(In Mandarin): Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I am very happy to join in the debate on the Report of the Singapore 21 Committee headed by RAdm Teo Chee Hean. This is the Report put up by the Committee after more than a year of hard work, collecting information and views of the people from all walks of life in Singapore. Once this Report is endorsed by this House, everyone in Singapore should work hard to translate the vision into reality and turn Singapore into a dynamic international metropolis. Sir, the Report of this Committee refers to strong families as our foundation and future. This is very important. The survival of a country depends very much on family cohesion. The family is the basic building block of society. If we have a sense of belonging to the family, we will also have a sense of belonging to the nation. We all know that it is not just the house or physical building owned by the family, but it is also the emotional and blood bonds, feelings and care that make the house a home or a family. It is this common sense of belonging to Singapore, the common vision that we share, our commitment to such vision that make us as a country and a nation. At times, we may be overseas, but our heart is still with Singapore. So if every Singaporean can strengthen his own family cohesion, it will also help to enhance our national cohesion. A small country like Singapore will become an international metropolis. I am very optimistic about it. The Committee's Report wants to turn Singapore, and Singaporeans, into a higher level of economy, technology and greater prosperity. But if the people are unable to maintain their own family cohesion, to preserve their own family values and traditional cultures, to maintain religious tolerance and racial harmony, we will become the rootless floating duckweed when we enter this state of international metropolis. Our lives will be empty. We will have no direction. So I feel that every Singaporean must build his own family cohesion as early as possible, spend more time with their family members, and try to strike a balance between our pursuit of material lives and our efforts to promote the growth of our family. I always tell my children that even if one day they can become outstanding Singaporeans, their basic values must not be shaken or changed. My children graduated from NUS and have gone overseas for further studies. I want them to accept the good values, good culture, and good technology from the west. These will be of great help to them when they eventually step into society to earn a living. But I want them to continue to preserve the traditional values of their own culture, including the five core values of Singapore and the traditional values of the Chinese culture. I am glad that my children, while accepting the future challenges of life, have not changed their values. I have told them that when they have given full play to their talent, they have succeeded, their material life has changed, they can have a big house, a big car, even a Porsche, their life, thinking and values should never change. Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, a year and a half ago, I bought a Porsche Boxster. I believe many people were very surprised. They felt that the Porsche Boxster was simply out of tune with this old conservative fellow like me. Perhaps, Porsche Boxster gives one the impression of being contemporary or trendy. But I like sports cars because I appreciate them as a piece of art. But I have not changed my values and thinking just because I have bought a Porsche. My children feel that at their age and without a strong economic foundation, they should not own a Porsche or enjoy an expensive sports car like this. Their thinking is correct. So I spoke in jest to the agent of Porsche that the marketing of Porsche should not just be targetted at the young people, they should start giving publicity to create the impression that those who have the means, the middle-aged people, should also drive Porsche. I think the agent will seriously consider my suggestion. Sir, I have given this example so that we can accept a new culture, new technology, new science and even a new material life, but we must always preserve our own values. Singapore 21 vision wants to transform us into a dynamic metropolis. The standard of material life of Singaporeans will be upgraded to a higher level. Materially, it is a good prospect for Singapore and it is what our Singaporeans want to pursue. But we must ensure that when the material life has changed, our new generation of Singaporeans will be corrupted, and their original fine traditional values will not be changed. So I would like to remind the Government that when we are pursuing this Singapore 21 vision, we must continue to inculcate in our young people the five core values. Otherwise, when the 21st century comes to Singapore, Singapore may have succeeded in becoming an international metropolis but it will also become a rootless duckweed or a kite without a string attached - aimless and disoriented. On the other hand, we also encourage our old people to look after their grandchildren. When their parents are out at work, more often than not, the young children are being looked after by the maids. In the developed Singapore, young parents will continue to work outside to maintain their family life and economy. Grandparents will naturally become the best choice for looking after their grandchildren. After I became a grandfather, I began to realise the joy that I have in spending time with my grandchildren. I feel that older people can continue to work and contribute to the family, the society and the country, especially when most of the elderly people are very healthy and strong. If you want them to completely retire at 55 or 62 years old and do nothing, I think it is a waste of manpower to Singapore. So whether it is the Government departments or private sector, we should consider encouraging older people to continue working. If they prefer to stay at home, we should encourage them to look after their grandchildren. It is a good arrangement. I always tell my wife that while I have been quite successful in my business, my success pales in the face of what she has done in looking after and bringing up the children. So I hope that she will be able to make good use of her experience and methods to continue looking after the grandchildren. I feel that our third generation can also grow up to succeed like our second generation. I think that will be an ideal situation. So I hope that the Singapore 21 Committee will continue to preserve the fine traditions of Singapore, and that is, we must look after both the spiritual and the material aspects of life. Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, the S21 Committee has also stated that everyone in Singapore matters. We must be more open in looking at success, not just to measure success in terms of economic or academic achievements. I agree with this view of the Committee. In the past, we were stressing elitism and scholarship, scholars and successful people. I do not deny the importance of elitism. I do not deny that scholars are successful people. But if we over-emphasise elitism and scholars, we are actually hurting the pride of 95% of Singaporeans. Because we cannot deny that these 95% Singaporeans who are neither elite nor scholars are also successful people in their own ways and they may also have the potential to become outstanding people one of these days. In other words, if we over-emphasise elitism, scholarships, the success of scholars, and so on, 95% of Singaporeans will feel or be made to feel that they are failures. Therefore, if a country or a company is facing difficulty, the responsibility will rest on the shoulders of only a few people. Most Singaporeans will not share such a responsibility or participate in solving the problem. I am glad that this Committee has taken an open view on the criteria for success. I hope that we will not use the same kind of mindset or measure as the only way to measure success of a person. Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I can be said to be a rare species in Parliament because I am the only non-graduate among all the Members of the ruling Party in this House. Although I am not a graduate, in my past few years in Parliament, I think I have performed equally well on the same kind of work done by my colleagues in this House. I always feel that although I may not be a graduate, I want to do as well as the graduates. So my pressure is greater because our society has this kind of mindset about elitism and scholars. I am not one of the elites and I am not one of the scholars. I have been relying on my hard work, my pragmatism to work hard and to achieve my success, and I am proud of my own achievements. Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I entirely agree with the S21 Committee that everyone matters in Singapore. That is a very important point. To me, every Singaporean is important to the country. Every Singaporean can also play his own role, and contribute to the success and development of Singapore. As a matter of fact, anybody can become a successful person, be it a hawker, a driver, or an ordinary worker. We must let every Singaporean give full play to his own talent and potential and let the society, the country, his own family, benefit from his talent. While we are marching into the 21st century, we must exercise more tolerance to accept the failures of other people. We must continue to encourage those who are not successful to continue to attempt. That will make Singapore more successful in the 21st century. Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, the S21 Committee mentions about the Singapore heartbeat, to make all Singaporeans feel passionately about Singapore. With more intensive globalisation and regionalisation, more Singaporeans will go overseas. To ensure that when they are overseas, their hearts are still with Singapore and regard Singapore as their home and make contributions to Singapore, we must strengthen our social cohesion. The Ministry of Education has decided to introduce National Education to our primary schools. I think this is a very wise move. If everybody in Singapore understands the history and the thinking of our leaders in Singapore, the new generation of Singaporeans will be able to understand the challenges facing us and will also be able to appreciate our vulnerability in this environment. This will be very important in building up mutual confidence within the people and the country. I agree with the Committee to urge Singaporeans overseas to have more contact with one another, and to form more friendship clubs among themselves. More Singaporeans overseas will be able to exchange ideas to help each other, to meet together so as to promote and celebrate our own festivals and our cultural heritage. I hope that our TCS network would facilitate overseas Singaporeans with the means to access our TV programmes, news reports and bulletins, and all kinds of entertainment programmes. TCS should simplify its procedures for application and payment of fees. Through these TCS channels, we will be able to unite them together to enhance their cohesion with the country in Singapore. Today, we cannot just depend on laksa, mee siam, roti prata, bak kuh teh and Teochew fishball or char kuay teow, to retain the emotional ties of Singaporeans overseas. Because when I was in Shanghai, Melbourne or Palo Alto in the United States, I could easily enjoy the local food in the open-air Singaporean restaurants. Therefore, in the 21st century, like in the past, if we were to depend on Singapore food to retain our roots, that would not be enough and not realistic. At the same time, it is also mentioned in the Report that we must let Singaporeans cultivate the international vision from young and encourage our students to cultivate the spirit of adventure. I would like to stress the meaning of venture spirit. Many people say that entrepreneurs should have the venture spirit but the so-called "venture" has normally been wrongly perceived as a kind of "big stake gambling". I think that is wrong. I hope that our schools would inculcate in our students the venture spirit. We should have very special ways of teaching. I feel that venture spirit is something out of boldness, it is a kind of courage, and a kind of optimism for future vision. It is a kind of ideology; it is not 50-50 gambling, not fatalism but a sure-win kind of spirit. So with this kind of spirit, when we are creating or endeavouring to achieve something, we train our entrepreneurs to make a decision. At times, it takes some very strong nerves to make major decisions that determine our fate in the future. When we are facing adversity, we must be able to use all our efforts and talent to overcome it. So we must have a great ambition in our career and business, and translate our ambition into reality. It is not empty talk. It is not just talking without doing it or just dreaming. So you can say that a genuine adventurer is both a dreamer and a realist, because he is able to translate his imagination into reality. Later on, after the children have grown up, when they start their enterprises or when they have to make some major decisions, they will not treat the venture spirit as a big-stake gambling or a life-and-death battle in life. In conclusion, Mr Deputy Speaker, Sir, I support the S21 report. However, while we strive to realize our vision for the 21st century, we must never lose sight of the five core values and the excellent traditional cultures of the various races, racial harmony, religious tolerance, the vulnerability of a small country, and the support of a clean government. I hope that in the 21st century Singapore, the successful Singaporeans will continue to help the less successful Singaporeans to make them feel the warmth of society and let them feel that Singapore is a place that they want to live in. This will be very important to the cohesion among Singaporeans. Finally, I would like to quote the late paramount leader of China, Deng Xiao Peng who called upon the 1.2 billion people of China to learn from Singapore. He said, "We must adopt the strategy of "grabbing with both hands". With one hand, we grab the materialistic civilisation, and with the other hand, we grab the spiritual civilisation." I hope that even after we go into the 21st century, Singapore will remain a model for China and other countries to emulate. I support the motion.