Immigration is crucial for upholding property prices but embracing new technology is key to maintaining Singapore’s edge going forward
In the recently published book, Singapore 2065: Leading Insights on Economy and Environment from 50 Singapore Icons and Beyond, 50 prominent Singaporeans penned their thoughts on Singapore’s past success and future challenges.
Ambassador-at-Large at Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Professor Tommy Koh wrote about building communities on oceans to overcome the lack of space. SMU Professor of Psychology, David Chan, focused on the challenges posed by an ageing population.
Manu Bhaskaran of policy advisory group Centennial Group urged in the book a rethink about the impact of Singapore’s lack of a hinterland. Executive Chairman of The Straits Trading Company Chew Gek Khim shares his sentiments.
“With regard to the concept of a hinterland, it doesn’t have be physical,” says Chew. “What about a hinterland that is more economic than geographic? What if China goes ahead with the ‘One belt, one road (一带一路)’ approach? That could become our economic hinterland.
“What if we have a social hinterland? We may have hinterlands in pockets of other countries. People make friends globally. The challenge is to think of places and people beyond just the physical environment, and how you modify space to suit changing lifestyles and demands.”
Managing population growth
Chew made those remarks at the recent Asia Pacific CEO Congress where she was on the panel “From SG 50 to SG 100 – Where is Singapore heading to?” Even as Chew urged a rethink on the physical nature of a hinterland, the audience posed inevitable questions about overcoming Singapore’s lack of space and how it affects the big issues of demographics and housing.
“A good case study would be Japan where only a few cities are growing in terms of population while the smaller cities are shrinking,” says Lim Ming Yan, President and CEO of real estate company CapitaLand. “If you extrapolate that trend over the next 30 to 50 years, there will be an impact on the property prices in those cities with declining property prices. Singapore is unique in that we can look at how we can rejuvenate the population through immigration. That is a major support for property prices in Singapore.”
On the issue of an ageing population, Lim muses: “Economically, what will happen when a person retires and no longer has an income, the tendency is for the person to spend less. For companies that deal in consumer goods, this is a prompt to move to cities with a younger population with higher spending power and propensity.”
Singapore’s pulling power as a global city bodes well for the country in an era of increasing urbanisation worldwide. According to the United Nations, two in three people globally will be living in cities, up from the current 54 percent. As the demand for power increases, so will the damage inflicted on the environment.
Goh Swee Chen, Chairperson of Shell Companies in Singapore, says her company have transitioned from coal to diesel to reduce the environmental impact. Renewable sources of energy are the long-term solutions but issues of intensity and consistency have forced companies such as Shell to rely on fossil fuels, albeit decreasingly so.
“The question for Shell is: would we continue to invest in fossil fuels?” asks Goh. “Shell has been looking at renewables [but] as a corporation, you’re accountable to shareholders to return a profit. So far, we have not been able to demonstrate a commercially viable option with renewables although we are into biofuels.
“Renewables, I believe, will be inevitable – the stresses of climate change will require us to do that.”
Riding on technology
The changing needs of the global economy present threats and opportunities in equal measure. Demand for renewable sources of energy creates incentives for creators of disruptive technology, be they solar panels or biofuels.
In other industries, the widespread use of advanced technology has changed the dynamics of business. Mobile banking in parts of Africa has provided financial services to the heretofore unbanked, while 3D printing threatens to change everything from medicine to manufacturing.
Despite Singapore’s advanced economy, Small and Medium Enterprises are slow to ride on the crest of technological advances.
“SMEs’ adoption of technology is not fast enough,” laments Lynette Seah, founder and CEO of cloud technology firm Alpha7. “From a technology point of view, we have a vibrant startup scene in Singapore. Companies across the region are coming to Singapore to build startups, and the people behind them are young, energetic, and tech savvy.
“On the flip side, there are the SMEs. There are three kinds of SMEs. One, those who embrace the technology. Two, those who know there is new technology sweeping through industry but don’t know how to leverage on it and balance the budget and infrastructure constraints. Three, these are the companies await the passing of the baton to the next generation before you can get them moving.”
Live and (constantly) learn
Deputy Prime Minister Thurman Shanmugaratnam wrote in the foreword for Singapore 2065:
“Our future will depend not only on adapting and perfecting what has been done elsewhere, but more and more on creating value through new skills and technologies, original business solutions and a spirit of experimentation in society…We must develop a system that supports learning throughout our lives, and help everyone acquire skills to work alongside and take advantage of new technologies.”
In that context, perhaps the only thing Singaporeans can be sure of in the next 50 years is what the Little Red Dot has always done: doing more and doing it faster and better than everyone else. The question is: will it keep Singapore ahead of the game?
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