Negative aspects of Singapore system

The strengths of the Singapore system are:

* low corruption
* meritocracy
* economic development
* efficiency
* stable and good government.

These are also our weaknesses. Here are the negative aspects of these characteristics:

1. Low corruption. Many people are afraid to make decisions. They do not want to be accused of being corrupt. They like to define their area of responsibility clearly and to have clear guidlines. If they are not sure, they like to point to another person to decide. Or, they will give the "no" answer.

2. Meritocracy. To do well, we have to be better than the other person. We have to be top of the class. We look after our self interest and behave selfishly. We are not able to work well with other people in a team.

3. Economic development. There is too much emphasis on economic development, to the detriment of other important aspects of our life - i.e. social, art, culture, leisure.

4. Efficiency. We push efficiency to the extreme, with the aim of making more profits. Often, this is done at the expense of customer service. We compete too hard, and work on inadequate margins. Sometimes, we may adopt shady practices to make more profit.

5. Stable and good government. We leave too much matters to be decided by the government. We are not able to experiment with new ideas on our own.

The areas that make us strong, also contribute to our weakness. Some of the weaknesses of the "Singapore character" can be traced to these factors. This is just my view.

The Day When Singapore Panicked

Dr. Lee Kum Tatt is an early pioneer in the application of Science & Technology in many sectors of Singapore’s development.

His definition of a pioneer is a person who has no proper training and experience to do what was expected of him to do and to succeed.

Some lucky guys survived and others did not. Yet many still want to be pioneers but their negative AQ, fear of failure, holds them back.

Read about Dr. Lee’s accounts of some of the projects he was involved in. Read about the uncertainties Dr. Lee faced and the way he handled them. We can derive some encouragement if not inspiration from Dr. Lee’s experience.