How Asia’s four tiger economies can regain their verve

Jean-Pierre Lehmann says while Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan face considerable challenges today, they can best move forward by focusing on social, cultural and environmental aspects

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Published: 4:13pm, 22 Dec 2016Updated: 5:53pm, 22 Dec 2016

Education should not be just about mechanical rote learning, but also cultural enrichment and individual expression. More focus should be on nature, on green growth, as opposed to material growth. Illustration: Craig Stephens

The rise of the four Asian newly industrialised economies (NIEs) of Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan in the last quarter of the 20th century is one of history’s most remarkable narratives. The dictum, however, that “nothing succeeds like success” is misleading. Success can breed complacency; that, in turn, leads to hubris. Today all four, to different degrees, are facing a crisis; primarily a crisis of confidence. Where to next in this looming jungle of the 21st century?

I visited the four in the mid-1960s, half a century ago. All were dirt-poor, perceived as backward basket cases of underdevelopment. They were famous for prostitution. American soldiers from the Vietnam war flocked to Taipei for “R&R” (rest and recuperation). Hong Kong’s louche atmosphere was illustrated in the blockbuster film The World of Suzie Wong. Singapore, combining a major port and military base in the 1960s, could be, unkindly but not inaccurately, described as a rat-infested brothel. Walking in downtown Daegu in Korea, my journey was incessantly interrupted by solicitations for sex.

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All four had suffered the humiliation of colonisation. Hong Kong and Singapore were colonised by the British who forbade ethnic Chinese (with the exception of waiters, chefs and shoeshine boys) from entering their clubs and restaurants or residing in certain areas in their own territory. Korea and Taiwan were colonised by Japan, with Koreans especially humiliated in having to take on Japanese names, speak Japanese and pray at Shinto shrines.

None of the past legacies of these Asian economies augured well for the future.

I have returned frequently to all four over the ensuing decades and was able to observe their spectacular rise at close quarters. Though there are variations in each, the overall narrative is well known and should continue to be required reading for policymakers in developing countries today.

In essence: