The economic problems faced by LKY in the 1960s and 1970s were
made worst by the fact that the British was pulling out from the
Far East and dismantling their military outposts.
LKY's priority was torn between population control and
finding jobs to keep a restive population from being swayed by the
politicians with socialists leanings.
His quick fix solution was to implement an
aggressive Family Planning program, and coupled with the
opening of the Singapore economy to MNCs prepared to invest in
light industries in Singapore - which largely involved in
low-tech consumer goods.
The entire working age population was blindly geared to provide
the labor to attract such economic plans of the 1960s and 1970s;
hawler licenses were restricted only to those above 45 years, and
all who are below this age are encourage to work in either the
White or Blue Collar Work Force.
Enigneers and technicians were produced by the Polytechnics and
the Vocation Institue {later renamed as ITE}.
Those who applied for other courses in the University had to
obtain Suitability Certificates - which were vetted against ISD
records to determine family background and connections to Communist
activity.
It was in the late 1970s, that the Government decide to remove
private enterprise in the various essential services provided to
Singaporean, and which were in the hands of a few
successful families controlling various key industries
and businesses in Singapore since the Colonial days.
With the government taking large stakes in private enterprises,
they have a bigger interests in ensuring a sufficient supply
of qualified work force to support the various businesses owned by
the government.
These businesses range from Food & Beverage Manufacturing,
to Ship Building, from operating shipping lines to public
land transport companies, from the supply of building raw
materials to the supply of essential and strategic food supplies,
from the acquistion and sale of seized land, to property
development.
These government activities were all in competition with
Private Enterprise and resulted in the demise of the
Small and Medium Enterprises.
It was only in the late 1990s, that the government decided
belatedly to educate a new workforce and gear the next
generation towards higher value added skills - for the purpose
of meeting the government's new ambition for Singapore to be in the
cutting edge industries of Bio-Sscience and Electronics, as well as
in International Finance and Banking.
Can Singaporeans be treated as manufacturing products to be
manfuactured on short order based on the 'favorite flavor of
the month' of the PM in office ?
Other small countries - such as Switzerland, Israel,
Sweden, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Ireland, Densmark- have more open types
of political and economic environment, that ares not based on
any Central Planning from a Master's Voice.
Their political system are open and consultative,
which allow educational, ecnomic, and industrial institutions to
closely consult and support each other, with information
flowing freely across their respective entities.
Singapore's political and economic model still remain a
centralised top down approach - that do not tolerate nor
sensitive to required changes, even as it regularly
challenge Singaporeans to be more flexible
and enterprising.
