Lecture Review: Are Singapore’s best years coming to an end?
(Professor Kenneth Paul Tan)
Attending HKUST’s public lecture is a treat. Not in terms of ease of entrance, not in terms of speaker prominence; but the luxury of freeing yourself of the constraints of “presumed hectic-ness”, exploring areas of interest, and taking initiative to craft learning curves outside prescribed studies was a small step in action, but a huge step in terms of mindset shift.
Spoken by a Professor Tan from Singapore’s LKY school of public policy, the talk explored Singapore’s colonial past, colossal national development, accelerated economic growth, and the fragility and sustainability of that growth. Singapore has prided over Asian nations in areas of social stability, material prosperity, urban livability, technology, green initiatives, soft power, and a strong national defense force — despite being a small country. Yet, emerging challenges including the weak public culture, elitist resource allocation, policy dogmas, urban density, geopolitical shift, and poverty has all emerged beneath peaceful waves of societal transformation.
Singapore’s short colonial past, survivalist regimes, and modern-day rapid developments have been built on the basis of pragmatism. It is reflected in areas of public management (societal leadership), multiculturalism, and national branding.
Singapore has implemented meritocracy of an elitist government, a KPI oriented blueprint, and an instrumental approach of policy execution that demands efficiency, economic growth, and actionable results. A numbers and result oriented public policy approach has it merits — a clean state, efficiency, and short term growth, yet it can also neglect areas of alternatives that focuses on limited perspectives. The “all in immigration policy” for foreign talents, cheap labor, and technology integration has bear fruitful economic development for Singapore, yet it has also deprived, hallowed out, and lowered resistance to diversity, change, and alternatives instrumental to a rounded and dynamic society. There is little patience for theorists, artist, philosophers, or critical thinking in certain public domains, with demands of best practices based on fixed success formulas — law, policy, and governmental programs.
On the other hand, the “4 races” division of people in arenas of being Chinese, Malay, Indian, and others can often be observed in Singapore’s media output. “In national parades, the Chinese dance, the Malays dance, the Indians dance, the “other category” dance, and then everyone joins the dance together. The same formula over and over again.” “We do not have a deep rooted and strong national identity… yet, with people regarding themselves still as Chinese, Malays, and Indians… not Singaporeans.” With the rapid inflex of foreign labor, this “quick in quick out” “Singapore hotel” model, and the public propagandas of differentiation, there is limited capacity to cultivate nationalism. People have a biological attachment to race, and whether assimilation and cultural blend goes well over time can only be observed over decades, not in a few years.
Singapore is similar to Hong Kong in many ways. In terms of industry structure, heavy focuses on “top elitist economic powerhouses” like banking and technology have narrowed down opportunities and perspectives of the people — youth believe in opportunity and mobility, yet within limited frontiers of career development. In terms of urban density, the packed living spaces, the accelerated city pace, convenience, and the hyper-competition burn the candle at both ends. Emerging issues like equality, vulgar populism, democratic reform, and modern day mentalities have become a challenge and stimulus for change, as we cannot live in a society “where the busses come on time, with those in line gaping at luxury sports cars roam the roads from a distance.”
There is always time for a bit of curiosity, kindness, and happiness in life. However hectic your day, setting aside time for happy pursuits is essential — no matter a daily self-care action, brain nourishment of intellectual pursuits, or a nature getaway. “You are as busy as you think you are.”, said *****. Looking back, we reflected on phases when the towering amount of work pushed us towards edges, struggling for breath back in those initial years of self-exploration in university. The independence to make conscious scheduling choices and prioritizing what is important to you are personal freedoms granted at the start of each day. Prioritize, plan, and pursue — there is always space for happy pursuits each day.
