Government policies and the free market are no longer enough to ensure economic growth, said Dr Vivian Balakrishnan yesterday.
A third way is needed and that is provided by cooperatives, said the Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports.
In highlighting the role of cooperatives, he cited arguments made by economist Jeffrey Sachs.
In his book, Common Wealth - Economics For A Crowded Planet, Professor Sachs, a prominent United States development economist, said a paradigm shift was needed in the way limited resources were allocated.
He said the public, private and not-for-profit sectors have to work together to address social concerns and achieve sustainable results.
No longer can the free market and government policies 'guarantee that there is no hunger, poverty and unfairness in the world', Dr Balakrishnan told about 600 people attending a dinner by the Singapore National Co-operative Federation (SNCF) to celebrate its 27th anniversary.
With globalisation, he believes the cooperatives' way of doing business, 'with heart and a mission', is even more critical. 'A key feature is that it represents first the spirit of self-help; second, the spirit of mutual help because it is a group of like-minded people sometimes facing a common challenge, getting together to create an enterprise that works,' he said.
But in praising their work, he also reminded the cooperatives not to be ashamed of turning in a profit.
'You should not apologise if you make a healthy surplus. You should not apologise for making it and being viable. It is worth remembering that the enterprise has to be successful, because you can get all the like-minded people together, all the shared problems together, but if you don't make money, you don't have a surplus, you all go bankrupt together,' he said.
He applauded the SNCF's move to introduce scholarships to ensure it would have a supply of leaders in the future. The first students to receive the awards, worth about $15,000 a year, were Leow Xian Yin and Chen Yong Hui, both 18, and Mr Irving Lim, 22.
Said Mr Lim: 'I was very surprised because I had two Cs and a D for my A levels. I see this award as a new opportunity, a rare chance and it will spur me to work harder.' He is a second-year Bachelor of Arts undergraduate at the National University of Singapore.
Another 21 awards were given out to individuals and organisations that contributed to the cooperative movement. Among the 16 who took home individual commendation medals was Ms Chow Fong Leng, who heads The Straits Times Press Co-operative Thrift and Loan Society.
This article was first published in The Straits Times on 5 July 2008.
