For its leaders, all this is vexing. Singapore did more than most in Asia to diversify the economy and reduce its vulnerability to slowdowns.
Having learned its lesson in the last recession — the 2001-02 dotcom bust, which bit into Singapore’s crucial electronics exports — the government launched a program to expand into new manufacturing sectors and beef up service industries. The results were surprisingly successful. Reliance on electronics was reduced with new exports of chemicals and pharmaceuticals, while the island became Asia’s leader in private banking. Yet these efforts have meant little in the face of the current downturn. “When the whole market has stopped for everything, it doesn’t matter if you’re diversified,” says Ajay Chhibber, director of the Asia bureau at the U.N. Development Programme in New York.

Source: Time

We are reiterating what we said earlier. There are some of us who know what we are doing. Singapore government should trust us and release resources to some of us to build up local capabilities.

Comments

We help ourselves. Don’t expect others to help

Tom Wright painted a bleak picture of Singapore’s property sector going forward at The Wall Street Journal. His article ended with the following:
“I’m yet to see the light at the end of the tunnel [for Singapore],” says Mr. Tan, the high-end broker.
We would expect people to continue to dig the dirt and tell it to [...]



Our skin isn’t as thick as it should be

The Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) organised a seminar on March 4 to discuss Singapore’s political blogosphere.  Tan Tarn How, Senior Research Fellow and Research Assistant Tan Simin presented their paper on trends observed in the blogosphere.  As reported in the TOC, the researchers identified the following limitations:

The online-offline firewall, while somewhat alleviated by offline [...]



Singapore and Lee Kuan Yew – The answer to the African problem?

Recently, I followed a thread “Democracy and Economic Growth” which started in PoliticsForum.org.   Apparently, members there often question the role of democracy in a developing nation. “During the wave of democratization in Africa during the 90s, many people had renewed hope for the continent, immediately equating newly established democracies to economic growth. Are these democracies [...]



Tell Singapore government: Ask them a question or give a suggestion

We informed people about the “Tell Singapore Government” subsite and have received some interesting reaction at some forums.
See: 3in1 Kopitiam, Sam’s Alfresco Coffee, Singapore Kopitiam, SgForums
Our responses to some of the comments are listed below. If we are not answering some other specific questions, that is because we do not know how.
 
1. If you want [...]

Petitions

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

I don’t know

Our Singapore

As seen by people

• 
  

• Purpose

To observe, analyse, present our position, and call for action. Read our articles, give your views, and learn together with us.