Speaking to reporters at the wrap of the APEC summit in Peru, Prime Minister Lee said that those that are not well-off in Singapore are not badly-off. He made those comments in referring to the Brexit referendum and the election of Donald Trump as the next President of America. He suggested that the results of the votes point to a deep social divide in that countries.
But he said that the kind of social divide is unlikely in Singapore explaining, “if you’re in Singapore, not everybody is equally well-off. But even if you’re not well-off, you’re not badly off.”
PM Lee referred to the various skills upgrading programmes, the financial assistance schemes which his Government had initiated in the past few years, and the HDB home ownership schemes as stabilisers which would prevent the type of deep split which has divided countries like the United States of America and the United Kingdom.
Writing in his Facebook Mr Lee said, “We must help displaced workers to retrain and upgrade. We have to ease the painful process of economic restructuring, and invest in infrastructure to support new growth areas.”
Adding: “We need to improve social policies, so that no groups in society are left behind. Only then, can we push ahead with trade and economic cooperation.”