Singapore Agenda – Part of One Game Plan to Build Our Future

The last print issue of Challenge takes a look at the trends that will change the way we’ll work and live in the later years of our lives, how the government and ground-up communities are working to protect our environment, our external environment and so on.

With every end is a new beginning, and every challenge brings new and exciting opportunities. In this spirit, the Public Service has developed a new medium-term policy agenda called the Singapore Agenda.

The Singapore Agenda is one of the three major priorities of the Public Service. It is a medium-term policy agenda that comprises policies, programmes and initiatives to Build Our Future Singapore.

The three priorities are integral in “Building Our Future” – a better future Singapore, a better future Public Service and a better future built together with citizens.

• Public Sector Transformation (PST) is a movement to build our future Public Service, with new skills, capabilities and ways of working.

• Singapore Together is focused on how we can better engage, partner and work with citizens to build our future together.

At the Public Service Conference in November 2019, Head, Civil Service, Mr Leo Yip spoke about how the three priorities go hand-in-hand and reinforce each other, to enable us to build a better future for Singapore and Singaporeans.

What is the Singapore Agenda?

It is about decisively addressing the driving forces that Singapore faces – both winds of change such as demographic and climate changes, as well as waves of opportunity such as digitalisation and the rise of Asia as a global economic power.

It is a coherent and comprehensive set of policies, programmes and initiatives across five key thrusts, and brings together the existing work of ministries and agencies, as well as new ideas and shifts that will require us to do our work in new ways.

As One Public Service, we all have a part to play in supporting the development and implementation of the Singapore Agenda.

Challenge invited officers from across the Public Service to illustrate their interpretation of each of the five key thrusts of the Singapore Agenda, to give some visual food for thought on how each thrust contributes to a bigger picture of Building Our Future Singapore.

Read on to find out more about each of the five key thrusts of the Singapore Agenda.

SGPA THRUST #1

Power the Next Bound of Growth & Jobs from Asia, Digital and Innovation

Shawn Teo, MOM:
“With rapid transformation of the international economic landscape, we have to be prepared that the strategies we’ve used so far might not work well anymore. The game is changing, we have different pieces to work with, and what comes after might be even more different.

At the same time, forces like automation and technology pose a challenge to some of our fundamental assumptions. How can we turn these challenges into opportunities.”

Trend #1 - The End of Print?

SGPA THRUST #2

Renew a Society of Opportunities for All, at Every Stage of Life

Trend #2 - The End of Retirement?

SGPA THRUST #3

Transform Our Living Environment and Ensure a Smart and Sustainable Singapore

Yingxin Tan, MEWR:
“I’ve drawn Singapore as we know it but with floating wind turbines, zero-carbon planes, hydroelectric generators, and lots of solar PVs so hopefully we can have positive energy buildings.”

Trend #3 - The End of Waste?

SGPA THRUST #4

Securing Our Interests on the Regional & Global Stage

Sarah Quek, MOT:
“Small in stature but not in spirit, Singapore can continue to shine bright on the global stage by forging strong partnerships with regional neighbours (can you spot the ASEAN logo?) and offering thought leadership on emerging strategic issues in an increasingly uncertain and volatile world.”

Trend #4 - The End of the Post-WWII Global Order

SGPA THRUST #5

Build a Resilient and United Society of the Future

Jean Choo, MCI:
“An expanded common space with a different social compact – I think of a community that doesn’t just cohabit, but lives, works and builds their shared spaces together, (quite literally) supporting each other’s social mobility and wellbeing across age, race and nationality.”

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Text by Tuber and Strategy Group, Prime Minister’s Office