Most readers will know that Singapore has just concluded its General Election with signs of sophistications among the electorate and majority votes for status quo. I am interested in discussing politics but more importantly, I will like to continue to make Singapore my home. So here are a few challenges that our Government can look at to make Singapore continue to be stronger and better, continue to not only survive but to thrive, to continue to embrace diversity while maintaining rationality and understanding among the groups of people.

Growing Senior Population - Healthcare & Family Care

Due to a recent issue, I started to realise that taking care of the Silver Generation is not so straightforward. If one is to ask around, there are generational issues too. How so? Singapore benefited from very fast growth causing a large gap in understanding how the world works. Earlier generation grow in the era where material comfort are rare, and because of Singapore's fast growth, parents of that generation enjoyed material comfort to a large extent. To them, material comfort and being able to afford them counts as a strong achievement. However, the next generation which are mostly highly educated folks, their thinking will be very different. They enjoyed tremendously the material comfort that their parents are able to afford, and thus they move on to the next wealth they can afford to build, and that is the mental and actualization "wealth". Thus you can see these generation of folks ask for mental health initiatives, work-life balance, etc.

This resulted in tension between two generations. The senior generation feels that the younger generation is beholden to them, and demand respect from their children and more, such as MUST take care of their needs and wants. If the parents are more empathetic, the needs and wants are manageable, if not things can get really ugly. Once the situation get towards a downward trajectory, maintaining a physical distance is a good solution between family members. Not forgetting that it is extremely difficult to hold a full-time position while taking care of a senior. Because of the issue I mentioned earlier, I realize a solution of providing a physical distance between estranged family members is very limited given the high price. Let me share more details here: If the working member wants to move out, renting a HDB room right now can go from SGD900 to SGD1,300. That will be estimated 25% of a fresh graduate pay right in Singapore. Not taking into account the CPF deduction which will bring the take home pay even lower. Now switch it around, ASSUMING there are available places in nursing home, it minimally cost $3,450 per month (without subsidies) to place a senior in one. Simple mathematics will tell you that will cost an estimated 60% of a fresh graduate salary, and this is for a single parent.

While there are means-testing to determine the subsidies level, I felt that the biggest assumption is that the children are willing to contribute (substantial) amount to the nursing fees, but is that true? If you happen to have a parent that really did not care too much about you, and just did the bare minimum so as to be seen as responsible...you think you will put a substantial amount to take care of him/her?

Because of the family issue, I realise that a handful of my friends has similar issues, and the lucky ones are those that manage to create a physical distance between them and their estranged parents, usually through moving out of the house. And we all know the affordability of housing in Singapore is up for contention always.

I am hoping Singapore government, especially Minister Ong, who is likely to continue on the population health portfolio to push for more solutions to help Singapore and families to take care of their seniors while still being productive and contribute to the nation. Please see that designed solutions are not taking care of seniors alone but also the family members who are taking care of them too.

Becoming that AI Hub

I like that Singapore wants to be the AI Hub! However, I felt that when it comes to execution, we lack boldness and too risk adverse. While in terms of capital, there are abundance in Singapore, but to be an AI Hub is never about throwing money at the problem and hoping that will solve it, and Singapore can never "out-throw" countries with natural resources, since Singapore does not have any natural resources. Here is a strategy that I hope Singapore can adopt:

Research Niche

Singapore's National Research Foundation needs to determine a research niche that takes advantage of Singapore's uniqueness, it could be a software or hardware niche. Starting placing resources there, for instance, source and attract the current top research talents and have them work together with local academic researchers.

Commercialization & Talents

Once we have established the research niche, the next step is commercialization and sell the research overseas. To achieve that, Singapore's capital position is definitely an advantage but will need experts to differentiate the real business and the fraudsters that are there for the money. For commercialization to work, talents are required. Talents takes time to seek, train, deploy and retain.

Personally, if Singapore has ambition to be a vibrant AI hub, it is best to consolidate and train the talents through a government institution rather than leaving it to private sector. Private sector will always be biased towards short term quick profits, which translates to getting as many students through the door and out of the door quickly, finding instructors that are willing to teach at the lowest rate. These can never be aligned with what matters the most to the government and that is training job-worthy talents to bring the commercialization to fruition.

Increase Jobs and Use Cases

While training up the talents, we need to take care of the other side of the coin, and that is the demand for talents, a.k.a. creating jobs. Creating jobs takes a long while as it is a commitment from businesses. The long incubation period warrant a more consistent effort to continuously educate business on the need to adopt AI. This cannot be left to the private sector, but rather the government to achieve, with efficient use of taxpayer's money.  With job creation, this can lead to more use cases. This increase in use cases is needed to move to the next step, to be seen as a maturing AI hub.

AI Governance Framework and Regulations

AI Governance is always a "Goldilocks" problem. Too tight and it hurts innovation, a key driver of economy. Too lenient and it can hurt business, consumers and government, a situation we hope not to see it often. So how can Singapore have an AI Governance Framework that hits the sweet spot? Use cases! The more use cases we have, the better we will get at setting a framework that benefits all stakeholders of AI. A thriving economy together with a robust AI governance framework will be the hallmark of an AI Hub in my opinion.

To be an AI Hub requires capital, talented and skilled employees combined together with proper planning and execution. I hope the relevant ministries and agencies can come together to discuss, plan and execute the strategy quickly as other governments are catching up. We may need a coordinating minister to make this move quickly if Singapore is retain its 3rd position in the world.

Cost of Living

Cost of living issues has been on everybody's mind in the past two years. Granted that it is a world-wide phenomenon but I felt that our Singapore government can do more about it. Let me start by saying that I agree GST needs to be raised to manage the silver population, however, I felt the timing can be postponed a few more years rather.

Look, anytime GST is raised, prices are bound to increase, but what is more important is does our government has the ecosystem to manage that increase, to make business owners of all kinds to think twice before increasing their prices. How can that be done? This is where our famous cooperative come in. Our umbrella union NTUC owns many businesses, with the few important ones being food court (FoodFare), supermarket (FairPrice) and insurance (NTUC Income). NTUC needs to focus on using these three apparatus to control prices as much as possible by providing a good alternatives to other private providers. By being able to provide good substitutes, private providers will think twice before raising their own prices.

Singapore government need to get rid of the high cost-of-living mindset in the population. Allowing the mindset to fester will create the impression that Singapore is a high pressure cooker and the only way to manage cost of living is to work harder and spend more time on their job and looking for that elusive salary increment, or simply just lie flat leading to productivity loss. The mindset that working harder will lead to a cost of living solution will make the major population adverse to upskilling themselves (future-proof career), spend less time with parents and spouse (population increase) and many more. There is a strong need to remove the mindset and CDC vouchers just does not cut it as it is a band-aid to a gaping wound that will continue to widen and bleed the whole Singapore. And I have not even touch on the possibility of a brain drain.

Concluding Remarks

To conclude, these are three issues I felt need immediate attention.
1) More holistic solutions in taking care of seniors together with their family member which can be the caretakers.

2) Singapore's ambition in become an AI Hub

3) Cost-of-Living Phenomenon and Mindset

I hope an elected Member of Parliament or concerned citizen can look at it, and start discussion. I am willing to provide more information and see where it leads to, because it will be a good indicator for the next election that is due by 2031.

For folks who has read till here, what are your thoughts? Feel free to share them with me! Can look for me on LinkedIn too!