From: Bill Douglass (douglassbill@hotmail.com)
Date: Mon Jun 11 2001 - 08:21:22 MDT
Mike Lorrey <mlorrey@datamann.com> wrote:
>Bill Douglass wrote:
>
> > Spudboy100@aol.com wrote:
> >
> > [snip]
> > >>> I am guessing that there are several reasons why Singapore
>succeeded
> > >>>where Somalia, seems to remain a backwater.
> > 1) There is order in Singapore because the peoples that comprise
>Singapore
> > desire it. Somalia hasn't gone up that hierarchy of needs yet.
> > 2) There is a respect for learning in Singapore, in Somali-little. It's
> > agrarian knowledge, at best. Agrarian knowledge in wonderful, but its
>not
> > software coding.
> > 3) There is the same unhappy mix of politics and religion, that has
>slowed
> > many countries.
> > 4) Somalia is more fractionalized amongst tribes and clans.
> > 5) The transition of powers between regimes is not clear as it is in
> > Singapore.
> > Note: with Singapore, there is still the authoritarian smell of
> > dictatorship.
> > There is more hope that as the economy develops, the hunger for
> > self-representation will occur.
> > The capitalist spirit is essential, but its comparative to growing a
>heart
> > in vitro, and claiming it as a human personality. It's important, but
>there
> > needs to be more. Is Somalia going down the road of development? I'd
>need
> > more evidence to be convinced.
> >
> > Mitch >>>
> >
> > These are valid points, Mitch. No quibble here. The Chinese/Confucian
> > emphasis on education has, I'm sure, played a big role in Singapore's
>rapid
> > development (Singapore's population is something like 76% ethnic
>Chinese).
>
>One further bit to consider is that there is a large percent of Somalis who
>are
>addicted to the drug khat, which is one reason why so much modern
>infrastructure there has been looted, to pay off the Kenyan drug lords who
>fly
>the khat into the country. In Singapore, drug posession is a death
>sentence.
>
Interesting. I once had an African immigrant taxi driver in Boston who was
chewing khat... he spoke fast and drove fast, even by Boston cabbie
standards!
Singapore's neighbors Malaysia and Thailand have pretty strict penalties for
drug possession also, but noone in the region is as strict as Singapore.
Here in mainland China penalties can be very severe, but there is also a
public education campaign underway. For example, at some train stations
there are *very* gruesome pictures on display, of addicts who've really hit
bottom (most appear to be of people who've OD'ed).
This is an interesting article from the Far Eastern Economic Review, saying
that Bangkok has become the regional capital for African criminal gangs
(though I'm sure they're not dealing in khat!).
http://www.feer.com/_0105_24/p060current.html
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