Lee would see Thailand as a lost cause
Re: “Singapore: why it’s done well”, Letters, December 13.
Somsak Pola wonders whether Lee Kuan Yew would succeed in bringing prosperity to Thailand if he were its leader instead of Singapore’s. Gathering from Lee’s response to a somewhat similar question on Pakistan and India, his answer regarding Thailand would likely be a resounding “no”. Asked about Pakistan, with its budget allocation of 40 per cent to defence and 20 per cent to education, he saw no way he might bring about prosperity. He said he would be optimistic if the figures were reversed.
On India, with its 320 languages and dialects, he could not see how any individual leader could succeed unless the whole country was like Bombay (Mumbai). Singapore has one official language (English) serving as a unifying force in a multi-racial society.
To achieve success, Lee categorically stated that a country needs integrity (an absence of corruption), a meritocracy (the best person for the given job) and a “level playing field for everybody”. Since Thailand has none of these ingredients, he would not expect Thailand ever to match Singapore in prosperity. Prasan Stianrapapongs’ letter of December 14, “Singapore versus Thailand: two more points”, revealed two incidents of the poor quality of Thai governance and management. The system will require many years to correct.
Songdej Praditsmanont
