(29 June 2014) Philip Bowring says Hong Kong should care little for a social economy propped up by dominant state enterprises and foreign companies, and an underclass of low-skilled migrants.
So much – often nonsense – is written about how Hong Kong should follow Singapore in assorted ways – economic, political, social and so on. It is time to set the record straight.
First, the good things about Singapore. The most prominent and least controversial are its efforts to be in the van of environmental improvement, whether reducing air pollution, limiting private car ownership and taxing its use, or recycling water.
The reason Singapore has done these things is not because it has an authoritarian government but because it has strong political and bureaucratic leadership, which is relatively impervious to narrow business interests, of the sort with which Hong Kong is all too familiar. It also knows that most of these policies meet with public approval. That helps sustain the People’s Action Party in power.
The downside of Singapore’s authoritarian system is plain to anyone with the remotest interest in free speech and assembly, and keeping the noses of the government out of personal affairs and private business. That difference indeed remains the cornerstone of Hong Kong. However, it has yet to find a way of marrying these freedoms with a government that is both effective and reflects the interests of the majority.
Read the rest of the article here: http://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1541760/singapore-poor-role-model-hong-kong