That annoyingly smart neighbour of ours

THAT little red dot of a nation down south is sizzling hot at the moment. It is making headlines and immense social media buzz as Taylor Swift’s series of concerts kicks off at its National Stadium.

Whether we like it or not – mostly not – Singapore has added another feather to its cap by besting its neighbours in an exclusive deal with the American superstar that is expected to bring millions of Singapore dollars to its economy, which is already one of the world’s strongest despite the tough economic headwinds blowing globally.

Within the region, Malaysians probably feel the disparity the most because of the close proximity and historical ties with Singapore. It has become a national obsession to keep track of what we are losing out to the city state, be it the wilting ringgit against their robust dollar, the brain drain, allowing international entertainment acts, the performance of our national airlines, the rating of our airports, how we fare on the corruption index, the education system ranking and so on.

For the record, Singapore is the world’s third richest country, according to the International Monetary Fund; the fifth-least corrupt, according to the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index; best business environment over the next five years, says the Economist Intelligence Unit; best airline and best airport in 2023 by Skytrax; number 1 for mathematics, science and reading in the Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) 2022; and the list goes on.

Why has this tiny nation with no natural resources except its strategic location as a port been able to beat all its much larger neighbours in the region and beyond?

That question has been examined repeatedly over the years by economists and political analysts, and its success is typically attributed to meritocracy, pragmatism, and honesty – traits that were laid down by Singapore’s founding premier Lee Kuan Yew.

Lee was so admired that even Deng Xiaoping, the paramount leader of China from 1978 to 1989, said China should use Singapore as a model. This resulted in hundreds of delegations visiting the Republic to “study every aspect of Singapore’s development”, wrote former diplomat and law professor Tommy Koh in a 2018 comment published in The Straits Times.

Apart from the pragmatic leadership of Lee and his successors, Jon S.T. Quah in his paper “Why Singapore works: five secrets of Singapore’s success”, published in Public Administration and Policy: An Asia-Pacific Journal, cites the other four “secrets” as “an effective public bureaucracy; effective control of corruption; reliance on the ‘best and brightest’ citizens through investment in education and competitive compensation; and learning from other countries.”

These so-called secrets aren’t rocket science. Yet, we have floundered, squandering many of the advantages we had at the birth of our nation.

Meritocracy, liberalism (which our founding father Tunku Abdul Rahman espoused), multiculturalism and even our Federal Constitution have been attacked and vilified by bigots and extremists as anti-Malay and anti-Islam.

As for secret #2, what we have is an undeniably bloated civil service with questionable work ethics and efficiency (there are bright spots, of course, like my favourite Employees Provident Fund; thank you for the 5.5% dividend). But any criticism of its size, responsibility or productivity is seen as an affront to a particular community. Case in point is Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing’s demotion of Tourism Malaysia’s director-general for non-performance, which unsurprisingly took a racial tone.

But Tiong’s decision went down well with the public because, as a former minister who requested anonymity told a local news portal, many cases of inept civil servants were allowed to keep their positions because of the “face-saving” culture practised by Malaysians.

Unfortunately, that kind of culture doesn’t augur well for any bureaucracy nor a nation’s well-being.

As for secret #3, well, our leaders, past and present, all claimed to want to fight corruption but with little success. Instead, endemic corruption seems to have taken root everywhere.

True, our global corruption perception index ranking rose in 2023, but it was a scant three-point improvement to 50 from 47 in 2022. As Transparency International Malaysia president Dr Muhammad Mohan said, three points are not a cause for celebration as our CPI ranking could take a dip in 2024.

He also rightly pointed out that while Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has set a CPI target of being in the top 25 by 2033, there is no concrete plan to achieve the target. Meanwhile, Singapore remains in the top five year after year.

Secret #4 is something that really hurts us. Singapore has long been the biggest beneficiary of our best and brightest in professional fields who have become its citizens or permanent residents. But now, thanks to its strong dollar, Malaysians are signing up for so-called ordinary jobs like bus driving and cleaning, and earn more than graduates in Malaysia.

We may claim Singapore is too regimented and sterile with little creativity, but look at its zoo, night safari, bird park, botanic gardens, and museums – all are well maintained and constantly upgraded world class attractions.

Then there’s its performing arts centre, the Esplanade, which is one of the world’s busiest with 3,000 performances, of which 70% are free to the public.

It is so well designed that people don’t just go there to see shows but to shop and eat too. Ditto its amazing top rated Changi Airport. Our KLIA was voted 8th worst airport. Good thing it wasn’t in the top five!

In comparison, our grandly named Istana Budaya, or Palace of Culture, is a deathly quiet place that comes to life only when a show is on.

In snaring all six Taylor Swift concerts for itself, Singapore upset many of its Asean neighbours, but it makes no apology for it. Similarly, Coldplay played six concerts in Singapore while we got just one, which PAS tried to stop.

How many more opportunities will we continue to lose because of the many restrictions and conditions imposed in the name of protecting fragile morals and innocent minds?

Secret #4 also covers education, which Singapore has managed to excel in. Its tertiary institutions, like the National University and Nanyang Technological University (NTU), are so highly regarded that they have become must-see attractions for curious tourists wanting to enrol their children.

Meanwhile, our best institution, Universiti Malaya, moved up from the 351-400 band last year to the 251-300 band in the 2024 edition of the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings. NUS was ranked 19th and NTU placed 32nd.

Singapore’s political stability and long-term visionary policies and plans also play key roles in inspiring investor confidence and keeping its currency strong. We too had political stability under Barisan Nasional for six decades, and the nation did very well for the first four decades during which the government reduced poverty significantly and diversified and modernised the economy from its agriculture and commodity export dependence.

But after that, we lost our way and our common purpose when divisive elements came into play and threatened to unravel our multiracial, multi-religious fabric. There is a hardening towards other races, so much so an attempt to list Chinese new villages in Selangor as a Unesco World Heritage Site became controversial; so too the decision to name bak kut teh as a national heritage dish.

It is absolutely tragic that these are what matters to some of our politicians. Will we ever adopt the last secret of success – learn from other countries? We are obviously too proud to take a leaf from Singapore’s book, but how about Saudi Arabia’s playbook?

Under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s de-facto ruler, tourism is the new oil, hence his multitrillion-dollar Vision 2030 to recreate the country’s image, tap into tourism and diversify its economy away from oil.

The kingdom has seen a number of liberalising reforms, allowing concerts and musical festivals to be held and even approving the first liquor store that opened in January since the banning of alcohol in 1952. The well-stocked shop in the diplomatic quarter in Riyadh is said to be the first step to opening up alcohol sales to non-Muslims in Saudi Arabia eventually, to hotels and other venues, reported CNBC.com.

Going the Saudi way shouldn’t be difficult for us since it is more a matter of stopping bigots and extremists from screaming haram at many things we already have and the Saudis now want. Come to think of it, the Saudis can learn a thing or two from us if we can stop our rot.

The views expressed here are the writer’s own.