Embarrassing himself at the Switzerland’s World Economic Forum, Minister Chan Chun Sing started talking in Singlish when it was his turn to speak on employment. The Minister with no portfolio said that China can seek consultation from Singapore on preparing “tomorrow’s unemployed for tomorrow’s jobs”:
“Singapore had given much thought to this, working out both its impact and how to best to respond to prepare tomorrow’s unemployed workers for tomorrow’s jobs. Singapore is happy to share its experiences, just as it was ready to learn from others on how they had dealt with issues to avoid any blind spots.”
Minister Chan Chun Sing also told world leaders that the internet had caused trust in the government to be eroded as the people no longer subscribe to the mainstream propaganda media like Straits Times. The PAP Minister first waxed lyrical about how “upfront, forthright and honest” the PAP government is before blaming news on the internet for eroding trust in the government:
“The first question is a question of competence, the second is a matter of integrity. For Singapore, every generation of leadership, regardless of who forms the government, must firstly be able to deliver a better quality of life and standards of living for the people. People must have the sense that they have the opportunity to realise their dreams, especially for the next generation, their children. Then, there is the question of how you can build trust because you are upfront, forthright, honest about the challenges and options that the country has to confront together. The spread of fake news, and modern communications technologies which allowed everyone to be a publisher and share information, had undermined the role of traditional gatekeepers and the mainstream media, making it harder for people to know who they could trust or what information they could believe. Both this intangible aspect of trust, as well as the delivering of tangible benefits as promised, were critical in building up the people’s sense of belief in the system and their leaders. If we don’t manage these two aspects well, then we should not make any presumptions that we will garner the trust of a new generation.”
No international news media reported any of Minister Chan Chun Sing’s speeches or comments.