The Horizon of Reason

Yesterday I left Australia to join a group of MBA students from La Trobe University on an expedition to Hanoi. The purpose of this trip is to find out about how Vietnamese managers deal with human resource issues.

I am in Singapore now, waiting around between flights. Singapore is my home away from home in Asia. Having lived here in 1994 it is always good to come back to this – slightly spooky – country. I use these words very deliberately because this socially engineered paradise is not a place for freethinking spirits. But the Confucian overtones in Chinese culture ensure that prosperity is valued over intellectual freedom. Nevertheless, Singapore is a very pleasant place to be.

The Singaporeans take an interesting place in Asian culture. I have been told by a Malaysian that some call the Singaporeans bananas: “yellow from the outside, but white in the middle”.  He considered the Singaporeans to try to much to be like Europeans. Whether that is the case or not is not important. I found it interesting to hear that this is how at least some Asians view their Singaporean neighbours.

Enough bagging Singapore – have to be careful otherwise I will not be able to enter the country again