Lee Kuan Yew, the former Prime Minister of Singapore, once stated in a speech: “Singapore`s success was due to the ability and industry of our young people, willing and eager to learn, prepared to work hard and pay their way in the world, finding pride and pleasure in constructive endeavor.. There is no law in nature which provides that life will get better next year. We have to work hard to make it better.”
When studying the history of Singapore we find that it has no natural resources. It was a British colony from 1946 until 1959, when it became independent. It was left to fend for itself with no grants from any country, no food stamp program, no industry, and an almost illiterate population. It floated as a castoff island only 225 square miles in size. Today Singapore has become a major economic power in Asia with one of the world`s largest and busiest ports and the home to many major international companies. How did it do that? The method:
ITS LEADERS WORKED HARD TO EDUCATE AND TRAIN THE PEOPLE TO BECOME INDUSTRIOUS.
Let`s look at what has happened in the CNMI. Due to lack of vision and planning by our past leaders, they thought our booming economy would last forever. They continued to squander our savings instead of saving it for when we would need it. They never seriously considered educating our people.
They scared away potential investors by insisting on unreasonable demands and by passing unrealistic laws. At the same time they alienated our present businesses by neglecting their needs. Consider the garment industry, which once contributed over $80 million in taxes and exported over $1 billion of goods per year. They felt that they could demand anything they wanted without retribution. We were on an economic roller coaster. But now the bottom has dropped out and we find ourselves in dire straits.
I used “they” in the above paragraph but shouldn`t it really be “we?” Therefore before we put any plans into action to revitalize our economy, we must stop blaming external forces and look inward for the causes of our dilemma. Real change comes only from looking inward and changing ourselves first. We must search why and where did we go wrong. We must stop pointing fingers of blame and open our eyes to reality. Notice when we point a finger at someone, three fingers point back at ourselves.
It is fashionable to blame our governor for the depression we find ourselves in. Consider the silly petition to recall the governor as though he created this dismal economic environment. Instead of improving ourselves and helping out, we prefer to blame him. He is trying to stop the reckless spending of money that previous administrations did. The immediate result is painful but the cure is coming.
Consider the petition for reapportionment of voting areas to change the composition of the Legislature. Will it change the quality of the new congressmen or will they be the same as now? When are doing to change ourselves first?
Because we, the people, caused our dilemma as much as our elected leaders, we can and must resolve them. I have learned from my business experience of over 40 years that whenever a company fails, 95 percent of the blame is caused by mismanagement. And only 5 percent is caused by external forces. We, the people, mismanaged our economy by accepting without protest what our elected leaders did. In many cases we encouraged them to act irresponsibly.
The first step to improvement is to change our attitude. When we begin to view ourselves and our world from a different perspective and with a different attitude, real change is possible. We must stop asking the federal and local governments for handouts. Until we stand up and take responsibility for our past and present actions, do away with our complacency and stop tolerating mismanagement, no effective change can be or will be made. We must stand up and scream: BASTA! ENOUGH! LET`S CORRECT OURSELVES!
We need to get out of our easy chairs and stop whining. Stop making excuses for not moving ahead. Stop saying: but-but. We constantly lament that we don`t have sufficient funds to do this or that. We never have had sufficient funds and never will. But we have people-PEOPLE! Let`s educate them and train them to work. Singapore did. Again I quote Prime Minister Yee: “There is no law in nature which provides that life will get better next year. We have to work for it.”
Our greatest asset is our people. A nation of educated and devoted people can never go wrong. Look at the rise and fall of any nation in the past or present and always its people are the catalyst. Let us start now to improve ourselves. Let us begin the transformation. And as surely as the sun rises, so will the prosperity of determined people rise. And as surely as the sun sets, so will the prosperity of indifferent people set. Below is a prayer written by Wayne Dosick as inspired by St. Francis Assisi that sums up my plea:
Source: www.saipantribune.com (19 Juni 2007)
