Updated 20 February 2026

On 5 September 2025, the 15th Parliament of Singapore commenced. The first session saw members of Parliament (MPs) and non-constituency members of Parliament (NCMPs) sworn in, along with initial speeches from MPs paying tribute to the Speaker of the House, followed by an opening speech by President Tharman Shanmugaratnam.

Throughout the month of September, various government ministries also released their respective addenda to the President’s speech – statements outlining their overarching aims for the 15th Parliament.

The opening of Singapore’s 15th Parliament came just a few weeks after Prime Minister Lawrence Wong gave his National Day Rally 2025 (NDR2025) speech in August entitled “Beyond SG60: Writing Our Next Chapter” – where he outlined several of the government’s upcoming priorities and initiatives in light of Singapore having just celebrated its 60th birthday.

President Tharman’s opening speech to the 15th Parliament and PM Wong’s NDR 2025 speech contained many of the same points – the need to leverage on emerging technologies amidst the rise of AI, and the need to stay vigilant in a world marked by unpredictable geopolitical tensions – amongst other comments. Noticeably, both President Tharman’s and PM Wong’s speech noted an emphasis on building what they noted as a “we-first” Singapore.

“It starts with a simple but profound statement. “We the Citizens of Singapore”. It is not “I” or “me”. It is “we”. To keep Singapore going, we must be a “We-First” society. Because if everyone only thinks about “me”, and puts “me” ahead of “we”, then we are finished. Society will fray, and things will fall apart. But if each of us does our part for the “we” – care, contribute, and look out for one another – then the “me” will thrive and flourish too. Because when the whole is strong, each of us becomes stronger too. And that is how we strengthen the Singapore Spirit,” said PM Wong.

This sentiment of a “we-first” community was reiterated by President Tharman during his opening speech to the 15th Parliament:

“We will nurture a “We First” society at every level, starting in the community. We will work with community leaders to grow networks of care, such as by bringing neighbours together to support one another. We will also create more space for citizens to take the initiative and lead ground-up programmes to take on the causes that matter. Everyone will have a say in building our shared future. By creating a more open and engaged society, we will strengthen Singapore, and deepen the solidarity that defines us,” said President Tharman.

There is truth to these sentiments. Yet, it is important to add that building a “we-first” society must aim to build a society that works for everyone – not just the majority or privileged. This will require thinking and rethinking how our policies and systems are designed and implemented to ensure that they also target and include the realities of those historically-marginalised – including persons with disabilities.

There are many ways that Singapore can and needs to improve to build such a “we-first” society. We highlight two ways in particular below in light of points made during the speeches at NDR 2025 and the opening of the 15th Parliament: leveraging AI for a more inclusive Singapore and optimising shared experiences.

Leveraging AI for a more inclusive Singapore

As noted, both President Tharman and PM Wong noted the need to leverage the emergence of AI. For example, akin to several of his recent major speeches, PM Wong focused on the research and development (R&D) sector – citing several ways companies and professions are already incorporating AI in their respective occupations.

The emergence of AI presents many important questions that our societies – including here in Singapore – need to grapple with – especially when building a society that truly works for everyone – including persons with disabilities.

As we note in a recent ST Forum letter, the emergence of AI is not immune to many of the risks that are present with previous technologies.

Previous technologies such as systems that rely on limited modes of communication or inputs such as hand gestures or speech to operate – excluding persons with mobility or speech-related disabilities from spaces that rely on such technologies, are examples of how technology, when not planned with inclusivity from the get-go, can lead to the widening of exclusion for persons with disabilities.

According to research in other countries, AI presents similar concerns – notably how persons with disabilities, due to barriers and inequitable policies in our societies, are often left out of spaces and organisations that contribute to the data that AI is trained on. Even if AI is trained with data and information that includes disability, such data on disability itself may not be complete, accurate, or inclusive of various disability experiences – i.e. basing disability on a definition of disability that does not include important types of disabilities.

Singapore’s national AI strategy published in 2023 briefly mentions how the government intends to support and participate in “initiatives, that seek to achieve an inclusive, practical, and rules-based global environment”. The strategy additionally briefly mentions the importance of ensuring that model development of AI does not lead to outputs that are biased. However, the strategy does not mention disability nor specifies how Singapore plans to navigate such afore-mentioned issues with AI’s potential impact on the digital divide for the disability community.

Smart Nation SG 2.0 – released in October 2024 and updated earlier this year – mentions disability and the need to utilise emerging technologies to build a more inclusive society. A similar sentiment was expressed by the Ministry of Digital Development and Information (MDDI) addendum to the President’s speech – where it noted its intention to enhance digital inclusion. This follows a press statement by MDDI earlier this year where it noted the Ministry’s ongoing efforts to enhance the government’s current digital service standards (DSS) to ensure better accessibility for persons with disabilities in interacting with government webpages and digital services. These are positive and important steps. However, it is unclear if such efforts will lead to needed regulated policies in place to ensure that the inconsistent experiences that persons with disabilities usually have with new technologies (as outlined) will not carry over to the utilisation of AI. Such regulations are important for not only webpages, mobile applications, and digital services run by government entities but also ones run by non-governmental/private sector entities.

Future reiterations of SG’s national AI strategy should specify, for example, steps of how the government plans to accomplish and put in place such important regulations that are specific to the disability community and other historically marginalised groups.

For example, studies in other countries show the importance of working towards strong regulatory frameworks to ensure accessibility and inclusivity of AI systems guided by co-design of such AI systems with persons with disabilities, allocated funding for R&D research on AI and disability inclusion, and initiatives guided by principles of equity and non-discrimination as outlined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) – as just some of such important steps.

Additionally, while the use of AI can lead to positive outcomes and opportunities, an over-reliance on AI has also shown to have other wider negative implications – such as on climate change. Design of AI strategies and initiatives must thus not only be inclusive but also sustainable.

The above is important to keep in consideration to ensure that Singapore’s embrace of AI does not lead to a widening of the digital divide, inequality, or unintended negative outcomes on vulnerable demographics or our climate and various ecosystems, but rather towards a society that aims to work for everyone.

Optimising “shared experiences”

As President Tharman noted in his speech to the 15th Parliament, “we all have a role in building a culture of contribution – one where success is not measured only by personal achievement, but by what we do together for the common good. And where, by learning about each other’s circumstances of life and experiences, we enhance our sense of shared reality”.

President Tharman went on to note that this involves nurturing “the ability to accept our varied identities, to take a respectful interest in each other’s cultures, and to build common ground through shared experiences”.

These are important points – building a society that works for everyone will require optimising such shared realities and experiences in pursuance of the common good. Yet to achieve this, there are various ways that our sectors and spheres of life in our Singapore society can and needs to improve.

For example, fostering shared experiences will mean that we must design our spaces so that persons with diverse backgrounds can participate in shared spaces equitably and alongside each other as optimally as possible.

This must first begin from young. Singapore must continually enhance the accessibility and inclusivity of mainstream schools so that as many children and youth with and without disabilities can learn, play, and discover the world alongside each other on a daily basis.

The government has invested heavily in special education (SPED) schools in recent years and budget statements. While this is important for families who require such options, there must be continual investments in the accessibilities and inclusivity of mainstream schools. As noted in Budget Statement and the Ministry of Education (MOE) committee of supply (COS) earlier this year, the government has invested in important entities such as more SEN officers and programmes such as TRANsit.

Yet, there can be more updates especially during the annual Budget Statements of investments in elements such as physical infrastructure accessibility of mainstream schools. The latest data on this is from 2021 and shows that most mainstream schools are not barrier-free. It goes without saying that working to optimise the physical infrastructure of mainstream schools will be a long-term goal, but this is all the more important why there should be more regular updates towards this long-term but important objective.

As children and youth enter adulthood, there can be more towards ensuring that this important time of transition is one that is also shared by Singaporeans with and without disabilities. In their addendum to the President’s speech, the Ministry of Education (MOE) reiterated points from Budget Statement 2025 of how the government plans to invest more in strengthening the school-to-work transition. As we noted in a Straits Times commentary earlier this year following Budget Statement 2025, the government must invest more in preparing both students with and without disabilities in the knowledge of how to foster inclusive spaces. This includes teaching concepts such as reasonable accommodation and non-discrimination to both students with and without disabilities so that they enter adulthood and the workplace ready with the skills and knowledge of how to foster inclusive workplaces – which will help in strengthening the school-to-work transition for the disability community.

In adulthood, there can be more to ensure shared everyday spaces are further solidified and strengthened to nurture what President Tharman noted as our “sense of shared reality”. Our employment landscape in Singapore can and needs to be strengthened to ensure that persons with disabilities can optimally work and contribute to various sectors and industries on an equitable basis to our non-disabled peers. Additionally, as noted in both PM Wong’s and President Tharman’s speeches, the government will continue to invest in expanding lifelong learning opportunities through SkillsFuture. While the Ministry of Social and Family Development’s (MSF) addendum to the President’s speech notes the ministry’s intention to enhance lifelong learning opportunities, it does not mention SkillsFuture and whether such efforts will translate to a more inclusive SkillsFuture system. We at DPA thus take this opportunity to reiterate our previous calls for the need to optimise SkillsFuture accessibility and inclusion to ensure persons with disabilities can not only benefit equitably from the system, but also as a result, foster more shared spaces and experiences in Singapore between persons with and without disabilities.

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Such elements and objectives are just several ways that are essential in building a “we-first” Singapore that truly works for everyone.

As always, in addition to our on-going efforts in collaborating with existing partners, DPA continues to invite any new collaborations with individuals and groups from the public and private sectors towards addressing such outcomes and objectives.