Disabled Issue being addressed in the PM Lee Dialogue

Yesterday I went for the PM Dialogue as the representative spokeperson to touch on the disabililty issue. I am glad that I have managed to raise this issue directly to PM Lee despite the time constraint and in the extract below, PM Lee replied that he feels that the needs of the disability shld be looked into. You can click on this hyperlink and go to the Related Video to click on the hyperlink to view the video clip.

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PM Lee renews call to young Singaporeans to play their part in country's future

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has renewed his call to Singapore's younger generation to play their part in making the country different.

But he also stressed that the process of opening up Singapore has to be done step by step.

Mr Lee was having a dialogue with some 200 young Singaporeans at a session organised by the National Youth Council.

They came armed with questions on the challenges facing Singapore on the economic front, giving greater value to an education in the polytechnics and the ITEs and if the day will come when Singaporean cultures are all merged into one.

Mr Lee explained that in a multi racial society like Singapore, the government will create the space to meet the specific needs of each racial and religious group.

But could the government consider setting aside a prayer room in schools for Muslim teachers?

PM Lee said: "At the same time we want to have a common space where all communities can fit in and everybody feels at home. The school, particularly government school, is one such area and we want to keep that open and shared as much as possible.

"We would rather not go to a system where every school will have to make separate little provision for each of the religious groups.

"It's not a practical problem. I can make a room, but I think it's an important philosophical point and an important reflection of our approach as a community, that in schools we are all the same, this is a secular place. After you leave school, you go to our religious institutions; that's what we are trying to do."

Mr Lee also assured the disabled that their needs would be looked into. He said one recent step was to have English subtitles during his National Day Message telecast on TV for the hearing impaired. And he believes such subtitling could be extended to news bulletins as well. He said: "If you watch the Taiwanese or Chinese news bulletins, for Chinese, they will have Chinese subtitles because all over China, people speak the same words in different ways. So you need to read the subtitle to know what he is saying. "We ought to be able to do that for our news bulletin too, at least the English one which is technically less difficult to do. "I think we have asked MediaCorp to look at it and I am hopeful they will be able to work something out and that would be helpful. For the movies, it may be harder, probably the DVD is the best solution." Subtitling for the news is in the works and details will be announced at a later date.


Whether it is about opening up the space more for discussion or growing Singapore's economic pie both at home and abroad, Prime Minister Lee emphasised that younger Singaporeans will have a greater role to play in the years to come, in shaping the future of Singapore.

He said: "We have to persuade young people eventually to conclude that: In Singapore, I can do something, I don't like this, let me get in and change this.

"If you say 'I don't like this', and say 'I am fed up, let's go', that's a great pity. We would have lost somebody in whom we put a lot of hopes and I think Singapore is worse off.

"What is it you are unhappy with, let's get that changed, that's how we got here today. If we were happy with what Singapore was 50 years ago, we would not have created Singapore today.

"And, if you are just happy with what Singapore is today, we are not going to change either. You must have the optimum degree of unhappiness, just right and the conviction to make it change."

Mr Lee also said that Singaporeans can expect more and more young people to be brought into politics to lead the country in the years ahead. - CNA/ir