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August 18, 2005
It's stupid to be afraid
This is what you expect from Lee Kuan Yew and this is a great interview with the German magazine Der Spiegel about his view world of the world and what is going to happen in the next few years of decade, with the rise of China and India.
I am providing an excerpt of the main part only (so it is long), but the rest is worthwhile a read as well.
All in all, the "old man" did it again - a great pointer for the rest of us!
"SPIEGEL: But how afraid should the West be?Mr. Lee: It's stupid to be afraid. It's going to happen. I console myself this way. Suppose, China had never gone communist in 1949, suppose the Nationalist government had worked with the Americans -- China would be the great power in Asia -- not Japan, not Korea, not Hong Kong, not Singapore. Because China isolated itself, development took place on the periphery of Asia first.
SPIEGEL: Such a consolation won't be enough for the future.
Mr. Lee: Right. In 50 years I see China, Korea and Japan at the high-tech end of the value chain. Look at the numbers and quality of the engineers and scientists they produce and you know that this is where the R&D will be done. The Chinese have a space programme, they're going to put a man on the Moon and nobody sold them that technology. We have to face that. But you should not be afraid of that. You are leading in many fields which they cannot catch up with for many years, many decades. In pharmaceuticals, I don't see them catching up with the Germans for a long time.
SPIEGEL: That wouldn't feed anybody who works for Opel, would it?
Mr. Lee: A motor car is a commodity -- four wheels, a chassis, a motor. You can have modifications up and down, but it remains a commodity, and the Chinese can do commodities.
SPIEGEL: When you look to Western Europe, do you see a possible collapse of the society because of the overwhelming forces of globalization?
Mr. Lee: No. I see ten bitter years. In the end, the workers, whether they like it or not, will realize, that the cosy European world which they created after the war has come to an end.
SPIEGEL: How so?
Mr. Lee: The social contract that led to workers sitting on the boards of companies and everybody being happy rested on this condition: I work hard, I restore Germany's prosperity, and you, the state, you have to look after me. I'm entitled to go to Baden Baden for spa recuperation one month every year. This old system was gone in the blink of an eye when two to three billion people joined the race -- one billion in China, one billion in India and over half-a-billion in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.
SPIEGEL: The question is: How do you answer that challenge?
Mr. Lee: Chancellor Kohl tried to do it. He did it halfway then he had to pause. Schroeder tried to do it, now he's in a jam and has called an election. Merkel will go in and push, then she will get hammered before she can finish the job, but each time, they will push the restructuring a bit forward.
SPIEGEL: You think it's too slow?
Mr. Lee: It is painful because it is so slow. If your workers were rational they would say, yes, this is going to happen anyway, let's do the necessary things in one go. Instead of one month at the spa, take one week at the spa, work harder and longer for the same pay, compete with the East Europeans, invent in new technology, put more money into your R&D, keep ahead of the Chinese and the Indians.
SPIEGEL: You have seen yourself how hard it is to implement such strategies.
Mr. Lee: I faced this problem myself. Every year, our unions and the Labour Department subsidize trips to China and India. We tell the participants: Don't just look at the Great Wall but go to the factories and ask, "What are you paid?" What hours do you work?" And they come back shell-shocked. The Chinese had perestroika first, then glasnost. That's where the Russians made their mistake."
Posted by Andreas at August 18, 2005 06:10 PM
Comments
Workers will be demotivated. Staff turnover will be high. Service in the government sector will be worse than their already inefficient state. We have to adopt a different management method (our own Malaysian style of managing people) and cannot simply adopt other country's.
Posted by: S-Kay at August 19, 2005 01:36 PM
wow!
Posted by: belacan at August 19, 2005 12:25 PM
Makes me think of the Editorial in the NST, malaysia today. All govt servants are exhorted to change their mindsets, forget breakfast break, morning tea time break, afternoon teatime break, cosmetic break just before clocking off, etc. Are you surprised that we need more than a million civil servants to do the job in Malaysia, when 200,000 will suffice?
Posted by: susmaryosep at August 19, 2005 11:47 AM
Sometimes, being too competitive can either keep your company alive or can kill it.
Not everyone will understand how competitive the world has become especially the workers. In the west, you think people won't riot if you force them to work overtime and not being paid enough?
In the east, you won't face as many problems especially in China because people are used to working hard, no questions asked.
However, with asia rising in business development, it'll soon come to a point where asia will indeed be the money making point in the globe BUT not for long.
Posted by: S-Kay at August 18, 2005 07:06 PM
Wow, that was very insightful. Very very informative. Makes me think, how important it is to be competitive ;)
Posted by: BawangMerah at August 18, 2005 06:45 PM