Growth Of Nations

SINGAPORE’S INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT

Labor-Intensive Industries (1960s – Late 1970s)

Open to Multinational Companies
- Welcoming of investment and setting up of companies by MNCs

Incentives to Attract Foreign Investors
- Economic Development Board (EDB) visited 2000 companies overseas
- Cheap labor
- Pioneer Certificates were offered toe industries that manufactured new products not previously made in Singapore, or not produced in sufficient quantities
- Exemption from the standard 40% tax for 5 years or more
- Training subsidies and duty-free imports
- Government stability

Industrial Peace
- Labor law passed in 1968 to maintain industrial peace

Labor Costs and Working Conditions
- National Trade Union Congress (NTUC) formed as a federation of trade unions
- Its role being to improve the working conditions of workers and to promote good working relationship between the workers and employers
- Provision of training opportunities for skill-upgrading
- Labor law increased working hours and reduced public holidays
- Labor cost was cut down by reducing worker benefits
- National Wage Council made recommendations on wage

Technical Education and Skills Training
- Training institutes were established, often with the help of other developed countries
- Technical education was introduced in schools

Location of Industries
- Careful urban planning to fully utilize limited land space

Transport and Communication
- Transportation network improved
- Singapore became a major telecommunications center

Banking and Financial Services
- Development Bank of Singapore set up
- Foreign banks set up branches in Singapore

Industrial Restructing (Late 1970s – 1980s)

Serious Labor Shortage
- Small labor pool
- Foreigners were allowed to work in Singapore, mostly in unskilled sectors

Competition from Other Countries
- Many developing countries are also industrializing
- Other countries had a large population and hence labor cost is kept even lower
- Singapore’s productivity was lower than Taiwan and Hong Kong

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Higher Wages
- Mechanization, automate, computerize as a result of higher wages

Productivity Campaigns
- Advertisements and commercials

Change of focus in Education and Skills Training
- New industrial training institutes were jointly set up by the government
- Engineering intake was increased

Increased Emphasis on Research and Development
- Establishment of Singapore Science Park
- Tax incentives are given to manufacturing firms involved in Research and Development
- Funds provided to local companies for R&D

New and Better Industrial Facilities
- Wafer fabrication parks in various places
- Upgrading of buildings and infrastructure in older industrial estates
- JTC building of special industrial buildings and facilities

Better Support Services
- Changi Airport
- MRT
- Telecommunication links of Singapore upgraded annually
- Other support services (banking, advertising)

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EDUCATION IN SINGAPORE

Meeting the Needs of a Young Nation

Providing a place for every child
- more schools were built

Building national loyalty
- daily flag-raising
- pledge-taking ceremony

Fostering social cohesion
- textbooks loaned to needy pupils
- common examination
- integrated school system
- bilingualism was made compulsory
- emphasis on the importance of uniformed groups
- extra-curricular activities

Preparing for economic development
- moving away from entrepot trade to manufacturing
- introduction of technical education
- Singapore Polytechnic and Ngee Ann Technical College expansion
- Engineering courses were introduced

Improving the Quality of Education

Streaming
- to prevent education wastage
- gifted education program

Teaching moral values
- moral education program introduced
- religious knowledge removed from syllabus
- emphasis on shared values

Encouraging creativity
- schools were given more autonomy
- double-session schools were converted to single-session
- establishment of independent schools
- establishment of autonomous schools

Preparing for the Challenges of the 21st Century

Promoting Critical and Creative Thinking
- Project work

Using Information Technology
- In teaching and learning

Introducing National Education
- Maintenance of social cohesion
- Introduction of Community Involvement Programs

Developing Talents
- Special elective programs in secondary schools and junior colleges

Compulsory Primary Education
- With effect from 2003

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EDUCATION IN SWITZERLAND

Vocational Training
- A choice between attending university or attending vocational training schools
- Apprenticeship
- Continued Education at university level

School culture that reflects social values
- Students participate in decision making

Bilingual policy
- German and a minority language
- To promote understanding among different language groups

Social Education
- Cultural education to inculcate a sense of loyalty to country
- Community Service

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HEALTH CARE SERVICES IN SINGAPORE

Issues in Health Care Services

Self-reliance
- Medisave and Medishield schemes

Medical care for the Lower-Income Group
- Class C wards
- Medifund Scheme

Medical care for Senior Citizens
- many helping hands approach (community hospitals, nursing homes, day care centers)
- provision of grants to voluntary welfare organization
- MOH’s disease prevention and health education programs

Healthy Lifestyle
- National Healthy Lifestyle Campaign
- ACES day
- Health exhibitions and advertisements

THE WELFARE STATE OF BRITAIN

Means of Achieving the Welfare State

Nationalization of Utilities and Industries
- Taking over of the management of public utilities by the British government
- Running of these industries to ensure affordable service and population welfare

Provision of Social Welfare
- Payment of welfare benefits to poor citizens to help meet daily expenses

Provision of Health and Medical Care
- National Health Service to provide free medical etc. treatments
- Money for the services to be provided by taxes and worker insurance payments

Problems of the Welfare State

Low Efficiency
- Profit making was not a consideration for workers in government-owned companies
- Companies operated at a loss
- Large amounts of money from the government had to be channeled to prevent bankruptcy
- Inadequate numbers of health workers to provide for the large numbers of patients
- Well-off patients chose the private wards
- Poor people had to wait for a long time for wards under the NHS due to the large demand for non-urgent treatments

Increase in Government Spending
- Doctors freely used medical treatment with no consideration for costs
- Large numbers of patients demanding free medical care

The ‘Why Work’ Attitude
- Indifferent attitude towards works and personal responsibility
- Little or no motivation for the poor to work

Businesses Driven Away
- Heavy taxes resulting in low motivation to invest in the country

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SINGAPORE’S POPULATION GROWTH

Problems of Rapid Population Growth
- Insufficient housing
- Shortage of health care
- Shortage of education services

Policies to Reduce Population Growth
- Encouraging the use of contraceptives
- Legalizing abortion
- Singapore Family Planning
- Incentives and measurements

Reasons for Slow Population Growth
- Parents being reluctant to have many children
- Satisfaction of a career
- Education
- Marrying at a later age
- High cost of living

Problems of Slow Population Growth
- Hindering of Singapore’s development
- Shortage of manpower
- Strain on economically active population due to high taxes
- Less people available to defend the country
- Aging population

Policies to Increase Population Growth
- Promoting larger families by providing incentives and the likes
- Attracting foreign talent

Senior Citizens as Assets to Society
- Mentors
- Helping out in welfare organizations
- Advisers for companies
- Providing care for grandchildren
- Back to Work Programs
- Retirement extension
- Growth of industry catered to the senior citizens

Impact of Aging Population
- High demand for health care and social services
- High demand for special facilities
- Strain on working people due to high taxes

Preparing for an Aging Population
- ‘Many helping hands’ approach (community, individual, family)
- Individual Responsibility
- Family Care
- Community Help
- Government Support

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PUBLIC HOUSING IN SINGAPORE

Solving the housing crisis
- five-year plans
- resettlement

Maximizing land use
- high-density apartment blocks

Building self-contained towns
- to prevent traffic congestion at the CBD

Encouraging home ownership
- to inculcate a sense of pride and belonging
- financial security
- motivation to work hard
- peace

Promoting social cohesion
- bringing the different races together
- meeting the needs of the different income groups
- building a sense of belonging in the community

Planning ahead
- meeting the needs of single citizens
- meeting the needs of senior citizens
- renewing older estates

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