Friday, January 17, 2014

Tommy and Kishore: What a contrast...

Kishore Mahbubani, writing in The Straits Times on Jan 11, says emphatically: “Name me one other society which has developed as comprehensively and as rapidly as Singapore has in its first 50 years after independence.”

He adds that “so far, no one has been able to give me an answer to this question” – although it comes across as more a challenge than a question.

Kishore goes on to produce a chart which shows that Singapore’s GDP has grown much faster relative to that of neighbours Malaysia and Indonesia from 1965 to 2005. He warns, however, that it will get tougher, as our neighbours surge ahead.

Kishore could well be right in that no other country can surpass Singapore’s level of growth in the past 50 years. After all, he bases his argument on purely economic terms. Certainly not taking into account the happiness or graciousness index, the freedom of the press index, or how well a country looks after its poorest, not its wealthiest.

I find it intriguing to compare Kishore’s views with those of his counterpart Tommy Koh. Both are arguably Singapore’s most illustrious diplomats, with Kishore previously succeeding Tommy as Singapore’s Permanent Representative at the United Nations. Both currently serve at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, with Tommy the Special Adviser and Kishore the Dean.

So they have a lot in common, they are products of the same system. But this is where the similarity ends. The two have markedly different approaches and bearings. Full story...

Related posts:
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  2. Singapore an advanced surveillance state, but citizens don’t mind...
  3. Singapore's exploited immigration workers...
  4. The exotic world of Singapore journalism...
  5. Singapore: Internet freedom under threat...

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