In a recent interview with Dwarkesh Patel, Former Prime Minister of the UK Tony Blair discussed the principles of Lee Kuan Yew—the father of modern Singapore. He suggested that Lee made three important decisions at the beginning of his administration, which led Singapore to reach a high level of economic development:
1. Singapore adopted English as its national language.
2. Singapore is very open to foreign capital and talent.
3. Singapore adopted a zero-tolerance policy for corruption, combined with salaries for senior government officials that were higher than normal in the public sector.
This got me thinking about the similarities between Singapore and Switzerland-based companies. Most companies in Switzerland use English as their official language, despite the fact that the main nationalities of their country (German 62.1%, French 22.8%, and Italian 8.0%) all speak other languages. Singapore also has a complex ethnic mix including Chinese (75.9%), Malay (15.1%) and Indian (7.4%) Blair noted that Lee’s decision to make Singapore adopt English was controversial at the time.
Switzerland is a very open economy, which welcomes foreign investment. About 30 percent of the Swiss population is foreign-born, much higher than the 10% to 20% average in Western Europe. Singapore also welcomes foreign talent and investment, with 37% of its population being foreign-born. Also, Lee’s policy was controversial at the time, as foreign exchange was in vogue when Singapore was founded (in 1965.)
Like the Singaporean government, Swiss companies do not tolerate corruption, and pay high salaries to top executives. Lee’s policies on corruption and public sector salaries are unusual in developing countries.
Ethnic conflicts are a very common problem in many parts of the world. Switzerland has used political isolation to reduce the risk of conflict between regions that speak different languages. Segregation would not be possible in a small town like Singapore, but by adopting English as a language Singapore has at least managed to reduce the racial contrast.
I don’t know if Lee Kuan Yew was thinking of a more successful European country when he adopted these policies, but whatever the motivation, Lee ended up creating a Singaporean model that looks unfairly like a successful Swiss international organization.
(0 COMMENTS)
Source link