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New ‘Singapore Dream’ is more than just ‘material success’, No 2 leader Lawrence Wong says
- The 16-month ‘Forward Singapore’ feedback gathering exercise found Singaporeans were concerned about ‘fulfilment, meaning, purpose’, amid rising costs of living
- The report also featured what is seen as a tenet of Wong’s policy vision, to seek greater recognition of tradespeople in the city state
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Singapore’s No 2 leader Lawrence Wong on Friday touted a recalibrated “Singapore Dream” that focused on citizens’ yearning for a more purposeful life instead of just material wealth.
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Wong, the prime minister-in-waiting, said the nationwide “Forward Singapore” feedback-gathering exercise spanning 16 months and involving some 200,000 Singaporeans had found that people in the republic still had genuine concerns about housing and the cost of living.
“But from our engagements, it is also clear the Singapore Dream is more than just material success. It is also about fulfilment, meaning and purpose in what we do,” the national broadcaster CNA quoted Wong as saying in a press conference.
“This is not a top-down government agenda. This is very much a shared consensus, a co-created road map for our next round of nation building,” Wong said.
“That’s why I firmly believe the refreshed Singapore Dream is less about I, me, and mine; it’s more about we, us, and ours.”
The Forward Singapore exercise helmed by Deputy Prime Minister Wong was launched soon after the long-dominant People’s Action Party (PAP) last year elevated him to second-in-command, in effect making him the designated successor to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
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