新加坡总理黄循财大谈自己没有智能手机的青年岁月

Along the way, you will very likely face some rejections and setbacks. But if you work hard to cultivate our own virtues and excel at what you do, you will see breakthroughs.

This is not just talking in abstract. We see real-life examples of this around the world. Look at what happened during COVID. One of my favourite stories during COVID was about this scientist who had made a breakthrough in mRNA vaccines. We know all about mRNA because of COVID. The pioneer of mRNA is a researcher called Dr Katalin Kariko.

But for 20 years prior to Covid, her research was not recognised. Her funding applications were rejected. In fact, her university demoted her, cut her pay, and did not grant her tenure. But she continued doing her work because she enjoyed it, because she had passion in it. She cared little about status or rewards. She felt the science was good, she enjoyed the science and she wanted to persevere in her research. Because of her dedication to her work, she ended up saving countless lives globally and she now a Nobel Prize Laureate.

You may think this is an exception. But this is really what all of us have to go through in life. Behind every success story, there will often by failures. You have to be prepared for dry spells and setbacks in your lives.

Sometimes, maybe even many times, it will feel like the work you do is not being appreciated or recognised sufficiently. But it is precisely in those moments that you must focus on doing your work well. You must keep on working hard and maintaining high standards of excellence. If you do that, you will only learn and get better at what you do, and eventually your talents will be recognised, other doors will open, and you find new possibilities to flourish and thrive.

So I encourage all of you to embrace this attitude of learning and excelling at whatever you do – not just when we are in school, not just after we graduate, but throughout our lives.

The Government will do more to support you. That is why we are investing significantly in SkillsFuture, in providing you more opportunities to upgrade your skills to be fresh and get better at what you are doing. As you get older, and even when you are in your 40s or around my age in your 50s, you will be able to get a fresh injection of skills, learn something solid and you might very well get a second wind in your careers.

Third, we must all do our part to contribute to a better society.

We do not want a society where everyone is for themselves, where the fittest survives and the weak suffer what they must. Indeed, all of us do not want that to happen in Singapore. During the Forward Singapore exercise, many told us that they want a Singapore that is inclusive, where everyone belongs, where benefits are shared with all, and not just held by a few. What is heartening to see is that many of us do want to do our part to contribute to this better Singapore.

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