Daily Lessons from Life 14 August 2013 - Lee Kuan Yew on fate of S'pore in 100 years' time

"Lee Kuan Yew on fate of S'pore in 100 years' time - The Sunday Times Aug 13(?), 2013 Even as things stand, we have regretfully shifted the system away from attracting the best talent through reductions to ministerial pay. If I were a Cabinet minister at the time the change came up for discussion, I would have stood firm. But the younger generation of ministers decided to go with the trend. It is true that no country in the world pays ministers as we do. But it is also true that no other island has developed like Singapore: sparkling, clean, safe, with no corruption and low crime rates. You can walk the streets or jog at night. Women will not be mugged. Police do not take bribes, and if they are offered bribes, there are consequences for the ones offering. None of this came about by coincidence. It took the construction of an ecosystem that requires highly paid ministers. With every pay reduction, the sacrifice that a minister makes - giving up his profession or his banking job - becomes greater. Some will eventually tell themselves: "I don't mind doing this for half a term, 21/2 years, as a form of national service. But beyond that, it has to be: thanks but no thanks." The final outcome would be a revolving-door government, which will inevitably lack a deep understanding of the issues or the incentive to think about problems in a long-term manner. Will Singapore be around in 100 years? I am not so sure. America, China, Britain, Australia - these countries will be around in 100 years. But Singapore was never a nation until recently. An earlier generation of Singaporeans had to build this place from scratch - and what a fine job we have done. When I led the country, I did what I could to consolidate our gains. So too did Goh Chok Tong. And now, under Lee Hsien Loong and his team, the country will do well for at least the next 10 to 15 years. But after that, the trajectory that we take will depend on the choices made by a younger generation of Singaporeans. Whatever those choices are, I am absolutely sure that if Singapore gets a dumb government, we are done for. This country will sink into nothingness."" I am SIMPLY dumb-founded by Mr Lee's insistence that the ONLY way to keep a 'smart' government is to pay the Ministers high enough pay so that he or she does not succumb to being bribed. His assertion that there is NO CORRUPTION is NOT true as the recent spates of corruption charges involving high ranking and WELL PAID civil servants cannot be disputed as fantasies or falsehood right? Lessons for me are: 1. we NEED to pay our ministers WELL. At the same time, they MUST not be motivated by money ONLY and IF our world class educational system CANNOT produce intelligent, bright, smart AND public spirited and compassionate scholars and government officials, the SYSTEM has FAILED!! It simply aches me that a very smart and intelligent man like Mr Lee cannot see this failing. YES the sacrifice is great. The invasion of privacy of a public official is TOTAL, or can be TOTALED! Still, NOT every minister are leaving HIGHER PAYING job or profession or business to become a Minister. In fact, MANY more are taking a BIG pay increase to become a Minister. 2. the ETHICAL standard expected of ALL Singaporeans MUST be as high as any morally righteous society regardless of if they are government officials or ordinary citizens. Sure, there will be the exceptions. These will be dealt with by the LAWS of the land. Laws that are just and strict and BEING ENFORCED by enforcement officers who KNOW that they must enforce the laws without fear or favour BECAUSE it is morally the correct thing to DO and NOT because there are these SUPER HIGH PAY Ministers watching over them! We must strive to elevate Singaporeans' quality to that high standard. We must get COMMITMENT to doing the right things who no one is watching instead of COMPLIANCE of forcing people to do the right things when SOME ONE is watching! I am being idealistic. YES. Of course, we must aim high if we are not going to get actual low standard! 3. Seriously, are the highly paid Ministers solving our current pressing problems before they become every layman's problems in recent years? I think there are a fair number of Singaporeans will say: "NO!" The most concrete is the declining popular votes of PAP to just over 60% in the last GE. Is it just the voters getting DUMBER or DAFT? The government's policies have NOTHING to do with this discontentment? Is the government now trying to respond and catch up and make up for some of the oversights and 'mistakes'? YES! This is the GOOD sign. At least they are taking the voices of the people seriously. Voices that are, in some cases, VERY clear and very intelligent and very insightful. Mr Lee is a legend. His first 3/4 of his political life is without peers. With the help of his 1st generation leaders and the 1st generation Singaporeans, he created the 'economic miracle' that is Singapore. His last 1/4 of his political life is not without defects and mistakes. I will leave it at that. In Singapore, it is simply QUITE DIFFICULT NOT to talk about him or his thinking - for better or worst. Will Singapore be around in 100 years? Maybe not. It may well be - SingaMala. That would be nice. :-)