let me offer some ideas as well.

37.      The theme (of the Closing Dialogue) is ‘Thriving in a Fractured World’. The world is fragmented in the sense that the post-World War II order has passed, America is no longer willing to bear the burden of underwriting global security, and we are entering into a multipolar world with the rise of China, India, and also the economic hefts of Europe and Japan. 

38.      But the world is actually still as globalised as ever, if you think about it, despite everything that has happened and the higher tariffs. In 2001, the year China joined the World Trade Organisation, world trade in goods and services was about US$7.6 trillion. In 2024, it was estimated to be US$33 trillion. Even if you take into account inflation, it is still a quantum jump.

39.      Modern travel is connecting people all around the world. Today, one flight can bring us to New York. In every major city we see a confluence of people from all continents. Practically everyone is on the Internet everyday – consuming news, videos and memes from all over the world, giving us glimpses of the happenings, the culture and the humour from different parts of the world. 

40.      Next year, the FIFA World Cup will be held in North America. In 2028 the Olympics will be held in Los Angeles. Just imagine – it is quite amazing – athletes from all over the world compete under a predetermined set of international rules. If you do not obey, you get disqualified.

41.      When you think about it, the world continues to be deeply connected and globalised, despite all the disruptions. It is also undergoing other tectonic changes. Other than Africa, every continent is ageing rapidly because people are living much longer. Climate change will alter the world in profound and irreversible ways. We have yet to fully comprehend the impact of technological advances like AI, which at this stage is probably only at the equivalent of the Cambrian explosion. To describe the world as fragmented is probably oversimplifying.

42.      Every industry, every aspect of public policy will need to chart new paths ahead because of all these big changes happening around us. Singapore, we are small, we are nimble, which means when the land shifts below us, we are agile and we can quickly find our new footing and reposition ourselves. There is a lot going for us.

43.      What can be some of Singapore’s new goals? First, big power contestation and tariffs have disrupted existing trade, redistributed the global division of labour, creating new flows of commerce. Southeast Asia has as a result, benefitted from increased manufacturing investments, and intra-Asia trade continues to grow strongly.   

44.      PSA, our seaport, and Changi Airport are like the two lungs of our economy, injecting oxygen into the rest of the economy and every sector, and plugging Singapore into the vast international network of sea lanes and aviation routes. No matter how trade pattern shifts and changes, through PSA and Changi Airport, we can maximise options and flexibility, and this applies to all businesses, you can trade freely with different parts of the world. As trade flows through Singapore, it brings along new activities, energy and dynamism. Singapore can be a nexus of the global supply chain.    

45.      Next, geopolitical contestation can put multinational companies in a bind. Some of them, because of their country of origin or where they are located geographically, find that their access to markets can be affected. Sudden and frequent policy changes add to the uncertainty. 

46.      In such a climate, Singapore offers a stable and credible environment to do global business. This is because of our reputation, rule of law, strong protection of intellectual property rights, excellent infrastructure, political stability and our good relations and access to all major markets. As a result, multinational companies from all over the world – US, China, Europe, Japan, India and beyond – have located their global or regional headquarters, and core functions, here. Singapore is where they strategise and execute global operational plans. We can stand out as a trusted hub for decision-making.

47.      Third, although Singapore is renewable energy-disadvantaged, we have very little solar, we have very little wind, we have charted a trajectory to evolve into a more sustainable economy. We plan our land use meticulously, incorporating as much green space as possible. We control our vehicle population like no country does, and by 2040, we have the goal of substantially transitioning all private vehicles to be low-emission. We have implemented an economy-wide carbon tax, so that business decisions take into account the environmental cost of carbon emission. We aim to have emissions peak before 2030 and achieve net zero by 2050. 

48.      Singapore is too small to make a difference to global emissions, but through the unique policies of our national Green Plan, we can be a model for sustainable development.     

49.      And finally, for companies seeking breakthroughs, Singapore also offers a springboard for future growth. To do so, we have to create the right environment for innovation. We will need the talent base, the right research and innovation ecosystem, and a small but sophisticated reference market to try out and scale new products and services.

50.      We also need to ensure that regulatory practices and rules do not stifle innovation. This is something we need to continue to work hard on. Rules and regulations are always well-intentioned, they accumulate over time, and we have grown comfortable with them sometimes. That is why it takes a lot of enterprising zeal to review, streamline or even sunset them, but it is a necessary act of enterprising courage. If we succeed, we can re-engineer Singapore to be a crucible for innovation.

51.      A nexus for global supply chains, a trusted hub for decision-making, a model for sustainable economic development, and a crucible for innovation – these are some of the promising possibilities we can create for Singapore’s future in this new world.

52.      Gustav Mahler is a prominent composer and conductor of the 19^th century. He once said “Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire.” I believe a combination of a strong sense of stewardship and enterprising courage will usher in Singapore’s continued success. This demands responsibility, prudence, renewal and courage. Only then can we ensure that the fire of tradition continues to illuminate our path towards the future. Thank you.