https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpwPciW74b8&ab_channel= have access to a whole world of information on the Internet it's an extremely open Society there's no doubt about it we are 11:31 unconventional in requiring in our laws that we have the right of reply when 11:37 foreign Publications publish something that we feel is false or misleading we just have the right of reply and when 11:42 Publications as you know very well uh refuse to publish a reply we impose 11:48 restrictions on them that affect the advertising revenues unconventional you might not agree with it but the larger 11:54 point is this I think we all need some humility 12:00 we all need some humility on the ways that best Advance a 12:05 liberal order to take Lord Griffith point this morning a liberal order economically socially and politically we 12:12 all need some Liberty some some humility as to how we achieve that not just for 12:17 today but for tomorrow how do you sustain it how do you best sustain it the most thoughtful observers in the 12:26 west of the view that you need some buffers you need some margins of safety 12:31 and you need some compromises on some Liberties in order to achieve others and the a free me the freest 12:40 possible media is not the only Liberty we aspire to I I do think it's a good idea by the way it appeals to my ideals 12:47 but it's not the only Liberty you aspire to you do aspire to a liberty of being 12:52 able to walk the streets freely particularly you're a woman or a child at any time of the night you aspire to 12:59 the liberty or living in a city that's not defined by its most disorderly elements you aspire to the liberty of 13:07 having an opportunity for an education and a job regardless of your race or your social background and you aspire to 13:13 Liberty or practicing your own religion without fear of bigotry or discrimination those are very important 13:20 Liberties in many societies and they're lacking in many societies well I I I think we're getting into a very 13:25 interesting area and Singapore to me is the sort of um body politic which we in 13:32 the west struggle to Define in a way because maybe we have a slightly sort of simplistic binary approach to this we 13:38 either want you know we look at free societies like I suppose mine or Western 13:44 European or the US models we would say free societies and then we would look at a a China for example and we'd say a a 13:51 not free Society you know they have capitalism of of A Sort but they certainly don't have democracy and we'd 13:58 say not free and dysfunctional politically you sit in neither Camp 14:04 unfor as far as we're concerned we can't really pigeon hole you but here's a thought for you maybe your system is 14:12 coming to A A Crossroads or a turning point because the digital age is changing things somewhat you know the 14:18 information flows and the the top- down approach that your Society has taken perhaps don't fit so easily into a 14:24 digital age and I just wonder you know when there are theories about the relationship between uh political 14:31 economy and Innovation and long-term sustainable economic Success Through 14:38 Innovation whether Singapore is going to have to change and whether the authoritarian model if you don't mind me 14:43 using that word is going to have to be reviewed and fundamentally adapted what 14:48 do you think so uh lean you would never have 14:55 expected that Singapore would remain what it is today forever uh I don't 15:01 expect and I don't think any of my colleagues in government expect it's going to remain this way forever it has to 15:06 evolve we start with the cards we are dealt with we start with history shapes 15:12 choices and the history I described briefly ear earlier on did shape choices it shaped social social choices it 15:19 shaped political choices but we must never be trapped by our history we have to keep evolving and it is it is a 15:27 worthy ideal to Aspire for a system where individuals 15:33 are well educated are good judges for thems of the information they read on 15:38 the Internet or on the media are able to make their own minds up I think that's a very that's a worthy idea to to to 15:44 Aspire towards but how do we do it in a way that's self- sustaining and to to 15:49 think that you simply if all forces are let loose whether it's the media or anything else that you're able to 15:55 achieve the Liberties that matter most to people safety freedom of of of religious belief 16:03 the freedom to Aspire in life and Achieve what you want through hard work those are very important Liberties but 16:08 simplistically put is there going to be room for more individualism in Singapore 16:14 yes it's in the future so if you look at Singapore today compared to not even 50 years ago 10 years ago it's a vastly 16:21 different place it's a vastly different place singaporeans are educated 16:28 discerned skeptical and critical people they know what's what there's no doubt about it 16:35 and Singapore continues to evolve it's a function of course of the fact that we've had some success in education it's 16:41 a function of the fact that as you say it's a digital world it's an open world so there's no doubt about it but let's 16:47 not think that we are all moving teleologically towards that destination that you now see in the United States or 16:53 UK we'll all have to evolve and we all need some humility as to so how we 16:59 progress democracy but will Singapore always be the kind of society where the government says ultimately you can't 17:06 live there because the quota for your particular ethnic grouping has already been reached you've got to go and live there is it going to be that kind of 17:12 society forever that's uh imponderable I think it'll be naive to think that uh 17:18 you can lift it and people will be will automatically gravitate towards uh 17:23 diverse uh neighborhoods and you won't in fact get the reverse because if you look at the most advanced democracies 17:30 that's exactly what's happened you have you have in the United States you have in France you have in 17:35 Germany you have even in the United Kingdom in the United Kingdom half the Muslim population lives in your bottom 17:42 10% of neighborhoods did it happen because of some random 17:49 chance or does it happen because that's the natural workings of society we have to address these facts honestly and 17:58 realize realiz that look human beings aren't perfect everyone has biases discomforts a sense of liking or 18:04 distrust for each other and there is a role of government and elected representatives to unify people and it 18:11 doesn't happen through speeches it means you need mechanisms you need instruments 18:17 they mustn't be too constraining on individual choice but you do need to constrain something and do you end up a 18:23 better Society or don't you that's the test not whether the government is right do you end up a society that people feel 18:30 more comfortable in that's the real test I'm I'm it's easy to talk about Singapore but quite frankly this is a 18:37 challenge we all face oh absolutely I mean listen I I know full well that the 18:42 sorts of issues that come out of of making uh an ethnically diverse Nation 18:49 work are extremely important to a whole bunch of Nations far beyond Singapore not at least my own but but it seems to 18:56 me you are now facing some of the problem that are other nations have have faced for quite a long time let's talk a 19:03 couple of specifics one immigration big issue in Singapore today in fact one could argue it's one of 19:08 those issues which is is prompting a new kind of very active passionate debate 19:14 where opposition is actually you know coming out onto the streets using the internet in ways that we haven't seen before because your government looks at 19:22 the demographics of Singapore looks at the need to keep growth going and thinks you know our own people aren't having 19:27 many babies is we are going to have to manage continued immigration into the country to the tune of I think by 2030 19:35 the plan was to turn a population of what 5.3 million into 6.9 million not a 19:40 plan but there were it wasn't a plan it was moted anyway and it drew an awful lot of opposition from native 19:46 singaporeans uh so what are you going to do you know you've got you've got this problem you need the numbers but 19:52 immigration like in so many nations around the world is now a hot and difficult political issue what are you 19:58 going to do so it's a it's a challenge that uh many countries face and small countries face it more than others 20:03 Switzerland faces it in a very um uh pointed way another small country that 20:08 um uh not only needs people for the sake of numbers but its companies need talent 20:14 and specialized skills to compete internationally but we are a society we are not just uh s Gallen uh or sto guard 20:23 or San Diego we are a country we are a nation and that means it has to be a 20:28 nation that people feel is their own it's got to have social mores and uh a 20:34 tone that people feel is Singaporean but with an openness that allows us to take 20:39 advantage of the skills and expertise and track records in networks or 20:45 foreign foreign foreign individuals so staying open but remaining Singaporean 20:52 at the core is what we have to achieve s a matter of balance what are you 20:57 actually bring in this new uh what 30% of your population by 2030 or not so we 21:03 we already at onethird of our Workforce that is foreign and we hope to keep it there as long as we can without letting 21:09 it rise indefinitely and that's uh something we Implement through Labor Market rules we've got levies we've got 21:15 Kar and so on uh but you you can't have a free-for all you can if you are one 21:21 city in a larger country but we are a country by ourselves and you need a balance and integrating foreign in our 21:28 society is just as important as thinking about the numbers just as important as 21:34 thinking about the qu quantity uh you've got to integrate people as well as you can and Singapore have to feel that yes 21:40 this is my country but I'm proud to be working in a worldclass team now another challenge you face uh 21:47 is on the size of government you know you've talked already with me about the 21:53 uh Investments made in housing for example uh and that's going to increase I know it's a huge part part of |