By: Koh Buck Song
First published: 19 January 04, TODAY

In his speech at a Harvard Club event earlier this month, Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong sketched a scenario for the future of Singapore.

And it looks good, with greater space for civic participation; deeper mutual respect between the people and the Government; and a more robust society in the making.

Coincidentally, from my perspective, the issues at hand connect with key concepts used by Harvard professor Ronald Heifetz in his popular course on leadership, which I took.

In the leadership framework of his new book Leadership On The Line (which he co-authored with Mr Marty Linsky), Dr Heifetz distinguishes between technical and adaptive challenges.

With tough leadership issues, he outlines, it is vital to distinguish "technical problems" - that can be more easily solved - from "adaptive work", which involves deeper, self-reflective changes.

Technical problems can be settled by applying existing know-how, with the authorities taking charge and leading change.

But adaptive challenges require learning new ways, with both the authorities and the people needing to adjust mindsets and re-fashion old loyalties.

The people with the problem are the problem and there can be no solution until and unless they change.

I see the first as maintenance; the other is more like an overhaul.

If Singapore really wants to succeed in the big, adaptive challenge of remaking itself into a more open society, a maturing of Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong's approach of consultation and conscience is the only way forward.

On censorship, which Mr Lee cited, there is much adaptive work still to be done, with the Censorship Review Committee's report released less than four months ago.

It would be a mistake to think it is just a matter of tweaking a few guidelines here and there.

For instance, allowing Cosmopolitan magazine to be sold in Singapore, while requiring it to be shrink-wrapped, would only be a debatable, technical fix.

More crucial is the adaptive work needed of all parties.

Those who are more conservative, need to let go of their own fears and respect the intelligence and self-restraint of others.

Those who are more liberal, should understand those fears, moderate their own expectations and accept grounds for caution, where valid.

There is also the adaptive work in educating the public, regulatory authorities, industry and artists in the value of tolerance in a more creative society.

All parties need less pride and arrogance in their own beliefs and more humility, curiosity and self-doubt to understand the other side.
Everyone needs to see, as Mr Lee said, that Singapore "cannot move only when the last man … is willing to move".

On politics, by calling on Singaporeans to take more responsibility for themselves, Mr Lee - as an authority figure - was doing what Dr Heifetz calls "giving the work back" to the community.

This means mobilising people to see - and take on - the work they themselves
need to do, instead of looking to leaders to produce all the answers.

It is no surprise that this is still an issue in Singapore politics, as Mr Lee cited in his anecdote of a resident who expected the authorities to deal with the mosquitoes in his flat.

This mindset is a product of the earlier phase of Singapore's political development.

If leaders act as if they know all the answers, over time, those who are led, learn to offer up only questions. Docility deteriorates into dependency.

Now that the adaptive challenge is to nurture an active citizenry, people need to learn to be more self-reliant and support one another more in worthy causes.

The silent need to find their voices, even though this goes against decades of conditioning; from seeing opposing views brushed aside.

They need the self-esteem and confidence that comes from the informal authority of principle, conviction, truth and commitment to the common good.

Citizens should claim the space that opens up, as in the debate on Islamic issues after the Sept 11, 2001 attacks, as Mr Lee observed on "OB" (out-of-bounds) markers in a public discussion.

In an earlier column, I had described this laying to rest of the previous media phobia against discussing race as "exorcising the ghost of Maria Hertogh", the Dutch girl whose court case had sparked a racial riot in the 1950s.

The Government, too, should realise there is more work still on its plate, if Singapore is to keep evolving the right way.

Ongoing concrete moves - in such areas as easing up on procedures for registering societies - are spot-on and much-needed.

The nanny must keep retreating.

Mr Lee's vision is as attractive as it is welcome.

All parties must now recognise the adaptive tasks facing them and get to work, as Singapore gears up for another big, adaptive change - to a new Prime Minister and a brand new era.

The writer is a Mason Fellow at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. His latest book is The Ocean Of Ambition.