[travel] Singapore's government

I'm trying to figure out what my experiencing/blogging balance should look like - I almost feel like it's too late to write about Singapore given that my mind is filled with the noisy bustling mass of Saigon.

Singapore has been fascinating to me ever since I met a group of exceptionally intelligent and hardworking yet mellow and gregarious Singaporeans in college. Most of them had been sent over by the government to receive a free education in exchange for a few years of government service.

Singapore is, from what I can tell, a rare example of Big Government done right. The country has the distinction of being ethnically diverse and culturally rich while remaining almost entirely free of violent and nonviolent crime. Government corruption is extremely low (Transparency International's corruption perception index puts them at 4th best in the world) and organized crime is more or less nonexistent. People generally like and trust the government there. One party dominates, though opposition voices are certainly not quashed. Basically, the one party has done such a good job of running the country for the last 45 years that they face little opposition.

The government often acts in ways that are more reminiscent of a very well-run corporation. This “corporation's” profit motive is to maximize the economic productivity of its citizens, and that means insuring they're happy, productive, and well taken care of. Thus, programs like free singles cruises to help college-educated people find mates don't seem all that out of place. The government also has an aggressive program to recruit people from around the world to move there and start companies, even going so far as to act as a venture capitalist for Singaporean startups. In addition, there is a lot of public housing, but it was done in a racially integrated manner that reduced the racial tensions that had built up in the 1960s. It's hard to imagine the US govt doing any of those things very well.

I wondered why Singapore had been able to create such a culture of efficiency and productivity. I put the question to my hosts, and they responded “We have a huge population and no natural resources... it was our only option.” It reminds me of a true story I heard a while back of two brothers who grew up in a horribly abusive household. One brother ended up becoming a drug addict in a dead-end life, while the other brother led an extremely clean life, focused on work and family, and achieved great things. When they were asked how their life ended up how it did, they both had the same answer - “Given how I grew up, how could I have done any different?”

Something in Singapore's national culture allowed the country to work extremely well. It could be that Singapore is almost entirely a nation of immigrants who were drawn together by a desire to engage in trade and commerce. (Singapore is one of the biggest ports in the world as it's situated at the southeastern tip of Asia.) It could also be due to the charismatic, visionary, and effective leadership of the president who led the country's aggressive modernization from the 1960s to the 1990s. Finally, it could be the small size of the country, which allows for fewer layers of maanagement and conflicting national vs local interests, as well as less governing from afar.

There is a dark side to some of the government's policies – homosexuality is still technically illegal (with an appropriately Singaporean stiff jail sentence) though this law is rarely enforced, and there are extremely stiff penalties for drug possession, which are very frequently enforced. Free speech is curtailed in a way similar to the policies of many college campuses – racist hate speech is clamped down upon to ensure that ethnic hatreds do not b uild up.

However, the country has done a great job of building itself up into a thoroughly modern and efficiennt state, and it's hard not to be extremely impressed.

I do take a risk in posting this because I still know very little about the country... if my facts are incomplete or inaccurate, please let me know.