Its dogged practicality was not typical of the 20th century. At one extreme were totalitarianstates, both communist and fascist, that pursued ideology at any — invariably disastrous —cost. At the other were liberal democracies, or “open societies. Somewhere in the middle werekleptocracies and crony capitalist states. Singapore, along with a few other mostly Asian states,pursued a genuinely national project aimed at lifting the living standards of its people.
它那根深蒂固的务实性在20世纪并不具有代表性。20世纪的一个极端是不惜一切代价(这始终是灾难性的)追求意识形态的极权政府——无论是共产主义还是法西斯主义。另一个极端是自由民主体制,或者叫“开放型社会。处于中间路线的是窃国政治和裙带资本主义国家。新加坡与其他一些国家(以亚洲国家为主)则推行一种真正的国家方针大计,目标是提升人民的生活水平。
Professor Kishore Mahbubani, of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, says thatpragmatism — along with meritocracy and honesty — are the keystones of Singapore’stransformation. In the mid-1960s, when its per capita gross domestic product was $500, heremembers a school feeding programme where he drank milk from a pail using a ladle sharedwith other children. Today, GDP per capita is $55,000. “Pragmatism is a dirty word to westernintellectuals, he says, but it can be an ethical principle if it improves people’s lives. At itssimplest, it means learning from others. Singapore’s administrators scoured the world forpractical solutions. They modelled their port on Rotterdam, their army on Israel’s and theirgovernment housing schemes on Europe’s.
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