Speech by President S R Nathan at the Launch of the “Dynamic Governance” Book by Professors Neo Boon Siong and Geraldine Chen

Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen

     Many distinguished Visitors and eminent Scholars, who study economic development of newly emerging Nations, often wonder what explanations to offer in terms of Public Policy, for the progress that Singapore has made over the last 40 years.  Some leaders have even asked about the “Magic” formula that has helped our transformation.  Others are befuddled by our progress as all we have is our human resources in the absence of natural resources.  One can expect this interest about our transformation to continue over time.

     Thinking about this mystery of our success, I am in a way reminded of the well-known children’s story of the five blind men who were asked to describe the Elephant.  One touched the tusk and said the Elephant was like a needle; the second touched the ears and said it was like a fan; the third touched its trunk and said it was like a hose; the fourth touched the legs and declared the Elephant was like a tree trunk, and the fifth touched the tail saying it was like a fly whisk.  Each saw one element of the Elephant and mistook that for the whole.  Similarly, the search for an answer to our transformation can be expected to continue in order to gain a more complete picture.

     From the many writings about how we arrived at today’s state of development, one can easily get a sense of the various factors that have contributed to our success.  But one area of study, long  neglected, is that of the role that the Civil Service has played behind the scenes and the processes that were developed over the years of our growth, and the changing challenges the Civil Service had to overcome in the course of our progress.

    Policy choices and decisions, which often attract media attention when they are announced, are only part of the story.  How we arrived at a particular policy is itself an important part of the process, and after a policy is articulated, there remains a lot of work to effectively implement the policy to achieve the desired outcomes and to continually adapt them when circumstances change.  The World Bank has consistently ranked Singapore among the top nations in the world in its Governance Report.  In the latest 2007 report, Singapore was placed above the 90th percentile for government effectiveness, political stability, control of corruption, rule of law and regulatory quality.  These achievements can be attributed to the government’s ability to design rational and innovative policies, and then to effectively execute these policies and adapt them to new challenges as they arise.

   How would I then describe the conundrum that is Singapore?  We know that Singapore is different from most other countries.  We are a very small country, a city-state, and we do not bear the burden of a large rural community which many developing countries face.  On the other hand, we do not have the natural resources that most other countries are endowed with.  We are however geographically located at strategic trade crossroads and our historical legacy provided the foundations for building strong global linkages.

   The current political party has been in power since independence, and we have had the good fortune of having strong, charismatic and visionary leaders, with political will to take tough decisions to steer us through the difficult founding years.  In a sense, we are an “accidental” country, because we lacked many of the ingredients that conventional wisdom deemed necessary for nationhood.  The Singapore example may thus seem like a special case, and we certainly do not claim to be a model for exact replication of the policies that have worked within our shores.  Mere imitation is not possible nor desirable either.

   But Singapore is a model for an experiment that has worked well, based on governance principles that are crucial for success in the new knowledge-based, global economy.  For instance, the development of high quality, competent and honest leaders in the civil service and political arena has been instrumental in Singapore’s continued success.  Thus our efforts and lessons learnt over the years and the principles we follow would be useful for others to consider, even if the specific practices may be unique to the local context.

   In the “Dynamic Governance” book, Professors Neo and Chen have described the specific institutional innovations that underlie Singapore’s success within a sophisticated governance framework.  This framework of thinking ahead to prepare for the future, thinking again to review past beliefs and present practices, and thinking across different contexts to learn and innovate, encapsulates the way the Singapore system has functioned.  This book explains the interesting and complex linkages between civil service and political leadership, between organization and culture, and between policy making and policy execution.

    I hope this book will be a timely study that will stir others to continue examining the contributions the Civil Service makes to Nation Building in Singapore.  It gives me great pleasure to launch this book, co-authored by my former colleague and friend – Prof Neo Boon Siong.