My role is not to checkmate the government. No, my role is not that. My role is to make sure that our reserves that are released are used in a manner… - Halimah Yacob

We must also re-examine how society rewards different skills and talents, and recognises the full range of pathways to success. We should accord greater value to those who are skilled with their hands and contribute through their technical and practical abilities, as well as those with the social and empathetic traits to excel in jobs such as caregiving or community service. Every Singaporean must have the opportunity to take on work they find fulfilling and meaningful, build on their talents, give of their best, and be rewarded fairly for it.

Meritocracy will continue to function as a filter to identify those who are gifted early and reward them with opportunities which is good for Singapore as we cannot adopt an attitude of pulling everyone down to the same denominator. Our approach must instead be to try and pull everyone up by providing them with the opportunities to do so. At the same time, we need to ensure that the path developed for those who have benefitted from meritocracy does not stifle the growth of late bloomers or those who excel in non-academic areas. We must make meritocracy inclusive and one that does not inhibit social mobility

Stewardship includes taking care of one another, and working together to solve the problems we face today. Socially, we have to take care of our ageing population and growing healthcare needs. Economically, we have to prepare workers and businesses for new jobs and opportunities. And in terms of security, we must deal with divisive forces that are sweeping across the world, including the twin threats of extremist terrorism and Islamophobia. But stewardship also means planning for the future, and building for the next generation. We must invest in our economy and our people. This includes infrastructure and hardware, but also education and healthcare.