Singapore at 50 vs. The Bahamas at 42

Wed, Oct 7th 2015, 10:55 AM

Singapore celebrated the 50th anniversary of its independence on August 9. In those 50 years since its separation from Malaysia, Singapore has become the envy of many small island developing states, including The Bahamas. How did Singapore transform from a tiny outpost to a global business hub? And why hasn't The Bahamas accomplished the same?

According to the World Bank Group, Singapore ranks number one in overall ease of doing business 2015, versus The Bahamas' paltry ranking of 97. Starting a business, getting credit, enforcing contracts and protecting minority investors are all comparatively easier in Singapore than in The Bahamas.

Much of Singapore's rise to being a global business center can be attributed to its founding father, Lee Kuan Yew, who was Singapore's first prime minister and served for 31 years. In late March, he died at the age of 91. The Bahamas' Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed its condolences with a statement of longing for what could have been.

"The late prime minister was a contemporary of the late Sir Lynden Pindling, founding father of The Bahamas and was admired by Sir Lynden for his transformation of Singapore into an economic powerhouse. Sir Lynden often said that he wanted The Bahamas to be the Singapore of the Caribbean," said the ministry.

The Bahamas would be well on its way to rivalling Singapore as an "economic powerhouse" if Sir Lynden had executed this desire. Sir Lynden was in a position of leadership for 25 years; he served as the first black premier from 1967 to 1969 and then as the prime minister from 1969 to 1992. With a mere six years difference in leadership tenure, the men were almost equal in power during their respective times in their respective places, with each, in his own way, exerting control over the media to thwart opposition. Yet the end results of their tenures were vastly different.

Lee Kuan Yew established policies to propel his human capital, a mix of fractious ethnicities, Chinese, Malays and Indians, by investing in high-quality education, enforcing the rule of law and easing business taxes. He catapulted his country to the forefront of the 21st century by enticing foreign investment to an otherwise expelled nation with limited natural resources. It worked.

Meanwhile, the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) of 2015 has reverted to some of the old practices of the Pindling era, fanning the flames of xenophobia and faux nationalism. The world has changed and it has not. Rather than propel his human capital, Sir Lynden had by the end of his leadership in 1992 a Bahamas that was in economic and moral decline.

The drug-related corruption that thrived in The Bahamas in the 1980s under the Pindling administration eroded the social core of our society. We still have not recovered. Education was not the priority here that it was and is in Singapore. What do we expect our young people to do when less than 50 percent graduate with a diploma?

Where Singapore sought to encourage foreign investment through a business-friendly environment, The Bahamas continues to seek foreign investment subject to political caveats and tampering along the way. Baha Mar is only the latest example of a development beleaguered with political interference.

Even prior to filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Delaware at the end of June, Sarkis Izmirlian lamented the difficult business climate of The Bahamas. As reported in The Nassau Guardian on April 16, he said: "As Baha Mar has been developed, we have had to do so with less than ideal support and a less than best-in-class business climate, which are critical to The Bahamas' success."

While the government touts its success for foreign direct investment projects in every budget, very few of these projects are actually executed. And the one or two that do move forward with legitimate approvals in place do so only because the investors are too exasperated to quit what has been years in the making. Where is the PGA resort in Cat Island, the I-Group in Mayaguana, the Four Seasons in Eleuthera, Rum Cay?

Perhaps as the author, Kishore Mahbubani, and former Singapore ambassador to the United Nations, explained, Singapore's rise was due to its exceptional leadership. Moreover, his article "Why Singapore is the World's Most Successful Society" in the Huffington Post noted: "This exceptional team also implemented three exceptional policies: Meritocracy, pragmatism and honesty." Well, those polices, or rather any one of those policies, are needed in heavy doses here in these times.

So where will The Bahamas be at age 50? Without a culture of meritocracy, pragmatism and honesty, The Bahamas will not emerge as a forceful competitor to Singapore anytime soon. Until our government can provide a stronger education system, cease crony capitalism and tighten its fiscal belt, The Bahamas will forever envy the prospect of being a global powerhouse.

Click here to read more at The Nassau Guardian

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