Yew said in a low voice as though he was confiding in us, “The world is changing. The environment is changing. People’s lifestyles are changing. Countries are trying to develop, and constantly changing place with each other. Those who stand still will quickly fall behind. Competition is a matter of life and death, but how does one compete? You should compete with what you are best at. Singapore knows that she’s a small country with a small population. So she chooses to compete with her scientific, biological and management software achievements. And Singapore has learned a very important lesson: She must be good at English in order to get in touch with world scientific knowledge.”

And Mr. Yew started to talk about Singapore’s secrets in the management of her economy and society, which are very practical. According to the Singaporean diplomat, economic and social management means combining a market economy and social awareness. For instance, how can you change public habits and increase public awareness of environmental issues and urban administration? 98 % of the Singaporean population owns houses and understand that if they don’t follow management and environment regulations, the prices of their properties may go down. 20 % of the population is working with other parts of the world. The Internet, the telephone and the cell-phone have made the world a small village to them, who react quickly to every new management policy. Management officials must thus have comprehensive information.

I asked him, “Professionalism is getting more and more important in management. So how can you increase professionalism in all management areas in Singapore?” He immediately answered me, “Learning new basic and systemic knowledge is only a small part of the process. We also send people to study abroad so that they will return to apply and adjust what they have learned to the particular conditions of Singapore, continue to update their knowledge to apply and adjust it again. For instance, how do we solve traffic jams? We don’t build more bridges and roads, but limit the number of personal cars on the streets by auctioning off the rights to buy new cars, or charging those who drive cars on the streets during rush hours, or prioritizing public transportation. In the future, London will have to apply what is being done in Singapore.”

What most impressed me was his coherent and frank language. He didn’t say anything meaningless. Nor did he talk rhetoric. He didn’t show off. Nor did he justify his opinions by saying that they were public opinions.

Frank Talks

When one reads what Mr. Lee Kwan Yew advised Vietnam to do in 2006 in newspapers, one has to admit that he was always direct. For instance, he told us to send Hanoi students to Saigon to learn how to make money, and “layer” talented southern students at universities in Hanoi. But he was even more direct when talking about Vietnam to the Singaporean media. He said that Vietnam was developing at an admirable space, but it would take several decades for her to catch up with other developed Asian countries like Malaysia. In 2005, Malaysia’s annual income per capita was 4,960 USD, Vietnam’s was 620 USD and Singapore’s was 27,490 USD. According to Mr. Yew, Vietnam’s greatest challenges are weak infrastructure, unfair educational practice, and a weak knowledge of English. It currently costs Vietnam a lot of time and money to translate research and learning materials from English into Vietnamese. As long as Vietnamese teachers don’t teach in English, Vietnam’s education will find it difficult to develop.

Vietnamese leaders are young and enthusiastic in trying to renovate their country. But the faster they want to go ahead, the more they are hampered by bureaucracy and corruption. So what can Vietnam get from Singapore? In Mr. Yew’s opinion, Singapore’s managing system is her strongest point. The values of Singapore’s management software, experiences and skills are increasing daily, and Vietnam can make use of them. But Vietnam should figure out what she wants to do, since he always thinks that every country should find her own ways to a place in the constantly changing world.