SINGAPORE (2)

The founder of modern Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew, died recently. He was the country's first Prime Minister after independence from Britain, held the post for 31 years, remained in the Cabinet for a further 21, and died at the ripe old age of 91. His son is the current Prime Minister of a country whose fortunes have been transformed during the past 60 years from a poor, sleepy backwater into one of the richest in the world.

Why has Singapore, a developing country with almost no natural resources, succeeded when so many potentially richer countries have failed? The key lies in that lack. Singapore has nothing, not even fresh water, which it imports from Malaysia; so it has had no choice but to live from the wits of its people. It was also fortunate in that Mr. Yew both had many wits, and was incorruptible. Many studies have shown that clean and efficient government matters in development, indeed it matters even more than money. If African countries had leaders with his qualities, then they would do a lot better.

I visited Singapore for the first time last summer, and it is impressive. The land area is 25% bigger than at independence; if the size of an island is limited, then there is no choice but to reclaim it from the sea. 25% of all rainwater is recycled and that percentage is likely to rise; if you otherwise have to import it from a neighbour with whom you have troubled relations, then what else can you do?

And yet. For all its impressive economic performance, I couldn't live there. And not just because of its humid climate, which is either muggy, very muggy or extremely muggy (I was there when it was supposedly not too bad, and I felt that I was living in a sauna). Perhaps the biggest reason why Singapore works is that it has a majority Chinese population who are willing to accept what is essentially a top-down driven system. People there accept what people in the Western world could never accept; putting the group above the individual, having both draconian (the death penalty for drug smuggling) and petty (no chewing gum) laws; deciding everything by tests and examinations.  

All in all, it was impressive, but didn't seem to be much fun.

Walter Blotscher