1. A very good evening to all of you. First, let me thank Ee Cheong and the UOB team for your staunch support in the arts, not just in recent years but for over 42 years. 42 years is not a short time. Hence, thank you very much, Ee Cheong and UOB for your commitment to the arts and we look forward to your continuous support for many more years to come.
2. For us in Singapore, the arts has always been an essential and critical part of our life and society. I believe that the arts will become even more important going forward. This is the reason why recently we set up the University of the Arts (UAS). Kian Woon, the Vice-Chancellor of UAS, is here with us tonight. We have a larger vision and goal for UAS and the arts community. If I can summarise this vision in three words that I always use for my education fraternity, I hope that the arts community will bring Singapore to the next lap of our accomplishments by helping us to do three things – to create, to connect, and to contribute.
3. My first wish, as I've shared with Kian Woon as part of his mission in UAS, is for the arts to help Singapore create new value propositions. We know that Singapore has done well in many dimensions. But there are still things that we can improve, and there are things that we need to improve urgently. The next lap of our development will not just be how well we are able to better do the things that we are currently doing. I'm sure we will continue to do things better. But more importantly, in the next lap of our nation's development, we also need to do better things.
4. We need to create new value propositions. We need to break down the artificial divide between economics and non-economics and break down the difference between the arts and the non-arts. We need to change the mindset where only the artist can create and have a new mindset. Where every Singaporean, everyone, can play a part in this creation of new value propositions. I hope that the arts community will be a critical part in this journey – spearheading different domains of new creations, together with partners in the non-arts dimensions, so that we can harness the creativity of the entire nation to create new, sustainable propositions for our country. Thus, we do not just want to do things better, but we also wish to do better things, and I look forward to the arts community doing this.
5. My second wish is for us to connect, and this is where the UOB Painting of the Year competition comes in. We have a vision that Singapore will be the node in Southeast Asia to connect not just countries, but cultures, societies in Southeast Asia and perhaps beyond. It's similar to the aspirations of NAFA, LASALLE and now UAS. Our aim, especially in a troubled and fragmenting world, is for Singapore to be a node where people from different persuasions and backgrounds can come together to connect and collaborate to create new value propositions.
6. I thank UOB and your team for your effort to spearhead this. Because the UOB Painting of the Year will inspire not just Southeast Asian countries and artists to come together to collaborate, but it is also a fine example of the role that Singapore and Singapore enterprises can do for the larger world. The more troubled the world is, and the more fragmented the world threatens to be, the greater will be our role to be the connector for the world to come together. I encourage everyone in the arts community to use your expertise, knowledge and connection to help Singapore to be that node that connects people and countries in a troubled world.
7. Last but not least, I hope that through this effort, the arts community will also help every Singaporean to feel a sense of contribution. This should not just be felt by those who have done well, but also by everyone else. Thus, our vision for Singapore going forward is that regardless of our background, everyone can make a contribution. The arts community is a good place to start. Everyone can contribute regardless of our starting points. And it becomes all that more beautiful when everyone feels that sense of ownership, responsibility, and that sense of pride and dignity to be able to contribute to our societal and country's growth.
8. Hence, the ability to create new value propositions, the ability to connect across a troubled world, and the ability to inspire everyone will be what we are looking forward to. This is what I've set up for the University of the Arts as part of the larger Singapore arts ecosystem. But our aspiration is not just to develop the local arts ecosystem. Just like UOB, we hope that through the collective efforts of everyone here, including our partners from ASEAN and beyond, we will be able to do all these together for everyone in this region and beyond.
9. So on that note, I hope that many more enterprises and individuals will be inspired by UOB's example and continue supporting the arts, the artist, and to create, to connect and to contribute. Because if we can do that, then we can do more things for the development of our country. Hence, thank you Ee Cheong, and your whole team. We look forward to working closely with the UOB team and inviting more partners to work closely with the Singapore arts community. Between the arts community and the business community, there are many opportunities for us to collaborate and bring our country to the next higher level. Congratulations to all the winners and finalists. You are all winners regardless of whether you walk away with the top prize tonight. Thank you very much for inspiring us!