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21/05/2008
Singapore Needs to Ease Controls
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Singapore needs to ease controls to remain competitive, says World Bank
The Associated PressPublished: May 20, 2008tive, says World Bank
SINGAPORE: Tightly-controlled Singapore needs to loosen up restrictions to allow more innovation so that it can remain competitive in the long-term, a top World Bank official said Tuesday.
World Bank Managing Director Juan Jose Daboub praised the tiny Southeast Asian nation for its economic success but said it needs to strike a right balance between social order and stability to allow more innovation and creativity to produce high-value goods and services.
"It has been said that in the United States, you can do a U-turn anywhere except where a sign forbids it, while in Singapore, drivers can only do a U-turn where a sign permits it," Daboub said at a lecture at a university here.
"In this anecdote, there is a grain of truth. Innovation and creativity are, by definition, not orderly and not regulated," he said.
"As Singapore looks to a growing and prosperous future, striking the right balance will call for some skilled stewardship and probably some risk-taking," he said. "The price of not getting it right is unlikely to be ruin but it could slow Sigapore's rise to become one of the top first world economies of our times."
Decades of social programs and strict enforcement of laws in Singapore, one of Asia's wealthiest country, have created a class of disciplined citizenry, but critics say tight control on politics and free speech stifle creativity.
World Bank has named Singapore as the best place in the world to do business, Daboub said.
However, with no hinterland and no natural resources, Singapore needs to implement cutting-edge reforms to boost its competitiveness, he said.
"It is highly susceptible to global trends," he warned. "At a time of increasing challenges, the margin for error for a small country like Singapore is small, despite the success to date."
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I don't trust any of these nut-jobs from the presumptuous Tri Carmeral wannabe world govt: The UN, The IMF and The World Bank.
This fella from the WB ought to know better: you don't go ASKING a govt for "freedom" for the people. Who does he think he is? Moses by proxy? "Let those people go!"
Also I suspect "creativity" is more a by-product of economic security and wealth than it is political freedom. For e.g. In the US black people thrived (and continue to thrive) in the fields of entertainment and sports even when there was legalised. overt racism -- bus laws, segregated toilets etc. The reason for that was because America's a wealthy country.
If the individual freedom thing was such a bug bear, how does this genius from the WB explain a NET MIGRATION into Singapore? How come people are not migrating to, say, North Korea?
It would be "nice" if the govt of S'pore was truly a servant to the people -- that people and country were "above" the state, but that is not the case. The people have chosen, again and again, a government to "save them". In general, the people * don't give a shit * about the govt hammering some poor individual who has "stepped out of line", and are quite happy to be told where their freedoms are (if any) and where the "boundaries" lie.
Singaporeans are incredibly demanding people. They DEMAND that the govt looks after them...they want a vibrant economy, housing, healthcare --- and not just any-old-how --- everything has got to be "world-class". To protect their oh-so-precious kids, they want censorship, they want homosexuals damned (because it is "contagious"), arrest those seditious-speaking troublemakers...and kill all those drug dealers before they murder our children!
Singapore is culturally more neo-conservative than the USA's GOP can ever hope to be.
Posted by: Matilah_Singapura | 22/05/2008
sounds like a good system of protection. Just like safety meetings that we often joke about in Canada.
A guy walks into a work area and sees all his employees sitting around and demands to know what is going on. One employee responds "we took the safety meeting seriously. This way, nobody moves and nobody gets hurt".
Singapore has it right. Don't allow any freedoms and no ones freedom can be hurt; dont allow any information in except what they want and no one can be offended by the visuals they see; dont allow anyone to speak and no one can be offended by anyone else; nobody moves and nobody gets hurt.
Posted by: Capt_Canuck | 22/05/2008