ADDENDA, PRIME MINISTER'S OFFICE (NATIONAL POPULATION SECRETARIAT)

PRIME MINISTER'S OFFICE (NATIONAL POPULATION SECRETARIAT): MR WONG KAN SENG

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs

Singapore needs a sustainable, connected and integrated population in order to survive and thrive. We must press on with our efforts to build a strong core of committed and dedicated citizens, who will ride through these trying times together, and emerge as a more resilient, cohesive and integrated society.

First priority to citizens

Citizens will always remain the Government's first priority, and citizen interests will always be accorded a higher priority over those of Permanent Residents and foreigners.

The Marriage and Parenthood Package was enhanced in August 2008 in order to provide a more pro-family environment in terms of financial, work-life and childcare support in Singapore. It is premature to assess if the package has worked in encouraging couples to marry and have more children. We will continue to monitor its effectiveness. Although some couples may delay their family plans in this current economic crisis, we hope that they will not do so for too long.

We will also continue to engage the estimated 180,000 Singaporeans overseas even in these hard times. They are a part of our Singaporean family and we must not neglect them. We will continue to extend the outreach of our programmes to engage a wider spectrum of Overseas Singaporeans, and strengthen their connection with Singapore.

An integrated community

Even as we do all we can to help Singaporeans in this economic crisis, we must also re-position ourselves to ensure that we are ready to ride on the next wave of economic growth. We can only do so if all Singaporeans stand united as one.

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All Singaporeans, native or new, have a significant role to play in forging an integrated community, by strengthening community and social bonds in Singapore. The National Integration Council will harness the collective efforts from the private, people and public sectors, and encourage more ground-up initiatives to integrate Singaporeans where they live, in the workplace, in schools, and through social and community involvement. We will also expand efforts to help those who are interested to sink roots and set up home in Singapore through their naturalisation and integration journey, including making information available to them online at www.home-in-singapore.sg . We will also reach out to them and facilitate their becoming active members of the Singapore community.

The Singapore Promise

Singaporeans have contributed much to Singapore's transformation over the past 40 years. Our forefathers and, more recently, the new immigrants have come here because of the promise and potential of Singapore: the promise that any individual who has made Singapore home could realise his or her aspirations, and the promise that Singapore will be a good home for them. It is through our ability to understand, appreciate and respect one another that we can have a Singapore for Singaporeans. All of us have a duty today to contribute to and deliver the "Singapore Promise" for ourselves and our descendants.