PM Lee Hsien Loong at the Singapore Tech Forum 2020

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong spoke at the "Keynote & Q&A: Technology as Singapore's Strategic National Priority" session at the virtual Singapore Tech Forum 2020 on 17 November 2020.

The Q&A was moderated by Ms Karen Tay, Regional Vice President of the Singapore Global Network.

(PMO Video)

[shahabuddin]

thnx you pm lee you covid 19 time safe all worker.... i also Singapore workr

[pointcount]

Yes sir. Thanks 👍☺️ for your efforts to help Singapore. Thanks.

[skychaos]

I understand that Singapore needs to stay relevant to the world in order to survive, after all we have basically no natural resource and has to compete on the global stage. I also understand that in order to do that, we need to bring in foreign talents and stay at the highest level. But like what has happened in America with their H1B visa and foreign talent policy, basically a large portion of their employees in the industry and PHD candidates in school are foreign born. While they remain advance in technology and economy, their society and community actually breaks down, with growing hatred and discrimination on immigrants and foreign talents. So my concern is not about how Singapore can stay relevant and successful, Singapore has always been good at that. What my biggest concern is how our society will evolve, the social policies and cultures.

What happens if Singaporeans fail to compete, will we become like Hong Kong and see life quality of life drops despite standard of living and GDP per capita increases? IMO, in the 21st century with A.I and automation, there will come a time where human cannot compete with labor or even repetitive work anymore. Is Singapore able to produce and generate enough next generation jobs before A.I becomes commonplace? If we can't, is there a fail safe polices? Have we considered UBI? According to Andrew Yang, ex US presidential candidate, UBI would solve many of the issues America is facing. If Singapore is following the footstep of America's talent hub and bringing foreign talents direction, shouldn't we start researching and preparing for the same problems we might face or is already facing?

[PauldeSilvaG]

Karen. Too much reverb in your audio. Please place the mic closer to you.

[jennifer-ocio]

We are certainly not a boring country.