Good evening

It is my pleasure to be here to join you to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival.

As a people, as a country, we are facing challenging times. However, overcoming adversity is nothing new to Singapore. Our forefathers who came from China, India and elsewhere applied their skills and adaptability to seek their fortunes in a new land. They re-engineered themselves and pursued their own kind of creative destruction, to succeed in the new economy of their time. This heritage continues to be honoured in your Chamber of Commerce today.

This innate culture of flexibility is what gives me confidence that we have the acumen and gumption to continue to do well. Some people have commented that in Singapore, there seems to be one review process after another. Not too long ago, we put together a Singapore 21 vision to prepare us for the 21^st century. Now, we have the Economic Review Committee and Remaking Singapore process. Reviews are necessary because change is the only constant, and the only thing that has changed is that change has become quicker and more unexpected. It has been said that if you do not plan, you plan to fail. We must keep planning for change, precisely because we are always seeking to see three steps ahead and act fast, effectively and with broad consultation with key players like yourselves.

Singaporeans must never accept that size is destiny. We must never allow ourselves to be mentally trapped by our current circumstances and constraints. Often what defines a country is how it responds to its disadvantages.

Take Japan - it is precisely because of its compactness and density that Japan became such a giant in miniaturization. In the same way, Singapore the tiny island is turning its small size into a virtue. One major attraction for investors for locating here is the fact that there is a high concentration of industry players – suppliers, financiers, partners, collaborators, customers, chambers of commerce. This compact concentration of active organisms is a key aspect of what we call the enterprise ecosystem, a natural habitat of players helping and spurring each other to grow.

In fact, failure is often the catalyst for success. In the 1970s, the precision engineering manufacturer Rollei, one of the early companies wooed by the Economic Development Board, failed to take off in Singapore. But in the process of helping the company to set up here, many capabilities were built including worker and management skills and technology know-how. Out of that failure, many precision engineering capabilities such as metal stamping and industrial automation were founded, to form the backbone of the manufacturing sector we know today. Just on Wednesday, I officiated at the launch of this year’s

Phoenix Award to recognize entrepreneurs who have failed and gone on to rebuild their businesses and succeed. In a way, the Rollei episode is a Phoenix at the industry level.

The Singapore spirit of enterprise will keep us going, as we gear up strongly for new ways of doing things, as we move into a new phase of our economy. Last Friday, the Enterprise and Internationalisation Sub-committee of the Economic Review Committee released its recommendations. We are asking for bold measures to nurture more entrepreneurs and more support for Singapore-based companies to go out and claim their share of the world market.

We seek your backing and further ideas and feedback, as we continue to develop enterprise, innovation and internationalisation as key boosters for our economy. To overcome any challenge is tough going it alone. Together, we can be sure that our best shot can only get better.

We celebrate autumn tonight, and I am confident that, with your support, we can continue to look forward to a good harvest in the coming season. Thank you.