First, let me thank all of you, Marine Parade residents and friends, for your unwavering support all these years.

I thank also my grassroots leaders for "walking the hills and valleys" with me. Or perhaps I should say, for walking up and down the HDB blocks with me! Without their hard work, we would not have achieved our goals for Marine Parade. Together with the residents, we have turned Marine Parade into a beautiful home, or as our Marine Parade song puts it, "the best in the land".

I first became your MP 27 years ago, in 1976. 27 years is a long time. The world has changed dramatically in that time. Our personal circumstances too, have changed. I have become a grandfather, like Puhaindran, and many of you. And 27 years has taken a toll on our crowning glory. As I look around, I see more of you with grey hair, and some with less hair! That includes me, of course.

Because I paid tribute to many of my colleagues at last week's National Day Rally, some Singaporeans thought it was a farewell speech. I hope you do not also jump to a hasty conclusion tonight, just because I am thanking you! I will decide when to step down only after I have seen signs of recovery in our economy.

What will I do after I step down? No matter what I do, I shall still contest the next general election. I have deep and abiding feelings for Marine Parade. I love Marine Parade.

I have received generally positive comments on my Rally speech. But a funny thing happened. In the speech, I brought up the story of Hsien Loong slapping Dhanabalan to dismiss the alleged incident as untrue. I tried to do it with subtle humour. But after the Rally, I discovered instead that half of Singapore believed it was true!

There are two possible explanations for this unexpected outcome. First, the audience was so shocked by the story that they failed to hear or understand my punch lines. In boxing language, they were KO’d before the punch lines came. Second, my punch lines on my having amnesia, and Singaporeans being creative, were more like Tai Chi moves than a Mike Tyson punch. They were nuanced, not a direct blow to the head.

So sometimes, it is better to call a spade a spade than to say in a roundabout way that it is a hand-held, earth-digging equipment!

My friends, many of us here belong to the generation which was born before or during the Second World War. We have experienced many hardships and crises. During the Japanese Occupation, we lived in constant fear and hunger. In the 60s, we saw anger and distrust during the racial riots. We have also suffered bus strikes, water rationing and blackouts. We have gone through several economic downturns.

My generation is therefore unfazed by our slow economic growth. We have lived through worse times before.

I am not too worried for our young as we move forward into the future. There are many exciting opportunities for them in the new industries we are developing. They will get their 5 Cs – cash, credit card, car, condominium and country club - except it will take a little longer.

But I am worried about older Singaporeans. In this slow economy, they may not get another job easily if they are retrenched. First, many companies prefer younger workers. Second, older Singaporeans may not be able to pick up easily the skills required by the new industries. They missed out on a good education. They grew up when Singapore was poor and lacked the resources to invest in education and worker training.

This is why we are retuning the CPF system. It is to save jobs, in particular, jobs for older Singaporeans.

From the feedback we have received, Singaporeans are generally supportive of the CPF changes. They do not like them, but they know the changes must be made.

But they are understandably concerned about the impact of the changes on their mortgage payments. I assure you, we will put in place measures to help you with your loan repayment.

I am sure that our banks too, will explore ways to give a helping hand. I had lunch with Dhanabalan just the other day. We laughed over the tall tale of Loong slapping him. Dhana said that he too, must be suffering from a total loss of memory. He just could not remember being slapped by Loong. But we also discussed serious matters. Dhana is the Chairman of DBS Bank. He told me that the bank was studying how it could help Singaporeans re-arrange their loan repayment, when the CPF was cut.

I will present the changes to our CPF system in Parliament next week. At the same time, we will announce the help measures.

Let me conclude.

We are living in uncertain times. We do not know when or where another terrorist bomb might go off. SARS might make a comeback. And the global economy might slip into another downturn.

In these uncertain times, we must be lean and alert. Competition will intensify. Countries will be fighting for a bigger share of the economic pie. If we are not competitive enough, we will not be able to keep our share of the pie.

The CPF changes are not the only adjustments we will have to make to keep competitive. We must no longer expect life-long employment in the same company, doing the same job and enjoying annual increments. We have to train and retrain. And we have to keep on increasing our productivity and lowering our costs, so as to remain attractive to foreign investments.

Let us face the CPF changes bravely. The longer we wait to make the changes, the more serious our jobless situation will become. But if we accept the pain now, we will enjoy good growth again, once the global conditions improve. I am optimistic but realistic. So should you.

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