Go East, young bureaucrat向東方學習做官吧!

　　Emerging Asia can teach the West a lot aboutgovernment

　　新興的亞州可以教給西方很多關于政府管理的道理

　　WHEN people talk about Singapores educationmiracle, they normally think of rows of clever youngmathematicians. The hair-design and beauty-therapy training centres at the Institute of TechnicalEducation are rather different. The walls arecovered with pouting models, LOral adverts andtelevision screens. There is a fully fitted-out spa and a hairdressing salon. It all seems rathermore Sex and the City than Asian values, though the manicurists, pedicurists, cosmetologistsand hairdressers toil diligently.

　　談起新加坡非凡的教育時，浮現在人們腦海里的是成堆聰明年輕的數學家。而工藝教育學院的發型設計和美容理療培訓中心卻與所想大相徑庭。中心的墻上到處是嘟著嘴的模特、歐萊雅的廣告和電視。中心還有一個裝備齊全的SPA館和美發沙龍。整個的風格看似更像《欲望都市》里的場景，與亞洲品味格格不入，盡管里面的美甲師、足療師、美容師、理發師可是在勤勤懇懇、辛辛苦苦地干活。

　　Asked whether he wants to go to university, the holy grail of most Asian families, a youngbarber called Noel replies that he would rather open a hairdressing salon. Mei Lien wants to setup her own beauty salon; Shuner would like to work in hotels abroad.

　　當問及是否想上大學進入許多亞洲家庭心中的神圣殿堂，年輕的理發師Noel回答說他寧愿去開家美發沙龍。Mei Lien則說希望開家自己的美容院。而Shuner則想去國外的賓館工作。

　　Until recently ITEdubbed Its The End by ambitious middle-class parentswas the dark sideof Singaporean education. The city state streams pupils rigorously and is unashamedly elitist:one school claims to send more students to Ivy League universities than any other secondaryschool in the world. But such a system also produces losersand many of the bottom thirdwho do not make it to university come to ITE.

　　在不久之前，工藝教育學院的縮寫ITE還被望子成龍的中產階級家長嘲諷為是It s The End的縮寫，被視為新加坡教育不光彩的一面。這個城邦國家嚴格地將學生三六九等分，毫不掩飾其對精英的崇拜：有一所學校號稱比世界上其他任意一所中學向常青籘聯盟高校輸送的學生都多。但是這樣一個體制也會生產出失敗者很多排名倒數幾名不能上大學的就去了工藝教育學院。

　　Since the 1990s the government has worked hard to change ITEs image. It has not only spenta lot of money on new facilities and better teachers but also put a great deal of thought into it,scouring the West for best practice in vocational training. And it has encouraged students whoare used to failure to take pride in their work. That has involved discipline but also fun outside the classroom: ITE has sports teams andconcerts just like any university.

　　從上世紀九十年代起，新加坡政府努力改善工藝教育學院的形象。不僅花費大量金錢提升設施、聘請良師，還花費了許多心思，遍訪西方國家尋找職業培訓的最佳方式。政府鼓勵原來那些對失敗已習以為常的學生挺起胸脯投入工作。這不僅包含了紀律，還有課外的歡樂：工藝教育學院有運動隊、開音樂會，和其他任何一所大學無差。

　　This attention to detail has paid off. Many of thegraduates have to compete with cheap migrantworkers, especially in service jobs, but most of themare snapped up quickly. The hairdressers and beautytherapists are off to the new casinos, or integratedresorts, as they are prudishly known. Singapore,already near the top of most educational leaguetables, has created yet another centre of excellencethat is beginning to attract foreign visitors.

　　這種細致嚴謹的態度已收成效。很多畢業生需要與廉價的移民勞動力競爭，特別是在服務業這一行。但他們中的絕大部分一畢業就被搶聘一空。理發師和美容師去了新開張的賭場，或者是綜合性的度假勝地，這樣一個含蓄的名稱。新加坡，在絕大多數教育排名已名列前茅，又創造了新的不菲成就，也開始吸引外國人來參觀。

　　Singapore is important to any study of government just now, both in the West and in Asia.That is partly because it does some things very well, in much the same way that someScandinavian countries excel in certain fields. But it is also because there is an emergingtheory about a superior Asian model of government, put forward by both despairing Westernbusinesspeople and hubristic Asian chroniclers. Simplified somewhat, it comes in four parts.

　　無論是東方還是西方，新加坡對于想研究政府管理的來說都十分重要。部分原因是它在某些事情上做得非常好，同在某些領域領先的北歐國家方法差不多。但還有原因就是現在出現了一個由絕望中的西方商界人士和高傲的亞洲歷史學家共同提出的理論，認為亞洲政府管理模式較為優越。簡而言之，此理論分為四部分。

　　First, Singapore is good at government . Second, the secret of its successlies in an Asian mixture of authoritarian values and state-directed capitalism .Third, China is trying to copy Singapore . Last, Chinas government is alreadymore efficient than the decadent West .

　　第一、新加坡擅長政府管理。第二、成功的秘密在于一種將權力主義的價值觀同國家主導的資本主義相融合的亞洲模式。第三、中國正在努力模仿新加坡模式。第四、中國政府的效率已經超過墮落的西方國家了

　　Fact or fiction?真相還是小說?

　　For all the insults hurled at Disneyland with the death penalty ,Singapore provides better schools and hospitals and safer streets than most Western countriesand all with a state that consumes only 19% of GDP. Yes, that proportion is understatedbecause it does not include the other fingers the government has in the economic pie, such asits huge landholdings, the Central Provident Fund andTemasek . Yes, it is easier to serve 5m people on atiny island than 309m Americans on a vast landmass. Yes, it has relied on immigration, which isnow creating strains . And yes, Singaporesbureaucrats can make mistakes, such as letting an Islamic terrorist escape in 2008. But itsgovernment does pretty well.

　　對于向這座有著死刑的迪士尼公園潑的所有臟水，新加坡展現的是比大多數西方國家更加優秀的學校和醫院，更為安全的街道，而且這一切都只消耗了國內生產總值的19%。是的，這一比例是有少報，因為它沒有包括政府在整個經濟蛋糕里染指的其他部分，比如說其龐大的地產、中央公積金和淡馬錫。是的，相比于為一片廣袤大陸上的3億9百萬美國人服務，讓5百萬的小島居民滿意是較容易的。是的，新加坡依賴于移民，但移民現也造成了壓力。是的，新加坡的官員們也是會犯錯的，比如在2008讓一名伊斯蘭恐怖分子逃脫。但是其政府還是運轉得十分不錯。

　　The Chinese are fascinated by it. There is good social order in Singapore, Deng Xiaopingobserved in 1992. We should draw from their experience, and do even better than them. Itsends streams of bureaucrats to visit Singapore. One of the first things that Xi Jinping did afterbeing anointed in 2010 as Chinas next leader was to drop in on Lee Kuan Yew,Singapores minister-mentor, who ran the island from 1959 to 1990, and his son, Lee HsienLoong, who has been prime minister since 2004. The Chinese are looking at other places, toomost obviously Hong Kong, another small-government haven. But it is hard to think of anyrich-country leader whom China treats with as much respect as the older Mr Lee.

　　中國人十分著迷于新加坡政府。新加坡的社會秩序算是好的，鄧小平曾在1992年這樣評論。我們應當借鑒他們的經驗，而且比他們管得更好。中國派了一批批的官員去新加坡學習。在習近平2010年被選定為中國的下一位領導人后，他做的頭幾件事中有一件就是拜訪了李光耀，新加坡1959至1990年總理，現內閣資政，和他的兒子李顯龍，新加坡自2004年起的第三任總理。中國人也羨慕其他一些地方最明顯的就是香港，另一個港口小政府。但很難相信有另外任何一個富國領導人受到了中國之于李光耀般的尊敬。

　　So what lessons are the Chinese learning? There isan odd imbalance between the things thatSingapore and others make so much noise aboutand the reasons why the place works. In particular,the Asian values bits of Singaporeitsauthoritarianism and its industrial policythat theChinese seem to find especially congenial are lessvital to its success than two more humdrumvirtues: a good civil service and a competitively smallstate.

　　那么，中國人是在學什么呢?在新加坡和其他國家高聲抱怨的事情同新加坡運轉良好的原因之間有著奇怪的不平衡。特別是，新加坡的亞洲價值觀部分它的權力主義和產業政策中國似乎認為尤為調和的部分，對于其成功并不及其余兩平淡無奇的長處重要：良好的行政機構，規模小得有競爭力的國家。

　　The island that Lee built李氏島

　　Singapore is certainly a fairly stern place. It has been run by the Peoples Action Party for half acentury. The older Mr Lee, a Cambridge-educated lawyer who was originally seen as a bit of aleft-winger, set up a parliamentary system in which it has proved curiously difficult for theopposition to do well. From 1966 to 1981 Mr Lees PAP won all the seats. It has opened up abit, and in the most recent election in 2006 it won only 66% of the votes and 82 of the 84seats. The media, and particularly the internet, have also got a little freer.

　　新加坡當然是個法治相當嚴厲的國家。已經由人民行動黨執政半個世紀了。老李，作為一名劍橋畢業的律師，原本被認為有點左傾，建立的議會體系使得反對派辦事異常艱難。自 1966年至1981年，李光耀領導的人民行動黨一直贏得國會所有席位。現已開放了一點，在最近的2006年大選里，它只贏得了選票的66%和國會議席 84個中的82個。媒體，特別是互聯網，也自由了一些。

　　The Singaporeans argue that they have the perfect compromise between accountability andefficiency. Their politicians are regularly tested in elections and have to make themselvesavailable to their constituents; but since the government knows it is likely to win, it can take along view. Fixing things like ITE takes time. Our strength is that we are able to thinkstrategically and look ahead, says the prime minister. If the government changed every fiveyears it would be harder.

　　新加坡人稱他們在責任與效率之間達成了最好的折衷。政客定期受到選舉的檢驗，對選民來說必須隨叫隨到;但因為政府已經知道自己很可能連任，它的目光也看得長遠了。調整一些東西，像工藝教育學院，就需要時間。 我們的長處就是我們能夠從戰略角度思考，從長遠角度出發，總理這樣說道。如果一個政府每五年就換一次，這可就不容易了。

　　There is more truth in this than Western liberals would like to admit. Not many people inWashington are thinking beyond the 2023 presidential election. It is sometimes argued that anAmerican administration operates strategically for only around six months, at the beginning ofits second yearafter it has got its staff confirmed by the Senate and before the mid-termscampaign begins.

　　這其中蘊含的真理比西方自由主義者承認的更多。在華盛頓，沒有什么人想的能超過2023的總統大選。人們有時說一屆美國政府只戰略性地運行了大概6個月，從它的第二年算起自其成員受到參議院的批準后再到中期選舉宣傳開始。

　　Yet even assuming that voters are happy to swap a little more efficiency for less democracy,Singapore still seems a difficult model to follow. Not only is it manageably small, but balancingauthoritarianism and accountability comes down largely to personal skills . More generally,Singapores success as a planning state has a lot to do with the sort of people who run it.

　　即使假設選民愿意用少一點民主換來效率高一點，新加坡仍然是一個十分難模仿的對象。它不僅小得好統治，平衡權力主義和責任大部分是靠個人技巧。再大體上說來，新加坡作為一個有規劃的國家的成功是與統治管理者們有很大的關系。

　　Go East, young bureaucrat向東方學習做官吧!

　　Emerging Asia can teach the West a lot aboutgovernment

　　新興的亞州可以教給西方很多關于政府管理的道理

　　WHEN people talk about Singapores educationmiracle, they normally think of rows of clever youngmathematicians. The hair-design and beauty-therapy training centres at the Institute of TechnicalEducation are rather different. The walls arecovered with pouting models, LOral adverts andtelevision screens. There is a fully fitted-out spa and a hairdressing salon. It all seems rathermore Sex and the City than Asian values, though the manicurists, pedicurists, cosmetologistsand hairdressers toil diligently.

　　談起新加坡非凡的教育時，浮現在人們腦海里的是成堆聰明年輕的數學家。而工藝教育學院的發型設計和美容理療培訓中心卻與所想大相徑庭。中心的墻上到處是嘟著嘴的模特、歐萊雅的廣告和電視。中心還有一個裝備齊全的SPA館和美發沙龍。整個的風格看似更像《欲望都市》里的場景，與亞洲品味格格不入，盡管里面的美甲師、足療師、美容師、理發師可是在勤勤懇懇、辛辛苦苦地干活。

　　Asked whether he wants to go to university, the holy grail of most Asian families, a youngbarber called Noel replies that he would rather open a hairdressing salon. Mei Lien wants to setup her own beauty salon; Shuner would like to work in hotels abroad.

　　當問及是否想上大學進入許多亞洲家庭心中的神圣殿堂，年輕的理發師Noel回答說他寧愿去開家美發沙龍。Mei Lien則說希望開家自己的美容院。而Shuner則想去國外的賓館工作。

　　Until recently ITEdubbed Its The End by ambitious middle-class parentswas the dark sideof Singaporean education. The city state streams pupils rigorously and is unashamedly elitist:one school claims to send more students to Ivy League universities than any other secondaryschool in the world. But such a system also produces losersand many of the bottom thirdwho do not make it to university come to ITE.

　　在不久之前，工藝教育學院的縮寫ITE還被望子成龍的中產階級家長嘲諷為是It s The End的縮寫，被視為新加坡教育不光彩的一面。這個城邦國家嚴格地將學生三六九等分，毫不掩飾其對精英的崇拜：有一所學校號稱比世界上其他任意一所中學向常青籘聯盟高校輸送的學生都多。但是這樣一個體制也會生產出失敗者很多排名倒數幾名不能上大學的就去了工藝教育學院。

　　Since the 1990s the government has worked hard to change ITEs image. It has not only spenta lot of money on new facilities and better teachers but also put a great deal of thought into it,scouring the West for best practice in vocational training. And it has encouraged students whoare used to failure to take pride in their work. That has involved discipline but also fun outside the classroom: ITE has sports teams andconcerts just like any university.

　　從上世紀九十年代起，新加坡政府努力改善工藝教育學院的形象。不僅花費大量金錢提升設施、聘請良師，還花費了許多心思，遍訪西方國家尋找職業培訓的最佳方式。政府鼓勵原來那些對失敗已習以為常的學生挺起胸脯投入工作。這不僅包含了紀律，還有課外的歡樂：工藝教育學院有運動隊、開音樂會，和其他任何一所大學無差。

　　This attention to detail has paid off. Many of thegraduates have to compete with cheap migrantworkers, especially in service jobs, but most of themare snapped up quickly. The hairdressers and beautytherapists are off to the new casinos, or integratedresorts, as they are prudishly known. Singapore,already near the top of most educational leaguetables, has created yet another centre of excellencethat is beginning to attract foreign visitors.

　　這種細致嚴謹的態度已收成效。很多畢業生需要與廉價的移民勞動力競爭，特別是在服務業這一行。但他們中的絕大部分一畢業就被搶聘一空。理發師和美容師去了新開張的賭場，或者是綜合性的度假勝地，這樣一個含蓄的名稱。新加坡，在絕大多數教育排名已名列前茅，又創造了新的不菲成就，也開始吸引外國人來參觀。

　　Singapore is important to any study of government just now, both in the West and in Asia.That is partly because it does some things very well, in much the same way that someScandinavian countries excel in certain fields. But it is also because there is an emergingtheory about a superior Asian model of government, put forward by both despairing Westernbusinesspeople and hubristic Asian chroniclers. Simplified somewhat, it comes in four parts.

　　無論是東方還是西方，新加坡對于想研究政府管理的來說都十分重要。部分原因是它在某些事情上做得非常好，同在某些領域領先的北歐國家方法差不多。但還有原因就是現在出現了一個由絕望中的西方商界人士和高傲的亞洲歷史學家共同提出的理論，認為亞洲政府管理模式較為優越。簡而言之，此理論分為四部分。

　　First, Singapore is good at government . Second, the secret of its successlies in an Asian mixture of authoritarian values and state-directed capitalism .Third, China is trying to copy Singapore . Last, Chinas government is alreadymore efficient than the decadent West .

　　第一、新加坡擅長政府管理。第二、成功的秘密在于一種將權力主義的價值觀同國家主導的資本主義相融合的亞洲模式。第三、中國正在努力模仿新加坡模式。第四、中國政府的效率已經超過墮落的西方國家了

　　Fact or fiction?真相還是小說?

　　For all the insults hurled at Disneyland with the death penalty ,Singapore provides better schools and hospitals and safer streets than most Western countriesand all with a state that consumes only 19% of GDP. Yes, that proportion is understatedbecause it does not include the other fingers the government has in the economic pie, such asits huge landholdings, the Central Provident Fund andTemasek . Yes, it is easier to serve 5m people on atiny island than 309m Americans on a vast landmass. Yes, it has relied on immigration, which isnow creating strains . And yes, Singaporesbureaucrats can make mistakes, such as letting an Islamic terrorist escape in 2008. But itsgovernment does pretty well.

　　對于向這座有著死刑的迪士尼公園潑的所有臟水，新加坡展現的是比大多數西方國家更加優秀的學校和醫院，更為安全的街道，而且這一切都只消耗了國內生產總值的19%。是的，這一比例是有少報，因為它沒有包括政府在整個經濟蛋糕里染指的其他部分，比如說其龐大的地產、中央公積金和淡馬錫。是的，相比于為一片廣袤大陸上的3億9百萬美國人服務，讓5百萬的小島居民滿意是較容易的。是的，新加坡依賴于移民，但移民現也造成了壓力。是的，新加坡的官員們也是會犯錯的，比如在2008讓一名伊斯蘭恐怖分子逃脫。但是其政府還是運轉得十分不錯。

　　The Chinese are fascinated by it. There is good social order in Singapore, Deng Xiaopingobserved in 1992. We should draw from their experience, and do even better than them. Itsends streams of bureaucrats to visit Singapore. One of the first things that Xi Jinping did afterbeing anointed in 2010 as Chinas next leader was to drop in on Lee Kuan Yew,Singapores minister-mentor, who ran the island from 1959 to 1990, and his son, Lee HsienLoong, who has been prime minister since 2004. The Chinese are looking at other places, toomost obviously Hong Kong, another small-government haven. But it is hard to think of anyrich-country leader whom China treats with as much respect as the older Mr Lee.

　　中國人十分著迷于新加坡政府。新加坡的社會秩序算是好的，鄧小平曾在1992年這樣評論。我們應當借鑒他們的經驗，而且比他們管得更好。中國派了一批批的官員去新加坡學習。在習近平2010年被選定為中國的下一位領導人后，他做的頭幾件事中有一件就是拜訪了李光耀，新加坡1959至1990年總理，現內閣資政，和他的兒子李顯龍，新加坡自2004年起的第三任總理。中國人也羨慕其他一些地方最明顯的就是香港，另一個港口小政府。但很難相信有另外任何一個富國領導人受到了中國之于李光耀般的尊敬。

　　So what lessons are the Chinese learning? There isan odd imbalance between the things thatSingapore and others make so much noise aboutand the reasons why the place works. In particular,the Asian values bits of Singaporeitsauthoritarianism and its industrial policythat theChinese seem to find especially congenial are lessvital to its success than two more humdrumvirtues: a good civil service and a competitively smallstate.

　　那么，中國人是在學什么呢?在新加坡和其他國家高聲抱怨的事情同新加坡運轉良好的原因之間有著奇怪的不平衡。特別是，新加坡的亞洲價值觀部分它的權力主義和產業政策中國似乎認為尤為調和的部分，對于其成功并不及其余兩平淡無奇的長處重要：良好的行政機構，規模小得有競爭力的國家。

　　The island that Lee built李氏島

　　Singapore is certainly a fairly stern place. It has been run by the Peoples Action Party for half acentury. The older Mr Lee, a Cambridge-educated lawyer who was originally seen as a bit of aleft-winger, set up a parliamentary system in which it has proved curiously difficult for theopposition to do well. From 1966 to 1981 Mr Lees PAP won all the seats. It has opened up abit, and in the most recent election in 2006 it won only 66% of the votes and 82 of the 84seats. The media, and particularly the internet, have also got a little freer.

　　新加坡當然是個法治相當嚴厲的國家。已經由人民行動黨執政半個世紀了。老李，作為一名劍橋畢業的律師，原本被認為有點左傾，建立的議會體系使得反對派辦事異常艱難。自 1966年至1981年，李光耀領導的人民行動黨一直贏得國會所有席位?，F已開放了一點，在最近的2006年大選里，它只贏得了選票的66%和國會議席 84個中的82個。媒體，特別是互聯網，也自由了一些。

　　The Singaporeans argue that they have the perfect compromise between accountability andefficiency. Their politicians are regularly tested in elections and have to make themselvesavailable to their constituents; but since the government knows it is likely to win, it can take along view. Fixing things like ITE takes time. Our strength is that we are able to thinkstrategically and look ahead, says the prime minister. If the government changed every fiveyears it would be harder.

　　新加坡人稱他們在責任與效率之間達成了最好的折衷。政客定期受到選舉的檢驗，對選民來說必須隨叫隨到;但因為政府已經知道自己很可能連任，它的目光也看得長遠了。調整一些東西，像工藝教育學院，就需要時間。 我們的長處就是我們能夠從戰略角度思考，從長遠角度出發，總理這樣說道。如果一個政府每五年就換一次，這可就不容易了。

　　There is more truth in this than Western liberals would like to admit. Not many people inWashington are thinking beyond the 2023 presidential election. It is sometimes argued that anAmerican administration operates strategically for only around six months, at the beginning ofits second yearafter it has got its staff confirmed by the Senate and before the mid-termscampaign begins.

　　這其中蘊含的真理比西方自由主義者承認的更多。在華盛頓，沒有什么人想的能超過2023的總統大選。人們有時說一屆美國政府只戰略性地運行了大概6個月，從它的第二年算起自其成員受到參議院的批準后再到中期選舉宣傳開始。

　　Yet even assuming that voters are happy to swap a little more efficiency for less democracy,Singapore still seems a difficult model to follow. Not only is it manageably small, but balancingauthoritarianism and accountability comes down largely to personal skills . More generally,Singapores success as a planning state has a lot to do with the sort of people who run it.

　　即使假設選民愿意用少一點民主換來效率高一點，新加坡仍然是一個十分難模仿的對象。它不僅小得好統治，平衡權力主義和責任大部分是靠個人技巧。再大體上說來，新加坡作為一個有規劃的國家的成功是與統治管理者們有很大的關系。