The Hindu Business Line : A city-state that continues to amaze

Each time you visit Singapore, you are struck by the manner in which this tiny city-state keeps reinventing itself to promise a better lifestyle for its indigenous population and expats, and hold out an attractive option for immigration to a wide variety of highly skilled professionals from across the world.

Of course you know that everything is not hunky-dory, and you have to keep on the right side of rules and law all the time; even a tiny or inadvertent slip can land you in trouble. But those who adhere strictly to the rule book without asking too many questions enjoy the luxury of working from a safe and peaceful region.

Whether it is Singapore’s national icon, the Changi Airport, which has just got a spanking new Terminal Three, a portion of which is built on land reclaimed from the sea, or its clean, green environment, the country never ceases to amaze returning visitors by its insatiable desire to offer new attractions.

Sentosa and the Night Safari belong to the past. A massive Singapore Flyer that gives you a 360 degree panoramic view of the country from a height of 165 metres (equivalent to top of a 42-storeyed building) has been inaugurated and work is on in full swing to prepare the race track for the 2008 Formula 1 SingTel Singapore Grand Prix to be held this September.

But when we, a group of Indian journalists invited by the Singapore Government, get an opportunity for a detailed interaction with a couple of Singapore’s policymakers, it soon becomes evident that a lot of detailed research, planning and care goes into continuing the successful evolution of a society that now enjoys a whopping per capita income upward of S$23,900!

Take, for instance, the Singapore Trade and Industry Minister Lim Hng Klang’s assertion that as Singapore produces “only 36,000 babies a year and we are seeing a negative growth rate, we need more bodies”! A population of over 4.5 million includes over one million expats; the indigenous population is only 3.5 million and the projected population numbers show this diminishing to 3.3 million and even 3.2 million in the coming years.

So, just as one would top up the fuel in one’s car, Singapore “tops up” its population through a flexible immigration policy that welcomes trained and talented professionals. But then a large immigrant population creates its own dynamics and as Singapore’s Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports, the dapper and articulate Dr Vivian Balakrishnan puts it, many immigrants “having gone through Customs and Immigration would like to shut the door behind them; that’s natural”.

‘Anxiety’ on immigration

When asked to comment on the indigenous population becoming more and more resentful about highly qualified expat professionals commanding attractive pay packages leaving the majority of locals to compete for lower paying jobs, the Minister said, “There is anxiety, and a key political challenge is to reassure and convince people on this issue.”

He added that “this anxiety” was accentuated because on the global platform this kind of “simultaneous” connection of both India and China to the world economy had never before happened to this extent; one or the other had a “golden” period but at different periods.

But clearly, his greater worry is the negative growth rate of Singapore’s population, and the education, emancipation and independence of its women have got to do with this worry. Explaining the nuances of this phenomenon, and “how we as a society have got trapped in our own success”, Dr Balakrishnan said that Singapore has a fertility rate of 1.26 per cent but required a 2.1 per cent fertility rate to maintain its population at the present level.

But despite longer maternity leave, better and subsidised childcare facilities, flexible working time for mothers and cash incentives running into thousands of Singapore dollars, Singapore women had shown no inclination of lending a hand in the Government’s attempts to maintain its population at present levels. “We are putting money on the table, but the impact of this is minimal and there are many reasons for this.”

Gender dynamics

One of the principal reasons was connected to the Singapore government’s decision, after Independence, to provide universal education to both girls and boys. Over the years, as “women became educated and employable and therefore independent”, they didn’t have the compulsion to “marry or stay in a marriage. Another element is that though the condition of women has been transformed in our society, it takes much longer to transform the attitudes of men,” he said.

Also, as women got access to higher education and very good jobs, the mismatch between men and women’s social and educational status sharpened the woman’s appetite for a husband who was even more educated and successful than her. Of course both men and women had higher expectations from their marriage partners and there were indications that more and more singles were “opting for success in work and studies over getting married and starting a family.”

Giving statistics, Dr Balakrishnan said that in Singapore, single males in the age group 35-44 years tend to be less educated than their female counterparts. In 2005, 37 per cent of single males in this age group had educational qualifications below secondary level compared to only 20 per cent single women in the same age group. “As a group, singles have become increasingly better educated over the last five years; 68 per cent of non-student singles had at least a post-secondary education, up from 56 per cent in 2000.”

The result was that from 2000 the median age at first marriage for male and female residents (28.6 years and 26.2 years respectively) had gone up to 29.7 and 26.8 in 2005. Hence the government had put in place a “comprehensive marriage and parenthood package to address the situation, but we realise that beyond a point, we cannot push, and hence have kept open the tap of immigration.”

Religious, racial harmony

Even more interesting than studying these dynamics, was listening to Dr Balakrishnan’s explanation on how racial and religious harmony was maintained in Singapore which is always marketed as a peaceful and secure destination to live, work and do business in. Singapore, he pointed out, has no quotas in schools, colleges or in employment, “but the only place we have quotas in is public housing, where 86 per cent of our population lives.”

Public housing is “micro managed to the individual block” to ensure that every building has a mix of different ethnic groups.

“So whether they like it or not, the residents have to live with people who look different, who cook differently, and follow different religious practices; they have no choice.”

Dr Balakrishnan added hat “through this unique exercise in social engineering” the Singapore government saw to it that different communities tolerated and respected each other’s way of life, customs, food habits, etc.

We recognise that everybody has a right to be here; we are obsessed with fairness and equality”, he said, adding that no citizen was allowed “to use God as an excuse” to whip up religious fanaticism.

Another challenge before the policymakers was to enthuse young Singaporeans to stay back. Just as a highly qualified Indian or Chinese professional might opt to live and work from Singapore or elsewhere, global opportunities were also beckoning next-generation Singaporeans. They had access to higher education in the best of universities across the world, many through scholarships.

“In a way, we are victims of our own success; having given them wings to fly away, we now wonder how many of them will come back.”

Here at least, Dr Balakrishnan admitted, there was realisation that “we cannot micro manage too much, and we have to let go a little.”

No ‘party politics’

The last word on how Singapore manages to get highly educated and professional politicians. He is a trained Ophthalmologist and a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (1991) and has worked in London. He smiles when asked why he opted to make the change. “Oh, we have no professional politicians in Singapore; all of us have a life and a career. And each of us looks out for people who are younger and better than us; we don’t play party politics.”

Confirming that Singapore politicians are paid the best of salaries, he said, “I am very sure that we are among the best paid politicians in the world but equally certain that we are not among the wealthiest in the world.”

Well, that tells you a lot about politics and corruption and the link or the absence of it in different parts of the world!

(Response may be sent to rasheeda@thehindu.co.in)