Putting heart into policies

THIS is my first time watching PM Lee Hsien Loong speaking "live" at the Rally.

Beyond the watershed policies that he proposed, I could feel his sincerity and compassion as Mr Lee spoke from his heart. The relaxed and humorous tone of the delivery was refreshing and made him more down-to-earth.

Having done social work since my university days, I agree we should not forget the silent portion of the population versus those who might be overly vocal on online platforms - perhaps the ones who really need help might not be the ones voicing their needs, and the ones voicing their needs might not be the ones deserving more help.

The proposed enlarged youth community engagement with social work is an important right step - it is not happiness that makes us grateful; it is gratefulness that makes us happy.

In Jim Collin's Good To Great, he talked about "Level 5" leaders, a special kind of leaders who take an organisation from good to great: They are highly ambitious but the focus of their ambition is not themselves but the greater good.

I am hopeful that the leadership of the country, particularly the bureaucrats, will be able to implement the new proposed policies with their hearts and not just with their heads.

As Mrs Margaret Thatcher extolled: "There is no such thing as society. There are individual men and women and there are families."

TAN CHIN HWEE

The writer is president of CFA Society Singapore, a society of chartered financial analysts.

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