Update on Forward Singapore Plans

Mr Ang Wei Neng asked the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance whether he can provide an update on the progress of the Forward Singapore exercise and the plans ahead.

Mr Speaker, Forward Singapore is an exercise to refresh our social compact for Singapore's next bound of development. This involves reviewing our existing assumptions and ideas on making Singapore a better home for our people, to see whether they remain valid. It also involves generating new ideas and policy thinking to address our challenges and seize new opportunities.

Since we launched the exercise in June, the response from Singaporeans in the many conversations with the 4G leadership team has been encouraging. We have received, from Singaporeans, many useful insights for policy formulations, suggestions of solutions and offers for action, all of which will help us build a better and stronger Singapore together.

We have been working on three broad themes: how to create more opportunities for Singapore and Singaporeans; how to provide better assurances for Singaporeans in a more uncertain future; and how to strengthen our sense of solidarity as one people.

Besides these three themes, we are also deliberating over the shared responsibilities that individual Singaporeans, families, communities and companies, should uphold as part of the refreshed compact, so that we can better tackle the challenges ahead and seize new opportunities for Singapore and for our people.

Over the next few months, we will deepen our conversations and partnerships with Singaporeans. We intend to do so in two ways.

First, there will be more engagements for people to offer their own views and ideas, as well as to hear from others. These will span a wide range of topics, such as how to strengthen employability and create good jobs, make our living environment even better, strengthen our bonds to Singapore and with one another, and environmental sustainability, amongst others.

Some of these engagements will be held in our neighbourhoods and some in vernacular languages and different formats to better reach out to Singaporeans of different needs and preferences. These engagements will allow us to reflect on our values today and what we aspire to be in the future. They will sensitise us to the choices we have to make as a people, for ourselves, as well as the longer-term interest of future generations.

Second, we will invite people to go beyond just giving views, to also co-develop and implement solutions and policies together with the Government. For example, approaches like Citizens' Panels and Alliances for Action (AfA) bring people together to deliberate on issues they feel strongly about and, after robust discussions with one another and experts, recommend policy ideas to the Government. Through AfA, stakeholders can also come together to take direct action in designing and implementing solutions.

I welcome members of the public and organisations to register their interest to participate in these sessions through the Forward Singapore website. We plan to complete the exercise by the middle of next year. We hope to partner Singaporeans from all walks of life for this Forward Singapore exercise because everyone has a role to play, to build a better Singapore for all.

Thank you, Speaker, Sir. I thank Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong for the comprehensive reply. We are very heartened to see that the Forward Singapore exercise is gaining momentum. I have two supplementary questions.

One, I would like to ask Deputy Prime Minister Wong whether the issue of repealing section 377A of the Penal Code will be discussed at a Forward Singapore exercise before it is tabled at Parliament.

Secondly, I would like to ask Deputy Prime Minister Wong whether the Government will consider issuing a White Paper to summarise the views of Singaporeans, the feedback and the Government's responses after the end of this exercise.

And meanwhile, I also hope that the Government will not issue any major White Paper before the end of this exercise. But, to be sure, I am not referring to the Healthier Singapore White Paper that we will discuss tomorrow.

Sir, the conversations and engagements around section 377A had started earlier, even before we started the Forward Singapore exercise. And it was a result of these engagements and conversations that led to the Government's announcement of what it hopes to do at the National Day Rally this year. So, we do not intend for section 377A and the issues around it to be a key part of our Forward Singapore platform, because these started after the conversations had already begun.

But, of course, if there are views around society and our values and Singaporeans feedback this to us through our engagements and conversations, we will take in all of the feedback as part of the Forward Singapore engagements.

Second, on the process and what we will do to put down and publish the conversations that we had with Singaporeans – whether it is a White Paper or whether there are other platforms – we will review and study what are the suitable platforms. We will not rule out having some mid-term milestones where we might very well decide to compile, consolidate some of the feedback and respond to them earlier, even before the end of the exercise.

For example, we have the Budget next year. So, when we engage Singaporeans through Forward Singapore over the course of the next few months, we might very well use the Budget next year as an interim milestone where we can compile the views and feedback from people and then respond to them with some announcements without having to wait all the way till the end of the exercise.

But, certainly, by the completion of the exercise, we will find suitable platforms in which we can pool together all the feedback, suggestions and ideas we have collated and make sure that these are adequately surfaced through appropriate means.