"They decided to invest heavily in improving the quality of their people. They invested heavily in education and training and concentrated on English language and science."
The Libyan Economic Development Board (EDB) have over the last year invited leading world figures to give talks in Libya as part of its strategy of diversifying Libya's revenues away from oil exports, decreasing unemployment and increasing enterprise in the private sector. Dr Mahmoud Gebril, head of Libya's EDB, visited Singapore in September and on the first of October Mr. Philip Yeo former head of the Singapore EDB gave a talk in Tripoli reciprocating that visit.
Along with Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan, Singapore is known as one of the 'Four Asian Tigers'. Its economy depends heavily on exports, refining imported goods, especially in manufacturing.
Manufacturing constituted 26 percent of Singapore's GDP in 2005. The manufacturing industry is diversified into electronics, petroleum refining, chemicals, mechanical engineering and biomedical sciences manufacturing.
Singapore is also a major Asian transportation hub. It is the busiest port in the world in terms of tonnage shipped. It is the world's busiest for transhipment traffic and the world's biggest ship refuelling centre. The transportation industry comprises over 10 percent of its GDP.
Singapore is the world's fourth largest foreign exchange trading centre after London, New York City and Tokyo. It is also a popular travel destination, making tourism one of its largest industries. About 9.7 million tourists visited Singapore in 2006. Singapore is also growing its medical tourism sector.
It is also ranked second on the world investor protection index, second on the world economic freedom index, third on the world business efficiency index, the fifth least corrupt nation in the world and so on and so forth. The list goes on and on.
As Mr. Philip Yeo said, Singapore has no land, no raw material and no locally growing natural source of food. They had to think of something or they would have had nothing to eat, he said.
Singapore definitely had no oil. Hence there was an element of fear and a drive for survival. Singaporeans were not complacent or relaxed, taking for granted what natural resources they had because they had none. They had no safety net, nothing to fall back on like oil.
In short, he said, all Singapore really had is people. That was and is its only natural raw material. In a way, Singapore's limited choices made life a lot less confusing and made the possible solutions simpler. It had to exploit its people better.
So Singaporeans decided to invest heavily in themselves. They decided to invest heavily in improving the quality of their people. They invested heavily in education and training and concentrated on English language and science.
What is interesting to note here is that the presence of oil in Libya can have a negative impact on our psychology, leading to laziness and complacency. The relatively easy to extract oil revenues can be a double-edged sword for a nation's long-term development. We must control the oil and not let it control us.
Mr Yeo's talk was interesting, exciting and impressive, but also partially depressing. It was frightening to see how far Libya is behind and how far we have to go to catch up with the more economically competitive states of the world - states which have created for themselves comparative advantages.
What is fact is that we are lagging far behind. But we must not waste anymore time, otherwise we will lose another generation of people. The time for action has arrived and that time is now. We have to all, as a people and as a nation, unit behind the one national cause of improving our economic standing. We must create our own comparative advantages. Dont tell me we have no advantages to sell or exploit.
Libya is located very near to the continent of Europe, one of the world's richest continents, with so much disposable income. A Europe that is very cold, wet and devoid of sun in winter. Singapore is not.
Singapore has very little landmass 704 sq km. Libya has over 1.7 million sq km. Singapore is crowded and has a population density of 6,300 people per sq km. In fact, it is the second most densely populated independent country in the world after Monaco.
Libya is full of empty spaces with a density of 3.2 people per sq km. Singapore has no Mediterranean coast of clear clean blue seas, with unspoilt and uncrowded beaches. Libya has over 17000 km of Mediterranean coastline. Singapore has no long, hot, cloud-free, summer days. Libya has. Singapore has no Leptis Magna, Sabrata, Cyrene, Ghadames, desert lakes, Acacus Mountains, sand dunes, Rock paintings etc etc
I think you get my point. Most countries of the world have variations and these variations can be used as an advantage. Singapore did not stop because it had no land. It thought outside the box and reclaimed land from the sea. It had no raw material or natural resources, so it imported them, added value to them and re-exported them at a premium.
Singapore also had people, and it decided to invest in its people. This became in reality its most important raw material and asset. It decided to spend heavily on training and education. Libya has a raw material. We have some natural advantages, but it is just a matter of getting our selves in the right state of mind thinking outside the box - so that we can exploit these advantages. We must impose our control over these advantages and not let them control us by enslaving us.
Oil is a finite and not an unlimited resource. One day it will either dry up or a substitute or alternative maybe found. We must be thankful to Allah for giving us oil and the chances and opportunities that we can purchase with the income from this oil. We must, however, wake up and grab this chance with both hands for it may never be repeated again. We must change our way of thinking. We must start to think innovatively - as the Singaporeans did - and use this chance to build a sustainable future for our people.
About the Author
The writer has Ba in Politics Economics & Law University of Buckingham, England; Msc in International Politics University of Southampton, England;
Graduate of the GPC /NES/Monitor Group - Leadership Development Programme |
