Tharman says crisis shows importance of working together in hard times

SINGAPORE: Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam has said the way Singapore is emerging from the economic crisis shows the importance of various parties working together in times of difficulty.

Mr Tharman said the Resilience Package unveiled in Budget 2009 to stimulate the economy and save jobs is not just about the government’s efforts.

He said: "What this crisis really showed was the strength of Singapore — the collective resilience of our people and businesses, and of our tripartite system of collaboration. Nothing would have worked if everyone did not play their part."

Mr Tharman was speaking on Monday at the Enterprise 50 Awards, which honours the most enterprising Singapore companies.

The minister noted that businesses retained jobs wherever possible, and in many cases created new ones. He said companies used the SPUR programme to train and retrain instead of retrenching workers.

Workers also made sacrifices by taking wage cuts and accepting shorter work weeks.

While banks played their part by continuing to lend to viable companies and by taking advantage of the special risk—sharing initiative, the community sector also went out of its way to reach out to those in need.

Paying tribute to the best of Singapore enterprise, Mr Tharman said the country must now nurture new echelons of leaders to succeed the pioneers who have built up local companies so as not to lose the networks and know—how that they have accumulated.

— CNA/ir