"Who needs freedom when we have a good life?"
The above quote was relayed to me by an American who has lived in Singapore for decades. He heard something on the news he didn't like and made a comment about the government limiting certain freedoms and this was his Singaporean wife's reply: "Who needs freedom when we have a good life?" This sentiment captures another part of the secret of Singapore's success - tight government control.
In Singapore there is virtually no drug problem. Why? If you're caught with drugs you're put to death. The streets are incredibly clean. Why? Litter or chew gum and you could receive a very large fine or even a Corrective Work Order (i.e. a requirement to perform hard labor). There is little crime. Why? Rob someone and you may be caned (the same potential punishment for foreigners who overstay their visa). Traffic? Not really a problem because the government limits the number of cars on the road. And those cars are sparkling clean. Why? Because the government requires it. All the expats I have met in Singapore talk about these restrictions as somewhat oppressive, but they also all say that one gets used to them over time. The locals don't seem to see it as anything other than logical government policy.
My meetings today consisted of a health and wellness startup company, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and GlaxoSmithKline. The startup is being assisted by Spring (the government agency that assists small to medium sized businesses). The company is doing amazing things in the world of healthcare and wellness. Living in that world myself, and working for an industry leader in healthcare and wellness, I can attest that they are at the forefront of combining technology and wellness. They are a "startup" yet already have an enviable list of customers and have expanded into Malaysia and Hong Kong. That said, the lawyer in me couldn't get past the privacy issues around their use of data. It turns out that the government barely restricts the use of data by them, and in fact they have been lauded by the government and in the press for collecting one of the most impressive databases of personal health information that hopefully can be used to benefit Singapore in the future. They can even give data to employers so they can "talk" to employees who see the doctor "too much". While Orwellian and frightening to an American, the Singaporean seems to view the good of the country as more important than that of the individual.
Yesterday one Singaporean was telling me that his son is a successful consultant in Atlanta but wants to move back home to Singapore. The challenge is that he and his wife would have to give up his 4000 square foot home for a 1200 foot one, and his large Infinity for a small Honda. Is he willing to do that? I then learned today that not only will his house be smaller, but he may not be even be able to determine where he lives. Singapore is said to be nearly 1/3 expats, but beyond that the native Singaporeans are ethnically, Chinese, Indian, Malay and even Middle Eastern. Yet, they don't have the racial tension we have even in Philadelphia. This is no coincidence. I'm told that the government works very hard to insure they maintain racial harmony, such as by requiring the various ethnic groups to live among one another by limiting the number of any one group that can live in an area. This is something we couldn't begin to fathom in the U.S., and yet it does create the desired results of racial harmony in Singapore.
While some of these actions seem like overreaching government interference to Americans, one must admit that they do further encourage the economic climate that drives Foreign Direct Investment. When Switzerland was having its banks opened up under international pressure due to its historic secrecy laws that made it a tax haven, international bankers in places like Singapore were salivating. The influx of capital they anticipated that would enter their banks upon leaving Swiss banks was immense. When MAS realized this, they met with and sent a letter to all major banks in Singapore warning them that they were not to take this money, and if MAS saw large increases to a bank's capital, they would investigate. MAS realized that while the short term gains from this situation would have been immense, and even the longer term benefits of replacing Switzerland as the world's banking center was attractive, allowing this to occur would have been shortsighted because (a) it would negatively impact their value proposition of being a compliant and transparent place to do business, and (b) over time the countries of the world would simply shift their focus from criticizing Switzerland to criticizing Singapore - a risk this small island country couldn't take.
So I am learning a lot from Singapore, and there is a lot we in Philadelphia could do better, but there is a lot I've learned that clearly provides certain advantages to Singapore that we would never (and should never) consider. For example, it took me two hours to get a cab home from my last meeting tonight because there is a limit on the number of cars allowed on the road and it was rush hour on a Friday night. So there is a clear downside to this government control. More importantly, this control affects one's personal freedoms. As the U.S. Supreme Court considers the issue of gay marriage this month, the Singaporean Supreme Court upheld the criminalization of even being gay this week. So who needs freedom when we have a good life? We Americans do.
The above quote was relayed to me by an American who has lived in Singapore for decades. He heard something on the news he didn't like and made a comment about the government limiting certain freedoms and this was his Singaporean wife's reply: "Who needs freedom when we have a good life?" This sentiment captures another part of the secret of Singapore's success - tight government control.
In Singapore there is virtually no drug problem. Why? If you're caught with drugs you're put to death. The streets are incredibly clean. Why? Litter or chew gum and you could receive a very large fine or even a Corrective Work Order (i.e. a requirement to perform hard labor). There is little crime. Why? Rob someone and you may be caned (the same potential punishment for foreigners who overstay their visa). Traffic? Not really a problem because the government limits the number of cars on the road. And those cars are sparkling clean. Why? Because the government requires it. All the expats I have met in Singapore talk about these restrictions as somewhat oppressive, but they also all say that one gets used to them over time. The locals don't seem to see it as anything other than logical government policy.
My meetings today consisted of a health and wellness startup company, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and GlaxoSmithKline. The startup is being assisted by Spring (the government agency that assists small to medium sized businesses). The company is doing amazing things in the world of healthcare and wellness. Living in that world myself, and working for an industry leader in healthcare and wellness, I can attest that they are at the forefront of combining technology and wellness. They are a "startup" yet already have an enviable list of customers and have expanded into Malaysia and Hong Kong. That said, the lawyer in me couldn't get past the privacy issues around their use of data. It turns out that the government barely restricts the use of data by them, and in fact they have been lauded by the government and in the press for collecting one of the most impressive databases of personal health information that hopefully can be used to benefit Singapore in the future. They can even give data to employers so they can "talk" to employees who see the doctor "too much". While Orwellian and frightening to an American, the Singaporean seems to view the good of the country as more important than that of the individual.
Yesterday one Singaporean was telling me that his son is a successful consultant in Atlanta but wants to move back home to Singapore. The challenge is that he and his wife would have to give up his 4000 square foot home for a 1200 foot one, and his large Infinity for a small Honda. Is he willing to do that? I then learned today that not only will his house be smaller, but he may not be even be able to determine where he lives. Singapore is said to be nearly 1/3 expats, but beyond that the native Singaporeans are ethnically, Chinese, Indian, Malay and even Middle Eastern. Yet, they don't have the racial tension we have even in Philadelphia. This is no coincidence. I'm told that the government works very hard to insure they maintain racial harmony, such as by requiring the various ethnic groups to live among one another by limiting the number of any one group that can live in an area. This is something we couldn't begin to fathom in the U.S., and yet it does create the desired results of racial harmony in Singapore.
While some of these actions seem like overreaching government interference to Americans, one must admit that they do further encourage the economic climate that drives Foreign Direct Investment. When Switzerland was having its banks opened up under international pressure due to its historic secrecy laws that made it a tax haven, international bankers in places like Singapore were salivating. The influx of capital they anticipated that would enter their banks upon leaving Swiss banks was immense. When MAS realized this, they met with and sent a letter to all major banks in Singapore warning them that they were not to take this money, and if MAS saw large increases to a bank's capital, they would investigate. MAS realized that while the short term gains from this situation would have been immense, and even the longer term benefits of replacing Switzerland as the world's banking center was attractive, allowing this to occur would have been shortsighted because (a) it would negatively impact their value proposition of being a compliant and transparent place to do business, and (b) over time the countries of the world would simply shift their focus from criticizing Switzerland to criticizing Singapore - a risk this small island country couldn't take.
So I am learning a lot from Singapore, and there is a lot we in Philadelphia could do better, but there is a lot I've learned that clearly provides certain advantages to Singapore that we would never (and should never) consider. For example, it took me two hours to get a cab home from my last meeting tonight because there is a limit on the number of cars allowed on the road and it was rush hour on a Friday night. So there is a clear downside to this government control. More importantly, this control affects one's personal freedoms. As the U.S. Supreme Court considers the issue of gay marriage this month, the Singaporean Supreme Court upheld the criminalization of even being gay this week. So who needs freedom when we have a good life? We Americans do.
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