不敢批评政府的外交官

Cinabaku

新加坡-资深外交官Kohl Koh感叹新加坡是一个拥有第三世界人民的第一世界国家。他在星期二（10月1日）说，许多新加坡人缺乏发达国家公民应该具有的公民意识。

Koh教授说：“我对新加坡人的批评程度要高于对政府的批评。我们很多人在应有的情况下都不会对环境有所顾忌。我们很多人都是自私和不友善的。只是看看他们的驾驶方式。”引起观众的笑声。


他在由政策研究所组织的新加坡双百周年大会上发表讲话。它在莱佛士城会议中心举行，并于星期二结束。

在对话中，由《海峡时报》编辑和新加坡报业控股总公司英语/马来文/泰米尔集团沃伦·费尔南德斯，柯教授和彭博新闻社主编约翰·米克勒斯怀特主持，双方都强调了新加坡社会可以在哪些领域开展工作。提高。

Micklethwait先生指出，无论是在新加坡还是在其他国际大都会城市中，专才制都产生了自己的问题。在这样的城市中，结果是“一个疯狂地努力工作的人部落，不断前进”，经常将金钱和资源投入到他们的孩子中。

他说：“对您的孩子来说，这是一件非常好的事情，但这意味着社会很难让其他人跟上，这就是现代国家的困境。”

他讲述了一位朋友如何参加晚宴，包括新加坡人在内的所有客人都无法理解为什么英国人投票支持英国脱欧。

他说：“没人知道为什么有人投票支持唐纳德·特朗普。没人知道为什么香港的抗议者根本没有什么可以抗议的。”

他的朋友来的一个令人不安的结论是，晚餐嘉宾尽管来自世界各地，但彼此之间的共同点远多于其他人。

他说：“他担心自己的孩子只会在购物时碰到穷人。”他补充说，社会必须找到一种更具包容性的解决方案。

Koh教授呼吁新加坡设定贫困线并提高工人的工资，并指出公司的最高管理人员与普通雇员之间的薪资差距通常很大。

在回答有关是否有替代资本主义的问题时，他说，正确的问题是新加坡想要什么样的资本主义。

他说，道德资本主义是公司不仅要对股东负责，而且要对更广泛的社会负责的地方，社会要关心环境并照顾好员工，并倡导性别平等和多样性。

他补充说，他对新加坡人有很多想法，他将在接下来的几篇ST文章中介绍这些想法。

Koh教授说：“我爱新加坡。我会为新加坡而死。但我们是一个完美的人吗？我们不是。”

SINGAPORE - Veteran diplomat Tommy Koh laments that Singapore is a First World country with Third World people. Many Singaporeans lack the civic-mindedness that citizens of an advanced country should have, he said on Tuesday (Oct 1).

"I am more critical of Singaporeans than of the Government. Many of our people don't give a damn for the environment when they should. Many of our people are selfish and unkind. Just look at the way they drive," Prof Koh said, drawing laughter from his audience.


He was speaking at the Singapore Bicentennial Conference, organised by the Institute of Policy Studies. It was held at Raffles City Convention Centre and ended on Tuesday.

During the dialogue, which was moderated by Straits Times editor and editor-in-chief of Singapore Press Holdings English/Malay/Tamil Group Warren Fernandez, Prof Koh and Bloomberg News editor-in-chief John Micklethwait both highlighted areas in which Singapore society can improve.

Mr Micklethwait pointed out that meritocracy has created its own problems, both in Singapore and other cosmopolitan capital cities. In such cities, the result is "a tribe of people who are working insanely hard to keep pushing ahead", often pumping money and resources into their children.

"That is a very good thing for your children, but it means society gets a bit harder for others to catch up, and that is one of the dilemmas of a modern country," he said.

He recounted how a friend had attended a dinner at which none of the guests, including Singaporeans, could understand why people in the United Kingdom had voted for Brexit.

"Nobody could understand why anybody had voted for Donald Trump. Nobody could understand why the protesters in Hong Kong had anything to protest about at all," he said.

The troubling conclusion that his friend came to was that the dinner guests - even though they came from different parts of the world - had far more in common with each other than others living a block away from them.

"He worried that his children only ran into poor people when they were delivering their Internet shopping," he said, adding that societies must find a solution to be more inclusive.

Prof Koh called for Singapore to set a poverty line and raise the wages of workers, noting that there is often a vast pay gap between a company's top executives and its rank and file employees.

Responding to a question on whether there is an alternative to capitalism, he said the right question to ask is what kind of capitalism Singapore wants.

Moral capitalism is where companies consider themselves accountable to not only shareholders but to the wider society, where they care for the environment and take good care of employees, and champion gender equality and diversity, he said.

He added that he had many ideas for Singaporeans, which he will write about in his next few columns for ST.

"I love Singapore. I would die for Singapore. But are we a perfect people? We are not," said Prof Koh, who turns 82 next month.