Beyond guarding the reserves

Dear Mr Tan,
 
I live away from Singapore but have been following recent events especially the Elections and also now the Presidential Elections. I have read your statement and see much to be heartened by it. In particular, I entirely agree that there is a need to recover the sense of public service that has been lost in the kind of 'unbridled' meritocracy that has led to frankly quite obscene ministerial salaries especially when the ordinary working citizen is struggling and trying to cope with the cost of housing and generally the cost of living. 


I go back to Singapore for about two months every year and cannot fail to notice that in the last 5 years in particular even hawker centre food prices have risen very noticeably and on the low income of those at the bottom strata of society this is a real struggle as I gather from the taxi drivers who often hold two jobs to keep their families going. For a country that seems so economically successful it is quite shameful that the elderly, the less fortunate and the socially-burdened should have to live the way they do.
 
I know that you have been active in championing the cause of ordinary people (like those who have lost money in the recent financial scandal) and it certainly appears as if you genuinely do care for the people. I share your principles of honesty and integrity and public service (indeed i think the idea of a 'vocation' or 'calling' is not amiss when thinking about being an MP or being the president of a country; they are 'elected' to REPRESENT the people.
 
In this regard I would urge you to consider carefully what the 'reserves' of the country is really all about. Whilst I do not disagree about the need to very conservatively 'guard' these reserves I also think that a small proportion of it should be deployed to enhance the wellbeing of the most needy in society and especially the elderly. After all, was it not they who with their thrift, sacrifice and hard work in the 60s, 70s,and 80s especially that has made possible the success that Singapore now is? Should society not now repay them in some small measure for their contribution to its success? 


In Britain where I live, people who retire have a small 'state pension' and various allowances (like heating allowance for winter, free healthcare etc.) to help them cope with the cost of living so they can live a modest but dignified life. After all, even those who are not considered 'talent' have still a right to live a dignified and fulfilling life.
 
So, Mr Tan, should you be elected to the role of President, and I wish you well in this endeavour, would you please consider how to not just safeguard our national reserves but also to wisely deploy it to meaningful use. After all, the accumulation of wealth is not a goal in its own right but a means to fulfilling the average Singaporean dream of living a sufficient, meaningful and fulfilling life in an economically vibrant, gracious, self-confident, well-balanced, and caring society. 
 
In closing I would like to share with you a quote which has inspired me all these years since living away from home. It reminds us that being successful alone is not enough.
 ‘The motive of success is not enough. It produces a short-sighted world which destroys the sources of its 
own prosperity…A great society is a society in which its men of business think greatly about its function. Low thoughts mean low behaviour, and after a brief orgy of exploitation, low behaviour means a descending standard of life’  (Alfred North Whitehead, Adventures of Ideas,1933)

  

Very best regards

Robert Chia

Professor Robert Chia, PhD FRSA

Professor of Management

Strathclyde Business School

University of Strathclyde

SCOTLAND