Current Affairs

I'll be having my current affairs tomorrow and I would just like to share my speech with you. Do give me some comments!


Good Morning audience, I am Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew. I will be talking about the recent flood events today.

Firstly, I feel that no amount of engineering can prevent flooding. The recent floods are labeled as ‘Freak Floods that happens only once in 50 years’ by the Minister for Environment, thus you could already infer that the rainfall is much heavier than normal. There is a limited amount of space that has been dug underground and limited amount of space you can run off for canals. If there is a heavy rainfall, we have to prepare to accept it. Based on statistics, the amount of rainfall in each of the three incidents is approximately more than 60 per cent of the average monthly rainfall for June. Thus, unless Singaporeans want to lose more roads to make canals, we cannot stop floods from occurring. It is impossible for Singapore to be entirely flood-free.

Secondly, I do admit that the government did not foresee the extent of the flood risk, but we will work hard to combat further floods. We will continue to implement new drainage works, improve the design of the drainage systems and to deal with more intense storms. But still, I don't think it's possible in Singapore to expect the place to be completely free of floods. Because if you're going to do that, you'll have to have huge tracts of land put aside for huge monsoon drains which will be empty most of the time. The land is tied up and the infrastructure will cost a lot of money.

Lastly, I feel that Singaporeans cannot expect too much from us. Singaporeans expect everything to be perfect in their country, but the government has its limits. Some things are beyond our control, just like these flood incidents. Compared to other countries, we do have an efficient flood prevention system, but sometimes it’s just God’s act that we would occasionally meet these problems. After all, no lives have been lost and the floods are just expensive inconveniences. Singaporeans sometimes do take things for granted; they should learn to appreciate it.

I would conclude this by comparing Singapore’s floods with China’s floods. In China, 100 thousand people were affected by the recent floods and at least a thousand and hundred were killed. Let’s then compare the differences. Were Singaporeans’ homes destroyed? Were there any deaths? Were they forced to migrate from Singapore? No, and all of the above had happened to citizens of China. Singapore has merely seen a little of what China had.

Singaporeans really must appreciate that here in Singapore we don’t have any natural disasters and that these little inconveniences should not be taken into heart. The government is always working hard to solve problems, but please do think for us when we really have no more ways to solve this issue. We have a peaceful life in Singapore and we must cherish it. I end off my speech here; thank you.