The world is decidedly less keen on globalization. Instead of having the abundant labour that drove a boom in the 1970s and 1980s, Singapore faces headcount shortages and an electorate with reservations about embracing immigration too warmly. US-China tensions are far more consequential for Asia than the US-Soviet rivalry that dominated much of LKY’s era. Rates of economic growth in Singapore are no longer stratospheric; they are more akin to advanced economies. And China, the region’s big growth engine, has stumbled.
How much talk about reinvention does one of the world’s most successful, if tiny, economies have to listen to? Quite a bit, judging by a high-powered conference in Singapore this week.
Convened to mark the centenary of founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew’s birth and canvas ideas for at least part of the next 100 years, the Reinventing Destiny gathering was a mix of back-patting and must-do-better. Amid generous helpings of quotes from, and anecdotes about, the city-state’s towering historical figure was a sobering message: As arduous as Singapore’s first six decades as a republic have been, the next 60 years are replete with huge challenges. Some of them are very different, but no less existential, than those faced by Lee.
