Transcript of Opening Remarks by Senior Minister of State for Law and Transport, Mr Murali Pillai, at the Maritime Singapore Master Plan Focus Group Discussion

1.           A warm welcome to each and every one of you to today's focus group discussion.

2.           I had the opportunity to meet and introduce myself to some of you, and I'm struck by the vast diversity of backgrounds that you bring to this focus discussion. For one, I met a gentleman who had spent 15 years in West Africa, and he has very decided views on what Singapore should be doing in Africa. I also met graduates from the local tertiary institutions, and some who are still students and aspiring to embark into very promising careers, all as part of Maritime Singapore.

3.           What's the purpose of this gathering? The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore and the Ministry of Transport, both these organisations and their people within it are all putting their heads together to come up with a Master Plan for 2050 and beyond, and it's about charting our future amidst all the developments, the technology, the geopolitical tension. How do we plan for the future so that amongst Singaporeans here in Singapore we can continue to have a strong maritime presence?

4.           I met Captain Frederick, and he very kindly presented me a book, and just flipping through the pages, I realised that Singapore's roots are all really deeply into maritime. It is the maritime past that has largely created the future that we know, or rather, the current situation that we know today with this economic progress. But the question is, for the future, what should we do? And this is where your inputs come in. They're very, very important. Today's focus group discussion is on talent.

5.           One thing that I must say, I've been in this position for about two years or so. When it comes to attracting talent into Maritime Singapore, it is not so easy. Even though I must say, we have relatively decent jobs, good-paying jobs with actually lots of prospects for career advancement as well. But somehow it may be for a variety of reasons, and you may be telling us exactly what we should do better. So your inputs are important, and increasingly we are also looking at not just the traditional kind of skills, skills that have to keep pace with technology. Let me just share with you my meeting with Ms Jennifer Liu. Jennifer interestingly started her journey, her career in aviation. She happens to be a drone operator who can really operate drones across all weight categories and classifications, not just in Singapore but overseas as well. And through her unique set of skills, she is able to operate drones remotely to deal with incidents at sea, so that is really a big plus when it comes to dealing quickly with incidents at sea, being the eyes and see what's happening, and then decisions can be made arising from that.

6.           So you can see that what we need in Maritime Singapore are not just the traditional talents, but talents including that Jennifer has, and I'm sure as things evolve, we will need many more talents, including cyber security and so on.

7.           Let me just end off by stating that you know we want you to provide the unvarnished views. Your views would be really what would shape the aspirations of fellow Singaporeans, which is captured as part of our development for the Master Plan. It is actually very important, and it will guide us in really coming up with a Master Plan that best suits the interests of Singapore and fellow Singaporeans. Thank you.