by Teo Wan Gek and Zakir Hussain
SINGAPORE'S social safety net is working well and the Government
will keep finding ways to improve it, Prime Minister Lee Hsien
Loong pledged yesterday.
While Singapore is a meritocratic society, 'it is also a
community helping one another and progressing together', he
said.
Society is feeling the strain of globalisation, ageing and
troubled families, he noted.
But deciding how best to help the poor is a complex issue.
Singapore's social safety net has to work without creating a
handout mentality, weakening the competitive work ethic or imposing
a tax burden that may prove impossible to roll back, Mr Lee
added.
He was speaking to 400 community and grassroots leaders and
social workers at a lunch to mark the fifth anniversary of the
Community Care Endowment Fund (ComCare) and to thank them.
