ASEAN-Russia: Foundations and Future Prospects

What Singapore May Offer to Russia? The Present State and the Prospects of Relations

137 WHAT SINGAPORE MAY OFFER TO RUSSIA? THE PRESENT STATE AND THE PROSPECTS OF RELATIONS Mark Hong WHAT ROLES CAN SINGAPORE PLAY FOR RUSSIA? One key role is Singapore’s good governance policies, which The Economist magazine’s “Special report: The future of the state”1 in its 17 March 2011 issue explained: Singapore’s competitive advantage has been good, cheap government. It has worked hard to keep its bureaucracy small; even education consumes only 3.3 per cent of GDP. But the real savings come from keeping down social transfers and especially from not indulging the middle class. Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew thinks that the west’s mistake has been to set up “all you can eat welfare states” — because everything at the buffet is free, it is consumed voraciously. The following points sum up the lessons from Singapore, according to The Economist2 article: • Singapore is important to any study of governance now, in Asia and the West, partly because it does some things very well — such as in education — and because there is an emerging theory about a superior Asian model of government, which is simplified in four parts; • First, Singapore is good at governmence; it provides better schools, hospitals and safer streets with a government that consumes only 19 per cent of GDP (even though this figure does not include the CPF 138 Mark Hong social security fund or the holdings of the two sovereign wealth funds). About 70,000 officials from 170 countries have learnt about Singapore’s approach to public administration. For more details of the Singapore Civil Service, please read the UNDP-MFA-CSC book, Virtuous Cycles: The Singapore Public Service and National Development, by Dr N.C. Saxena, launched on 24 March 2011.3 • Second, the secret of its success lies in an Asian mixture of authoritarian values and state-directed capitalism — largely a myth. Asian values are less important to Singapore’s success than a competent civil service and a competitive, small state. Singapore argues that it has found a good balance between accountability and efficiency; it is able to take a very long view on policies because there is stability in achieving power through regular elections, unlike the U.S. administrations which have to think of the next election very soon. One distinctive feature of Singapore is the high quality of its civil service, key features of which include: talent spotting and grooming through numerous scholarships; high pay; human resource development; meritocracy flows all the way through the system. • Thirdly, China is trying to copy Singapore — true; China sends streams of leaders — such as the expected next leader Xi Jinping, and thousands of officials — to learn from Singapore. The core of Singapore’s success — its ability to attract foreign MNCs — owes far more to laissez faire than to industrial policies. Singapore adopts an “open door” policy and also by building a business-friendly ecosystem of excellent infrastructure; a well-educated and highly skilled workforce; open trade; the rule of law; and low taxes. Singapore’s approach is to provide the people with assets that allow them to look after themselves, such as education and the CPF system; people are expected to look after their parents and pay for government services, such as co-payments for healthcare. • Fourthly, China’s government is more efficient than the West — mostly untrue. The place that should be learning most from Singapore is the West: remember this advice comes from the magazine that was critical of Singapore in the 1970s and 1980s! It stated that for all the talk about Asian values, Singapore is pretty much western. Its model combines elements of Victorian self-reliance and American management theory. Singapore could also benefit by relaxing its grip without sacrificing efficiency and gain entrepreneurial vim. SINGAPORE’S STANDING IN SOUTHEAST ASIA The March 2011 Economist Intelligence Unit Survey4 ranked the ASEAN countries as follows, with Singapore ranked highly (see Table 1): What Singapore May Offer to Russia? 139 Table 1 ASEAN Rankings Rank* Overall score Electoral process/ pluralism Functioning of government Political participation Political culture Civil liberties Regime type Thailand 57 6.55 7.83 6.07 5.56 6.25 7.06 Flawed democracy Indonesia 60 6.53 6.92 7.50 5.56 5.63 7.06 Flawed democracy Malaysia 71 6.19 6.50 6.79 5.56 6.25 5.88 Flawed democracy Philippines 74 6.12 8.33 5...