Monday, July 26, 2010

If you cannot be proactive

If you cannot be proactive then be very quick to react. The General Elections is coming and so you can expect the Government to act quickly on the unhappiness resulting from their getting caught by surprise with the floods; distance based charging for public transport; rapidly rising property prices etc., First off the line is Mah Bow Tan. He promised that the current supply crunch of HDB flats would be solved within a year and how. Less high profile, PUB is pulling out all the stops to meet with residents affected by the recent flooding. There will be more to come, and then the PM will call for elections when they are ready to sell their repair and restore messages.

It is impossible to be proactive when you do not have the ability to look over the horizon. In the management of the economy and national finance the late Dr. Goh had the gift. In matters of foreign affairs and security, the late S. Rajaratnam was as gifted. MM Lee does not wear those shoes as well as his former colleagues.

Today we organize ourselves better but our ability to anticipate is much more limited as we no longer understand the changes going on in the world and our society as deeply as before. You cannot prepare for every eventuality. Swift reaction is the best we can hope for unless we have even better people coming forward to lead.

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