154th Fcuking Proud of Leegime Woh!

[makapaaa]

<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=452><TBODY><TR vAlign=top><TD>Editorial
</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width=452 colSpan=2>Published August 7, 2009

</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width=452 colSpan=2>Proud of Singapore, all year round

<TABLE class=storyLinks border=0 cellSpacing=4 cellPadding=1 width=136 align=right><TBODY><TR class=font10><TD width=20 align=right> </TD><TD>Email this article</TD></TR><TR class=font10><TD width=20 align=right> </TD><TD>Print article </TD></TR><TR class=font10><TD width=20 align=right> </TD><TD>Feedback</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>AS Singapore marks its 44th birthday on Sunday, there is much to be sanguine and celebratory about - and not just because over the past 12 months it weathered pretty darn well what was, at least on paper, its most severe recession to date.

With the economy having hit bottom, and hopefully no longer venturing southwards for now, the air of relief today is more than palpable, even if it's early days yet in the budding recovery. The externally inflicted recession did exact its toll - record declines in GDP, four quarters in the red, loss in business momentum and confidence, and the inevitable job losses. Yet, for all the daily deluge of bad news on the global and home fronts in the past months, there remained a sense that the Singapore economy itself was fairly healthy, even as it was buffeted by gale-force external headwinds. And sure enough, as soon as the first whiffs of rebound appeared, certain segments - the asset markets, property and equities, particularly - started to roar, as if with pent-up vengeance.
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</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>But, more than economic resilience, Singapore has going for it inner strengths of will and character that show in the determination and pragmatic prudence with which it tackles head-on the challenges it faces, at hand or decades away. It's why Singapore is seen as an oasis of calm, security and stability in the region, and why foreigners find it not just an easy but a good place to study, work and live in, if you're not in dire need of madcap or tumultuous excitement 24/7 in daily life. With some luck - and help from the major markets - the recession should become a blip in Singapore's economic annals by 2010. But if anyone thought that overcoming a recession of unprecedented proportions relatively quickly amounts to a huge conquest, Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong has outlined 10 'perils of success' that await the next generation - risks far more challenging than those he faced as prime minister, he said in a pre-National Day speech last weekend. The challenges Mr Goh listed centre on everyday issues - transport, health care, ageing, worker training, producing babies, brain drain, scarce land and, not least, high economic growth, material aspirations and religious harmony. Tackling the challenges - how to sustain economic growth and prosperity, how to keep health care affordable, how to support a population of old folks, etc - calls mainly for top-notch leadership with not only good, sharp minds but also heart and soul; foresight with fortitude, perhaps, for the inevitable difficult days. But dealing with the ever-rising economic demands of the next generation, or how to get overseas Singaporeans to eventually come home, may well be like trying to swim against the tide. Loyalty, pride and passion for the birthplace can be preached in school but they get internalised only in daily living. It's for Singaporeans to see, hopefully not only whenever National Day comes around, that daily living here does proffer much to instil pride and passion for the place.
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