'Don't do anything crazy': PM Lee advises younger ministers to maintain their dignity on social media
He said the Government worked with the Malay/Muslim community, religious teachers and community groups to talk openly about the issue, and guard against people becoming radicalised. PM Lee said the most difficult issue, and a long-term challenge, is managing the inherent tensions between wanting social cohesion among Singaporeans and being open to immigrants and foreign workers.
“There have been these challenges in the last 20 years, and there will definitely be similar challenges in the future,” he said.Asked what is to stop Singapore from moving towards a welfare state as it seeks to become more inclusive, PM Lee said this would entail the Government spending about 45 per cent of the gross domestic product and raising about 40 per cent of that via taxes, like some European countries.
“We have to be able to afford it to spend it,” he said, noting that the GST had to be raised from 7 per cent to 9 per cent to pay for steadily rising healthcare expenditure. “It is very considerable. Of course, people will always say ‘please do more’ and we will keep on improving.”Singaporeans should work hard and be prudent. If things turn out well, everybody can enjoy the upside, he added.Singapore’s ethnic Chinese have never been a unified collective, said PM Lee.Community organisations must move with the times, to cater to the needs of the era, he said.
The proportion of Malay professionals, managers, executives and technicians has also risen. “These are wins which happen quietly, year by year, bit by bit, and you may not notice it, but I think we should be proud of it,” he said. “You are not the same, and therefore you have to find ways to bridge that gap with each other. And that is something which is continuing work,” he said.
“It is unconscionable, it is inhuman, really... but there is also a religious element to this feeling,” he said. PM Lee hopes that Singaporeans, whether Muslim or non-Muslim, will understand the need for the country to stay together and have a national position, even if personal views differ.
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