Leveraging on tech the way forward for Singapore: PM Lee

SINGAPORE — While the plans set out by the 2017 Budget to realise the ideas put forth by the Committee on the Future Economy (CFE) are not “rocket science”, the key lies in whether Singapore can get everyone pulling in the same direction and achieve its objectives faster than others, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. 

And with the country reaching constraints in terms of physical growth and numbers, leveraging on technology and the Internet is the way to go, Mr Lee said at a closed-door dialogue held on Friday (Feb 24) at an annual technology summit organised by venture capital firm Sequoia Capital India. 

“In terms of ideas, productivity, breakthroughs, the constraint is only what the human mind can come up with, what people can organise and deliver,” he said, based on the transcript released over the weekend by the Prime Minister’s Office.  

During the wide-ranging one-hour dialogue with about 100 innovators and disrupters from around the world, Mr Lee also stressed the need for countries and businesses to adapt to a changing world. 

While change is “always hard to do”, the Government has introduced and managed changes — to varying degrees of success — in several key organisations, industries and government functions, said Mr Lee, who cited the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF), the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the telecommunications industry among other examples. 

Managing change is a problem which every organisation faces, Mr Lee said. “Small wants to grow big, and big wants not to malfunction. We have confronted that kind of problem many times in our 50-plus years running Singapore,” Mr Lee said. 

He recounted the “painful process” of building up the SAF from two battalions to what it is today. There was a dearth of people to even conceive of a system at the beginning, let alone run and grow it.  The Government turned to young people who “in the normal course of events would never have gone into the armed forces”. “We gave them scholarships, sent them to university, made them officers, brought them back into the armed forces,” recounted Mr Lee, who himself was in the first batch of five such officers. There was sceptism in the ranks but gradually, the scholars established themselves and the others saw how the scholars could help them in their work.

“That is one way to change and build an organisation. You put talent in, you merge them with the existing group. Over time, you transform the nature of the outfit,” Mr Lee said.

Another way to do it is from the top, he pointed out. This was done during the Government’s efforts to liberalise its banking industry. While the staff remained, Mr Lee joined the central bank as chairman while Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, who is now Deputy Prime Minister, was hired as a staffer before becoming managing director. “In about 2.5 years, we completely changed our approach in terms of what we allowed, in terms of what MAS was responsible for, in terms of the risks we were prepared to take,” said Mr Lee.

Nevertheless, he said there were lessons learnt from the transformation of the telco industry, which the Government did not get it right at the first try.  

While the industry has grown after it was privatised, the process was not conducted “as thoughtfully as we should have done, because we had no experience”, Mr Lee said. 

There had not been enough consideration of the industry structure. As a result, the Government ended up with a deal which was “very satisfactory” from the companies’ perspective. “But from the point of view of the country, we should have been bolder”, including removing the monopolies and opening up the markets, he said.  

The Prime Minister reiterated that managing change “is never an easy exercise and there is never a final position”. “But unless you make these changes, you are going to find yourself more and more antediluvian, out of touch and no longer functioning,” he said. “Sometimes you must change because you have made a mistake, and you have got to find some way to acknowledge that, and move forward.”

On the economic front, Mr Lee noted that the global economy and industries are going through a challenging time. As a country, Singapore is not spared either, he noted, as it seeks to “find an economic strategy”.

Mr Lee reiterated his concerns about the rise of protectionism. Last week, Mr Steve Bannon, who is the chief strategist for American President Donald Trump, said “economic nationalism” was one of the Trump administration’s priorities.

Citing Mr Bannon’s comments, Mr Lee said: “It is understandable the sentiments which have come to the surface, but it is very worrying… What does it mean, economic nationalism? In a way it is protectionism by a better name. In another way it is an approach to say: I am now no longer going to take a broad view of the benefits of trade. I want to make every deal win.”

He added: “I can understand the motive for that. But when you are a big country and you take that approach, I think you lose on the broad benefits of an open system where everybody is able to trade and do business together.”  

With the demise of the Trans-Pacific Partnership – which Mr Lee described as “a great pity” and setback -  Singapore has to “continue to pursue free trade with the other partners, which we will”, Mr Lee said.

He expressed hope that in time, the mood in America will change. “We will not go back to where we were but I hope we will go on to a more positive path again, one day,” he said.  

Amid the challenging times, the Republic is conducting its “own think exercise”, said Mr Lee, citing the CFE report and the recent Budget statement. “The key is whether or not you can make it happen,” he stressed. “And to make it happen faster than others, execute and bring everybody on board and see that this is the right strategy, which will work and which will benefit everybody.”

WATCH: PM Lee's opening remarks at the Camp Sequoia Dialogue