Published Aug 11, 2013
On Aug 22, 2012, I received a thank-you card from a Singaporean by the name of James Ow-
Yeong Keen Hoy.
From his elegant, cursive handwriting, I guess he must at least be in his 50s. Young
people these days prefer to type, and when they do write, they simply do not write as
beautifully.
He wrote: "My family is deeply grateful and has benefited from your magnificent
leadership and solid contributions that have enabled our nation to achieve peace,
happiness, progress, prosperity, solidarity and security all these good years. A big
thank you!
"May we have the honour to sincerely wish you, Sir, peace and joy, wisdom and longevity
and all the very best in the coming good years. And may our beloved country be blissfully
and richly blessed and be mercifully safeguarded now and always. God bless."
I quote at length from this card to highlight the enormity of the mindset shift, from an
older generation, including this writer, his peers and his seniors, to a younger one that
takes for granted Singapore's affluence.
People like Mr Ow-Yeong have seen Singapore develop from the unsettling 1960s, when
hardship and poverty were still the rule rather than the exception, to today's vibrant
and cosmopolitan Singapore, providing well-paying jobs to a highly educated population.
Many older Singaporeans also progressed from living in shanty huts to high-rise
apartments with present-day conveniences and surrounded by safe neighbourhoods.
They have a good understanding of the nation's imperatives - what it took for us to get
here and what it would take to keep up our success - as well as its vulnerabilities.
The younger voters do not share those views. Having been born into a Singapore that had
in many ways already arrived, they see all that is around them - a working system
generating stability and wealth - and they ask: "Where is the miracle?"...
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.
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