₦airaland Forum

Singapore Leads the Good Life Under a Benevolent Dictator

Singapore has achieved the American dream, but not in the American way. It is a prosperous, clean city, with imposing skyscrapers and glittering shopping centers. The multinational corporations of the world are welcome here; you can buy any brand name you've ever heard of. The highways are lined with tropical flowers and crowded with BMWs. And at the head of this thriving free-market state is a clever, socialist dictator.

Just forty years ago Singapore was a war-battered British port on an island off the southern tip of Malaysia. It had a rapidly growing, poor, uneducated population living mostly in slums and houseboats. Singapore struggled along until 1965, when it became an independent nation with Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew in firm control.

In the next twenty years Singapore's economy grew eightfold. Average income per capita rose more than fourfold. The percentage of families living in poverty dropped to 0.3% (in the U.S. it is near 20%). Singaporeans' average life expectancy is now 71 years. No one is homeless. Population has stabilized. Virtually everyone has a job. The place runs like a Swiss watch.

Lee Kuan Yew would appreciate that analogy. Switzerland is his model. Singapore Airlines aims to outdo Swissair. Singapore likes to list its statistics alongside Switzerland's (its divorce rate is one-third that of Switzerland, its per capita calorie supply is equal, its movie attendance rate is six times higher). Lee's chief economic goal is to reach the per capita GNP of Switzerland, which will happen in one more economic doubling -- about 10 years, if past growth rates continue.

To produce his economic miracle, Lee Kuan Yew has interfered with every aspect of Singaporean life. To control population growth he set up free family planning clinics. Then he mounted education campaigns ("Plan your family small" and decreed that women having third-or-more babies would get shorter maternity leave, higher hospital charges, and less income tax relief. There is a $5000 reward for mothers who agree to be sterilized after their second child. Sterilized parents get top priority for public housing, and their children get into desirable schools.

Singaporeans now accept that two is the right number of children. When I asked one woman how she felt about that, she told me she'd like to have three or four. "But," she said brightly, "I understand why I shouldn't have that many. We are a small, crowded island." In fact the birth rate has fallen so low among highly-educated women, that Lee now offers incentives to "educated mothers" to have three children or more.

Singapore requires all workers to save 25% of their salaries. Their employers match that amount (after the recession of 1985, the employers' share was cut to 10%). The workers can claim the money only after the age of 55. This enormous forced savings rate is one of the secrets of Singapore's incredible economic growth. The money goes into a Central Provident Fund, with which the government builds roads, schools, hospitals, and especially housing.

All over the city identical 16-story housing blocks rise, each with its recreation center, swimming pool, shopping center, community center, and school. The apartments are well-built and spacious. Now that there are enough of them, the government lets people tap their savings before age 55 to buy their own flats. At present 74% of families own their homes; the goal is 100%.

Anti-social behavior is not permitted in Singapore. The fine for littering is $250. Jaywalking, spitting, and smoking in government offices are also fined $250. Gambling, except for the state lottery, is illegal. The punishment for drug trafficking is death.

Recently Lee Kuan Yew declared war on smoking. During a recent Smoke-Free Week there were signs everywhere, "Stub it Out, Singapore!" In the shopping centers electronic billboards grimly toted up the city's smoking deaths, about 10 per day. Smiling teenagers roamed the streets with baskets of apples and collared anyone with a cigarette, offering to trade an apple for a pack. The percentage of smokers in the population has gone down from 23% to 13%.

I tried to find Singaporeans who are unhappy with their paternalistic government. In a week of searching, I found none. People think the regulations make sense. No one seems to fear the government; most feel they can bring complaints to it. One economics professor thought the 25% forced savings policy was too high. I asked him if he intended to write the newspapers or make a speech about it. He was shocked. He would never disrupt the social harmony, he said. He was assembling the facts he needed; then he would go make a reasoned argument directly to the ministry.

Singapore just doesn't fit the world's categories. It's a dictatorship with free speech, no fear, and no corruption. It's an economy that uses capitalist means to attain socialist ends. Singapore University scholars call it a "meritocratic, elitist, Confucianist, bureaucratic state".

Whatever you call it, by all appearances and measures it works astoundingly well -- so far, anyway. Everyone wonders, of course, what will happen after Lee Kuan Yew. Some Singaporeans are nervous about their dependence on the rest of the world for water, food, and energy. Perhaps a greater worry, though no one in Singapore seems to be thinking about it, is what will motivate the nation, what kinds of goal will there be, what challenges will Singapore put its well-organized energy to, after everyone becomes as rich as the Swiss.

Copyright Sustainability Institute
This article from The Donella Meadows Archive is available for use in research, teaching, and private study. For other uses, please contact Sustainability Institute, 3 Linden Road, Hartland, VT 05048, (802) 436-1277.

People will always tell you that democracy is the best government and so I thought, but after 14 years of democracy in Nigeria I came to the conclusion that we don't need democracy atleast for now in Nigeria and most likely Africa,

In Nigeria democracy means getting my or our own share of the national common wealth, democracy in Africa breeds nepotism and further divide the people instead of unity, since the return of democracy to Nigeria Nigerians keep getting apart and poorer they are being divided and ruled by gang of criminals disguised as democrats, there was increase in tribal and sectional militia to achieve their selfish aim.

What I believe Nigeria need is a beneovolent dictatorship for atleast the next 30 years before we fashion our own system government which may not necessarily be democracy, take a look at countries like Singapore,malasia,UAE, saudi and even south africa they are rule or are being ruled by benovolent dictators with vision for development.

Kindly give your own opinion on the need to have a benovolent dictator in Nigeria

Cheers

In as much as I hate military rule sometimes I think what we need now is a corrupt free and focused dictator that will make things work right, for things to work right some luxuries must be forgone and as such the constitution itself is an obstruction to that.

An example is making it illegal to directly use oil money to solve a need unless it is recycled through other resources like agriculture or mines

One can also insist that recurrent expenditure can never be more than capital expenditure and you can only get same percentage of capital implentation as recurrent, with that bureucrats will ensure implementation

There will be minimum and maximum wage and. Maximum wage cannot be more than ten times the minimum with this the gap between the poor and rich will not be much.

All political and corrupt public office holders will be jailed .

There will be a data of all Nigerians

There will be only twelve ministers

Ministries and parastatals will be merged

There will be only 19 state as. Before IBB

Efcc, icpc, nscdc,frsc and vio will all be part of police

There will be sanitary inspection officer. Everywhere to ensure cleaniness

All and sundry must pay tax

Firing squads will be re introduced

Drug trafficking is a capital offence

There will be price control boards

There will be commodity marketing board to faciltate export and pricing of farm product

When is time for election it will be open ballot

No indicted politician will be allowed in politics

National assembly will be a part time job

There will only be house of representative no senate,

THAT IS MY WISH

The university is right verification protocol must be followed, beside most of those that had similar claims before have been found to be lie I.e Dr Jeremiah Abalaka who now sells ice block in Idah Kogi state.

This is very sad, for goodness sake what are we turning into kai.

" It is immoral for a Senator of a developing country to earn more than the President of a developed country. —Muhammadu Buhari."

I will advise you to first take the big bus tour of dubai the starting point is at the deira city centre you can also buy your desert safari from them as well as the wild wadi water park at a much discounted price.

For african food you can visit afican home restaurant at the mezanine floor al hili hotel on al sabka road deira they also have a branch near california hotel naif deira.

Also visit dragon mart at the international city is a chinese mall with very cheap goods

Also visit the karama market for cheap designer replica that most boutiques in Nigeria sell.

As some said please don't trust any Nigerian hustlers in dubai most of them are cheats rather trust the indians etc

Most girls like flaunting their beauty, so any girl that says no no may be having some defects if not on religious and moral grounds.

The difference may be due to two reasons
1, Cost of freight and other levies, total cost in Nigeria of freight and other levies is almost double to that of cotonou

2, Nigerian men with greed and get rich quick mentality.

Shikena

The information is not complete, was there a demand for ransom? 15 years old can elope with boy friend.

Rabiu Ibrahim was a good player but these days he is not doing well no thanks to age cheating, i know him then in abuja, truly this guy played under 17 at the age of 28 so he is about 34 now.

16 billion can buiid 1500 standard three bedroom bungalows or three estate of 500 houses each. I pity Nigeria

check the top right hand corner on national geographic channel you will see " two days to go" written

The only people worthy of mention are the paralympians

my wife is the most beautiful african woman.

the new governor of kafuna state is now the youngest at 43

Death is a burden every living soul must taste, the most important thing is how good did you live.

They are not even as rich as i thought, so no Nigerian actress has up to $1Million

To be frank in as much as i hate PDP, sule Lamido is the best governor in the north, if you have visited jigawa state you will understand what am saying, the. guy has really tried but no too much media hype like other states.

Despite being in the core north jigawa is the only state without incidence of boko haram, may he is doing something right.

playmode: Thank you for your response.I am thinking of creating a secret fund overseas where concerned Nigerians can donate to fund our the new organization.People will be able to donate anonymously without implicating themselves or revealing their identities for their own safety.I am working on some plans at the moment and will let nairalanders know once everything is set and ready.

when you make the arrangement kindly get in touch.

the best option for Nigeria is two party system and voting should be open ballot, that was why june 12 was the most successful furthermore there can be parties within party like the tea party of US. by this most of the politiking will be done within the party.

open ballot is cost effective and it eliminate hypocracy, it will also reduce rigging as vote are counted in everybodys glare

playmode: Guys like i mentioned earlier ,you can not start a revolution without money.We all know most Nigerians are too scared to go and march on the street and for good reason too so the best option is to form a small rebel group that will strike deadly blows against the corrupt politicians. Once a politician is implicated in any corruption scandal ,we take him out including the court Judge who freed him instead of sending him to jail.That will make these baboons in Abuja seat up.

What we need is funding.Al Qaeda and Boko Haram are only effective because of solid funding.Without funding we can not do anything. It costs money to purchase Grade A weapons and top of the list should be long range high caliber sniper rifles as well as rocket launchers.You must remember that we have to arm all members of the rebel group to the teeth ,we will also need light weight full body armor in case of a defensive fire fight.

Procuring these weapons will not be a problem as long as we have adequate funding.Finding guerrilla war strategist is not a problem as their many of them jobless all over Africa.We will recruit young physically and mentally fit boys from Nigeria,fly them them out of the country and train them over seas for 1 year after which they will return to the country to form a base camp and carry out operations.

Now when i talk of funding ,i am talking of at least a Million US dollars to transport ,arm ,feed ,condition and train about 50 men.In a covert war you don't need too many people.If your men are too many you may not be able to keep an eye on all of them.One well trained assassin/rebel is more than enough to make the corrupt politicians shit their pants.We all know how terrible Nigerian security operatives are.The idiots in power embezzle money and surround themselves with poorly trained Security officials,it won't be that hard to blow their brains out with a .50 cal power recoil sniper rifle like this one made in South Africa.

The Denel NTW-20 is very expensive and can make you go deaf but it is worth every penny because it can get through 90% of bullet proof doors and windows.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXLRYf9EV2Y

This new Neopup which is also a South African invention is a new weapon with side trigger ,soft recoil ,deadly accuracy and explosive burst.You can pick your target like flies from a good distance away without vibrating too much.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eu87AxzBf3Y


Another weapon which is very good is the South African made Milkor MGL,it is a grenade launcher/revolver that can change a combat situation in seconds.You will need well built guy to use though because it is slight heavy than a regular A rifle and it has some recoil:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVfhTqL95jY

Now there are many combat camps overseas where we can train our recruit.A minimum of 8 set of combat training will be be explored.

(A)Target Practice using rubber bullets and live ammunition

(B)Team VS combats games using Airsoft rifles for safety

(C)Endurance and survival tests (running,climbing,crawling ,swimming,swinging drills)

(D)Ambush recovery combat test

(E)Sniper vs combat tests with Airsoft sniper rifles

(F)Breach ,entry, suppress and area secure combat test

(G)Covert Hostage recovery combat test

(H)Torture resistance test

You see if anyone wants to do this ,it has to be done right and in a professional manner not this amateur nonsense these MEND guys were doing.MEND and BOKO HARAM are killing innocents civilians instead of dealing with corrupt politicians. That alone shows that they are savages with no noble agenda.

We will be able to condition the boys to go for days without food ,snipe without making any noise, suppress & fire,flank & sandwich e.t.c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=fiDlIe0VzJU&feature=fvwp

I like this your idea, to be frank I wont mind being part of such, financially,physically and morally

"Every on looker is either a coward or a traitor" frantz fanon. revolution will surely come is either you join us to succeed, be martyred or be in the refugee camp with women and children.

Turbocharged: The letter in question was addressed to Cardinal Okojie, and Pope Benedict was copied. My question then is how did it get to El-rufai?
Between Cardinal Okojie & the Pope, who made the letter available to El-rufai, and for what reason?

can't you see that it was culled from a newspaper and not el Rufai.

I think they don't mean mega watts but"maga watts" cos we Nigerians are their mugus

The underground politics is that some powers that be don't want muslim to be the governor, apparently the deputy governor is a muslim. so they are in a dilemna. the poproblem they are having is that a precedence has been set before in other states and even the presidency and more so 2015 is still far if they have to wait till then the acting governor will be too strong to be challenged and his obvious power of incubency will work.

Now their plan B according to sources I have is to have some faults of the acting governor then the state assembly will impeach him and the speaker becomes the acting governor to conduct election in 3 months, mind you the speaker is a christian as well, so the powers that be will make sure the PDP candidate is a christian and ensure he wins.

People in taraba should not be clouded by this God fathers and ensure the constitution take it course as it did to Jonathan , futhermore ethnic and religious sentiment should be thrown to the dustbin, more so this guy (deputy governor) is a child of destiny being only three weeks in office and he was appointed acting governor, may be God has something special for the people of Taraba.

9 billion is equivalent to 4 states allocation, am seriously thinking of migrating to a saner country cos i don't want to see my children growing in such a rot.

where are the dogs attacking Saharareporters? or are you on strike for unpaid work or the evidence against your master is so enormous that you cannot defend him. Carry on my people we are on the right course surely one day we will reach the promise land after flushing out this corrupt element in governance.

the corrupt will never like Buhari in power, how can they forgo all the luxury, they always want to oppress the poor, when it comes to their interest they don't consider religion or region only their pocket.

“Not all Nigerians are comfortable with a united and strong North. Its current position is therefore a welcome development
to its rivals and detractors. They will not lift a finger to heal the wound.

this is what is take out of the report:

Former Secretary of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Hakeem Baba-Ahmed posited that the next two
years would act as a test case for the country and the North’s case to bounce back to reckoning.
“The next two years will test the resilience of the Nigerian State and the capacity of Northerners to bounce back. Right now,
the Boko Haram insurgency is eating up like a cancer, and it will require bold initiatives by Northerners to find a solution, by
influencing both the insurgency and the government.
“Not all Nigerians are comfortable with a united and strong North. Its current position is therefore a welcome development
to its rivals and detractors. They will not lift a finger to heal the wound. This will have to be done by people in this hall who
feel the pain the most.

that is the clock tower on zamzam hotel in mecca, you will see the tower anywhere you are in the city of mecca.

that is a good move but 28 is too small because the parties known are only pdp,acn,CPC,anpp,lp and apga. most of this parties de registered are brief case parties.