Singapore and America. Polar Opposites and the concept of REASONABLE accountability
April 28th, 2008
It takes the weirdest articles to evoke a “What the Hell” response from me nowadays. It comes as no surprise that I probably developed this immunity to nonsense news after a steady diet of Straits Times reporting. I say reporting, because we have no journalists. We have writers that report what the government tells them to. Which is fine, from a practical standpoint because our government pulls the strings. I’m not expecting Pulitzers for any of our local reporters so neither am I expecting mind blowing insights or analysis from them either.
When I first started writing this article, the Mas Selamat incident was furthest from my mind, the subsequent actions of the parliament aside, it was the ineptness of our highly paid ministers that eventually conjured up a monster of ire from within the belly of this beast. I say beast because when I think about the Singaporean people, I am starting to see the hopeless and helpless impotence of a people who have just begun to scratch the surface. I do not nor have I ever begotten the self-praise and justifications that came with their pay hike. I thought it unconscionable for public servants but I did not disagree that great responsibility comes with great pay.
When BG George Yeo stated that American style democracy was too high a price to pay, I did not disagree, and it was articles like the one I posted above that have come to characterize the bloated free-for-all legal suit fest that is the American system. But let’s face it- America can afford it, the world’s only remaining superpower and fount of luxury can afford to be wanton in its excesses. Population of over 300 million, the US of A can afford to make mistakes, can promote a concept of free-for-all ideology, after all, you’re bound to hit a few brilliant gems of thought and schools of thinking that leads to great renewal, revival and change just by promoting said freedoms- this is statistical fact. Almost every major invention (product/service) of modern society happens to originate from this country.
Broderick Lloyd Laswell, an overweight prisoner is suing the state authorities for his weight loss in prison. A reasonable person would say, “What did he expect? He was in jail for murder, he wasn’t living in a holiday camp.” But America says, “Let the onus be on the legal system, let 2 adversaries debate the merits and allow a system of his peers to decide on what’s fair.” In Singapore, we would say, “Bastard deserved to suffer for his crime. We’re throwing the legal suit out.” The American system places the weight of accountability on the defendant and the prosecution. Our system is cut and dried- let one man decide what’s right and wrong.
The American system clearly defines what the price of crime is- We take away your freedom in return as payment for your crime, no more, no less. For practical purposes- As long as Broderick is in jail, he’s already paying for his crime, his weight should in all fairness remain constant till the day of his release. In Singapore, we’re so ingrained to the belief that payment for your crime means that you forgo all rights and privileges accorded to you as a human being, it is this system that has made our red dot a “paradise” in the eyes of many. This is a case of “the grass is greener”. Those without look within and see the beauty, but those within look deeper and begin to see the fractures of an extremist ideology.
Extremist ideology and the country that is Singapore Inc aren’t really dissimilar precepts. In Singapore, there are no free lunches, ours is supposedly a shining beacon of meritocracy and efficiency. Unlike the bloated American system, ours is a country where anyone with the Singaporean dream of 4As and a government scholarship can achieve the proverbial good life. This is where the differences start to appear, unlike proto-typical rags to riches stories, the Singapore PSC scholar can expect an iron golden rice bowl once he attains parliamentarian nirvana within the ruling party- there he will progress unshaken and unstirred through the ranks, untested by any “real world” challenges that will decimate and destroy the careless, before he finally reaches state minister hood. A true rags to riches personality can find his equally glorious flight to the peaks of success brutally crushed upon making a poor business decision for that is the cycle that is the ebb and flow, no the RULE of the corporate jungle- the fittest survive. Ours is one where we run the nation like a business but devil be damned with the peons that work within the machinery. However, fact of the matter is, it is the leaders that take the blame of the biggest failures. Witness these men:
O’Neal was born in 1951 in the tiny rural farming community of Wedowee, Alabama, the son of a farmer. O’Neal lived with his father, mother, sister, and two brothers. O’Neal’s father showed great initiative and by the time he was ready to go to school his father had established himself at General Motors and had moved into the middle class. And this other bloke:
Charles O. Prince III, was born in Lynwood, California on 13 January, 1950.[1] Prince went to the University of Southern California for his Bachelor’s degree, Master’s degree, and Juris Doctor.[1] He continued his education going on to receive a Master of Law degree from Georgetown University.[1]
The son of a plasterer and a housewife, Prince started his career as an attorney with U.S. Steel Corp in 1975.[1] In 1979, he joined Commercial Credit Company, a predecessor to Citigroup that Sandy Weill took over in 1986.[1][3] He was promoted in 1996 to Executive Vice President of the firm, which by this point was known as the Travelers Group, now a wholly owned subsidiary of Citigroup.[4] In 2000, shortly following the 1998 merger of Travelers and Citigroup, Prince was named Chief Administrative Officer of the newly created firm, Citigroup.[5][4] He was subsequently promoted to Chief Operating Officer in 2001, to CEO and Chairman of Citi Markets and Banking in 2002, and finally to CEO and Chairman.
Go google them. Go wikipedia them. They fought, they worked hard. They achieved. But as in the real world, they fell when they made poor decisions. That’s life. That’s ACCOUNTABILITY. C’est la vie.
But let’s look at this lady:
Ms Ho graduated from the University of Singapore in 1976 with a Bachelor of Engineering (Electrical, First Class Honours) after completing her pre-university education at National Junior College where she emerged Student of the Year and President Scholar. She graduated from Crescent Girls’ School. She also holds a Master of Science (Electrical) from Stanford University, USA.[1] In 1995, Ms Ho was conferred the Distinguished Engineering Alumnus Award. She is also an Honorary Fellow of the Institution of Engineers, Singapore.
She is the eldest child of four children of retired businessman Ho Eng Hong and Chan Chiew Ping. In 17 December 1985, she married Lee Hsien Loong,[1] who later became Singapore’s third Prime Minister in August 2004.
Ms Ho is Executive Director & Chief Executive Officer of Temasek Holdings.
She began her career as an engineer with the Ministry of Defence.[1] In 1987, she joined the Singapore Technologies group as Deputy Director of Engineering, and became its President and Chief Executive Officer before retiring in 2001. She later joined Temasek Holdings in May 2002.
Forgive me but IT LOOKS (I say looks cos I don’t know this for a fact. It’s an inference- insert legal disclaimers here) like the only turning point in her career was marrying LHL and her meteoric rise through the ranks 2 years after beginning in 1987. Unlike the men presented before her, she will NEVER experience falls from grace. She is immune. She is a demi-god. Whether it’s Shincorp saga and the lost of billions of our people’s blood money. She will continue. Like this man, she will endure:
Yes, it’s also true the maxim, it’s not what you know, it’s who you know, it’s never been more true here. Lee Suan Yew, brother of Lee Kuan Yew, and Wong Kan Seng has the good fortune to be married to Suan Yew’s daughter which practically makes them cousins-in-law and for all intents and purposes, relative to the royal family.
BUT this entry isn’t about nepotism. Culturally speaking, I’m Chinese. I’m familiar with the monarchy and dynastic concepts of hereditary power. My place within Singapore society is really that of a loyal peasant, subject to my lordship’s whims and fancies for he rules with the mandate of 66.6% heaven. I’m fine with inherited greatness or even greatness by association, sure it grates on my nerves for I was not that lucky but neither do I make distinctions between being blessed with talent or blessed with an abundance of the right connections- both of which are Wills of God/Destiny/Fate.
My beef is with reasonable accountability or lack thereof. In dynastic china, the imperial court was guilty of a lot of gluttony, greed, lust, pride, sloth, name one of the seven sins, and it was practiced there. But for all their excesses- there was SOME accountability- generals “fell on their swords” for failures, incompetent ministers got removed, the openly corrupt were executed.
The polar opposite of the American Way isn’t North Korea. At least North Korea generates it’s own revenues through illegal drug trafficking and sales of nuclear technology (debatable) while it’s people live and work under harsh conditions, they’re under no illusions of a benevolent dictator, neither are there foreigners competing for the same jobs as they are. For all intents and purposes- citizen’s problems are self-contained and a result of systemic failure. The polar opposite of the American Way is Singapore. Singapore, jewel of East Asia, richest power of the south. The Singaporean dynasty enjoys the best pay with none of the responsibilities. Credit is claimed where non are due and blame is dispensed like the bolts from mighty Zeus.
The people plead not for the mad-house circus that is the American way, nor are we asking for the avarices of European decadence, but what we are looking for is REASONABLE ACCOUNTABILITY. Yes, the price of American Democracy and accountability can be high, our little island can ill afford such flagrance. But I’m hoping that somewhere in between can we meet. Somewhere between the extremes that is West represented by the USA and the best the East has to offer represented by Singapore. We have accomplished plenty, but the way things are, we are about to be undone. America with all it’s might can survive great scandals and great depressions. Singapore is really just a row boat adrift in the sea of geo-politics and international economics, since when does boat decide how the tides turn? Especially when the captain and crew are unaccountable for decisions made in this here treacherous waters that are the world?
Where is the reasonable accountability?
