Opening Address By Minister Josephine Teo For Digital For Life (DFL) Partners' Appreciation 2026

Good afternoon, everyone. First, I want to thank President Tharman for making time to join us in expressing appreciation for our Digital for Life (DfL) partners.

I am sure there were many occasions where our President was asked about Singapore’s digital developments, a position I often find myself in as well. Our digital journey is of great interest to our international counterparts, who often want to know what we have done to make advances in this domain.

Usually, I would tell them that there are a couple of strategies we pursue. For example, having good digital infrastructure. If you have not ensured broadband availability and device accessibility, it is a non-starter. I also tell them about the capabilities we are trying to build in Singapore, whether it in the workforce or enterprises. These are central to how we hope to make advances.

They are also intensely interested in other things that we do, like laws, regulations, and setting up new institutions.

But there is one thing they almost always neglect: digital technology touches almost everyone. If we depend solely on what policymakers can do through policies and programmes, we run a very big risk of leaving people behind. We may neglect communities with special needs, whose legitimate concerns we are simply not aware of

There is one thing I always say to my international counterparts: you need a whole-of-society approach. It sounds easy for us to rattle off this idea, but it is difficult to carry out. It requires different community partners coming together, each recognising that they have a contribution to make, so that society can move forward in a more coherent, aligned, and inclusive way.

We are quite fortunate that Singapore was not starting from ground zero. For many years, we have had many helping hands in providing social support to the less privileged and those who are more vulnerable.

Through many different initiatives, we have rallied volunteers, brought them on board, and equipped them with knowledge and resources so they can extend the sense of social solidarity to many more people.

I was very privileged to be involved in the Pioneer Generation Program and building up the Pioneer Generation Office, which subsequently became the Silver Generation Office.

We saw the power of peer-to-peer support, and how the human touch can never be replaced. There is nothing quite like sitting in front of another person and sharing a sense of concern for the world. This is a foundation we were very privileged to have when thinking about what to do in the digital domain.

I'm very glad that my colleagues in IMDA started the DfL movement, drawing on the same spirit of social solidarity and being aligned in supporting the vulnerable members of our community. This movement has certainly grown.

We see it in the stories told through the videos we just watched. We see it in the community too.

In my own community, Kreta Ayer-Kim Seng, where I serve as a Member of Parliament, we have many social service agencies that are active on the ground. One of them is the Society of Sheng Hong Welfare Services.

Sheng Hong is very special to my constituents because they provide a very valuable service to seniors who are afraid of passing on without anyone caring for them. They have a special place in the hearts of these seniors.

Some years ago, through the DfL movement, they started a programme to help seniors learn digital skills. We had a digital club that was set up, and one of the beneficiaries of this digital club, Anathan Shanmugam, was 69 years old when he learned to use digital tools, including e-payments.

After going through this programme, he has since contributed 70 hours training his peers. I believe he is probably more effective than most of us when we try to encourage our parents to use digital tools.

Shanmugam speaks the language of seniors. He understands the features that seniors may find difficult to navigate, the gaps they experience, and he is able to close those gaps in his explanation.

He is not the only one. The kind of work we do with our digital partners has also evolved over time.

There used to be more focus on seniors and persons with special needs, as you saw in the video. But as the digital landscape has evolved, the communities we need to serve have expanded.

For example, I am very concerned about how parents help their children cultivate healthy digital habits, because the digital reality for the next generation is part and parcel of their lives.

Yet, parents feel out of their depth. Unlike parents of an earlier generation, we are not always able to tell our children what to expect in the digital domain.

We are often not as digitally savvy as our children, and our ability to say confidently what should be done, or what should not be done, is much more circumscribed.

In fact, earlier today, the community of partners in Singapore came together to talk about online safety and how to create child-safe environments on social media. We are very fortunate that each emerging challenge encourages us to think about how we can respond and manage it better.  

We have this foundation of partnership to draw on, so we are not operating blind, and not solely depending on the resources directly available to the Government and the public sector.

We can draw on the resources, creativity, passion, and willingness of our partners to contribute in the community. For that, I want to say a very big thank you.

Today, we are honouring the people who have put in their heart, time, and passion to help advance our digital development. We are recognising 21 Champions and 71 Catalysts.

Truthfully, there are many more people behind these Champions and Catalysts. DBS is  our partner since 2022. It is not just about one person or the leadership alone, but about getting the whole organisation on board to extend support to all members of our community.

When the DfL movement started five years ago, we had a modest 130 partners. Today, the DfL family has grown to 500 partners, and together we have touched the lives of approximately 870,000 beneficiaries. Isn't that an honourable achievement for everyone?

Today is simply a small gesture of our appreciation. Nothing we do can compare to the heart our partners put into the DfL movement, and for that we are deeply grateful. We hope you will continue to journey with us and help everyone in Singapore benefit from digital developments and inspire us.

Thank you.