Speech by Minister Lawrence Wong at the MND EDGE Scholarship Presentation Ceremony

Jul 19, 2019


Good morning. I am very happy to join you this morning for the MND EDGE Scholarship presentation ceremony.  

We welcome 54 scholars today. 40 of you are new to the MND family; 14 of you are in-service staff who will be pursuing further studies. All of you bring diverse competencies and life experiences to the MND Family, and I would like to start by congratulating all our scholars, as well as your family members who are here. Well done to all of you! 

2019 is a special year for Singapore and MND. All of you would know that 2019 is the year of Singapore’s Bicentennial – its 200 years since the British came and set Singapore off on a different trajectory. 2019 is also the 60th anniversary of MND. When Singapore was granted self-government in 1959, MND was one of the first seven ministries that was set up in the Government then. HDB was formed soon after. MND and its statutory board HDB played a key role in Singapore’s early years of development. Public housing provided a foundation for nation building in Singapore. As Mr Lee Kuan Yew once recounted, if Mr Lim Kim San, who was then Chairman of HDB, had not made progress with public housing during those early and difficult years, Mr Lee himself would not have been re-elected in the fiercely contested election of 1963 – that was the first election after Singapore joined the federation, and Singapore would obviously have gone on a very different trajectory.
 
That is the kind of work that MND and our statutory boards delivered during those early years of nation building, and the work of MND continues today. Nation building never stops; it just continues to evolve with time. MND's first portfolio – the range of work that we did covered the land office, public works, road transport, agriculture, and even postal service and telecommunications; all within MND. Today, we have more Ministries – back then we only had seven, so MND’s portfolio is smaller, but the work is still very wide ranging – from planning our city, building housing towns, developing our built environment industry, to enhancing our City in a Garden. These are day to day issues that are close to the hearts of all Singaporeans.  

In dealing with these issues, we should be mindful of our constraints and current realities. We may have transformed from third world to first. But we are still a very small open economy, there are many things beyond our control, and we are vulnerable to uncertainties and shocks in the external environment, be it geopolitical tensions around the world, or a global economic slowdown – as we are already seeing today. We may be more prosperous now, but we are still a very tiny island with limited land and no natural resources. Whatever we have achieved today in Singapore cannot be taken for granted. Good housing, good jobs, rising wages, high standard of living, good quality of life – these are not the natural order of things. They have to be sustained through determination, hard work and effort.

As we look ahead, there are many more things we still need to do, to keep moving Singapore to a higher level and keep improving the lives of our fellow Singaporeans. For example, how do we design and build better housing towns and a better urban environment for all our people to enjoy? How do we continue to enhance our City in a Garden? How do we tackle longer-term challenges, like climate change and global warming, which are likely to happen, not perhaps in the next 10 to 20 years, but certainly over the 30 to 50 years’ time frame? And then how we deal with the consequences of global warming – extreme weather events, rising sea levels, and increased temperatures? Ultimately, how can we all play our part to keep Singapore a shining jewel and a special home for all of us, and for our future generations?  

All of you as our scholars can and will play a role in finding solutions to these challenges; solutions that can make a difference in the lives of your fellow Singaporeans.  

Bear in mind that innovative ideas and solutions come not just from yourselves, but also from the community. The MND Family has some 50,000 partners and volunteers whom we engage regularly. When you start work, you can go down to the ground, meet our stakeholders and partners, and work closely with the public. In doing so, you will help the MND Family build stronger partnerships and help us build a stronger nation too.

Many of our returning scholars have indeed hit the ground running and made important contributions in various fields. For example, our two emcees today are also returning scholars. Sherwin is a property market analyst at URA covering the private residential market. He researches market trends and does data analysis to help formulate policies. Nadia is a BCA officer. She helped to develop and implement the Construction Industry Transformation Map (ITM), it is a programme and a roadmap to help our contractors upgrade and transform, so that we can raise productivity in the construction sector. She has been involved in the development of the ITM and also with discussions with industry stakeholders and leaders. 

To all the scholars here, we will give you the opportunities to stretch yourself and do meaningful work in the MND family. But how far you go ultimately depends on your attitude and mindset. It’s all too easy to think that “I’ve already come this far, I’ve studied so hard, achieved good grades, and now I’ve got a scholarship to go to the University of my choice. All I need to do now is to take it easy, get a degree, and I’ll be set for life”. It is all too easy to think that way, but if you do so, I’m afraid you may very well be disappointed. What you have today is only the beginning of a journey of learning. There is still a lot of effort and hard work needed. Let me divert somewhat to share something I read recently about how high performance athletes and musicians learn. For example, if you think about any high performance athlete, or a musician or a performer, look at how they have excelled in their fields – it is only because they have committed a lot of hard work to training and improving year by year. Athletes obviously put in a lot of hard work to improve every year, they bother to do it because that is their livelihood, and they have to. Why should any of us have a different attitude towards life, why do we stop learning once we get into the workplace? That same commitment to learning must apply to all of us, you should learn like an athlete, commit to training, commit to learning, dedicate yourself to lifelong learning. You are starting a journey now in University, but it should really be a journey where you continue to learn, stay humble, keep learning, and always strive for excellence in whatever you do. If you have that kind of attitude and mindset, I assure you that you will be able to go far in life, and you can make a difference in the lives of Singaporeans, and truly contribute to society in a meaningful way. 

Today, you should all also appreciate those who have made it possible for you to embark on your journey. All of our scholars owe your successes and accomplishments not just to your hard work, but also to the many supportive people around you. I would like to pay tribute to the family members and loved ones of our scholars. All of you have played, and will continue to play, an important role in helping them pursue their passion. And I am sure that they are grateful to you for your unwavering support.

Finally, this is an exciting time to join the MND Family. We have just launched our Master Plan 2019, which sets out our plans for Singapore for the next 10 to 15 years. We have major plans over the decade to re-imagine, re-make and rebuild our city. We are embarking on our next phase of development. All of you will have the chance to shape this future city when you come back to work. I have confidence in all of you, and I certainly look forward to your contributions to build an endearing home and a better Singapore for the future. Congratulations once again and all the best as you embark on your next step. Thank you.