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What PM Lee would have done differently...
He says he would have helped Singapore workers train earlier to face challenges of globalisation
By Li Xueying & Cassandra Chew
WITH the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, P
While Singapore has put 'a lot of resources' in education and training, he would have pumped in more - and sooner - to help workers upgrade and train for an era in which knowledge is 'absolutely critical'.
'If we had known how quickly the pace of change would accelerate and how much our people would be under pressure from globalisation... we would have put even more resources in,' Mr Lee said last night.
Singapore, he said, would then 'have less of a problem now of workers catching up'.
While the Continuing Education and Training programme to promote lifelong learning can be traced as far back as 1973, it made inroads in a big way only in recent years, after the Workforce Development Agency was set up in 2003.
Workers and employers alike remain in need of persuasion as to the importance of training.
PM Lee was speaking at a dialogue with diplomats, corporate leaders and journalists at the St Regis hotel, organised by American news network CNN to mark its 30th anniversary.
Moderator Ellana Lee, managing editor of CNN International Asia-Pacific, had asked him what was the one thing he would have done differently as a Singapore leader.
While expressing regret that his government could have better anticipated the pace of globalisation and its impact on Singaporeans, Mr Lee also noted that leadership styles have had to evolve in the past decade.
For instance, technological advances mean that leaders today have to work not only with traditional channels of communication, but also Internet-based platforms like Twitter and Facebook.
'Even 10 years ago, it was less complicated than it is today,' he noted. 'Today, you may be on CNN but there are many other channels, and not all of them are news channels.'
CNN, the first television channel to provide 24-hour global news coverage, was first with the news of the Sept 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States.
In a speech before the dialogue last night, PM Lee traced in broad strokes political developments in Asia in the last 30 years. Looking ahead and keeping itself open to the rest of the world would be key to the continent's progress, he said.
As for China - 'an ancient civilisation that will not measure itself against Western norms' - it will evolve politically, for its society is changing and opening up, but it will find its own way forward even as its leaders acknowledge the need for political reform.
Asked about the current wave of protectionist posturing ahead of the Group of 20 summit next month, he observed that much of it was due to 'domestic politics'.
These include the mid-term elections in the US next month, prompting politicians to find 'bogeymen' for their economic problems.
Urging governments to avoid isolationist tendencies or succumbing to protectionist pressures, he said going it alone was no solution: 'You will be alone but you won't prosper, not even the United States and certainly not China.'
Mr Oh Joon, the South Korean Ambassador to Singapore, wanted to know Mr Lee's predictions of future growth areas.
Mr Lee's reply: 'We cannot tell which the new winners will be.'
Some of the areas Singapore placed bets on - electronics, pharmaceuticals and petrochemicals - have done well, he noted.
'For the next phase, I think it is harder for us to say where exactly the growth will come from because if you look at the Fortune 500 companies today, many of them were not Fortune 500 10 years ago. Some of them didn't even exist 10 years ago.'
To laughter, he added: 'Some things you can rule out. I think aluminium smelting is not likely to take off in Singapore, hydropower isn't likely to come here, or steel.'
Where Singapore can have an advantage is in knowledge-intensive industries, which require not cheap inputs but good infrastructure and a sound economic environment.
He said: 'If you run a bank, you don't just need cheap rentals.
'There must be a good legal system, air services, a government you can trust, stability, a place where your family can live safely, where your children can go to school, hospitals - a whole ecosystem.'
Singapore, he noted, has two particular strengths: an open, connected and English-speaking environment, and a government that 'works and is able to see beyond the next election to ask, 'What must I do so that I'm in a strong position in 10 to 20 years' time?''
[email protected]
[email protected]
GETTING A HEAD START
'If we had known how quickly the pace of change would accelerate and how much our people would be under pressure from globalisation... we would have put even more resources in.'
PM Lee, when asked about the one thing he would have done differently
PRIME MINISTER LEE HSIEN LOONG ON...
# Whether the qualities needed to be a great leader of a country have changed in the last 30 years
'In a fundamental sense, I suppose not. You need ability, conviction, a certain ability to move people, and to stick to it through thick and thin and persuade people that if they go with you, they will be all right. And that's fundamental.
'But how do you persuade people, how you cope with the challenges of the day, how do you deal with Twitter and the Internet - that will have to vary from generation to generation.
'Even 10 years ago, it was less complicated. Today, you may be on CNN but there are many other channels, and not all of them are news channels. So how do you reach out to the population?
'After 9/11, everybody tunes in and watches the US President make his speech.
'But in peacetime, we are watching so many other things, and yet we need to have common ground, and to mobilise, or at least generate a consensus and an ability to push in a consistent direction and get things started. That is a big challenge in many countries.'
# What he hopes his legacy will be
'Let me get my job done first. The legacy can look after itself...
'It's not easy to keep a system going. The Chinese say, to create an enterprise is hard, to maintain it is even harder. And here we are seeking not just to maintain it but to build on what we have achieved, and make... the previous generations' achievements the foundation on which we will scale new heights.'
# Who he thinks are the most effective leaders
'In South-east Asia, Suharto was an effective leader. He did many good things for Indonesia and fostered stability and growth not just for Indonesia but also for the whole region, and Singapore was a beneficiary of that.
'I didn't meet him but Yitzhak Rabin in Israel was a great leader.
'I vividly remember watching him in Oslo with Yasser Arafat and his speech said, 'We've had enough blood, enough death, enough pain, no more and let's go for peace.' It didn't work and eventually he was assassinated.'
He says he would have helped Singapore workers train earlier to face challenges of globalisation
By Li Xueying & Cassandra Chew
WITH the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, P
rime Minister Lee Hsien Loong would have started preparing Singaporeans 'five, or better still, 10 years earlier' for the challenges of globalisation.While Singapore has put 'a lot of resources' in education and training, he would have pumped in more - and sooner - to help workers upgrade and train for an era in which knowledge is 'absolutely critical'.
'If we had known how quickly the pace of change would accelerate and how much our people would be under pressure from globalisation... we would have put even more resources in,' Mr Lee said last night.
Singapore, he said, would then 'have less of a problem now of workers catching up'.
While the Continuing Education and Training programme to promote lifelong learning can be traced as far back as 1973, it made inroads in a big way only in recent years, after the Workforce Development Agency was set up in 2003.
Workers and employers alike remain in need of persuasion as to the importance of training.
PM Lee was speaking at a dialogue with diplomats, corporate leaders and journalists at the St Regis hotel, organised by American news network CNN to mark its 30th anniversary.
Moderator Ellana Lee, managing editor of CNN International Asia-Pacific, had asked him what was the one thing he would have done differently as a Singapore leader.
While expressing regret that his government could have better anticipated the pace of globalisation and its impact on Singaporeans, Mr Lee also noted that leadership styles have had to evolve in the past decade.
For instance, technological advances mean that leaders today have to work not only with traditional channels of communication, but also Internet-based platforms like Twitter and Facebook.
'Even 10 years ago, it was less complicated than it is today,' he noted. 'Today, you may be on CNN but there are many other channels, and not all of them are news channels.'
CNN, the first television channel to provide 24-hour global news coverage, was first with the news of the Sept 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States.
In a speech before the dialogue last night, PM Lee traced in broad strokes political developments in Asia in the last 30 years. Looking ahead and keeping itself open to the rest of the world would be key to the continent's progress, he said.
As for China - 'an ancient civilisation that will not measure itself against Western norms' - it will evolve politically, for its society is changing and opening up, but it will find its own way forward even as its leaders acknowledge the need for political reform.
Asked about the current wave of protectionist posturing ahead of the Group of 20 summit next month, he observed that much of it was due to 'domestic politics'.
These include the mid-term elections in the US next month, prompting politicians to find 'bogeymen' for their economic problems.
Urging governments to avoid isolationist tendencies or succumbing to protectionist pressures, he said going it alone was no solution: 'You will be alone but you won't prosper, not even the United States and certainly not China.'
Mr Oh Joon, the South Korean Ambassador to Singapore, wanted to know Mr Lee's predictions of future growth areas.
Mr Lee's reply: 'We cannot tell which the new winners will be.'
Some of the areas Singapore placed bets on - electronics, pharmaceuticals and petrochemicals - have done well, he noted.
'For the next phase, I think it is harder for us to say where exactly the growth will come from because if you look at the Fortune 500 companies today, many of them were not Fortune 500 10 years ago. Some of them didn't even exist 10 years ago.'
To laughter, he added: 'Some things you can rule out. I think aluminium smelting is not likely to take off in Singapore, hydropower isn't likely to come here, or steel.'
Where Singapore can have an advantage is in knowledge-intensive industries, which require not cheap inputs but good infrastructure and a sound economic environment.
He said: 'If you run a bank, you don't just need cheap rentals.
'There must be a good legal system, air services, a government you can trust, stability, a place where your family can live safely, where your children can go to school, hospitals - a whole ecosystem.'
Singapore, he noted, has two particular strengths: an open, connected and English-speaking environment, and a government that 'works and is able to see beyond the next election to ask, 'What must I do so that I'm in a strong position in 10 to 20 years' time?''
[email protected]
[email protected]
GETTING A HEAD START
'If we had known how quickly the pace of change would accelerate and how much our people would be under pressure from globalisation... we would have put even more resources in.'
PM Lee, when asked about the one thing he would have done differently
PRIME MINISTER LEE HSIEN LOONG ON...
# Whether the qualities needed to be a great leader of a country have changed in the last 30 years
'In a fundamental sense, I suppose not. You need ability, conviction, a certain ability to move people, and to stick to it through thick and thin and persuade people that if they go with you, they will be all right. And that's fundamental.
'But how do you persuade people, how you cope with the challenges of the day, how do you deal with Twitter and the Internet - that will have to vary from generation to generation.
'Even 10 years ago, it was less complicated. Today, you may be on CNN but there are many other channels, and not all of them are news channels. So how do you reach out to the population?
'After 9/11, everybody tunes in and watches the US President make his speech.
'But in peacetime, we are watching so many other things, and yet we need to have common ground, and to mobilise, or at least generate a consensus and an ability to push in a consistent direction and get things started. That is a big challenge in many countries.'
# What he hopes his legacy will be
'Let me get my job done first. The legacy can look after itself...
'It's not easy to keep a system going. The Chinese say, to create an enterprise is hard, to maintain it is even harder. And here we are seeking not just to maintain it but to build on what we have achieved, and make... the previous generations' achievements the foundation on which we will scale new heights.'
# Who he thinks are the most effective leaders
'In South-east Asia, Suharto was an effective leader. He did many good things for Indonesia and fostered stability and growth not just for Indonesia but also for the whole region, and Singapore was a beneficiary of that.
'I didn't meet him but Yitzhak Rabin in Israel was a great leader.
'I vividly remember watching him in Oslo with Yasser Arafat and his speech said, 'We've had enough blood, enough death, enough pain, no more and let's go for peace.' It didn't work and eventually he was assassinated.'
