PM Lee on an "inclusive elite" in Singapore II

Continuing from here, there is now another CNA (Mar 20) story that covers the Q/A session as well, "Singapore must reinvent itself to stay attractive and competitive: PM Lee", by Ken Teh. This bit is interesting:

Many supported the Prime Minister's commitment to create a meritocratic society - one that also includes in its elite those in non-academic fields as well as foreigners, but some said more can still be done.

Braema Mathi, Former Nominated MP, said: "I'm a little bit perturbed by why we need to use the word elite here. One concern I do have is where is our disabled community, and in the disabled community is also our less abled elderly population. So we need to know how to keep them within the inner circles also."

Tin Pei Ling, Undergraduate, NUS, said: "We should really consider elites based on multi-dimensions and place less emphasis on educational achievements. Attitude, the other soft skills, achievements in the community, something more valuable should be more emphasised on."

I've never heard of a complex modern society that managed to do without some form of elite, whatever name they go by. A true egalitarian utopia would require massive restraints on the free actions of many.

The real issue is: what are the desired characteristics that define the elite, how differentiated should they allowed to be from the non-elite (especially in wealth and honor), and who gets to decide on the answers to the previous two questions?

The full text of PM Lee's speech is available from ST (Mar 21) (subscription required). I'll see if I have time to comment on it.