We are also eating less healthily. More families are eating out due to busy lifestyles. The key is to be disciplined & make the right choices. Make small changes, like replacing white rice with brown.

Suggestions to combat diabetes [4/4]:

Cut down on soft drinks.
Just one can of soft drink can contain 8 cubes of sugar – much more than you need for 1 day.

Our children are most at risk because soft drinks are part of their lifestyle. We are seeing more diabetes cases among young people and children.

We are scouting around for solutions but nobody has found the ideal one yet.

As a first step, we have gotten soft drink producers to reduce the sugar in all their drinks sold in Singapore. This will help, but the best is to drink plain water.

LIVE SMART – SMART NATION

Smart Nation is about Singapore taking full advantage of IT. Using it to create new jobs and business opportunities, to make our economy more productive, and to make our lives more convenient.

We have a natural advantage to do this: We’re compact and connected, digitally literate, and our schools are teaching IT.

We have the right ingredients, but we lag behind other cities in several areas, like electronic payments, which China has gone the furthest with.

In Singapore, we have too many different e-payment schemes and systems that many find inconvenient, and are costly for businesses. As a result, most of us still prefer cash and cheques.

The Monetary Authority Of Singapore has been working hard at integrating the different e-payment systems into one. MAS and our banks have also rolled out a new service called PayNow (https://abs.org.sg/consumer-banking/pay-now). It links your mobile number to your bank account, so you can pay and receive money using your mobile banking app.

Another area where IT can help is public safety and security. Many cities already have comprehensive CCTV and sensor networks. They can integrate the inputs from all the sources, analyse, and make sense of the information.

In Singapore we started building our own network of sensors some time ago. The Police installed CCTVs at HDB void decks and lift landings. Other agencies have different sensors, such as PUB’s sensors to detect water levels in drains. Hotels, shopping centres and office buildings also have their own CCTV systems.

But we have not brought all the different systems together. We are building an integrated national sensor network, one that will be able to combine inputs from different sources. We are learning to analyse this combined data, e.g. using AI to automatically flag when something unusual is happening.

We are working on smaller Smart Nation projects too, like paying for parking. We are still tearing parking coupons today – a 40-year-old solution!

Dozens of other cities have parking apps. Why don’t we? I pushed HDB and URA to go digital. Glad that with GovTech’s help, we have now developed an app for street parking called parking.sg, which we will launch by October.

To do Smart Nation projects, big or small, we need engineers, programmers, data analysts, technicians. There is a worldwide shortage of such skills, so we must urgently build up our talent pool.

The Government is offering scholarships and sponsorships for engineering, and the SkillsFuture and Professional Conversion Programmes will help Singaporeans build up and upgrade such skills.

This is one direct way a Smart Nation will create new jobs and opportunities for our people.

Smart Nation is for young & old, & we are making every effort to bring everyone along.

If you know IT, share your knowledge, like Mr Tariam Singh, a volunteer Silver Infocomm Wellness Ambassador.

It is my Government’s duty to build for our future, so that every family can be like Ahmad, Aziz and Adam. You can read more about them here: http://bit.ly/2fV8hXO.

This is the Singapore Story: Every generation striving and building for the next, keeping our eye on tomorrow and investing in our children. Working together to realise a bright future for all of us.

NDR 2017 has come to an end.

The full recordings of the Malay, Chinese and English speeches with subtitles will be available on the PMO YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/pmosingapore) shortly.

Good night from the PMO team!

Had a few NG takes in my National Day Rally trailer last week. Thought it’d make for a nice #throwbackthursday share. :) – LHL

#guesswhoo’s back? :)

The Istana appears to be a regular stopover for owls, with latest one making a visit after visits in 2015 & 2013. (It's rather curious why they come by every 2 years!).

True to their reputed wisdom, owls seemed to have learnt not to fly into the Istana. Our latest visitor was quite content to keep a silent watch from its perch above the main entrance of the building.

The Writ of Election for the Presidential Election was issued today. Nomination Day will be on 13 September.

Some highlights of my visit to the Home Team officers at Woodlands Checkpoint and Senoko Fishery Port yesterday.

Have nominated Tan Chuan-Jin to be next Speaker of Parliament, as Mdm Halimah Yacob has resigned to run for President. A very difficult decision, as MSF would lose an effective & activist Minister.