I could not wait to get the book on this Friday 9 Aug 2013. So while out running some errants, I could not help dropping by a book store to buy former MM Lee's latest book: ONE MAN'S VIEW of the WORLD.
Quite naturally I turn to Chapter 6 page 204 which is on "SINGAPORE - A nation at a crossroads".
This chapter is divided into three parts namely:
1) POLITICS
2) POPULATION
3) THE ECONOMY
Each part starts with the author's view and follows by a Question & Answer section.
POLITICS:
To me, the most interesting portion is former MM Lee's view about the result of GE 2011 and what he thought of possible future trends in Singapore's politics. In his words: "Where do we go from here?"
Former MM Lee also wrote briefly about WP's Aljunied GRC's MP Chen Show Mao and what he thought of Chen.
Mr Lee also expressed his concern on the likely drawback of a possible two-party system in Singapore in the future. Obviously whatever happen then would unlikely affect him at all but the younger generation of Singaporeans who will have to face the outcome of such an eventuality.
Mr Lee wondered aloud whether "Will Singapore be around in 100 years? I am not so sure. America, China, Britain, Australia these countries will be around in 100 years." Former MM Lee went on to express his views on how Singapore can avoid sinking "into nothingness".
Mr Lee gave some interesting insights regarding future politics in Singapore in the Q & A section.
POPULATION:
Mr Lee gave a very pragmatic account of the current situation facing our nation in terms of the exceptionally low birth rate in recent years.
Technically, each woman needs to have three offspring just to meet the TFR replacement level of 2.1 due to one-third of women in child bearing age remaining single.
Given the current TFR of 1.29 in 2012 which was an exceptional mini-bumper harvest Dragon babies year, Singapore's adult population would be reduced by about half every passing generation going forward if it is not supplemented by immigration.
The government is doing its best to moderate the flow to a tolerable level socially yet not significantly causing a massive shrinkage to our economy.
Essentially according to former MM Lee, immigration may have to be continued as a short term solution with careful control on the flow of the tap until such time our Singaporeans' TFR picks up.
Mr Lee looked forward to our generation or the one after ours to hopefully "find a way out."
In the Q & A section, Mr Lee talked about various possible causes of the low TFR in Singapore and some suggestions that may reverse the trend. Former MM Lee also ran through the careful and stringent criteria that the Singapore's government exercises in granting citizenships.
THE ECONOMY:
Mr Lee talked about the openness of Singapore's economy and the options she has "to hedge our bets".
Former MM Lee went on to paint the important factors that would likely affect our economic progression.
Mr Lee believed in consolidating and reinforcing the advantages that Singapore had built up over the years.
Former MM Lee also acknowledged the depressed wages of the lower income earners and the policy limitations Singapore faces in this aspect. Meanwhile, Mr Lee gave his view that he was not in favour of too much government intervention in the function of the free market in the early stage but to come in later after it had run its course.
Most importantly, Mr Lee's argument is that SMEs are the biggest employers in Singapore and accounts for a large chunk of our economy. Turning foreign workers' tap off drastically would run the danger of causing our SMEs sector to collapse.
In the Q & A section, Mr Lee talked about the options Singapore has as a small nation in terms of her future growth path, lower income workers' wages and manpower issues.
Conclusion:
As a whole, though having read just a few chapters here and there, I find the read pretty "easy" and "comfortable". Being a founding member of modern independent Singapore, former MM Lee has written his book in such a manner that the average person on the street would not have problems understanding and absorbing his views and experiences.
For the younger generation who are interested in the future direction and policy options of our nation, I would definitely recommend this book as an excellent read.
I have intentionally left out a lot of "meaty" views and policy options written in this chapter on Singapore so that readers can form their own conclusion and the comprehension of the wisdom and vast experiences of one of Asia's outstanding statesmen.
PSS
*The writer blogs at http://pro-sustainable-sg.blogspot.sg