Mr Lee Yi Shyan at the 2008 National Day Observance Ceremony jointly organized by UWEEI and PRDS

SPEECH BY MR LEE YI SHYAN MINISTER OF STATE FOR TRADE & INDUSTRY AT THE 2008 NATIONAL DAY OBSERVANCE CEREMONY JOINTLY ORGANISED BY THE UNITED WORKERS OF ELECTRONICS AND ELECTRICAL INDUSTRIES (UWEEI) AND PANASONIC REFRIGERATION DEVICES SINGAPORE (PRDS), 19 AUGUST 2008

Mr Akio Kozaki, Managing Director of Panasonic Refrigeration Devices Singapore (PRDS),

Madam Halimah Yacob, Executive Secretary of UWEEI, and MP for Jurong GRC,

Mr Cyrille Tan, General Secretary of UWEEI

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am happy to be here this morning, to join you in this National Day Observance Ceremony organized by UWEEI, together with PRDS.

Singapore Economy

Forty three years ago, Singapore became independent. One of the pressing tasks of the government then was to create jobs as unemployment hit 14%. The Economic Development Board (EDB) then went around the world persuading investors to set up plants in Singapore. In fact, we had very few choices, any kind of manufacturing that created jobs were welcome.

In 1968, in order to convince US companies such as National Semiconductor to invest in Singapore, EDB managed to convert its new office into a manufacturing facility for the company – within a short time of six weeks after EDB received notice that National Semiconductor was considering to invest in Singapore. They quickly arranged a visit to a hair wig factory to convince the Americans that our workers were well-disciplined, with nimble fingers and they were ready for employment. Word of National Semiconductor’s quick-start in Singapore spread like wild fire in California. Our quick-start environment was highly treasured by the US companies and soon after, many other MNCs such as Texas Instruments, Fairchild and HP came to Singapore.

Singapore went on to solve the problem of unemployment in the next 10 years. By 1975, Singapore’s unemployment dropped to 6% and the GDP more than doubled from $2.3 billion in 1961 to $5.1 billion in 1970. Our workers adapted quickly. Our unions were supportive. The government continued to improve our business environment and infrastructure to prepare Singapore for higher value-added investments.

In fact, Singapore’s adoption of a Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) strategy to welcome multi-nationals to Singapore was an exception rather than the norm in the region. Our region preferred import substitution strategy and self-reliance to foreign direct investments. By the time the region realized that the benefits of FDI and started to reverse its economic policy, Singapore had 15 years of head start.

Fast forward to 2008, the world in which we now operate in is vastly different. Three billion workers from China, India and Russia had joined the global economy. Multi-nationals have many choices in locating their supply chain. Competition for investments has intensified. Job shifts from developed countries to developing countries are common.

Against this dynamic picture, the surest way to render ourselves relevant to the globalized economy is to embrace lifelong learning and upgrade ourselves with new skills. Our unions, employers and the government have been working together to ensure that we pursue re-training and job re-design rigorously and seriously. Tripartism is a source of competitiveness for Singapore.

In this joint endeavor, PRDS has been an outstanding partner. As an employer, it has HR practices well ahead of its time. Concepts such as cross-training and job re-assignment have been practiced in PRDS for many years now.

Just now, we also heard from your Managing Director, Akio Kozaki-san about the new investments, employing of new production lines to raise the capacity to use the new inverter-converter technology. We heard of various plans to upgrade job productivity to aim for zero-defect. I think these are very important on-going initiatives to raise the quality of PRDS as well as to raise profitability, and later on, to share this profitability with staff.

PRDS’ inclusive ways extend to our foreign workers as well. It provides English classes for some of its workers from China, India or Myanmar, and even allows them to re-schedule their shifts so that they can attend these classes. This equips them with new skills and enables them to work more effectively as a team.

Singapore itself had its roots as an immigrant society. Today, Singapore continues to welcome our foreign workers graciously. They contribute to the output of this plant. They contribute to the economy. And together, we create a larger economic pie for everyone to share.

Our successful tripartite model has enabled us to overcome many challenges, with various parties coming together to work on solutions to difficult problems. This would not have been possible without the strong support of our people and companies. I would therefore like to take this opportunity to recognize the contributions of PRDS and every one of you here.

On this note, I wish you all a Happy National Day.

Thank you!