The government of Singapore through GIC (The Government of Singapore Investment Corporation) controlled by the Lee Kuan Yew family is the core shareholder in the Myanmar Fund which is linked to the key business ventures of Lo Hsing Han a notorious drug lord. On 29th of August 1997- possibly fearing the exposure of the money trail- the Myanmar Fund was formally placed in Liquidation.
Seow,
the former Solicitor General of Singapore, sums up nicely "The Singapore
government knows it's having dinner with the devil, and sharing a very short
spoon. And it is a terrible double standard. Drug moneys are being laundered
apparently by the same drug lords who supply the heroin for which small-time
dealers are hanged. We are reaping profits as Burma's biggest investor, but
we're being paid with blood money." [4]
The inconvenient truth of Lee's despotic regime with its murky deals with Burmese Drug dealers is rarely discussed in the mainstream corporate media which maintains the conspiracy of silence to prevent any embarrassment to Lee Kuan Yew's carefully cultivated image of his regime being corruption free and honest. For the global corporate elites and their minions of the corporate media their silence is the quid pro quo deal for low tax rates and "ease of doing business" for multi-national corporations operating in Singapore.
For the global corporate elites who are strong supporters of the despotic Singapore model of a police state with free market capitalism, there is a card up their sleeve. And that card is the stupendous growth story of Singapore. In news channels, the corporate sponsored anchor persons go to great lengths to point out that Lee Kuan Yew transformed Singapore from a malarial ridden British outpost to a smart city state brimming with trade and commerce.
But this is a big lie as the British left Singapore with infrastructure intact including its ship building facility- unlike other colonies like India which were rapaciously plundered. Singapore with its strategic location and port was ideally suited for trade and export. The British did not strip Singapore of its assets as a back room deal was struck by Lee Kuan Yew that after its independence, his government would protect the interests of the British.
The claim that Singapore is the epitome of functional efficiency and capitalist success is rarely challenged in International forums. The relentless PR machine of the Singapore Government spews dubious statistics to create a myth that it has a cutting edge efficiency, global competitiveness, economic freedom and transparency. The myth of the Singapore Miracle is dinned into the heads of its citizens to serve as a means of social control. The message is a stark one: you can't be politically free and be affluent. So shut up and obey.
While there have been studies and reports of the Amnesty International and other Human Rights groups critical of the authoritarian ways of the government and its appalling human rights abuses, rarely had the Singapore Miracle story been put to test until a prescient article titled The Myth of Asia's Miracle written by the economist Paul Krugman appeared in the prestigious Council on Foreign Relations challenging the sustainability of the Singapore growth story. [5]
Krugman's point was that the flaw in the Singapore growth was that mere increases in inputs, without an increase in the efficiency with which those inputs are used - investing in more machinery and infrastructure - must run into diminishing returns; input-driven growth is inevitably limited. As he observes in his article, 'Consider, in particular, the case of Singapore. Between 1966 and 1990, the Singaporean economy grew a remarkable 8.5 percent per annum, three times as fast as the United States; per capita income grew at a 6.6 percent rate, roughly doubling every decade. This achievement seems to be a kind of economic miracle. But the miracle turns out to have been based on perspiration rather than inspiration: Singapore grew through a mobilization of resources that would have done Stalin proud.'[6] But like the Soviet growth rates recording impressive growth at first, the dynamo of production soon spluttered in Singapore. The rich irony was that Lee Kuan Yew who had a pathological hatred for communism adopted the same flawed economic model of Soviet Russia namely- Input Elephant/Output Mouse.In a book titled 'The Singapore Miracle, Myth and Reality' written by Rodney King an Australian journalist who worked in Singapore for many years which was published nine years ago there was a more comprehensive critique of the Singapore miracle. Rodney King rubbishes the assertions made the Singaporean Authorities that the city state is a financial dynamo. As King says in his book," the rivers of dubious statistics the PAP state generates to back its questionable claims have often been uncritically accepted by journalists and Western neo-cons and the now discredited "Asia Rising" theorists".
King
says- if the myth and statistics used to promote the Singapore miracle is
stripped away- one sees a dependent and underdeveloped economy, driven by MNC
capital and expertise, with severe inequalities of wealth and income and an
often poorly paid workforce. King argues that the workforce productivity is
often mediocre and well below that of the West and Asian Economies such as Hong
Kong. [7]
The country displays endemic inefficiencies at both micro and macro levels and
the performance of construction, financial, and service sectors is second rate,
while Singapore Airlines does not deserve the top ranking it receives. The Singapore
miracle has many shortcomings and it means very little to the Singaporeans as
very few have gained from it. Around 30% of the population still lives in
poverty by Western standards. Around 86% of Singaporeans do not own houses but
rent flats from the government run Housing Development Board on 99 year leases.
The economy is plagued by low entrepreneurial and innovative capacities and an
under-educated workforce.
The author also points out the local private sector have remained stunted because of predominance of the MNC and State Enterprises run by unimaginative public servants who do not understand business. Moreover, the local private sector is starved of venture capital funds to make it a seedbed of innovation. King sums up witheringly: "An MNC outpost serviced by underpaid locals and ruled by manipulative and overpaid political elite is not an inspiring development model."
If Singapore is not as great as it seems- then why is there such breathless admiration for its economic model? The reason is not too far to seek- Paradoxically enough free market capitalism is inherently unstable and requires the services of an autocrat like Lee Kuan Yew to keep the hoi polloi at bay. The Singapore model works well for the corporate and financial 1% sitting on trillions of dollars of unearned income largely through the capital gains route. But for Joe the Plumber it is a raw deal- it means no jobs and stagnating wages even if he finds one. Joe is truly shafted with the lead pipe rudely shoved up a tender part of his anatomy.
Unregulated free market capitalism is at the end of its tether and unraveling in social protests and violence. And there is a palpable sense of unease when the plutocrats perched on their mounds of cash see that the ordinary folks down below are pretty riled up with a rigged system and out in the streets angrily protesting with their pitch forks. At that moment of global crisis a wave of profound relief sweeps over the global elite for that well ordered chewing gum free capitalist paradise of Lee Kuan Yew where there are low taxes for the corporations, no bargaining power for workers and where the trains run on time with the crack of a whippy cane.
C R Sridhar
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