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Singapore’s success

Nation

Say SG!

The National Day Parade on 9 August 1965 was a grand celebration. Red and white dominated the whole Padang and the sense of pride was palpable.  While no one used the word, it was very much an occasion to Honour Singapore and take pride in what had been achieved over 50 years:  we have an armed forces that is respected for its capability and professionalism racial and religious harmony in a society that Pew Research just a few months back had found to be the most religiously diverse country in the world an economy based on a well-tested tripartism of workers, employers…
Honour Singapore
August 16, 2015
Nation

Happy National Day… Honour Singapore!

SG50! We celebrate 50 years of independence today…it is our Golden Jubilee! Congratulations, People of Singapore, for 50 years of national freedom, independence, and sovereignty! 50 years in which Singapore has moved decisively, in GDP terms, from Third World to First World.  50 years in which we have experienced peace and security, while reading every day about flare-ups, terrorist attacks, and wars in many places of the world. 50 years in which we have enjoyed freedom from natural calamities such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis. These have been 50 years of being the master of our own destiny.  We had…
Honour Singapore
August 9, 2015
Uncategorized

HOW NEW LEADERS CAN SUSTAIN SINGAPORE’S SUCCESS

GIC group president and former civil service head Lim Siong Guan spoke on honour, wealth, leadership and Mr Lee Kuan Yew's legacy at a Business Times conference last Tuesday. Here are edited excerpts of his speech that were published in The Straits Times on 6 April 2015.  OFTEN when visitors come to Singapore, they are briefed on the Housing Board, the Central Provident Fund, the Urban Redevelopment Authority, the education system, the health system and so on. While these are critical factors, I believe there is a deeper cultural reason to explain Singapore's success since independence. The explanation lies in…
Honour Singapore
April 6, 2015
Uncategorized

WHAT THE HELL IS WATER?

 The late author David Foster Wallace began his commencement address to the graduates of Kenyon College in 2005 with:There are these two young fish swimming along and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says “Morning, boys. How’s the water?” And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes, “What the hell is water?”As Wallace explained, the point of the fish story is merely that the most obvious, important realities are often the ones that are hardest…
Honour Singapore
August 15, 2014