National Day Rally 2019: All You Need To Know In 5 Minutes

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18 Aug 2019

LIVE: National Day Rally 2019 – Things That REALLY Matter To Singaporeans

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong just delivered his National Day Rally 2019 speech where he shared some of the Singapore government’s policies, priorities, and initiatives moving ahead.

Click to jump to the topics covered during the rally:

On Economic Performance

Impact of US-China tensions – The United States should seek constructive bilateral relations with China, including on economic matters.
Two ways they impact Singapore:
- Foreign Relations with both U.S and China
- Our economy
Slump in Electronics has impacted overall economic performance
Retail continues to be under pressure from online shopping
Retrenchment and unemployment rates remain low
Singapore has important strengths that attract investors – Finnish oil company Neste is investing >$2 billion to expand renewable energy plant here, which will create high-quality jobs for Singapore.

On Education

Doubled full-day pre-school capacity, to almost 180,000 places (since 2012) – Upgraded pre-schools, setting up of MOE Kindergartens, giving pre-school teachers better training and career progression.
Continue to make pre-school more affordable – Raised income ceiling for subsidies from $7,500 to $12,000, to benefit 30,000 more households
MOE to lower annual fees for the FT degree programmes in SIT and SUSS – Reduced from around $8,000 to $7,500.
Govt bursaries for university students – to be raised from up to 50% of general degree fees to up to 75%
Polytechnic diploma programmes bursaries – Bursary coverage to increase from up to 80% to up to 95 per cent.
- 6 in 10 students in polys and unis are eligible for government bursaries
- Enhancements will benefit many students from middle-income families too. ITE, Nafa and Lasalle included
Higher govt bursaries for medical school – Medical school fees are almost $29,000/year at NUS and $35,000/year at NTU. Lower-income students will now pay at most $5,000 a year
Unis, polys and ITE encouraged to set up more bursaries of their own in people’s names
Government to match donations: up to 3 times for the newer universities, and up to 1.5 times for the rest

On The Workforce

Tripartite Workgroup on Older Workers – The Workgroup made 4 key recommendations:

- To raise the retirement age from 62 today to 65
- To raise the re-employment age from 67 to 70
- To increase CPF contributions for older workers
- To achieve all this in gradual steps, by about 2030

Retirement age to be raised from 62 to 63 in 2022, and to 65 by 2030
Re-employment age to go up from 67 to 68 in 2022, and to 70 by 2030
The retirement age will go up from 62 to 63 in 2022, and eventually to 65 by 2030.
The re-employment age will go up from 67 to 68, also in 2022, and eventually to 70, also by 2030.
Public Service to raise retirement and re-employment ages, one year earlier in 2021

On Central Provident Fund (CPF)

No changes to CPF withdrawal policies or withdrawal ages

On Climate Change

Understand, mitigate and adapt to climate change – Cooperating with neighbouring countries to study climate change in the region
Singapore, situated nearer the equator, is more vulnerable to climate change than the global model suggests
Singapore has joined the Paris Climate Agreement and will slow and ultimately cap emissions by around 2030, and introduced a carbon tax last year
Coastal defences will cost $100b over 50 to 100 years
- City area: Second pump house on the opposite end of the current Marina Barrage
- Eastern coastline: Building polders and dykes to keep land dry and reclaim new land to use for housing and other purposes

On Land

The Greater Southern Waterfront – Long-term plans to remake and take full advantage of the coastline. Pulau Brani to be redeveloped
29,000 housing units to be built at current Keppel Club site – Includes plans to increase office space in the G.S.W. Big firms like Google, Cisco and Unilever already have offices near Labrador Park