At a glance, I'd have to say that this year's National Day Rally Speech was rather tame compared to the storm churned up this time last year. Although it is clear that the government has painted the broad strokes for the coming year, there was a lack of policy backing, or detailed explanation of how the normative concepts that PM put forward would be implemented. And the devil is in the details.
Compare the 2004 and 2005 speeches. The edited excerpts are also available from STI.
In 2004, we were flooded with a slew of new initiatives: Teach less, learn more; the impending casino decision, baby subsidies and most importantly, the 5-day week. This year it becomes apparent that our entire population needs to gear up for a tourism-based economy, with education supporting a service culture, redeveloped shopping areas and a vibrant global city. How so is not particularly clear.
Well, I'm sure the maiden speech had to be the best. I hope that the year ahead will be no less exciting.
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