Speech by Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Lawrence Wong at the North West District Meeting and Council Appointment Ceremony on 18 September 2026.

Mayor Alex YamGrassroots Advisers and District CouncillorsPartners and volunteersLadies and gentlemen

I am very happy to join all of you for the North West District Meeting and Council Appointment Ceremony.

Tonight, marks the start of the 10thterm of the North West District Council.

So first of all, let me thank all our outgoing District Councillors.  You have given generously of your time and energy over the past three years and made a real difference to the lives of all our residents. Thank you very much.

To our incoming Councillors, congratulations on your appointments.Â

Some of you are continuing for another term.  Others are joining us for the first time.

I hope all of you will bring your ideas and experience to the Council, and find new ways to serve our residents.

And I hope you will find this journey of service meaningful and fulfilling. So congratulations to all incoming District Councillors. And I would like to make a special shoutout, because from what I heard from Alex just now, some of you brought spouses and family members, including children, and so to all family members of District Councillors, outgoing and incoming, thank you very much for supporting your family member too. Â

We all know that the world is getting more dangerous.

The news headlines are always full of conflicts, trade frictions, and disruptions caused by new technologies.

And some of these may seem far away.  But their effects are felt here at home – in jobs, expenses, and anxieties about the future.Â

And Singapore is not alone in this.  Across many societies everywhere, people are feeling less certain about what lies ahead.

The Government will do our part, to steer the economy through these shifts, support our families and businesses, and give Singaporeans greater confidence about the future.

But there is another part of the response that is just as important: it is to keep our communities strong.

Because policies can be designed nationally.  But people experience their needs and challenges locally – in their homes, in their workplaces and in their neighbourhoods.Â

And that is where the CDCs, and that is where all of you as District Councillors and partners, play an important role.

You help to bring national programmes closer to residents.

You connect residents with our schools, social service agencies, grassroots organisations and volunteers.

And importantly, you see things that may not show up neatly in a policy paper or in official data – the needs of a family, a gap in the community or an idea worth trying.Â

And sometimes there are good ideas that start locally and then grow into something bigger like CDC vouchers, started by our mayors, and now everybody in Singapore knows what CDC vouchers are about.

There is also Walking Trails @ CDC.

It again began in the North West CDC in 2016 – it was North West Eco Trails.Â

Residents liked it. It was expanded across the board, and so now we have walking trails at CDCs all over Singapore.

More recently, we launched Jobs Nearby @ CDC because we know there are concerns about jobs, and we have national programmes to help Singaporeans find jobs.

But finding the right job is a very personal matter. Sometimes a person may want a job closer to home.

Sometimes they may want flexible hours because of caregiving responsibilities.Â

At the same time, from the business point of view and the employer point of view, sometimes a small business may have vacancies but they may not have the resources to advertise widely or to recruit the workers.

On paper, there is a job and there is a jobseeker.  But they do not find each other.Â

And again, it is something where the CDCs can make a difference. The CDCs can make that connection because CDCs know the residents, you know the businesses, and you have the networks to bring them together.

nd that is why we started Jobs Nearby @ CDCs last October, and we have started helping many residents to take on secure jobs through our job ambassadors.

We have made good progress, and I believe the impact will only grow further in the years ahead.

There is another dimension to the work of CDCs which is equally important.Â

Across all our CDCs, there are different initiatives.  But the best of them do more than deliver a programme or provide assistance.Â

The best programmes connect people, as Mayor Alex said just now. The best programmes bring people together, create  opportunities for residents, volunteers and businesses to contribute and help one another.Â

And this is an important part of what we are trying to build in Singapore.Â

Because we do not want to reach a point in Singapore where people say: since the Government is doing so much, therefore all of us can sit back and just wait for the government to give us more vouchers.

Yes, the Government will give support, the Government will help, but our ambition should be the reverse.

As the Government provides stronger support, we should, at the same time, create more opportunities for Singaporeans to contribute – their time,  their skills, their ideas, and their resources.Â

Because there are some things that the government can do. But there are many other things only people can give one another – friendship, encouragement, a listening ear, a helping hand.

These are things that only people can do within the community itself, and these are often the things that turn a collection of residents into a community, and our neighbourhoods into home.Â

And that is what it means to build a “We-First” society – where we continue to look out for one another and have a stake in one another’s success. Â

So, as we begin this new Council term in the North West, I encourage all our District Councillors and partners to keep pushing the boundaries of what the CDC can do. Mayor Alex has already shared the plans for the new term, and I am sure there is a lot that we can do.

Continue to bring in new people, new volunteers.

Continue to build new partnerships.

Find new ways to engage and serve our residents.

And most importantly, create more opportunities for residents themselves to step forward and contribute.

And if we can build communities like these across Singapore, then whatever challenge comes our way, I am sure we will be ready to face it from a position of strength.

So on that note, let us continue working together – to build a stronger North West District and a stronger Singapore. Thank you very much.