Singapore and Mini Dragon Legacy

Dr John Yam Poh Nam, Ph.D. (University of South Australia), MBA (University of Strathclyde), B. Eng, Electrical (National University of Singapore)
任保南博士 南澳大利亚大学, 斯特拉思克莱德大学, 新加坡国立大学

Let's consider that history in China is re-written as follows:
China in the very early days, after its founding, started to pursue an open door economic policy.
Consider another scenario - it was Chiang Kai-Shek's Nationalist government, with strong USA support, that ruled the mainland China since 1949.
Given each of these two scenarios, will the four mini dragons of Asia still exist?

As some of us may be aware, the four economies prosper due to several unique reasons which include:
i. China was the sleeping dragon during the time when the mini dragons were awakened.
ii. South Korea & Taiwan - with strong financial, economic and defense support from the USA, served as their primary engine of the economic growth.
iii. Hong Kong continues with its open commercial and trade practices that stayed well connected to the rest of the world. This helps to strengthen Hong Kong
as a competitive economy.
iv. Singapore - our neighbours who are not as hardworking, well educated and competent as Singaporeans, give us the chance to outperform them. In other words, Singapore did well because its neighbours are more layback and less competent.
Also, Singaporeans, with a very adaptable and hardworking early immigrants, with culture which is inherited from their ancestors who migrated here in the early days, will still prosper. This is also the case in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines - these immigrants outperformed the locals in many areas, especially economically. In addition, Singapore, just like the other mini dragons who helped in the fight against the expansion of Communism in Asia, benefitted from easy access to the USA export market, the world largest economy.

If not for the above factors, i.e. if Singapore had "Smarter" and more hardworking neighbours and had the economic giant (China) had a much earlier awakening, Singapore would have faced tougher challenges and there would not be any economic legacy for Singapore and the other Asia mini dragons. The political and economic landscape in Singapore and the region today would then be very different.

Some Singaporeans believe that Singapore prospers because of its strong leadership and good governance. The post-war Japanese government has never been a strong one, yet its economy still becomes the world second largest economy today, though it will soon be overtaken by China. Given this, others hold the belief that Singapore could still prosper even if it was ruled differently at that time.

As Singapore continues to evolve politically, hopefully to be one that's more opened, I strongly propose our defense and economic development ministries to be independent of politics, that report directly to the People Elected Executive President.