Introduction
On March 23, 2015 died Lee Kuan Yew, called the "founding father" of modern Singapore; who came to power in 1959 and made this small territory into a giant in terms of economic performance and development. For many it was a visionary and a leader with an iron hand, for others an authoritarian ruler. For all is undeniable his driving ability and the results achieved in this country. The development of a country is the holy grail of the rulers and the people, for this you need against previous basic elements without which this condition is crazy or an inordinate desire.
On March 23, 2015 died Lee Kuan Yew, called the "founding father" of modern Singapore; who came to power in 1959 and made this small territory into a giant in terms of economic performance and development. For many it was a visionary and a leader with an iron hand, for others an authoritarian ruler. For all is undeniable his driving ability and the results achieved in this country. The development of a country is the holy grail of the rulers and the people, for this you need against previous basic elements without which this condition is crazy or an inordinate desire.
Governments must be leaders with a
vision of greatness that moves to its personal conduct and government, with an oriented
people sharing his vision of grandeur and that makes commitments and is aligned
firmly and consistently with the major objectives. In short, the leader and the
people governed should share a national ethos of greatness, development, work and
cooperation.
Economic growth through is get by optimal and planned exploitation of natural resources and historical riches that the country possesses. Natural resources are the seas, farmland, mines, forests, oil and gas fields, nature reserves, historic and cultural riches are the historic centers surviving peoples in the past built their civilizations.
Training, development and use of the
full capabilities of the country's population; so it will be possible wisely
and efficiently utilize available resources, to achieve economic growth that
will provide support to development.Economic growth through is get by optimal and planned exploitation of natural resources and historical riches that the country possesses. Natural resources are the seas, farmland, mines, forests, oil and gas fields, nature reserves, historic and cultural riches are the historic centers surviving peoples in the past built their civilizations.
In exceptional cases where the natural
and historical riches are not present, but the ethos of greatness overcomes
this limitation with the vast array of creative ability of its people to create
wealth and achieve tangible and intangible, which supports the growth and thus
development. These people are destined for development and a prosperous future
for its people. The most notorious case is that of Singapore, perhaps the only
one in the modern age or older.
There are numerous cases where there exists the wealth without but at the same time
is absent the ability to use it, imagination or potential hidden in them. They
are backward countries, whose fate is uncertain.
An aircraft carrier is a ship with
immense proportions in every sense: the mass of the vessel, the fuel that
allows scrolling, the crew, the complexity of relations between the crew and
the leaders, the need for a path and purpose. The presence of a boss who also
fully understands the characteristics of their ship, its crew, opportunities
and threats in the environment, the strengths and weaknesses of your ship and
people efficiently and effectively exercise its role of leader is needed.
Weakness or lack of attributes determine the failure of the mission; return
home without achieving goals or simply destruction. In a sense, running a large
aircraft carrier is like running a country. (US Navy Truman)
The
unique situation of Singapore
The amazement for Singapore situation
leads to ask why they achieved this level of development? What resources or factors have succeeded? How
do they do it?
The answer is simple and is geared directly to the leadership of the country, if we understand that a country is like a ship. This well-built ship has an orderly, disciplined crew, aware of their roles, which strictly follows the rules imposed by a captain or guide. These rules are not arbitrary because reflect the need to reach a goal, achieve neither personal nor useful for the captain only, social, collective destiny.
The guide has certainly charisma and credibility, has a right and proper
dealings with the population, acts consistently fulfilling himself the rules
that are validated for the crew, knows the course, knows the dangers that arise
when they deviate from the route, and most importantly, knows the destination
and reason are directed toward it.The answer is simple and is geared directly to the leadership of the country, if we understand that a country is like a ship. This well-built ship has an orderly, disciplined crew, aware of their roles, which strictly follows the rules imposed by a captain or guide. These rules are not arbitrary because reflect the need to reach a goal, achieve neither personal nor useful for the captain only, social, collective destiny.
Singapore is like an aircraft
carrier, well built, well managed, with a highly trained crew who know their
role, their place in the group, which relies on its leader, who knows his
destination. The great captain of that ship called Singapore was Lee Kuan Yew,
who not only created and designed this ship, but clearly defined destination
and the route to follow.
There are attributes of visionary
recognized by many and character of authoritarian by other, the following
article demonstrates that the vision and authoritarianism, which really correspond
to the firmness and consistency in government affairs, are not opposites, on
the contrary both are necessary and functional whenever the ethos of national
greatness is present.
In Figure 1 it shows that the vision and authoritarianism are complementary when
vision is of grandeur (visionary leader, authoritarian); when there is no
vision but authoritarianism, the results are not expected in terms of growth or development.
At the bottom it is observed that countries
with different degrees of authoritarianism but lacking a vision do not achieve
the desired development. Economic growth may be present, although it is clear
that only the sale of goods and services does not improve the conditions of a
society.
In Figure 3 we can see which are the
principles, standards, compliance with laws which also explains the results of
a vision and a strong government; these principles go beyond the person or
leader who was eventually in charge of the country. In undeveloped countries,
the principles at the level of individuals or institutions are absent, are only
lyrical pronouncements, but not moral boosters right actions.
Warlords, leaders of revolts, each
other's happened and you never know where they're going. Government actions are
not guided by principles but by dogmas, beliefs created and imposed by the
misleaders. They think they are predestined, sent from heaven, rebuilders of
the country, saviors of the people and much more.
This situation guides the imagination
to pirate ship where the greed for loot continuously generates riots, everyone
wants to own fortune, and we continually walk to drift or changing course. A
favorable wind can drive the pirate ship apparently the desired port,
regardless of who is the captain; when there is no wind the ship just becomes
uncontrolled and uncertain.
For several years, Lee Kuan Yew was
no longer head of government but their successors maintain their vision and the
course of his ship. Just in case a madman, schizophrenic or addicted to
hallucinogens holds the office of head of state in Singapore, the ship will
crash and inevitable will sink.
The graph 4 confirms the association between leadership, monitoring principles, vision, firmness of the government and hence people development
Some images of Singapore show that
modernity and development are visible in the order, cleanliness, care of the
environment, in the skyline.
By contrast, in countries below the
line of developing the disorder, the apparent modernity, poverty and
hopelessness are the constants in life. These countries have vast natural
resources, huge potential historic resources, but a lack of vision and strong
rule, political stability, a shared vision that transcends the ruler or
government groups in power, hinder progress safely and securely. Their
destination is the failure (the ship sinks, crashing against the rocks or
remains adrift)
As a final thought, it can be argued
that there are no excuses for avoid the effort to get the development of a
country. The attribution of responsibilities to others is one sign of
incompetence from seudo leaders, are excuses to justify their predatory acts
against their peoples. Anyone cannot be guiding an enormous aircraft carrier;
anyone cannot be ruler of a country unless the elected destination was failure,
misery, moral and spiritual degradation.
The stark reality of Caracas and
other Venezuelan, cities or any other country rich in resources, but poor
ethos.
Image from Peru. This scene is more
common than is supposed, may be the principal or any inner city.