[h=1]GOH CHOK TONG: I CAN SEE AN AVALANCHE OF SOCIAL ISSUES COMING[/h]
Post date:
24 Apr 2015 - 11:05am
Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong thinks that the Singapore society will go through a major upheaval.
"I can see an avalanche of social issues coming," he said this at the launch of the National University of Singapore (NUS) Social Service Research Center today.
"The social challenges of Singaporeans in the next 50 years will be drastically different from those in the last 50," he also said.
Mr Goh also said that he "social climate change" is currently happening in Singapore and "takes place imperceptibly and you see the effects only long after it has become irreversible", The Straits Times reported.
Mr Goh also said that he believed that three things will influence social change in Singapore, namely on demography, technology and social expectations.
On demography, he pointed to the "an aging and declining population" and how cross-border marriages will make Singapore more diverse and which could have effects on the Singapore identity.
He also said that technological change and the use of mobile devices and social media will have an effect on social interactions.
Mr Goh also felt that there is a rising middle class which might have different social expectations, as well as fears of what to expect of the future.
As such, he said that more research should be done to understand these changes.
The Social Service Research Center has thus been set up to work with "policy makers and social service agencies to develop and test social programmes and services", it was reported by The Straits Times.
The Straits Times also reported that the centre will be led by Professor Paul Cheung and Associate Professor Irene Ng. They arre both from the NUS's social work department.
Mr Goh is not the first person to mention that social change has been affecting the social fabric in Singapore. Many academics and civil society actors as well as the media have been pointing out the effects of not only how immigration and demographic changes will affect Singapore, but also how the economic policies of the current ruling party, the People's Action Party, and the cultural erosion, also has an impact on Singapore.
For example, just last month, the Lien Centre for Social Innovation at the Singapore Management University launched the Handbook on Inequality, Poverty and Unmet Social Needs in Singapore.
“There is growing public awareness and increasing government action to address the diverse needs of the diverse group of low-income Singaporeans," Dr Tan Chi Chiu, Chairman of the Lien Centre for Social Innovation, said.
Mr Jonathan Chang, Centre Director of Lien Centre for Social Innovation, also said that the handbook "has been more than three years in the making".
Clearly, social issues have taken centre stage over the past few years and it is perhaps the government that has not responded as swiftly.
For example, even as Singapore today has the highest income inequality and poverty among the developed countries, Minister for Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth Lawrence Wong still claimed last year that income inequality has stabilised and then-Minister for Social and Family Development Chan Chun Sing also refused to define a poverty line, in spite of Singapore having an estimated poverty rate of 30 percent.
In fact, when Associate Professor Tilak Abeysinghe pointed out that 30 percent of Singaporean households have to spend 105 to 151 percent of their incomes and cannot earn enough to even spend on basic necessities, he was wrongly criticised by the government.
But it is impossible to ignore the ballooning of social problems in Singapore now and the government might finally be acknowledging this.
Still, as Mr Goh said, many of the social effects can only be seen much later on and they can also be irreversible. If so, the Singapore society might be fundamentally change and it is even more urgent to study the impacts and how policies need to be geared towards addressing them.
Post date:
24 Apr 2015 - 11:05am
Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong thinks that the Singapore society will go through a major upheaval.
"I can see an avalanche of social issues coming," he said this at the launch of the National University of Singapore (NUS) Social Service Research Center today.
"The social challenges of Singaporeans in the next 50 years will be drastically different from those in the last 50," he also said.
Mr Goh also said that he "social climate change" is currently happening in Singapore and "takes place imperceptibly and you see the effects only long after it has become irreversible", The Straits Times reported.
Mr Goh also said that he believed that three things will influence social change in Singapore, namely on demography, technology and social expectations.
On demography, he pointed to the "an aging and declining population" and how cross-border marriages will make Singapore more diverse and which could have effects on the Singapore identity.
He also said that technological change and the use of mobile devices and social media will have an effect on social interactions.
Mr Goh also felt that there is a rising middle class which might have different social expectations, as well as fears of what to expect of the future.
As such, he said that more research should be done to understand these changes.
The Social Service Research Center has thus been set up to work with "policy makers and social service agencies to develop and test social programmes and services", it was reported by The Straits Times.
The Straits Times also reported that the centre will be led by Professor Paul Cheung and Associate Professor Irene Ng. They arre both from the NUS's social work department.
Mr Goh is not the first person to mention that social change has been affecting the social fabric in Singapore. Many academics and civil society actors as well as the media have been pointing out the effects of not only how immigration and demographic changes will affect Singapore, but also how the economic policies of the current ruling party, the People's Action Party, and the cultural erosion, also has an impact on Singapore.
For example, just last month, the Lien Centre for Social Innovation at the Singapore Management University launched the Handbook on Inequality, Poverty and Unmet Social Needs in Singapore.
“There is growing public awareness and increasing government action to address the diverse needs of the diverse group of low-income Singaporeans," Dr Tan Chi Chiu, Chairman of the Lien Centre for Social Innovation, said.
Mr Jonathan Chang, Centre Director of Lien Centre for Social Innovation, also said that the handbook "has been more than three years in the making".
Clearly, social issues have taken centre stage over the past few years and it is perhaps the government that has not responded as swiftly.
For example, even as Singapore today has the highest income inequality and poverty among the developed countries, Minister for Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth Lawrence Wong still claimed last year that income inequality has stabilised and then-Minister for Social and Family Development Chan Chun Sing also refused to define a poverty line, in spite of Singapore having an estimated poverty rate of 30 percent.
In fact, when Associate Professor Tilak Abeysinghe pointed out that 30 percent of Singaporean households have to spend 105 to 151 percent of their incomes and cannot earn enough to even spend on basic necessities, he was wrongly criticised by the government.
But it is impossible to ignore the ballooning of social problems in Singapore now and the government might finally be acknowledging this.
Still, as Mr Goh said, many of the social effects can only be seen much later on and they can also be irreversible. If so, the Singapore society might be fundamentally change and it is even more urgent to study the impacts and how policies need to be geared towards addressing them.
