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Singapore: The Next Lap
***OPEN EYE : BY VEDETTE
***Part of the effort is the Export Institute of Singapore, which has been set up to train a pool of some 600 international marketers and trading officers by the year 2000.
SINGAPORE, an Asian economic tiger, la looking for the x factor that will keep It ahead of the pack.
Last April, addressing the Singapore International Chamber of Commerce. Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hslen Loong sounded a little daring when he said: "Adam Smith attributed economic growth to the 'animal spirit' of entrepreneurs. Singapore needs this x-factor — the Intangible human quality which drives people to build the best sea port, run the best airline, train the best armed forces."
Singapore already has one of the best seaports in the world — the busiest. It claims. It certainly has the most mod em airline, its fleet constantly renewed. Perhaps the best airport. too. Airtropolls, they call It, Terminals 1 and 2 together. On one of my recent visits, from touchdown to getting into a taxicab, I cleared the Airtropolis tn 15 minutes. If that's not being efficient, tell me what is.
The best armed forces? I don't know. I don't care. Some of the best roads anywhere are In Singapore, some of the best greens, certainly some of the best shopping malls, and decidedly some of the best services. In the end. that's what matters —- the service, the efficiency, the dynamism, the quality.
Having achieved all that, Singapore is now looking ahead at the next phase, the next leap in the competition to stay ahead, the next lap in its economic development, when says the Government, its striving for excellence will
remain undiminished, yet life will be little more relaxed
In that phase. Singapore wants to entrench Itself as an international hub city. The idea is simple and quite down-to earth since Singapore can t exist on Its own. it must exist for others. Let others come and use Singapore as best as they can. Let Singapore make its services and facilities fit the needs of others. Let its econ omy fall in with the others' way of doing business.
Of course, there are certain things Singapore will never be. For example, It will never be a haven for laundered money. And there will always be a de gree of control on how you conduct your business In Sin gapore. But, for all its political orthodoxy. Singapore's eco nomic policies have remained
surprisingly practical and pliable. Its leaders have demonstrated an uncanny sense of what works and what does noL One has only to look at Its enormous economic success to find the proof that they have been right. What its leaders are seeking now Is to sharpen their economic focus even more, to be a better international business and service centre.
The next lap is going to be a period of vigorous international marketing, seeking
business, selling Singapore's efficiency and tradition of hard work, putting on a smll Ing economic face, and trying to remove the Ugly Slnga porean stigma that the Island republic's remarkable economic success has given rise to.
Of this effort, the recently
established Singapore International Foundation Is a part. The Foundation has been set up with the express desire to Improve the country's image abroad, to sell Singapore as an International city. An addi tlonal intention is to link up with Singaporeans worldwide, make as best a use of their tai
ents as possible, involve them in Singapore's international effort. and instil in Singapore ans, who are having Increasingly to work overseas, an international mind-set. Since Singaporean brain-drain is a fact and cannot be reversed, it is wiser to try and tap into this expatriate pool and not write it off as a national loss. With Imagination, the loss can be turned into a national gain.
The idea is to internationalize Singapore and the Singaporean psyche. The question
of image is important to us." says George Yeo. Minster of Information and the Arts. "We should not adopt double standards. We should be good citizens of the world '
Also part of the effort is the Export Institute of Singapore, which has been set up to train a pool of some 600 interna-
tional marketers and trading officers by the year 2000.
A Singapore School has been set up In Hong Kong, a recognition of the growing internationalization of Slnga poreans. A Singapore Design Council has been formed to turn the republic into an international industrial design
beer cans, discarded cartons, cigarette stubs The Singapore River has been cleaned up. You can actually fish in it or take St© river cruises in the pale green water. The city s gorgeous and crowded shopping malls are a welcome reminder that consumerism is no longer frowned upon, that Singaporeans are no longer a boring, miserly bunch of savers. Miniskirts and form-hugging dresses are in vogue with a vengeance, and the streets of Singapore offer up an unending parade of fashion, where young, dolled-up women strut about in expensive, up-to-the-moment designer outfits. Through the sedate, government-built housing estates, where most of 9-to-5 Singaporeans live, the nightly sound of karaoke Is sweeping like a
hub. A government-produced
tributed all over the world.
The "animal spirit" that the younger Lee talked about Is becoming manifest In the obvious effort live down Singapore's concentration camp Image. Attitudes. once rigid, are beginning to soften, in many respects. Singapore now is actually a little bit more livable than before: You do occasionally — and reassuringly — come across sidewalk litter — empty
craze and making the pre-dictable family life a somewhat more exciting.
Foreign tourists are back in Singapore in force, moving from one sale to the next, aiming video cameras at the passing crowd, or downing two-dollar nasi gorengs at the Satay Club near the Padang Hotels, offering unbelievable discounts as recently as two years ago. have suddenly become too pricey. Fears that Singapore would slump from an overbuild of hotel rooms are practicallyne. Bugts street Is no longer missed Good shopping and gtx/d eating are making ail the difference
Soon after Prime Minster Ooh Chok Tong took office, film censorship began to be loosened Film nudity is no longer excised automatically, though X-rated films are taboo Within a year. Singaporeans may even have two or three additional TV channels. Perhaps on a subscription basis but at least there will be a choice. And corporate entitles can now apply for satellite dish licences to receive foreign TV programmes.
Says Yeo: "Regulations are being eroded by technology We have to adjust and adapt in order that our position can be held."
Incredible, a Singaporean leader saying this. But it s part of the same friendlier Slnga pore' exercise and la not at all in conflict with country's long tradition of economic pragma tlsm. It Is this pragmatism that has brought Singapore over the years billions of dollars of for eign Investments It's the same pragmatism that now makes Singaporeans take their own investments over the causeway to Johor in Malaysia, not always a politically comfortable neighbour. Singaporeans have poured over SSI billion so far in Joint venture resort and leisure projects alone in Johor
The trouble with many other countries is that they never can separate their economics from their politics. The two seem to be permanently locked in an eternal battle of self-destruction. No escape seems possible.