Singapore: The development of an intelligent island and social dividends of information technology

Abstract

The paper traces the development of Singapore as an 'intelligent' island through an identification of the various social policy arrangements which have harnessed new information technology modes in their delivery. At home, at work, on the road, in public service and in the court room, the emergence of new IT arrangements is a matter of act in Sinaporean lives.

Headnote

Summary. The paper traces the development of Singapore as an 'intelligent' island through an identification of the various social policy arrangements which have harnessed new information technology modes in their delivery. At home, at work, on the road, in public service and in the court room, the emergence of new IT arrangements is a matter of fact in Singaporean lives. Attention is drawn to the 'unencumbered' character of IT policy-making in Singapore, a characteristic which is the outcome of little or no strong political opposition in parliament.

[Paper received in final form, January 2000]

Introduction

"Just a little red dot on the map!" With those words, the former Indonesian President Jusuf Habibie dismissed Singapore in a moment of pique (The Straits Times, 12 February 1999, p. 50). It is understandable coming from an embattled man presiding over 1.9 million square kilometres and referring to a nation occupying just 650 sq. km. Since Habibie's outburst, the `little red dot' label has been bandied about in reference to Singapore, but it is only the latest of many-although not all of them are as pejorative. The tiny little island city-state of Singapore has had regularly to reinvent itself.

Its somewhat murky history suggests that Singapore was actually a small but functioning kingdom at the turn of the first millennium. However, when Sir Stamford Raffles of the British East India Company acquired the island from a Malay princeling in 1819, records show that it was just a fishing village. But Raffles had the vision to develop it as a trading port because of its strategic location at the southern end of the Malacca Straits, a lifeline of commercial and naval significance on the fabled spice route. Singapore did indeed become the Emporium of the East under the British and one of the strongest military bases of the British Empire (for an excellent history of Singapore, see Turnbull, 1989). Bereft of any natural resources, Singapore has always had to live by its wits. Right up to the middle of the 20th century, Singapore's mainstay was entrepot trade and Singapore-based merchants had already acquired an enviable 'savvy' in the middle-- man's role. But a fast-growing population and the aspirations of an emerging independent state could not be sustained on the basis of a middleman's commissions. Singapore attained self-rule in 1959 and full independence in 1965. The new government of Singapore envisioned an industrial island that would be the choice location for the mass production of low-cost goods. This industrialisation strategy led to massive job opportunities for the poorly educated, low-cost labour force that was growing very rapidly due to high birth rates and in-migration. Multinational corporations (MNCs), which were thought to be predatory and exploitative by other emerging economies of that time, were gladly welcomed by the Singapore government. It was an unusual, high-risk gambit, but it paid off handsomely for Singapore. Singapore demonstrated its extraordinary ability to understand the needs of the economic giants and to mobilise its scarce resources to meet those needs. Over 25 years of industrialisation, Singapore's economic management was so spectacular that it earned the epithet `an economic miracle'. From fishing village to emporium of the East to economic miracle (not to mention little red dot), it has not been an easy route of reincarnations for Singapore. It took visionary thinking, high-risk daring, meticulous planning and relentless application. These same characteristics are now at play in envisioning and building Singapore as an intelligent island.

Vision for an Intelligent Island

The genesis of an intelligent island could perhaps be traced to the first national effort to harness the forces of information technology (IT) for the benefit of Singapore. The government-sponsored Committee on National Computerisation produced in 1986 what could be termed the blueprint for IT development in Singapore: the National IT Plan. This plan provided both the strategic framework and the contours of a conducive environment for exploiting IT for national competitive advantage. The starting-point for IT development was, of course, economics and much of the early government effort went along with private-sector initiatives in IT usage and expansion. The general population felt the impact of IT mostly in indirect ways, and only in instances such as the introduction of automated teller machines, cellular phones and Teleview (a data service delivered through television) did they come into contact with these new technologies in a direct way.

However, by the 1990s the impact of IT in Singapore was rapidly spreading to many aspects of ordinary people's lives. Anticipating the phenomenal growth of IT, the National Computer Board, a government agency, released a report called A Vision of An Intelligent Island: IT 2000 Report in April 1992. This report remains a cornerstone of the subsequent developments in IT in Singapore, although the technologies are changing very rapidly. The 1992 report encapsulated the future of IT in these words:

In our vision, some 15 years from now, Singapore, the Intelligent Island, will be among the first countries in the world with an advanced nation-wide information infrastructure. It will interconnect computers in virtually every home, office, school, and factory (National Computer Board, 1992, P. 10).

It is, of course, not such a stupendous task when one considers that Singapore is so small-smaller than many big cities; its residents so few-fewer than in many mediumsized cities; and its economic wealth so rich-richer than most big countries. Thus, what is significant about this IT vision is not its penetration but its purpose. The overwhelming economic imperative of Singapore's national life has led some citizens to question if it really adds to the quality of life or whether it is just one more measure to convert citizens into economic digits. However, the report is careful enough to mention that in addition to "boosting the economic engine" IT developments are also aimed at "enhancing the potential of individuals" and "improving [the] quality of life" of the people (National Computer Board, 1992, pp. 10, 12, 15 and 19). Thus there is evidence that from the very beginning the government has considered both economic and social wellbeing as the raison d'etre for IT development in Singapore.

IT in the Service of Public Life

We shall now look at a few selected examples of how IT has been harnessed to serve the social needs of Singapore.

At School

It is widely believed that IT knowledge and skills will become as basic and as necessary as `the three Rs' for most people who want a good life. Singapore wants to be at the forefront of this movement. The government has instituted several policies to develop IT competence in a comprehensive and systematic way. The Masterplan for IT in Education was launched in 1997 to pave the way for the creation of an IT-based teaching and learning environment in schools (Ministry of Education, press release, 28 April 1999). IT will be available in every school from the very first year of education. By 2002, 30 per cent of the curriculum time will be allocated to computer-based learning. Every school is already connected to the Internet. The difference between them is in the ratio of computers to students: for secondary schools, the present ratio is 5:1 and for primary schools, 7:1. The target by 2002 is to reduce the ratio to 2:1 for all schoolchildren. In addition, every two teachers will be sharing a notebook computer between them. Every teacher and student will have an Internet account for educational purposes. Computers will be used to prepare lessons, mark students' work and communicate with each other. Given the multilingual environment of Singapore, the advances in Chinese and Tamil language-- based computing have now made it possible for communication in all four official languages of Singapore. (The Malay language, one of the four, uses the English script and therefore faces no additional problems.)

In September 1999, the Ministry of Education launched what is called an eduPAD, an electronic device that is somewhere between a personal digital assistant and a notebook computer. As a mobile unit, it facilitates learning `anywhere, anytime' by the students.

These developments are not just providing a new technical facility for education but are fundamentally changing the concept of learning and sharing knowledge. It is loosening the tie between the regular teacher and the regular student. Students are now navigating for knowledge in vast oceans of information and expertise far beyond the capabilities of any single teacher, any single school or even any single nation. Virtual classrooms are now being conducted by connecting teachers and students across national borders thousands of miles apart and bridging enormous cultural divides. IT has literally opened up a borderless world of information and it is so easily accessible to the average student in Singapore. Compared with the 1950s, when even schoolbooks were hard to come by for a large number of Singapore children, this is a quantum leap in just 50 years.

At Home

Most Singaporeans live in high-rise apartments built by the government housing agency, the Housing and Development Board (HDB). All of these HDB apartments now have cable access to a broadband network, facilitating television, telephone and Internet services at high speed and quality. By next year, all private homes too will have similar access. HDB-dwellers pay no extra cost for the connections, while private house-owners pay a variable cost to the cabling company depending on their location and distance from the kerbside. From July 1996, all developers and owners of new condominiums, apartments and bungalows have been directed to ensure that their buildings are cable-ready (www.sba.gov.sg/work/sba).

While there has been some debate about the choice of the connection technologies-- whether it should be satellite, cable or telephone line; what sort of cable and so on-and while there has been some lack of enthusiasm in taking up the offer of the connection (as it is not compulsory), there has been little resistance to the idea of connecting every home to a central digital nervous system controlled by the government and/or the private firms. We shall discuss the process of decision-making later. At this juncture, it is important to note that there seems to be consensus among Singaporeans that IT will be a necessary part of home life sooner or later.

At Work

As mentioned earlier, no new building in Singapore-especially office and public buildings-will be built without the IT facilities demanded by building regulations. Each building will be what is now called an intelligent building. The degree of 'intelligence' may vary between buildings, but none can remain 'idiot' buildings. When communication technologies such as radio, telephone and television were spreading fast, there was no legislative requirement for their installation in offices and homes. Now, the ubiquitous need for IT facilities has made several governments-and certainly the Singapore government-introduce compulsory measures to comply with IT requirements.

Apart from the obvious work-related benefits, IT facilities at the office and home are also paying other dividends. For example, it is now possible for workers to spend more time at home and do office work at home through 'telecommuting'. This could enhance their family relationships and serve family needs. What is more, technology now makes it possible to monitor from the office what is going on at home-for example, closed-circuit cameras at home can deliver pictures of child-caring activities by the babysitter or the domestic help to the office through the Internet. This could lead to a less-anxious mother working longer hours at the office. Schoolchildren are now regularly asking parents at work for help with their homework, thanks to the Internet, which can transmit documents, pictures and sounds. It is almost like sitting next to the child and helping. Through telecommuting, job-sharing has also become less difficult as two or more people hooked up to the office computer could hand over work to one another in a seamless way. There are no reliable statistics on these developments, but anecdotal evidence suggests a growing pattern.

While there are certainly vocal debates about the pros and cons of blurring the lines between office and home, there is a strong case for the judicious use of IT in bridging home and office. In Singapore, more and more offices are exploring such opportunities.

On the Road

In 1998, Singapore introduced the electronic road pricing (ERP) system, believed to be the first of its kind in the world (The Straits Times, 30 August 1998, p. 31). In order to reduce congestion on the roads and also as a disincentive to unnecessary usage of motor vehicles, the government introduced this system to make the motorist `pay as you go'. Every time the vehicle passes the gantry post along the designated roads, the electronic scanner automatically deducts an appropriate fee from a cash card installed in the vehicle. This system has replaced an earlier system that required paper passes to be purchased for each day and displayed and checked manually. That system involved hundreds of traffic wardens to be stationed every day at the entry points to check the display of those passes, not to mention the thousands of motorists who had to make a trip to the kiosk to buy the passes. In one IT stroke, most of the manual operations have been done away with.

In Public Service

Perhaps nowhere is the impact of IT more widely felt in Singapore than in the public service (or civil service as it is better known in this part of the world). The Singapore Civil Service as a whole has embraced IT with alacrity and sustained commitment. As far back as 1981, the government recognised the critical role that IT would play in public service and set up the Civil Service Computerisation Programme (CSCP) under the newly established National Computer Board (NCB). CSCP's basic mission was to make optimal use of IT to provide the most efficient, convenient and cost-effective service to the public. When the civil service was sufficiently computerised, it began to offer more and more services through IT facilities such as the Internet and more and more communication between the public and the government was by electronic means. Although the bulk of the services and communication are still conducted through traditional means, the trend towards IT is clear. By 2001, half the government services are expected to be online (The Straits Times, 11 February 1999, p. 1). It has also been reported that everyone in Singapore will carry an Internet identity card to conduct Internet transactions securely (The Straits Times, 11 February 1999, p. 1). Below are some examples of how such services cut down effort, time and cost and enhance convenience and speed.

Singapore Infomap. Singapore Infomap is the name of a website that features all the government services that are online. It includes E-Citizen, which is a one-stop government web service centre; Government Forms Service, which provides online forms from various government agencies; Government Services Directory, an online list of all government services; and Government Shopfront, through which one could make purchases of various government products such as permits or books. The site also contains links to several other specialised government sites. All of them have greatly reduced waiting time for information, approval time for permits and passes and generally some of the red tape associated with government agencies.

As an example of the extent of services provided through this one site, let us just take a look at the E-Citizen Service Centre. One can register births, seek information on joining many of the educational institutions, register for the compulsory National Service for male citizens, look for a job, look for people to employ and plan for retirement. Not unexpectedly, the site has a sub-title for these services: Life Journey!

National Library. The Singapore National Library has vastly improved its services to the public through a whole host of IT applications. Its English books catalogue is now completely online and can be accessed anytime, anywhere, at no cost. (The Chinese, Malay and Tamil language catalogues will be online shortly.) Books can be reserved, borrowed or delivered without the user leaving home. Books can be returned to automatic cancellation counters. Payments for services could be made through cashcard readers at the libraries, again with no human intervention.

Central Provident Fund. The Central Provident Fund (CPF) is a mandatory saving mechanism for employees. Up to 40 per cent of the employee's monthly earnings are saved in this fund managed by the government. For CPF members, it is now very easy to request a statement of their account, to request details of their contribution history, and to transfer funds from one account to another in their names. For employers, who have to contribute to this fund, many electronic facilities have been opened up for data updates, for enquiries, etc.

Inland Revenue Service. The Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) introduced the filing of income tax returns through e-mail in 1998. The department's expectation of about 50 000 returns was exceeded nearly threefold -113 000 returns were filed this way. The next year, the number had gone up to 170 000. By 2000, IRAS wants 500 000 of the potential 1.6 million tax-payers to file their returns by phone or by e-mail (www.mediacity.com.sg/isquare/articles/1999/09/240912. htm). Sitting at home or in the office, one could file a return in a matter of minutes and with the certainty of instant acknowledgement. No more waiting for the forms in the mail, or the post office misplacing one's returns-not to mention the last-minute rush to IRAS to turn in the forms!

OSCARS. Contrary to what the name might suggest, OSCARS is the acronym for One Stop Change of Addresses Reporting Service. A Singaporean who wishes to inform a number of government agencies of a change of address needs to go to just one place-the neighbourhood police post. By the next day, all those agencies linked to the system could get the message.

TradeNet. TradeNet is a government electronic communication system specially designed to facilitate the preparation, transmission and processing of trade and customs declarations. When TradeNet was first introduced in Singapore in 1989, it was considered the first-ever system of its kind in the world (www.tradenet.gov.sg/tradenet/ intro.html, p. 1). The ultimate objective was to make the whole transaction better for both the trader and the authority. This service has enabled traders to file their documents at their own convenience with minimal effort and has also greatly reduced the processing time and the cost of the process. For the authorities, there is much greater control as well as convenience.

Technology Court. Even the hallowed halls of justice, which in many countries remain most tradition-bound, have opened their doors to cutting-edge technology. Singapore introduced its first Technology Court in 1995. With multimedia facilities, the court enables trials to be conducted without the concerned parties' physical presence in the courtroom. Singapore has been a leader in the application and innovative use of IT in national court systems. Its reputation gained it a special invitation to showcase its Electronic Filing System at the Sixth National Court Technology Conference (CTC) in the US in September 1999. The Technology Court relieves members of both the bench and the bar of mundane and routine paperwork and allows them to focus on interactions between them. Similarly, in the case of Preliminary Inquiry Records, which are an essential part of criminal trials and which are often bulky paper bundles, the Technology Court has paved the way for the electronic transmission of such records. Singapore ONE. Perhaps the single most important application of cutting-edge IT for the general population is the introduction of Singapore ONE. ONE stands for One Network for Everyone. As the name suggests, Singapore ONE is a national network connecting homes, businesses and schools throughout Singapore and even to the outside world. Singapore ONE is a multimedia broadband network capable of delivering very highspeed, high-capacity services to almost "everyone, everywhere" in Singapore (www. s-one.gov.sg/overview, p. 1). As of June 1999, 98 per cent of all homes in Singapore can be connected to this broadband network (National Computer Board, press release, 22 June 1999; www.ncb.gov.sg/ncb/press/ 220 699.asp). Singapore ONE services include government information and services, public databases, directories, educational materials, travel information, music, movies, games, access to cybermarts, e-commerce malls, banking and trading facilities, and business-to-business applications. Few other countries in the world have managed to set up such a vast and high-quality network. It should be noted, however, that the small size of Singapore has been a decidedly favourable factor in this achievement.

Adoption and Resistance

All these varied examples from the public service agencies in Singapore repeatedly demonstrate the relentless spread of IT into an ever-increasing web of electronic services and communications. However, the introduction of these IT innovations has not been plain sailing for the government or the public. There are many kinds of concern around the adoption of IT in such a sweeping and rapid fashion. These include, among others, the fears that

-It might widen the gap between the information-poor and the information-rich.

-It might alter the hierarchical relationship between the old and the young, giving the young undue and unfair advantage over the old.

-It might open up the floodgates even more for the Western domination of the East, leading to an erosion of Eastern values and cultures which are the bedrock of Singapore.

-The government might use it for greater control of the population leading to the perpetuation of its dominant power. And even that

-the government might use IT in a surreptitious manner to collect more revenue!

It is obvious that the fears and concerns are wide and deep. But these are not that different from those in most other countries going through the IT revolution. However, it should be noted that the policy-making environment in Singapore is indeed quite different from that of many other democracies.

Policy-making in Singapore has been relatively unencumbered. Ever since it gained self-rule from the British in 1959, it has been ruled by the same party-the People's Action Party (PAP). Much of this time, the PAP has faced little or no strong political opposition in parliament where, between 1975 and 1981, there was not a single opposition member and where, since then, it has always had more than 95 per cent of the seats-an unassailable majority (for an insightful analysis of one-party dominance in Singapore, see Chan, 1976). Thus, robust and prolonged parliamentary debate over policy is something of a rarity in Singapore. Mass media, too, which in other democracies have been an adversarial force to reckon with, have mostly been pro-PAP and pro-government. For the most part, the government has had media support for its policies. Nongovernment organisations (NGOs) or other civil society actors have had little chance to exert powerful pressures on the government. Furthermore, the PAP is of the view that only politicians have the mandate to challenge government policies and anyone who wishes to make a `political statement' should enter politics to do so. Of course, there is no clear or universal definition of what is and is not a `political statement' and this must necessarily inhibit many from expressing their true feelings because of the uncertainties and the attendant risks involved. In short, the PAP government has had a relatively less confrontational policy environment.

But, fortunately, this lack of oppositional forces has not led to a capricious or corrupt regime in Singapore, as has been the case in many other countries. The PAP has consistently won clean elections and the government has earned a worldwide reputation for delivering material public goods of extraordinary quality over a long period of time. As is well known, Singapore experienced an early `economic miracle' and is now acknowledged as the best survivor of the recent devastating Asian economic crisis.

Such success has its underpinnings in a combination of fundamentals: an able and agile leadership in government; the relative incorruptibility of that leadership; an efficient and clean civil service; an entrepreneurial and adaptive business community that is made up of both multinational and local corporations; and a hard-working, disciplined and compliant citizenry.

Given these factors, government policies in Singapore tend to take a pragmatic, needsbased, results-oriented course, rather than being mired in political and ideological contests. This is not to suggest that this course is ideal or without costs and unintended consequences. But, by and large, when the government argues its case for a public good, the arguments are accepted by a significant majority as valid and are believed to be in the public interest.

Thus, too, the policies towards the rapid and sweeping deployment of IT in public life have been largely accepted by the citizenry as beneficial to the public good. The government, for its part, is clearly conscious of the rising demand for a consultative and consensus-seeking approach to policy-making. It is also beginning to reckon with the fact that technology, especially information technology, is going to make suppression or even strict control of the citizenry virtually impossible (for an analysis of the impact of IT on Singapore's censorship regime, see Yeo and Mahizhnan, 1998). In a statement typical of those now frequently emanating from government circles, the Permanent Secretary to the Prime Minister's Office said in November 1999 (The Straits Times, 13 November, p. 70) that the Government recognises there is a wealth of expertise in the private and people sectors that the public sector would be foolish to ignore. When we try to compete with the best in the world in the future knowledge-based economy, the problems we face will be so complex that the Government alone will be unable to address them adequately, without seeking outside support. We must tap the private and people sectors for their experience, specialised knowledge and skills.

The consultative process now appears to be an internalised dictum of the public service.

Conclusion

Information technology, like many other technologies, is a double-edged sword-it can bring about both good and bad for the people. In Singapore, where the survival instinct has often propelled the community to an early adoption of innovative technologies, IT is seen mainly as an imperative, not an option. Despite reservations-rather strong in certain instances-the diffusion of IT into social as well as economic spheres has been proceeding at a fast pace. While the government may sometimes seem to be motivated by administrative efficiency and control, there is enough evidence to suggest a serious and sustained commitment on its part to the welfare of the citizenry. Indeed, it is perhaps this substantive improvement to the quality of the public life of the citizen that has prompted some IT experts around the world to acknowledge Singapore as a leader in this area. The World Teleport Association and Telecommunications Magazine gave their very first `Intelligent City of the Year' award to Singapore in 1999. The award is reported to "recognise a city that views bandwith as essential to growth of economies (sic) and public welfare" (Business Times, 22 September 1999, p. 4). Some have even gone to the extent of stating that Singapore is poised to become the world's first "digital nation" (The Straits Times, 25 February 1999, p. 15). For "just a little red dot on the map", that is no small achievement.

References

References

References

CHAN, H. C. (1976) The Dynamics of One Party Dominance: The PAP at the Grass-Roots. Singapore: Singapore University Press.

NATIONAL COMPUTER BOARD (1992) A Vision of An Intelligent Island: IT 2000 Report. Singapore: National Computer Board.

TURNBULL, C. M. (1989) A History of Singapore, 1819-1998. Singapore: Oxford University Press.

YEO, S. and ARUN, M. (1998) Developing an intelligent island: dilemmas of censorship, in: M. ARUN and T. Y. LEE (Eds) Singapore: Re-engineering Success, pp. 138-148. Singapore: Institute of Policy Studies and Oxford University Press.