Singapore is the
smallest country in the Southeast Asia with advances in technology and industry
very rapidly growth compared to the others surrounding countries in Southeast Asia.
Singapore country
located at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, 137 km from north of the
equator. The country is separated by the Straits of Johor Malaysia in the
north, and from the Riau islands south of Singapore Straits. Singapore
geographical location is very strategic so that Singapore once become a British
military base during World War II and became a trading port city.
We know that Singapore state
does not have any natural resources but what are the factors that led Singapore
to become a developed country, although not supported by sufficient natural
resources?
Progress of Singapore
can not be separated by large role figure of Lee Kuan Yew. He has been Prime
Minister since 1959, before joining Malaysia. As an elite People Action Party (PAP), he is also known as an authoritarian leader and able to maintain power
seven consecutive periods (1963, 1968, 1972., 1976, 1980, 1984, and 1988). When
separated from Malaysia, Singapore is a small country which is the economic
condition is same with Chile, Argentina, and Mexico. But now in development,
per capita income of Singapore has five times as many of these countries.
Although the
circumstances of deprivation state at the time, Lee Kuan Yew remains optimistic
to build his country. According to Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore's success key to becoming the developed countries is due to the
determination and hard work of its people. Lee Kuan Yew led the country is like
leading a company, which requires determination, hard work, and high
discipline. So do not be surprised if he implements authoritarian governments
to achieve country objectives.
The first thing done by
the Singapore government is closing the channels of Democracy, because Democracy
is considered a constraint to development. Moreover, the multi-ethnic
composition of the country, it is feared will bring social conflicts. Because of
that the Singapore government is centralized in order to achieve efficiency and
also establishes rules hard and firm. For example, the rules to suppress
opposition and restrictions on people's right to argue for. Penalties will
always be obtained if there are people who oppose government policies.
Application of the authoritarian system was successful to bring order in the
country of Singapore, implement an open market economy, and corruption-free
governance.
Why people of Singapore
stick with authoritarianism that is applied by Singapore government? Why the
people not fight? We can see, for example, in Indonesia in May 1998 event took
the form of massive demonstrations that eventually able to overthrow the
authoritarian New Order and led to the era of Reformation. It happened because of
what has been done by the Singapore government solely for the promotion and
welfare of the people of Singapore itself, despite having the antidemocratic
and authoritarian way. With the government's authoritarian government of
Singapore has been proven to build his country become a developed country and
welfare of the people. Thus, there is no reason for people not to support the
government of Singapore. Democracy is considered feasible to run on a country
with the economic and political is stable and the conditions of its citizens
who are already educated. Aware of the importance of knowledge as a determinant
of future success , then education is become one focus of government
development in Singapore . Implementation of any educational system oriented to
the interests and talents of students so as to develop the potential of their
students. Although Singapore is a developed country that on the
average people are already capable of, the government does not necessarily
generalize all the cost of education, but still provide relief for citizens who
are not able by giving a scholarships. School fees there are basically pretty
cheap, just needed a little extra cost for its supporting facilities such as
books, or transportation.
From the article above,
it can be seen that there are two views that have been broken by Lee Kuan Yew ,
that is the longer in power the more corrupt , and a dictator will not be able
to improve the life of people. All this time the image of a dictator is in
power for the sake of personal and group alone , which tends to corrupt ,and
the people suffer for it . But Lee Kuan Yew managed to prove that a country can
go forward and prosper even without democracy and authoritarian rule. Once the
Singapore becomes developed , Lee Kuan Yew as leader is not necessarily forget himself.
He remains as a figure that is humble , clean , honest and free of corruption .
He was willing to cut his own salary and raise the salaries of other officials.
Singapore key of
success essentially is determination and hard work of the people. in the middle
of all the limitations that exist, they have a lot of discipline and a passion to
advance their country for achieving welfare and prosperity.
Indonesia should learn
from countries such as Singapore, Indonesia has a wide area, both land and sea.
Indonesia has abundant natural resources greatly, such as marine products,
forest products, mining, agriculture, and so forth. Indonesia is also a country
with the fourth largest population in the world which means it has a lot of manpower
to build Indonesia into a country that is superior to any other countries.
I think Indonesia will
become a strong nation depends on the leaders and the spirit of nationalism to
build a nation.
I Hope So :)
By
Alvin Ernesto/1701350380
Reference :
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