HG Metal Manufacturing CEO Wee Piew on what struck him most, personally and from an economic and business perspective, about PM Lee's National Day Rally speech

TWO key points in PM Lee's speech struck me - digital opportunities and immigration. It makes sense for a small country like Singapore to seize digital opportunities to compete internationally at the next level. Business opportunities in IT and the internet do not recognise international borders, or a country's size, population, resources or location. What matters is the populace's skills and talents. In this regard, wiring up the nation and ensuring that there is no digital divide among Singaporeans goes a long way to enable every Singaporean has an equal chance to seize opportunities in the digital realm.

Similarly, we have to enhance the talent pool in Singapore. With a population of only 4 million, there is only so much talent we can produce ourselves and this is going to get worse with our declining birth rates. Immigration of people with different diversity, talents and backgrounds will enable Singapore to increase our talent pool. It is encouraging to hear that the government is not just encouraging immigration of professionals and academics, but also people of a variety of talents - chefs, artistes, etc. This will help plug Singapore into the international network and create a more vibrant city life, not just in the business arena but in areas of entertainment, culture and the arts.

- Wee Piew
CEO,
HG Metal Manufacturing Ltd