SINGAPORE, July 29 — Having a good government is Singapore’s greatest strength but also its greatest vulnerability, because it is a single point of failure, the country’s central bank chief said.

Ravi Menon, managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), was speaking at a lecture on Wednesday (July 28).

"We depend too much on the government to solve our problems.

"For a small young country, good government is critical. We don’t have the ballast that many larger countries with long histories and deep traditions have to survive bad government,” he added.

To face challenges ahead, Singapore must forge various sources of strength across different segments of society, he said. That includes its citizenry, business and philanthropic communities, civil society, academia and the media. 

Menon was giving the last of a four-part lecture series organised by the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS), a think tank under the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. 

The first, where he talked about "hereditary meritocracy” in society, was held early this month.

His views were expressed in his capacity as IPS’ ninth SR Nathan Fellow. The fellowship was launched in late 2012 to advance research on public policy and governance issues.

‘A thousand points of light’

Yaacob Ibrahim, former minister for communications and information who was an audience member, asked Menon what changes he would first like to see in Singapore. 

His reply was that too often in Singapore, initiatives are led by the Government when it is the organisations or the people involved that would understand how best to improve systems or solve a problem.

"There are some initiatives where it’s the private and the public sector together. The Government does 70 per cent of the work, has pretty much decided what it wants, but wants some embellishments and enhancements and the reality check,” Menon added. "I think that model is shifting.”

He cited the example of Singapore’s Private Banking Industry Group, which includes more than a dozen major banks, in coming up with standards to lower the risk of money laundering.

The work was mostly done by private bankers, with MAS taking a back seat and only setting out broad principles for what it wants to achieve.

Earlier in his lecture, he had quoted a term used by former United States president George HW Bush — "a thousand points of light”, referring to the community organisations spread out across the nation.

Singapore, too, must have "a thousand points of light”, but it will take some getting used to this.

The Government, he said, has been trying to be less directive and more directional, but is still "progressively building up these muscles”.

After all, the social compact in Singapore cannot be just between the Government and the people, he said.

Rather, it should be between segments of society, and the Government should merely be one player among them, albeit an important one as an arbiter.

"Many parts of our society are responding constructively. But it does mean more diverse views, more public debate, more messiness, maybe even more confusion before there is consensus or compromise.” 

People must get used to it, because that is a sign of a maturing society and the basis for innovation and a more durable nation, he added.

Asked by an audience member whether he thinks the Government is prepared for this level of public discourse and a less orderly society, Menon said: "It’s a bit unfair to ask the Government, ‘Are you prepared for this?’”

The society is not yet there and the Government is but a microcosm of public views.

"There are parts of the public that value that predictability, of things being structured, the stability and so on. And they are not wrong to value it because it has gotten us so far.”

A society underpinned by values

His comments on nurturing many sources of strength in Singapore was part of a larger point he was making during his lecture, which was themed An Inspiring Nation.

In his first lecture this month, he had spoken about how Singapore’s emphasis on adaptation, meritocracy and pragmatism would come under pressure from major shifts in the global landscape.

His other lectures then delved into the need for more innovation, inclusion and inspiration to secure the country’s future.

To Menon, an inspiring nation is one underpinned by values, of which he proposed five for Singapore: