Speaker of Parliament and unofficial president-select Halimah Yacob spoke at a job fair held in Marsiling where she is the MP for the constituency, saying Singaporeans should learn how to manage time like her:
“It is all a question of how you manage time. I started my Masters’ programme in 1999, I finished by 2001. I had a full-time job at the time, had five children, all of them were in school. So it’s a question of how you juggle.”
The candidate for the upcoming rigged Presidential election was responding to media queries about working adults who are unable to take a part-time course to upgrade themselves.
MP Halimah Yacob also warned that Singaporeans should have a change in mindset or they will be left behind:
“There will be many new changes caused by artificial intelligence, automation, computers… The most important question to ask yourself is, are you prepared for the change? We need a total mindset change, a total revolution of the mind. There’s going to be tremendous change in the workforce, companies, and this change is driven by globalisation and technology. It’s no longer an assembly line kind of operations. The workforce and economy have transformed, and people must be prepared to change. Otherwise you’ll be left behind.”
As to the recent report of the poor resorting to signing up for fake courses in order to claim SkillsFuture’s credit in cash, the PAP MP said the government has a wide range of welfare programmes for the poor:
“For those abusing it because they are suffering from some financial difficulties, there are other alternatives, they can go to CommCare, Social Service Offices, they don’t have to resort to this.”
Over 4,000 signed up for fake courses and made false claims over S$2 million in total to obtain cash from the upgrading credit SkillsFuture.