<TABLE id=msgUN cellSpacing=3 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD id=msgUNsubj vAlign=top>Coffeeshop Chit Chat - Shameless 154th: Peru, Chile adore SG!</TD><TD id=msgunetc noWrap align=right>
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</NOBR> </TD><TD class=msgDate noWrap align=right width="30%">Nov-29 2:53 am </TD></TR><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgT noWrap align=right width="1%" height=20>To: </TD><TD class=msgTname noWrap width="68%">ALL <NOBR></NOBR></TD><TD class=msgNum noWrap align=right> (1 of 5) </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgleft width="1%" rowSpan=4> </TD><TD class=wintiny noWrap align=right>3160.1 </TD></TR><TR><TD height=8></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgtxt><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>Nov 29, 2008
COMMENTARY
</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- headline one : start --></TD></TR><TR><TD>Doing it Singapore's way
</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- headline one : end --></TD></TR><TR><TD>Unorthodox policies suit Republic's size and open economy, PM explains</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- Author --></TD></TR><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Bertha Henson, Associate Editor </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
SANTIAGO: Twice during his Latin American tour, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong was asked how Singapore was coping with the downturn.
He gave full responses each time, but with the caveat that Singapore was different from the Latin American countries.
The Republic is so small that Sao Paolo is some 200 times larger, he said, noting that a Brazilian businessman described the city-state as just 2 per cent of the Brazilian land mass.
And it was so open that 60 cents went out of the country every time a dollar was spent. Which meant that all those fiscal stimulus measures taken round the world - China with its 4 trillion yuan (S$884 billion) spending, for example - cannot work in a country of just over four million people.
It was evident that the Latin Americans admired Singapore greatly, referring often to how the country had leapt to developed country status in one generation.
Peruvian President Alan Garcia actually made a photocopy of Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew's memoirs, From Third World To First, until he was given a Spanish edition when the Singapore delegation arrived in Lima.
Much of Singapore's success has to do with trust: That its people will unite behind the Government to pursue its own unorthodox policies rather than follow the crowd, PM Lee told his hosts.
This unity is not to be taken for granted.
In Chile, President Michelle Bachelet had to answer a question from a local journalist about civil servants getting a smaller pay increase than before, a subject that had resulted in street demonstrations.
She replied that the better-off must bite the bullet and make sacrifices. She answered confidently, although it must have been discomfiting to be questioned on such domestic matters with a foreign guest in attendance.
PM Lee raised the subject of pay, in this case for Singapore's ministers and top civil servants, at a later forum in Santiago, when he talked about the need to keep labour markets flexible.
He told Chilean businessmen about the formula linking payment of bonuses to the country's economic growth, and noted that salaries have been cut by 18 to 19 per cent.
'It is the right thing to do, economically as well as politically, to send the signal that at a time like this, everybody has to tighten their belts,' he said.
He added that he knew it was a touchy subject in Chile, a point that his audience clearly appreciated.
But in Singapore, 'we believe it is the way to ride through the storm'.
In some sense, Singapore is a great risk-taker, eschewing methods employed by other countries, whether on the economic or political front.
There is no way this free-trader can countenance any form of protectionism in a misguided effort to save jobs.
Rather, it is in the forefront in the push for free trade, whether with individual countries, with blocs or at the international level. With trade amounting to three times its output, it is particularly vulnerable to any winds of change on the trade front.
In this respect, Singapore and Chile shared similar outlooks, prompted in part by proximity to far larger neighbours.
The Chileans wanted to know other things about Singapore too, such as its Speakers' Corner. They asked: Is it true that people have to register to speak and that race and religion are topics that are out of bounds?
Singapore's methods must seem pretty peculiar to the expressive Latin Americans. In Lima, Peru, where the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit was held last weekend, Peruvians defied security forces to protest against the presence of United States President George W. Bush. They had no qualms telling him to go home, holding him responsible for the current economic crisis.
PM Lee fielded the question on the Speakers' Corner with aplomb. It was not a 'corner' but actually a park, run by the National Parks Board, he told the audience.
No one need bring a soapbox either, as there is a ready-made, landscaped, mound for them to stand on.
It was said in a somewhat tongue-in-cheek manner, but followed by the serious part: Yes, race and religion are taboo topics.
Singapore knows what it is like to be riven apart by racial and religious tensions. They can be talked about, but indoors - 'a safer environment'.
A question was also asked about the country's reputation for safety and cleanliness and the criticism that this was at the expense of individual freedoms. How did Singapore deal with this dilemma?
PM Lee said it was not a dilemma, but a balance each country had to find for itself. For Singapore, the community came before the individual.
So the death penalty was meted out to drug traffickers, as 1kg of heroin could well destroy 20,000 lives. It has worked for Singapore but in the West, it would not go down well.
'But those are your norms. In Singapore, we find it necessary,' he said.
Singapore's buildings are graffiti-free because 'we believe people have to feel safe'. Allowing graffiti and vandalism 'lowers the threshold for people to do more bad things', he said.
There are penalties, he said, quipping that it was not the death penalty. 'But we will spank you quite hard,' he said, to laughter all round.
He said that 'looking around', Chileans had 'a problem', but he was not about to advocate that they follow Singapore's example.
In another life, the Prime Minister would have made a great lecturer. In both Sao Paolo and Santiago, he gave a concise tutorial in Singapore System 101.
How did the Latin Americans view the peculiarities of the Singapore system? From the murmurs of approval among businessmen and members of the Chilean establishment, probably with some envy.
[email protected]
</TD></TR><TR><TD> </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
COMMENTARY
</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- headline one : start --></TD></TR><TR><TD>Doing it Singapore's way
</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- headline one : end --></TD></TR><TR><TD>Unorthodox policies suit Republic's size and open economy, PM explains</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- Author --></TD></TR><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Bertha Henson, Associate Editor </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
SANTIAGO: Twice during his Latin American tour, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong was asked how Singapore was coping with the downturn.
He gave full responses each time, but with the caveat that Singapore was different from the Latin American countries.
The Republic is so small that Sao Paolo is some 200 times larger, he said, noting that a Brazilian businessman described the city-state as just 2 per cent of the Brazilian land mass.
And it was so open that 60 cents went out of the country every time a dollar was spent. Which meant that all those fiscal stimulus measures taken round the world - China with its 4 trillion yuan (S$884 billion) spending, for example - cannot work in a country of just over four million people.
It was evident that the Latin Americans admired Singapore greatly, referring often to how the country had leapt to developed country status in one generation.
Peruvian President Alan Garcia actually made a photocopy of Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew's memoirs, From Third World To First, until he was given a Spanish edition when the Singapore delegation arrived in Lima.
Much of Singapore's success has to do with trust: That its people will unite behind the Government to pursue its own unorthodox policies rather than follow the crowd, PM Lee told his hosts.
This unity is not to be taken for granted.
In Chile, President Michelle Bachelet had to answer a question from a local journalist about civil servants getting a smaller pay increase than before, a subject that had resulted in street demonstrations.
She replied that the better-off must bite the bullet and make sacrifices. She answered confidently, although it must have been discomfiting to be questioned on such domestic matters with a foreign guest in attendance.
PM Lee raised the subject of pay, in this case for Singapore's ministers and top civil servants, at a later forum in Santiago, when he talked about the need to keep labour markets flexible.
He told Chilean businessmen about the formula linking payment of bonuses to the country's economic growth, and noted that salaries have been cut by 18 to 19 per cent.
'It is the right thing to do, economically as well as politically, to send the signal that at a time like this, everybody has to tighten their belts,' he said.
He added that he knew it was a touchy subject in Chile, a point that his audience clearly appreciated.
But in Singapore, 'we believe it is the way to ride through the storm'.
In some sense, Singapore is a great risk-taker, eschewing methods employed by other countries, whether on the economic or political front.
There is no way this free-trader can countenance any form of protectionism in a misguided effort to save jobs.
Rather, it is in the forefront in the push for free trade, whether with individual countries, with blocs or at the international level. With trade amounting to three times its output, it is particularly vulnerable to any winds of change on the trade front.
In this respect, Singapore and Chile shared similar outlooks, prompted in part by proximity to far larger neighbours.
The Chileans wanted to know other things about Singapore too, such as its Speakers' Corner. They asked: Is it true that people have to register to speak and that race and religion are topics that are out of bounds?
Singapore's methods must seem pretty peculiar to the expressive Latin Americans. In Lima, Peru, where the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit was held last weekend, Peruvians defied security forces to protest against the presence of United States President George W. Bush. They had no qualms telling him to go home, holding him responsible for the current economic crisis.
PM Lee fielded the question on the Speakers' Corner with aplomb. It was not a 'corner' but actually a park, run by the National Parks Board, he told the audience.
No one need bring a soapbox either, as there is a ready-made, landscaped, mound for them to stand on.
It was said in a somewhat tongue-in-cheek manner, but followed by the serious part: Yes, race and religion are taboo topics.
Singapore knows what it is like to be riven apart by racial and religious tensions. They can be talked about, but indoors - 'a safer environment'.
A question was also asked about the country's reputation for safety and cleanliness and the criticism that this was at the expense of individual freedoms. How did Singapore deal with this dilemma?
PM Lee said it was not a dilemma, but a balance each country had to find for itself. For Singapore, the community came before the individual.
So the death penalty was meted out to drug traffickers, as 1kg of heroin could well destroy 20,000 lives. It has worked for Singapore but in the West, it would not go down well.
'But those are your norms. In Singapore, we find it necessary,' he said.
Singapore's buildings are graffiti-free because 'we believe people have to feel safe'. Allowing graffiti and vandalism 'lowers the threshold for people to do more bad things', he said.
There are penalties, he said, quipping that it was not the death penalty. 'But we will spank you quite hard,' he said, to laughter all round.
He said that 'looking around', Chileans had 'a problem', but he was not about to advocate that they follow Singapore's example.
In another life, the Prime Minister would have made a great lecturer. In both Sao Paolo and Santiago, he gave a concise tutorial in Singapore System 101.
How did the Latin Americans view the peculiarities of the Singapore system? From the murmurs of approval among businessmen and members of the Chilean establishment, probably with some envy.
[email protected]
</TD></TR><TR><TD> </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
:p
