I’ve noticed in the weeks since our return from Asia that Singapore gets a lot of exposure in the U.S. press, particularly The Wall Street Journal.  Why is that, I’ve been wondering?  Singapore certainly has grown in economic clout but the country is the size of St. Louis for Pete’s sake. It’s too small to ever become a world power, politically or millitarily speaking.

But there’s so much that’s right about Singapore.  They plan for the long term. They’re investing in infrastructure, they’re working to diversify their economy, and they’ve accomplished a 100% literacy rate. You can see the intersection of economic, social and political systems everywhere you look.  It’s clear they’ve got a master plan in which each leg of the stool is critical in and of itself, and also critical as part of the bigger picture.

Not only do they tolerate their multi-cultural identity, they protect and celebrate it. The quality of life in Singapore is remarkable: it’s free from crime and drugs, it’s clean and beautiful, unemployment is low, and there are plenty of sporting and cultural events to enrich peoples’ lives. Everything they’ve done makes Singapore an attractive place to live and do business.

Sure, there are trade-offs. The price of this life includes fewer individual freedoms, more rules and restrictions, and a press corp controlled by the government. But the Singaporeans we talked to (both native and ex pat) seem happy enough with that bargain.

Perhaps the stories about illegal gum chewing and caning live so large in our imaginations because they’re the only chinks in the armor we can find?

According to our host at DuPont in Singapore, (Peter, an expat from Australia who’s in charge of their Asia-Pacific marketing and business development), everyone doing business in China grapples with intellectual property protection.  Sometimes DuPont will find counterfeits of its products that are still in their development pipeline!

Think of it:  the counterfeiters are so sophisticated they can duplicate products that haven’t even launched yet.  Sometimes the packaging mimics the real thing but the product itself is way off.  And sometimes the packaging is wrong but chemically speaking, the product is a very close match.  That seems to offer some clues about who leaked what.

He also said China still has a unique value proposition for western businesses, but it’s “yesterday’s news” in terms of emerging market upside.

Places like Cambodia, Myanmar and Indonesia are where it’s at now.  He’d just returned from Myanmar, where DuPont is looking at building a new plant.  Dr. Berry pointed out that the West is going to need to figure out how to do business in Muslim countries.

We were briefed by several foreign service officers at the US Embassy, including a public affairs guy, the deputy chief and an economics/trade expert.  (Earlier today in the airport Helen showed me a picture of our group on their Facebook page but we’re in Shanghai now and I can’t get onto Facebook to find it!).

According to the deputy chief, Singapore tops nearly every ranking scheme you can think of:  government transparency, lack of government corruption, literacy, education, investment in infrastructure, low crime, home ownership, low infant mortality, millionaires per capita, etc.  He told us he had spent the bulk of his career in Africa, most recently in Uganda, and “Singapore is about as far from Uganda as one can get, in every regard.”

The one exception is freedom of the press, where it ranks 135^th in the world.  But there are examples of improvement, including the fact that The Straights Times (the government run newspaper) actually had profiles of opposition candidates during last year’s elections—a first.

Our group posed a lot of questions about law and order, and specifically the infamous caning of an American back in the early 1990s.  It’s fascinating that a 20-year-old episode still looms so large in our imaginations.  That’s what they call bad PR.  Or maybe it’s very good PR.  I guess it depends on your point of view.

The subject of prostitution came up.  It’s legal in Singapore and highly regulated.  It’s existence poses a significant point of disagreement between the US and Singaporean governments, primarily due to the implications of human trafficking.  I’d be willing to bet most of the prostitutes are imported from poorer nations around Southeast Asia.

At the end of our visit a relatively new foreign service officer gave a pitch on life as a diplomat.  That sure piqued a lot of imaginations! The problem is this:  Singapore is about the best post you can get and even if you’re lucky enough to get it, you’re only there for two years.

Our first “official” visit of the trip was to the central branch of the Singapore National Library, 15 stories of gleaming floor-to-ceiling glass windows overlooking the city’s tree canopy and surrounding neighborhoods.

As Dr. Berry said, “This is a testament to Singapore’s investment in it’s intellectual infrastructure.”  With branches all over the country (“A branch within walking distance of every citizen” was their plan), the flagship is big, bright, airy and modern.  It makes a visit to the library quite appealing.

The expansion of the library system over the past decade or so was part of Singapore’s plan to “move up the value chain” to become more of a knowledge-based economy.  We learned that literacy in Singapore is almost 100%.  Imagine that.

The book checkout system uses a great technology that allows you to simply place the books you want to check out (even several books in a stack) on a special reader that picks up the data from a radio chip implanted in each book.  You simply swipe your library card, place the books on the mat, and voila!

They’ve been so successful with the advancement of their library system that now the Singaporeans consult with libraries around the globe.  Said one of the librarians, “It’s our gift to the world.”

A view from the 10th floor of the library

One of the reading rooms

A special reading room with pre-WWII materials