​Staying open to people and ideas will help Singapore succeed, say speakers at NTU Bicentennial conference

Singapore was neither a sleepy fishing village, nor filled with lazy natives 700 years ago. Debunking these myths, former Senior Minister of State Zainul Abidin Rasheed said that five centuries before the arrival of Sir Stamford Raffles, the island was already a bustling trading centre called Temasek, open to business and to traders of all races. Speaking at NTU's Bicentennial Conference on Friday (Oct 18), he said the same openness to people, new ideas and perspectives will stand Singapore in good stead for the future. Addressing around 100 academics and policymakers at the two-day conference, Mr Zainul, who is also a board member of NTU, said that openness and connectivity are core principles of Singapore's international engagements. Fellow speaker and pioneer urban planner Dr Liu Thai Ker shared that Singapore's urban transformation, from Housing Board towns to its Central Business District, did not come by "luck or accident", but through careful planning. He said, "When Singapore was poor, we had to survive and search for excellence. But despite our success, we still have no choice as a tiny country but to survive and search for excellence."