Unbelieveable! Think must call him to help me predict 4D numbers!
The American author who predicted a clash of civilisations is again predicting that corruption will one day catch up with squeaky-clean Singapore.
SAMUEL Huntington, whose thesis of a coming civilisational clash has been disputed by Asian leaders, said yesterday that Singapore's prosperity cannot be sustained forever.
Corruption and decay would set in in the post-Lee Kuan Yew years as inevitably as civilisations would rise and fall, he said in an exclusive interview with the Business Times.
Prof Huntington made clear that he wasn't predicting that this would be happening any time soon. But there was a certain inevitability about the process of degeneration and decay in all societies, he said, and which Singapore may not be able to avoid as well.
"Lee Kuan Yew has made Singapore absolutely unique in this part of the world, by making it as one of the least corrupt political systems in the world.
"On world indices on corruption among countries, Singapore rates up among the few countries like Sweden and Denmark and New Zealand ... Now that is an tremendous achievement. The question is, how long can you maintain an uncorrupt political system," he said.
This is not the first time that the author of The Clash of Civilisations and the Remaking of World Order has made such a gloomy prediction about Singapore's future.
When he did it the first time, he said the "honesty and efficiency that Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew has brought to Singapore will follow him to his grave". That was quickly countered by SM Lee in 1996, who not only took issue but said "Singapore will be able to hold on even after I leave".
Mr Lee then said that the Singapore system could remain intact if Singapore leaders avoided succumbing to corruption.
The system could be preserved, he added, if Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong kept his team together, ensured self-renewal and continually adjust and adapt policies to changing circumstances.
According to Mr Lee, he was fully aware of the lessons of history which showed many a leader, like Nehru, Mao Zedong and Ho Chi Minh, betrayed by "some of their less worthy successors".
He had also seen how many Asian countries were degraded by corruption and nepotism. "In short, I had to pick up the gauntlet thrown down by history, the history of those nationalists who successfully led the anti-colonial fight for freedom, but failed to have honest and capable successors.
"This was long before academics like Professors Samuel Huntington predicted that Singapore's system would follow me to my grave," Mr Lee said then.
Prof Huntington was here for a seminar on Indonesia organised by Strategic Intelligence, a Singapore-based global provider of Asian business intelligence.
He was asked by BT whether he had since been more convinced that Singapore's prosperity would outlast Mr Lee.
But from his answer, it was plain that he isn't one person to change his mind so easily.
"Inevitably, in any society you have changes and evolution ... In most cases, after a period of great achievement and success, there tends to be a decline and degeneration," he said. "I think the Senior Minister has made great efforts to create institutions that will perpetuate it.
"But one has to face the fact that there are many situations in which there tends to be a certain process of degeneration and decay. I would hope that Singapore can avoid or delay that, but I think there is a real possibility."
Prof Huntington said his prognosis notwithstanding, he still held the Senior Minister in high regard for the achievements that he had brought for Singapore.
Describing Mr Lee as one of the "master builders of this century", he said the Senior Minister had done extraordinarily in making Singapore the society it is today.
Mr Lee had once said that the two of them had clashed over ideas. But Prof Huntington said this did not prevent them from maintaining contacts with each other, as they were due to do yesterday. "I greatly respect his insights and I always learn a great deal from him," said the American political scientist.
The American author who predicted a clash of civilisations is again predicting that corruption will one day catch up with squeaky-clean Singapore.
SAMUEL Huntington, whose thesis of a coming civilisational clash has been disputed by Asian leaders, said yesterday that Singapore's prosperity cannot be sustained forever.
Corruption and decay would set in in the post-Lee Kuan Yew years as inevitably as civilisations would rise and fall, he said in an exclusive interview with the Business Times.
Prof Huntington made clear that he wasn't predicting that this would be happening any time soon. But there was a certain inevitability about the process of degeneration and decay in all societies, he said, and which Singapore may not be able to avoid as well.
"Lee Kuan Yew has made Singapore absolutely unique in this part of the world, by making it as one of the least corrupt political systems in the world.
"On world indices on corruption among countries, Singapore rates up among the few countries like Sweden and Denmark and New Zealand ... Now that is an tremendous achievement. The question is, how long can you maintain an uncorrupt political system," he said.
This is not the first time that the author of The Clash of Civilisations and the Remaking of World Order has made such a gloomy prediction about Singapore's future.
When he did it the first time, he said the "honesty and efficiency that Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew has brought to Singapore will follow him to his grave". That was quickly countered by SM Lee in 1996, who not only took issue but said "Singapore will be able to hold on even after I leave".
Mr Lee then said that the Singapore system could remain intact if Singapore leaders avoided succumbing to corruption.
The system could be preserved, he added, if Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong kept his team together, ensured self-renewal and continually adjust and adapt policies to changing circumstances.
According to Mr Lee, he was fully aware of the lessons of history which showed many a leader, like Nehru, Mao Zedong and Ho Chi Minh, betrayed by "some of their less worthy successors".
He had also seen how many Asian countries were degraded by corruption and nepotism. "In short, I had to pick up the gauntlet thrown down by history, the history of those nationalists who successfully led the anti-colonial fight for freedom, but failed to have honest and capable successors.
"This was long before academics like Professors Samuel Huntington predicted that Singapore's system would follow me to my grave," Mr Lee said then.
Prof Huntington was here for a seminar on Indonesia organised by Strategic Intelligence, a Singapore-based global provider of Asian business intelligence.
He was asked by BT whether he had since been more convinced that Singapore's prosperity would outlast Mr Lee.
But from his answer, it was plain that he isn't one person to change his mind so easily.
"Inevitably, in any society you have changes and evolution ... In most cases, after a period of great achievement and success, there tends to be a decline and degeneration," he said. "I think the Senior Minister has made great efforts to create institutions that will perpetuate it.
"But one has to face the fact that there are many situations in which there tends to be a certain process of degeneration and decay. I would hope that Singapore can avoid or delay that, but I think there is a real possibility."
Prof Huntington said his prognosis notwithstanding, he still held the Senior Minister in high regard for the achievements that he had brought for Singapore.
Describing Mr Lee as one of the "master builders of this century", he said the Senior Minister had done extraordinarily in making Singapore the society it is today.
Mr Lee had once said that the two of them had clashed over ideas. But Prof Huntington said this did not prevent them from maintaining contacts with each other, as they were due to do yesterday. "I greatly respect his insights and I always learn a great deal from him," said the American political scientist.
