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In Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam used to be a unique analogy for staying upwardly mobile, urging Singaporeans to keep the "escalator" of social mobility moving. He argues that the escalator stops, the ones who are in the middle will be affected the most, suffering from "pervasive anxiety" due to the inability to progress, and yet aware that they are reaching them already.
Of late, Education Minister Ong Ye Kung and even Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong have aired their opinions as to how to solve the problem of inequality.
Mr. Shanmugaratnam made these remarks in the context of a dialogue on Thursday night, October 25, at the 30th Anniversary of the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS). Ambassador Tommy Koh was the chairman of the session.
The Deputy Prime Minister said, "The escalator that causes everyone up stops, the problems of inequality and all the problems of me-against-you, this-group-against-that-group, become much sharper. And this is exactly what has happened in a range of advanced economies. "
He will be facing the challenges of this mobility, having had a citizenry from humble beginnings, who will be in school, and then climbed upward. "Those whose grandparents were poor, had parents who were not so poor, (they) are not so poor, and they invest in their children as they can, so that their children can do well. "
There are also those who have not been successful, as they face diminishing chances.
Therefore, the DPM said, the country needs to keep in mind the momentum of mobility, including early intervention measures that would "help people do well for themselves".
According to Mr. Tharman, social mobility is at the heart and soul of the ambition of Singaporeans. The country must, therefore, sustain a system where people are able to keep climbing up the social ladder.
His main concern is that inequality becomes a bigger issue when those in the middle rungs stop moving. "This, too, is what we see in a range of advanced countries: That pervasive anxiety of people in the middle. As someone is catching up, then someone is moving away from them. So, keep the escalator moving. "
As long as the escalator moves, the opportunities, skills and jobs also increase.
Mr. Tharman also tackled the issue of "generational inequality," noting that over 60 percent of Singaporeans older than 55 attained secondary school education and are now on the lower steps of the escalator, while younger, better-educated Singaporeans have been able to progress. He believes that efforts need to be made to help these citizens.
Professor Koh made the point Singapore has become more of a class-conscious society.
To this, the Deputy Prime Minister stressed that the culture must change. "I do not think this is important for the elite. I think it's part of our social culture. We inherited a combination of a set of British institutions and the East Asian culture, both of which are quite hierarchical, both of which tend to be down to ordinary manual labor, and we have got to move past that. "
He said, "The culture of our interactions, the way we treat each other, whether we are equal, as we grow up and we go through life, also social mobility because it spreads aspiration.
Aspiration should not just be the habit of the upper middle class or the wealthy. Aspirations spread through interaction and having a common culture.
And social mixing is something that enriches all of us. That's the beauty of social mixing. So let's keep that in our Singaporean culture. "
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