Daily Lessons from Life08 August 2013 - GDP growth forecast up, PM Lee says Govt to do more to build fair society

"GDP growth forecast up, PM Lee says Govt to do more to build fair society - The Straits Times Aug 08, 2013 SINGAPORE - "The economy is holding steady amidst global uncertainties. We are attracting more quality investments. Unemployment remains low," said Mr Lee in his National Day message. Singapore is changing too. The economy is maturing and our population is ageing. Different groups in society now have more diverse and even conflicting interests. Older Singaporeans worry about healthcare and costs of living. Younger ones aspire to wider education opportunities and more affordable homes. We must always have able, honest and committed leaders, who can be trusted to serve Singaporeans. We need a good Government that thinks and plans ahead, and more importantly feels for our concerns and hopes. That is the way to build a better Singapore - together." Singapore will be 48th years old come tomorrow 9th August 2013. It has done well economically for sure. It certainly deserved the tag: An economic miracle. Lessons for me are: 1. It is still about the economy given the 1st few lines of the headlines news. From a GDP and overall unemployment perspective, Singapore has done well. No doubt about it. Yet, there is a need to dig a bit deeper and go beyond the average and big numbers. All is not well given that the popular votes for the ruling government had dwindled to 60% from 66% in the last 2 GEs; 2. Much has been done to meet the dissatisfied voters' reasonable expectations - the young citizens who are starting a family on 'affordable public housing'. As for the old and older citizens who are concerned about cost of retirement and health care, the Health Ministry has yet to come up with its extensive study on how to revamp the health insurance that will not crippled a retiree's cash flow; 3. much more work had to be done still. The promise of 3/4 Singaporeans holding PME jobs in 2030 is a big IF. The 6.9m Population White Paper really has not conclusion as far as the divided nation is concerned. Having said that, a lot had been done for sure. As to if they are really effective or not, for some of them anyway, the jury is still out. e.g. the property prices do not seem to heed much of the many rounds of 'cooling measures' meted out. It is a never ending journey for our little Red Dot. We simply just have to keep moving forward until the roads are really all blocked. When that happened, we will find other ways to get over the blockage - somehow if we are not to be consigned to history as 'a nation that was'. Majulah Singapura and Happy 48th Birthday.