Governance through leadership, participation

Everyday we read about delegations, both official and ministerial, visiting Singapore on educational tours and promising fast-track clearances so that Singaporeans can make Visakhapatnam into another Singapore. Perhaps it may be useful to pause and reflect on the Singapore story and how it came about.
Ninety-one-year-old Lee Kuan Yew commands huge respect, even today, as the architect of modern Singapore.When he took over in 1959 as PM, Singapore's annual per capita income was $400; it is now estimated at $60,000.
How did this man manage to transform a malarial island with almost no natural resources, no common culture and a fractured relationship between the population of Chinese, Malays and Indians to create a modern financial centre with one of the world's highest per capita incomes, high quality schools, healthcare, public services and the world's very first skyline?
He himself admits, in an interview to the New York Times, that Singapore's meteoric rise surprised him as much as it has baffled others, for it had truly seemed to him to be an improbable story. It began, he said, with a powerful realisation that there was no earthly reason as to why Singapore should continue to exist when it had nothing. That challenge triggered a journey. The rest is history.
During a visit to Singapore some years ago, I had the occasion to spend an entire day listening to my taxi driver Abdul. Those familiar with Singapore would know that their taxi drivers are highly talkative, well-read, usually doing a second job for additional income, and fiercely loyal to Singapore. Abdul was in his mid-fifties and worked in a restaurant in the evenings as the chief steward. He had a passion for cooking and said he had always wanted to own a restaurant, but after many failed attempts, he said with a hearty laugh, he decided his wife was right that he was better at supervising than managing the day-to-day functioning of a restaurant.
He put in 16-18 hours of work everyday and so did his wife, who was a nurse at a private nursing home and also worked in a childcare centre. When I asked him what the one single thing was that he would like to do, he replied, without batting an eye-lid, "Take a cruise to Alaska with my family." I stared at him wondering if a time would ever come when a driver from India or even a middle class person could ever harbour such dreams.
Abdul shared many stories and anecdotes about himself and life in Singapore. One thing he said stayed with me, "Singaporeans welcome visitors. We survive because of you. You come, stay in a hotel, eat in restaurants, use public transport, take taxis, shop, spend money. We want you to come back because we need you to spend in Singapore."
In trying to explain how Lee created Singapore, someone used the term 'vision horizon', which refers to a leader gifted with the ability to look deep into the future. Lee believed that if Singapore had to rise it would need to focus on the quality of its manpower. He described it as the single-most important attribute any nation has: innovation, entrepreneurship and teamwork, coupled with work ethic. Without this, he said, a nation lacks the sharp keen edge in competitiveness.
This is worth recalling because Singapore is not merely technology and clean streets. Singapore is a way of thinking that cannot be imported or bought off the shelf. It has to be inculcated and requires a visionary leader - a 'vision horizon' - to understand this and to create it in her people. Unless the people fully appreciate and participate in the process, the Vizag of tomorrow will be old wine (that has turned to vinegar) and sold in imported bottles. The experiment will fail and at a huge burden to the exchequer.
Today, the lack of pride and belonging is widely apparent. We spit on walls, urinate and defecate in public, have scant disregard for hygiene or cleanliness, disrespect law and think noting of sexually molesting and raping our women and even, children. We are openly corrupt and brazen name-droppers. Power, as someone once told me, can only be exercised when you render someone else powerless. Unless the me-feeling is substituted by the we-ethic, we will remain where we are. Lee described India well: a nation of unfulfilled greatness.
For Singaporeans, how they are perceived is how Singapore is perceived. What they do will create finally the Singapore of their dreams. They belong. The Japanese are no different. Nor are the South Koreans. If Vizag or India wishes to be different, we must first learn to think different. Only then will we become different. It requires leadership that inculcates participation from its people. Without it, history would repeat itself: first, as tragedy and then, as a farce.
(The writer is a former Indian diplomat residing in Vizag. He may be reached at amit.dasgupta2013@ yahoo.com)