I know that many Singaporeans are a little unsettled by the changes we have to make to the labour market in recent years. And there are many changes - talk about flexible wage, talk about co-payment, medical benefits, retrenchment benefits, capping that, and many more. In order to preserve jobs, we have had to do all these changes to make ourselves more competitive and flexible. It is not easy, but our great advantage is that the unions have supported these changes because they accept and understand and are convinced that these changes are in the long term interest of the workers. Unlike many other countries, we are able to implement these reforms. Because of the excellent relationship and trust built up by the tripartite partners, that is the master key, that is the magic. It is not the formula. Anybody can design the policy. But without that foundation of tripartite relationships, you cannot make the policy work. As Mr Yeo Guat Kwang pointed out, good tripartite relations should not be taken for granted and they have got to be constantly nurtured.

So that is the answer to Dr Tan Cheng Bock who asked why it was necessary for the Senior Minister to intervene in the SIA pilot issue. As SM explained, this is not just an ordinary management-labour dispute in a company. SIA is not only a big employer, but it is also an icon of Singapore and the anchor to the whole aviation sector in Singapore. Hundreds of thousands of jobs are at stake. And, more importantly, the way the issue was developing could have undermined the foundation of the tripartite approach that we have painstakingly built up over the years. Therefore, it was critical to nip the problem in the bud effectively, while maintaining the trust of all parties involved.

Why did SM do this rather than one of the other Ministers? The short answer is because this was unfinished business. It was left over from 1980, when there were troubles between SIA and the pilots which SM handled. So this time the problem had not been cleared. SM went in, and I hope this time the matter is done.