Distinguished Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is my pleasure to be here this evening for the Raffles Scholarships Award Ceremony. Singapore and the United Kingdom enjoy excellent bilateral relations. Besides education, bilateral cooperation in the fields of trade and commerce, defence and financial services is strong. The Raffles Scholarship, which the British Government initiated 18 years ago and continuing to this day, is a sign of the strong links between the two countries.

2 Singapore is a small country with a small population. Without natural resources, we have no other choice but to maximize the value of our intellectual capital by developing the potential of our people to the fullest and by attracting foreign talents to help us make the grade as a world-class knowledge-based economy.

3 We are fortunate that our goal is made easier by the rapid advancement of technology in general, and information technology (IT) in particular. Technology has become a powerful enabler for us to maximize the value of our knowledge and ideas. In the past, financial capital, plant and equipment are extremely important factors for economic success. Today, intellectual capital is the key. Every Singaporean must therefore make every attempt to develop and accumulate his or her intellectual capital and use it to help Singapore win the economic race.

4 To do this, no one should ever stop learning throughout his or her life time. In whatever things we do, whether at work or at play, our mindset should always be "how I can improve and do it better". This keenness to improve must become part of our national psyche or DNA. To constantly improve and be the best we can be means we must learn from the best ideas from around the world. We can do this either by going abroad or even at our work place where many of us have the opportunities to work with our foreigner colleagues.

5 The Feedback Unit that I chair recently conducted a dialogue with a group of foreign professionals many of whom are in the managerial positions. The discussion focused on how foreign professionals could transfer their skills to their local employees and how creativity could be promoted in the workforce. The participants said that they had a keen interest in transferring their skills to their local employees so that they could go on to expand in the region. However, they encountered some difficulty in doing so. While they noted that their local employees were very focused, responsible and productive, they seemed most of time to carry out instructions to the letter, and not being good at dealing with changing circumstances. Many were risk-averse and reluctant to take on additional responsibilities. They were a good "doer" but not a good "manager".

6 The participants gave, among other things, the following suggestions to promote creativity in our workforce:

· Encourage our workers to accept cross-country posting to gain exposure to different working environment.

· Promote student-exchange programmes with foreign universities and student-attachment programmes with MNCs with branches overseas.

· Create more competition in the job market to cultivate the "fire in the belly" for success.

· Encourage discussions at the workplace, promote empowerment of workers and implement incentive schemes for creative ideas.

I think Singaporeans should take heed of the feedback from our foreign friends.

7 Coming back to our Award recipients tonight, the very fact that you are awarded this scholarship tells me that you have the quality of learning without ceasing. I am confident that with the invaluable knowledge and experience gained in your respective overseas postings, you will be in a better position to contribute to our nation building when you return.

8 It remains for me to thank the British Government and the donor companies and organizations for their generous contributions. Your continued support in this scholarship programme will further strengthen the already strong friendship and cooperation between our two countries.

Thank you.