Emulating Singapore's visionary leaders<\/p>\n
Aziz, Analyst, Kuala Kencana, Irian Jaya<\/p>\n
Amid numerous polls and surveys, the race for Indonesian
\nleadership (presidency) in 2004 general election does not offer a
\nnew, refreshed hope for the people of Indonesia. It is
\naccordingly logical that to most Indonesian people, the general
\nelection merely means a big "fiesta" (music show and parade) and
\ncollecting little mementos (t-shirts and other party giveaways);
\na luxury they hardly enjoy in their hard lives. Little is shown
\nby current leaders how they can shape the national character.<\/p>\n
And do not be myopic, why not learn from the nearest neighbor,
\nlike Singapore? Is there anybody who have really devoted any
\nefforts to study how Singapore could create a nation that is
\ndeveloped with a viable economy in the world? What kind of
\nleadership made it work? In other words, what makes Singapore
\ndifferent from, or precisely better than, other countries in
\nAsia? Singapore has been through an era as a foreign colony,
\ngained independence after World War II, suffered from devastating
\nsocial riots and struggled against a communist party -- similar
\ncircumstances that other Asian countries by and large shared; and
\neven more, unlike some other countries, Singapore does not have
\nabundant natural resources. So what makes it exceptional?<\/p>\n
It might be easy to dismiss all the these achievements by
\nsaying the small size of that country makes it so manageable. But
\nlook at Sri Lanka, Myanmar, or other small countries which have
\nnot succeeded as well as Singapore.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, by occupying half of the American
\ncontinent, the United States stands out as the most developed
\ncountry in the world. Size does not matter. Or would it be
\nbecause of its population? In the absence of other answers, it
\nprobably would. Taken at a closer look, the population of
\nSingapore consists primarily of three broad ethnic groupings:
\nChinese, Indian and Malay.<\/p>\n
But if race is the major driver of Singapore's development,
\nwhy haven't China, India or Malaysia developed as rapidly? Not
\nquite so. Apparently, Singaporeans, as a whole, are greater than
\nthe sum of its parts. There has got to be an explanation
\nsomewhere else.<\/p>\n
In his biography, Lee Kuan Yew: The Man and His Ideas, Lee,
\nthe most influential leader of Singapore, said that contrary to
\npopular belief, Lee founded his leadership on the basis that no
\nperson is (born) equal. Some of the parents are rich and some are
\npoor. Some parents are better educated and a few others are
\nilliterate. Some groups of people are willing to work hard,
\nothers are less willing. You accept it or you deny it. His notion
\nmay be called pragmatism, but that is the way he approached
\nproblems: With honesty and objectivity. And though inviting
\ncontroversy, he openly admitted that most Chinese-Singaporeans
\nhave a better work ethic than Malay-Singaporeans.<\/p>\n
But when it comes to civil service recruitment especially for
\nhigher ranks, Lee does not compromise an inch to attract the best
\nin his society. The recruitment system that apparently inspired
\nwas the selection of astronauts chose for the Apollo 13 mission.
\nHe was amused that from so many bright people applying for the
\njob, NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) had
\nsuccessfully chosen three candidates who turned out to be the
\nmost capable of managing the space craft back to earth, after it
\nfailed to land on the moon.<\/p>\n
What was demonstrated by the three astronauts definitely took
\na lot more than intelligence or education, because a minute
\nmistake or bad timing could have shot the module into outer space
\nto disappear forever in the galaxy. "How could they do that?" his
\nmind inquired -- and the question was not addressed to the way
\nthe astronauts salvaged their journey and saved their own lives.
\nHe wondered how NASA got these men with such strong character,
\npoise and will, all of which meant they had the capacity not to
\ncrack under extreme pressure; the leadership traits which cannot
\nbe easily ascertained during a perusal of the one's CV or via
\ninterviews, and so Lee was inspired to strive that kind of
\nrecruitment for the civil service.<\/p>\n
Why so much emphasis on civil service? According to Lee,
\ndevelopment in Singapore, and probably in Asia, requires strong
\nleadership, which is strong government, to produce essential
\nsocial and political stability. North America and Europe rely on
\nthe system of democracy -- with all its checks and balances --
\nand these systems have been proven to work in those places; but
\nnot necessarily in the case of Singapore, which has a different
\nhistory and context. He was aware that perhaps not everybody
\nagreed with his analysis, but he was determined to stick to it,
\nwhich turned out to be right. Singapore has become one of the
\nmost efficient and least corrupt governments in the world.<\/p>\n
But more than a man with vision, Lee is also a hands-on
\nleader. In 1979, he gathered the top brass in his government, and
\nemphasized that although in the past the recruitment was based on
\nability, disregard of English fluency, he could no longer accept
\nthe sloppy use of English in formal work.<\/p>\n
He emphasized that, "... that which is written without much
\neffort is seldom read with much pleasure" and nobody was allowed
\nto pen a document without thinking of the pleasure of reading it
\non the other end. He went on to point out several drafts
\npresented before him that invited criticism for ambiguous
\nmeanings or meaningless complex jargon. He urged the officials
\nnot to try to impress him with big words, but to impress him with
\nthe clarity of their ideas, with clean and clear prose.<\/p>\n
On another occasion, Lee told his officials to "make sure that
\nevery button works". In his speech before senior civil servants
\nin 1965: "I went to a government bungalow the other day and I
\npressed a button but nothing happened. When you have a button,
\nthere must be a purpose. When you switch it off, the light, for
\nexample, must go off. When you want the light on, you make sure
\nyou switch it on and it goes on." And he described how he had a
\ntelephone installed in his car though he disliked it intensely
\nand rarely used the telephone.<\/p>\n
However, every morning the driver had instructions to take the
\ntelephone and to test-dial it. "I want to make sure that when I
\nwanted to use it, I would just have to pick it up and it would
\nwork. And that is what I want this government to be", he
\nasserted.<\/p>\n
Even back in his school days, Lee was known as a meticulous
\nobserver. During holiday breaks, he traveled around Europe by
\ntrain. He noticed how porters in Italy worked somewhat leisurely,
\nand how different it was in Germany where he could sense a
\ndynamism of an emerging nation (after defeat in World War II) and
\nhow efficient and diligent the porters were.<\/p>\n
From those experiences, when Singapore built Changi airport,
\nhe made sure that all cargo and passenger movement went off in
\nthe most quick and efficient way. Just as he witnessed in
\nGermany. The result? Hardly anyone is able to argue that Changi
\nhas become one of the best international airports in the world.<\/p>\n
But the most striking point would be that Lee molded his
\nnation among other Asian countries with the same "raw materials":
\nThe people, the location, the natural resources (or lack of it),
\nother capital resources and even the history. The difference is
\nthat Lee led his nation with a no-nonsense approach, open and
\ntransparent in his policies, adept in adopting modernity and
\nwilling to learn from other countries, and developing a firm, as
\nwell non-corrupt, personality.<\/p>\n
Regrettably the image of Lee among the Indonesia media is that
\nof an arrogant and "nosey" neighbor, instead of a statesman who
\nwas able to play the role of CEO (Chief Executive Officer) for
\nSingapore's economic development.<\/p>\n
Can we find such quality in our current Indonesian leaders? Is
\nthere any of them who is humble enough to learn from this tiny
\nneighbor?<\/p>",
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