"We are amazed at our success...We
did it on our own." The quote is from a BBC interview with an elderly
Singaporean on the occasion, on August 9, 2015, of her nation
celebrating its 50th
year of independence. If the interview had been with one of any number
of African nationals whose countries have similarly recently turned 50
(and whose countries would have been roughly at a par with Singapore
fifty years ago),
the comments might well have been reversed: "We are astonished by our
failure...We did it despite the help of many, many others."
I had the opportunity to visit Singapore in 1993 for a conference of
writers. As part of our visit
we were addressed by a young Singaporean government minister, I think
of culture. I was most highly impressed by the clarity of his
expression and the sureness of his
direction and vision. One was left with the conviction that his
positions had been hammered out in many a thoughtful strategy session
and planning meeting. Speaking in a langruage not his own (yes, I
know you can argue English is not our own either, but with all due
respect to Mende, Temne, Krio etc, Chinese is a far more global
language), he came across as extremely serious, disciplined and
knowledgeable. The city itself I remember as well ordered, the people,
focused and serious. Compared
with Europe or America, there was nothing particularly memorable, but
the important point was that it could
be compared with Europe or America even then. When one examines the
statistics
today, they are nothing short of miraculous. Singapore has a
GNP per capita that is ONE HUNDRED times that of many of those African
countries with whom it was at a par in 1965. And this, without any
natural resources.
The best I can do to explain this phenomenon is to reproduce part
of the best encapsulation
marking Singapore's 50th anniversary I could find on the internet,
from Kishore Mahbubani writing in The World Post
"So why did Singapore succeed so
comprehensively? The simple answer is exceptional leadership. Many in
the world have heard of Mr. Lee Kuan Yew, the founding prime minister
who passed away in March this year. Far fewer have heard of Dr. Goh Keng Swee, the architect of Singapore's
economic miracle, and Mr. S. Rajaratnam, Singapore's philosopher par
excellence.
Together, they made a great team.
This exceptional team also
implemented three exceptional policies: Meritocracy, Pragmatism and
Honesty. Indeed, I share this "secret" MPH formula with every foreign
student at the Lee Kuan Yew School, and I assure them that if they
implement it, their country will succeed as well as Singapore.
Meritocracy means a country picks its best citizens, not the relatives
of the ruling class, to run a country. Pragmatism means that a country
does not try to reinvent the wheel. As Dr. Goh Keng Swee would say to
me, "Kishore, no matter what problem Singapore encounters, somebody,
somewhere, has solved it. Let us copy the solution and adapt it to
Singapore." Copying best practices is something any country can do.
However, implementing "Honesty" is the hardest thing to do. Corruption
is the single biggest reason why most Third World countries have
failed. The greatest strength of Singapore's founding fathers was that
they were ruthlessly honest. It also helped that they were
exceptionally shrewd and cunning.
Singapore's success is due to MPH: Meritocracy,
Pragmatism and Honesty"