Can Singapore Fix Its Schools?

Take the Internet, for example. The Singapore Broadcasting Authority so far is only censoring 100 pornography sites, and no Internet service provider has been prosecuted. But censorship of any kind will be difficult to reconcile with Singapore's ambition to become a regional information-technology hub, providing each citizen with access to an interactive network of education, services, finance and business applications. I pointed out to Lee Kuan Yew that teaching schoolchildren advanced computer skills would allow them to evade controls. How would he address this problem? Lee's hopeful reply: by the time schoolchildren are that skillful, it will no longer matter.

Singapore would also do well to ease the controls on political debate that have marginalized the opposition. For example, an opposition leader was recently arrested when he challenged a law that prohibits speeches in public places without a permit. When I asked Lee about this, he replied that giving speeches on busy street corners can be highly disruptive. When I suggested Singapore designate a place for public speeches similar to Speaker's Corner in London, Lee agreed that such a reform would make sense.

What all this suggests is that Singapore is beginning to "get it." As Nobel laureate Amartya Sen has pointed out, the old debate on "Asian values" was always exaggerated. To the extent that the term refers to strong families and respect for institutions, many Westerners hold the same values. At the same time, as they grow more wealthy and middle-class, many Asians want more democratic freedoms. As Singapore strives to educate and retain the mobile information workers who are key to its future economic success, it may also find itself making broader reforms that transcend the old debate.

Nye is dean of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and coauthor of "Why People Don't Trust Government."

© 1999