SINGAPORE: MASTER OF THE STRAITS

There are many things Shakespeare wrote about that I did not understand when I first read it. But later, something I observed in real life made me admire Shakespeare's  remarkably keen eye for human nature. For instance, when he wrote   

Be not afraid of greatness: 

Some are born great (I understood that - Mozart, Ramanujan, Tendulkar) 

Some achieve greatness (I understood that - Gandhi, Nehru, Patel) 

Some have greatness thrust upon them (I did not  understand that)

How can greatness be thrust upon someone? 

Until Rahul Gandhi happened on the national scene, when it became stunningly clear. Once I understood the concept, thanks to Rahulji, I started noticing other examples: Rajiv Gandhi, PV Narasimha Rao, George W Bush, the English football team, Bangalore, Singapore.    

While Singapore is a stunning success, there is no escaping the fact that greatness was thrust upon Singapore. In  1963, a group of states in the Malay peninsula became independent from  the British (who else) forming the new nation of Malaysia. Singapore was one of these states. But soon, Singapore separated from Malaysia and formed an independent nation. Some say Singapore chose to leave. Others say Singapore was asked to leave. In any case, Singaporeans had nationhood thrust on them. This was not the original objective of their freedom movement. 

Everyone, including Lee Kuan Yew (the founding father and first Prime Minster of Singapore) said then that Singapore could not succeed by itself since it had no natural resources and a very small domestic market. Even to this day, people say Singapore succeeded despite no natural resources and a very small domestic market. But this is a fallacy. If natural resources means things like farm land, coal or oil, it is true Singapore does not have any. But Singapore is blessed with a natural resource most countries would give anything to have; a natural harbour in the middle of the busiest trading route in the world. A quarter of the world's oil and cargo sails through the Straits of Malacca because it is the most navigable waterway between the manufacturing hubs of China, Japan, Korea, Thailand and the consuming markets of Asia & Europe. If you get on a cruise ship that sails up the Straits you will see oil tankers and cargo ships racing along, up to three lanes on each side of your ship. It is like driving down a packed 6-lane highway. Singapore is like a small commercial property on Marine Drive while most other nations are like large farms in Neem Ka Thana.  

The Straits of Malacca 

Image Source: Wikipedia 

While nationhood was thrust upon Singapore, its genius is in harnessing its natural resource to generate enormous wealth and a good quality of life for most of its citizens. This is in contrast to the story of Malacca. The Straits of Malacca, is named after the city of Malacca in Malaysia. Malacca was a major trading port for several hundred years but lost its lead to Singapore in the 1800's and never recovered. Today, Malacca is a small town, with its economy mainly dependent on tourists who come to see a city whose best days are behind it. While Singapore, is the Master of the Straits, and one of the richest countries in the world on a per capita basis.  

The secret of Singapore's success is that it has built an enormous trade-based economy around the port. Most of the cargo from Asia docks at Singapore where it is unloaded, loaded back onto cargo ships that are headed to different parts of Europe, Asia and America. The ships choose Singapore to dock because the port is extremely efficient, the strong legal system protects both parties involved in trade and there are a whole set of world-class service providers who support trade. To support trade, Singapore developed a financial industry that serves most of Asia.     

Singapore Port 

Which brings me to my point. Countries have prospered by putting to good use what nature has blessed them with. What then is India blessed with? And how can we prosper?

While nature has blessed India in many ways, the most generous blessing is people. Just as Singapore has a quarter of world ship cargo traffic passing by, India a fifth of of the world's population. 

How best can India harness this natural resource?