A Case for Some Optimism

I’m writing a blog entry to end a year where my feelings have been mixed. In many ways, this has been something of an optimistic year. As a Singaporean, I applaud my Malaysian cousins across the Causeway for having the courage to vote out the only ruling coalition they had ever known. It took 60-years but the Malaysians finally got fed up with the corruption of the Ruling Barisan Nasionalis and the constant embarrassment of the army of skeletons marching out of the then Prime Minister, Najib Razak’s closet.

I guess you could say it was a somewhat optimistic year on the global scale too.  Lil Rocket Man (Kim Jong Un) and the Dotard (Donald Trump) decided to meet in Singapore to patch up their differences, after weeks of hurling colourful insults across the ocean. Nobody seriously thinks that the North Koreans will keep their word and it wasn’t comforting that the Dotard was gushing with praise for the Lil Rocket Man after the meeting. The Dotard happily gave away his key advantages like cancelling military exercises with South Korea, while Lil Rocket Man only said he’d work towards disarmament. Still, in all fairness, the North Korea has been quiet.

So, while there are signs of worry, such as the trade conflict between China and the USA, there are signs of optimism that the world might actually be a better place

On the personal front, I’m glad to say that I remain happily married to an amazing, if somewhat stubborn woman. This was a good year for Huong and I to get closer and we remain dedicated to one common goal – making sure our little girl grows into a very special woman.

So, far things have been going ok for the Evil Teen. Her academic results were not good and I am a little disappointed that she’s decided not to continue with school. However, I am proud of her for showing compassion and dedication to family. When I’ve fallen sick, she’s seen to it that I have her concoction of honey and lemon and when I’ve had to work weekends, she makes it a point that I get up on time and have my coffee. As someone said on a Facebook posting, “The Evil Teen acts more like a Mum.”

The other highlight of the year on the family front was the visit of my baby brother, Christopher, who showed up in Singapore for a couple of days. It’s funny hanging out with him because I remember him as a baby and the best nick name, I had for him was “Fat Wat.” Well, there’s karma, because he’s now known in my social circles as “That Good looking guy” or “Your son.” He was like a rock star when I brought him to the Bistrot and he became the first member of my “international family” to meet my Vietnamese family.  Poor guy ended up being traumatized by members of my professional circle but I guess it’s good that your family understand the pool that you’re swimming in.

I had disappointments on the professional front. There was an opening in a venture capital firm run by former clients. I had hopped that I could join a more positive environment but, in the end, they felt that things may not have been a good fit and so the deal fell through.

There was also a chance to work with the successor of Polaris’s service business – Virtusa, which is run out the USA and listed on the NASDAQ. It would have been a brilliant opportunity. Managed to cobble together a decent enough coalition but unfortunately that deal fell through. I work on the premises that I might get lucky with them sooner or later.

Unfortunately, I’m spending less time at the restaurant these days. Day job has taken more time and I spend less time with the colleagues who have touched my heart. Unfortunately, there was some changes in that area. The owners wife, who is a model of professional incompetence or has a good bout of “Bosses Wife Syndrome” has been given more management control. Having said that, I do give her credit for showing surprising moments of kindness and decency to the staff.

I miss Andy Ting, the chef who made the most amazing meals in his spare time and I miss Raffey, the Kuya (Tagalog for Older Brother) who kept the service side running while I got the glory.

By day, I remain in liquidations. I remain grateful to Farooq Mann for keeping me in a job, which has helped me understand the nitty gritty of things like tax filings and keeping accounts. These are not skills I have but skills I understand are necessary to the essential everyday operation of any business.

I am grateful in this job for brining me to Dubai, where I had the opportunity to meet with Her Excellency Shaikha Al Maskari, Chairwoman of the Al Maskari Group. We had spent more than a decade sending each other Eid Greetings and I am honoured that we have moved our friendship beyond the greeting card stage. I look forward to more opportunities to meet with this woman who has done so much both in terms of business and to the benefit of humanity. I pray that in 2019, I will have more opportunities to share ideas with her.

While I have had the trappings of success, I don’t feel successful. It’s time for me to turn talk into action and I pray for the courage to do just that in this coming year.

Did God Ever Make Fun a Sin?

One of the biggest problems with our modern age is that we somehow find that fun and faith tend to be polar opposites. You can either be a “God Fearing” person or you can have “Fun.” Perhaps its something of a misconception but somehow the things in life that are fun are often the things that most people of faith disapprove of. Take, for example, alcohol. While Jesus did turn wine into water, there is no religious text that I know of (and I’ll be happy to stand corrected) that actually blesses having drinks with your mates. Sex, which is another one of nature’s great pleasures, is also governed by this or that tenant.

I take the example of Saudi Arabia, a country that I have a very good relationship with. Saudi Arabia positions itself as the centre of the Islamic World. The only title that Saudi Kings have used is “Custodian of the Two Holy Mosque” and at one stage Saudi Arabia took its role as “Custodian” of Islam’s two holiest sites so seriously that it had a reputation of being the opposite of fun. Saudi Arabia famously banned alcohol, stoned female adulterers and amputated thieves for the simple reason that these were the exact words of the Holy Book. Saudi Arabia was so “un-fun” that other places in the region, in particular, Dubai built their entire economy on providing the Saudi’s with a place where they could have fun.

Things have now changed under Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman or MBS. Despite some of MBS’s less savoury associations such as the war in Yemen and the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, MBS gained something of a following among Saudi Arabia’s growing youth. Why? MBS has started to make Saudi Arabia fun. He’s curtailed the religious police and opened cinemas. While it’s not as dramatic as building cities filled with robots, letting people “chill” in a system where doing the things other people called “fun” was regarded as a mortal sin, is in fact revolutionary. You can’t blame young Saudi’s for giving MBS kudos for making their life more “fun,” whatever else he does.

I bring this example up because Christmas has just passed and our cousins across the causeway have had the usual political dramatics of the “Islamic Right.” You’ve had so called “Islamists” politicians of PAS going out of their way to warn Malaysia’s normally “chilled-out” Muslims that celebrating Christmas was Haram or forbidden. To be fair to the Muslims, my ex-wife was so zealeous about being a Christian that she declared Santa Clause to be an agent of the devil to make us forget Jesus.

Finally, the Sultan of Johor (The Malaysian State nearest Singapore) had enough and it got around that he had said that if people felt so strongly about not celebrating Christmas because it would undermine their faith, they should jolly well go to work and not have a holiday.

That message made me think. I’m guilty about complaining about the mass consumption that Christmas encourages and I feel the need to remind people that Jesus is “God from the Gutter” who preferred the company of hookers and leper to the holy men of his day. But having said all these things, I need to ask – is it wrong to have fun?

OK, I don’t think religion should be “happy-clappy.” One of my exes went to a church that kept beating the drum that following Jesus was easy. I don’t buy that. If faith was that easy, it would be meaningless. Faith and spiritual fulfilment has to be challenging in order for it to be meaningful. God, as I’ve often said is not a real estate agent who hands out parcels of desert at his whims nor is he a mix between your agony aunt and fairy godmother who waves away your problems. As His Holiness the Dalai Lama said, “We’ve been praying for thousands of years. If we meet Buddha or Jesus Christ, they’re bound to say, we didn’t start the problem – you did – so solve it.”

While, I dislike the idea of “McGod” the happy aunt – I believe that its wrong to separate God from Fun. It’s necessary to have a holiday and time out from the miserable grind of daily life. Festivals, are not meant to be an exclusive occasion. They’re meant to bring people together.

I remember the “Haji” (Muslim who had completed his Haj) telling me, “The first religion is not Islam but Salaam – when we shake hands and become friends.” The Jesus story may not be the most prominent one at Christmas but if it creates an opportunity for people of different social and cultural backgrounds to get together and chill out and reminds people that they are more similar than they are different – then I say that you can’t get any more Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh, Taoist or Parsi than that.

I hope everyone celebrated Christmas for all that it was worth and I really hope everyone reading this makes it a point to celebrate every religious festival for all that their worth. There is nothing closer to God than chilling out and remembering the decency in the human race.

Hot Air from the World’s Greatest Scientific Nation.

This morning I had the strange privilege of reading two unusual headlines. The first was a feed on my social media about how Michael Bloomberg, New York’s former mayor, had spoken about climate change and condemned the occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue for denying the science. As with all social media posts, the most amusing (or frightening things) about social media feeds was to be found in the comments section. Mr. Bloomberg was condemned left, right and centre for “turning pseudo-science” into his political agenda.

The other article that I was intrigued by was found in Arab News, Saudi Arabia’s leading English daily (and a paper I used to string for) which ran a story with the headline, “Saudi Arabia joins nations in Katowice as talks adopt ‘Rulebook’ to curb climate change.” An edition of the story can be found at:

http://www.arabnews.com/node/1421906/saudi-arabia

What struck me about these contrasting stories was the fact that the story about Mr. Bloomberg was the fact that it came from America, the country that has been the home to the greatest scientist in this half of the twentieth and twenty-fist centuries. American universities stand out of their world-leading research into just about every aspect of science and America has produced more Nobel Prize winners than just about anyone else. America stands out as the place that attracts the world’s best minds.

By contrast, the other story was coming out of Saudi Arabia, a country whose entire economy depends on the production of hydrocarbons. I remember a senior vice-president from the Saudi National Oil Company (Saudi ARAMCO) saying, “ARAMCO is only part of the kingdom – we only produce 70 percent of the Kingdom’s GDP.” You would imagine that it would be in the interest of Saudi Arabia and the other oil producing nations to fight off any attempt to do anything that would limit the use of fossil fuels. Furthermore, Saudi Arabia doesn’t have a reputation for being “open to new ideas,” and yet here is the world’s leading hydro-carbon producer announcing that it was joining a global conference on curbing the use of fossil fuels and carbon production.

So, how did we reach a stage where this contradiction would take place? Well, for a start, I guess you could say that Saudi Arabia isn’t as inward looking as its international reputation would suggests. When I was working for the Saudi Embassy in 2006, one of the directors of the Prince Sultan City for Humanity, made the point that Saudi Arabia is in the position to buy the world’s best technology and the Middle East, as they say is more tech-savvy than the wider world imagines. Furthermore, the readers of Arab News tend to be quite international in their outlook.

However, the question at stake here is not so much whether Saudi Arabia is more technologically advanced and outward looking than it is given credit for. The more important question here is whether America is as advanced as it lets on.

America has always been home to the unusual. The less charitable would say that this was the land where religious nut jobs went to when they were being persecuted elsewhere. While America may have more than its fair share of scientific genius’s coming out of her universities, America also has her share of people who believe in unusual things based on nothing more than a few blind prejudices.

However, its only in recent years where the “unusual thinkers” have found themselves with an ally in a position of power – I am of course, talking about Donald Trump, who managed to ride into power by promising people displaced by shifts in technology and economics that he would care for them.

One of Donald Trump’s biggest achievements was to paint a picture of how America had lost out in the world because a group of “Leftist Granola Munching Greedy Corporatist” had sold them out to the Chinese, Muslims and anyone else who wasn’t sufficiently pink and blotchy. The Donald famously made fun of the disabled and labeled an ethnic group that does the work in America as “rapist.” 

However, the most disturbing part about The Donald was his ability to turn science into a political issue. One of his signature themes was to attack climate change as a “Chinese Hoax.” Apparently, China, a third-world country (admittedly a very big one) had the means to invented the concept of climate change to rob America of its basic industries like coal mining and oil production.

Mr. Trump has been so successful at creating this image of global warming, that anytime anyone of any prominence in America tries to talk about it, they are inevitably labeled as being part of the “corrupt, leftist, corporatist, greedy elite” bent of screwing the common man.

The Trump has given a new impetus to “climate change denial.” When his own government produced a thick document detailing the damage that climate change would do to America, his response was simple – he told the world, “I don’t believe it.” An account of his story can be found at:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-46351940

Why is Mr. Trump taking this stance? One could say that Mr. Trump’s base is from the likes of coal miners and oil patch workers who got displaced. His “pro-fossil-fuel” agenda is supposedly to keep his base happy and to be fair, an outwork 40 plus year-old coal miner isn’t going to worry about global warming when the only thing he knows how to do was shut down because of a corporate restructuring.

However, I don’t think economics is the only reason for climate change denial or not really worrying about the environment. I come from Singapore. There was a time when we took the view that concern for the environment was a luxury of the developed world. We, in developing Asia, were more concerned with feeding our people and getting rich, so the adage went.

Then, something very fundamental changed – our entire region became smog infested on a year-on-year basis. Whilst Singapore did everything in its power to stay clean and green, smog season aka “the haze” meant that at certain times of the year our air was downright dangerous to breath. The reason was simple, in neighboring Indonesia, forest were burnt to make way for plantations and the result was that the entire Southeast Asian region got covered in “The Haze.”

Environmental issues hit home. ASEAN, which prides itself in “non-interference” between member states, suddenly questioned the Indonesians about stopping the seasonal haze.

Caring about the environment isn’t a “lefty” conspiracy when you have to breath smog. It becomes a very real and pressing issue that you need to stop so that you can breathe properly. In terms of economics, we still use current energy sources like oil (While Singapore is not an oil producing nation, we have the seventh largest oil refinery in the world.). However, we continue to invest in other sources of energy and in looking after the environment.

You could also ask the Maldives, an island nation in the Indian Ocean, on what they think of the reality of climate change. Nobody in the Maldives is worried about that “Chinese Hoax.” Instead, they’re worried that they will drown as sea levels rise.

As for the Chinese, they’ve suddenly discovered their “green” touch. While Trump and his supporters are busy producing hot air over the politics of climate change, the Chinese are rising their investment in alternative and cleaner fuels. While, China’s energy sources remain in fossil fuels, the share of renewable sources is rising. China currently produces 63% of the world's solar photovoltaic and the world’s third largest producer of ethanol, bio-mass fuels after Brazil and the USA.

The sudden rush for the Chinese to invest in renewable technologies was founded on a simple premise – air in China was becoming lethal and Chinese citizens were not going to stand for it (even communist governments have to have pulse on the popular mood). The results of environmental degradation had hit home in China and people learnt that increased material prosperity is pointless if you live in a place where the environment kills you.

The science of climate change is not as absolute as its supporters might want to believe. However, there must be something there as the majority of scientist believe that this is a pressing issue. You know something is happening when those with the biggest stake in preserving the dominance of fossil-fuels look at invest in a green future.

I was in Dubai recently and I managed to pay a visit to a prominent Emirati businesswoman, whose “heritage “business in oil and gas. On her website, she makes this point:

“Changing weatherpatterns and record heat waves only amplify the requirements to conserve thefinite resources of Earth. As a historical Oil & Gas family, we feel aspecial responsibility to support solutions and technologies that deliver onthe promise of sustainability for future generations.”

Shell Oil (a Company not known for is environmental stewardship)has an entire web page with information on how Shell Oil is trying to build a “greeninfrastructure.”

This has to be a very clear signal of the way the world is heading and should head. There may be a few holes in climate change science but these are very small holes on the scale of things. People do not wish to live in lousy environments and even the oil companies and the oil producing nations see that they have to preserve natural resources to have wealth for the future

Donald Trump and his supporters are lucky that the effects of environmental degradation have yet to hit home. What a pity it would be if “climate change denial” or “scientific denial” became a luxury of the developing world.

When Disagreeing Leads to Unity

I tried to organize a social gathering for the contributories of my blog last night, when I was challenged by one of them as to my purpose and intended “end goals” in trying to organize a social get together. One of my other contributors asked me why I would befriend someone like him and more importantly why would I do so when the person in question and I are at different ends of the political spectrum (he’s pro-gun and pro-Trump – readers of my blog know that I’m not.”

This incident, interestingly enough, came after I was watching the eulogy to former US President George HW Bush, which was delivered by his son, former President George W Bush, the night before. What struck me was the fact that George W (once again, my readers will know that I was never a fan of George W), was that he described how his father developed a very warm friendship with Bill Clinton, the man who ousted him from the Presidency.

An account of their friendship can be found at:

http://time.com/5470205/george-hw-bush-clinton-presidents-club/

I’m old enough to remember the 1992 Election Campaign. It was brutal. Bush the Elder did not hesitate to fight dirty and was quick to attack the then Governor of Arkansas for his philandering, draft-dodging ways. The then Governor of Arkansas was equally quick to show that he was capable of digging up dirt, when he brought up Bush the Elder’s past dealings with Saddam Hussain. The campaign was clear – it was the Patrician, East Coast Brahmin, who had a decent enough marriage and family and a record of a genuine war hero versus the pot smoking Hill Billy who couldn’t keep his prick in his pocket. This was a contest between class and generation and yes, the victory of Bush the Younger over Clinton’s Vice-President, Al Gore, seemed like – revenge for Bush the Elder.

Then, somehow, during the Presidency of Bush the Younger, Bill Clinton and George HW Bush developed a genuine friendship and as is often said, the man who grew up without a father (Clinton being his stepfather’s name) found one.

I’m reminded of this because it underlines one of the most pressing things about the world we live in today – tribalism – where, in the words of Bush the Younger, “You are either with us or against us.” Ironically, the biggest examples of tribalism is in America, the nation that gave us the first modern day democratic constitution that starts with, “We, the PEOPLE.” Even before the advent of Donald Trump, America a nation divided into many small tribes. I remember inadvertently a gay man being shocked that I would walk into a gay bar – “You’re straight, and you walk into a bar like this?” I had to explain to him that all I wanted was a beer and this happened to be the nearest bar. The fact that I was more interested in what the bar served than in the sexuality of the patrons was an alien concept to him.

To be fair to the USA, there were parts of Britain that had an incurable amount of tribalism. This was mostly seen in the form of football matches, where ones tribe was defined by ones football affiliations. Biggest example was in Liverpool where those who supported Liverpool were inevitably Catholic and those who supported Everton were inevitably Protestant. Unfortunately, I’m old enough to remember when tribalism in the United Kingdom wasn’t limited to football. I am, of course, talking about Northern Ireland, which was in the midst of a civil war of sorts between the Catholics of Sinn Fein (political arm of the IRA) and the Orange Men of Ulster (who had their own group of terrorists called the UDF). Divisions in Belfast was so bad that the standard joke in Northern Ireland went like this – “Why did the chicken cross the road? Because he was stupid.” (A Protestant would never cross the road into a Catholic area and visa-versa.)

The highlight of my university years in London, was of course, the Good Friday accords, where all the parties in Northern Ireland understood that they weren’t getting anywhere and it was time to lay down their arms. While the peace was not perfect (Bill Clinton got into trouble for describing the various parties as two drunk men), they seem to have reached that spot where everyone understands that their tribe gains more from working and living together with the other tribe than killing the other tribe.

I return to America and to the funeral of George HW Bush, a man who was very close to his own tribe but managed to become close to a man from a completely different one. While, I was never a great fan of George HW Bush, he understood the system that made America great. America wasn’t a great homogeneous block but a noisy collection of tribes that found that they had more to gain through co-existence than they did through killing each other. America is great because it rewards excellence no matter who you are. How is it such that in a country that is predominantly white revere its sporting heroes who are black (Mohammad Ali, Michael Jordan just to name a few).

In Asia, there is the example of India, which, although remains a nasty tribal place in so many ways, is also a very successful one. I did work for Polaris which was set up by a Jain from Delhi but based out of Chennai and filled with Tamilians. At one stage, India was a country where 80 percent of the electorate was Hindu but it had a Muslim President and a Sikh Prime Minister.

I’m not free of bring tribal myself. I’ve outlined all the “tribal” things that I do in my entry “Sticking with your Own Kind.”

May be its’ because I’ve inevitably been blessed by people who were not my own kind, that I came to realise that being part of the same tribe as someone (my favourite Pudding once complained that I need to experience my own kind more) doesn’t make them my friend. It made me realise that really great societies are the ones where people can disagree passionately but come together and focus on the things that matter. As messy as America may be, it’s a great place because out that mess, people come together to make great things.

The Art of Gift Giving in Global Business

By William Nobrega

Managing Partner at DTN Venture Partners 

While the tradition of giving gifts to valued partners, investors and team members may have lost its charm in the United States where etiquette and style do not seem to hold much cache it is alive in well in Asia and Europe where business is as much about form as it is about function. Defining the appropriate gift is typically something that requires significant thought as the return it generates both in good will and actual business opportunities can dwarf the value of the gift itself.

When we were evaluating gift ideas for our new directors/investors we tried to create a balance between exclusivity, personalisation, brand and vanity appeal. The idea was that the gift would be incredibly unique and that it would reflect the importance we held for the relationship itself. In the end we decided to work with one of England’s oldest gun makers “Purdey” to create customised shotguns for our honoured partners.

The guns will have the DTN logo embossed in gold on the breastplate and all will have the initials of the owners themselves. The recipients will spend three days in London being fitted, instructed in firearm use and finally participating on a hunt on a private estate. I will personally present certificates signed by a member of the Purdey family to each recipient after which we will arrange for the London trip. This is not a gift it is an experience and one that I believe will reinforce and promote our brand.

Which part of your body goes into Innovation ?

By KV Rao 

Innovation has been integral to human evolution since the cart-wheel was invented by man some 3500 years ago, and it so much a part of our daily life that often, we are oblivious as to how it impacts us. Innovation, simply put is 'improving’ in whatever you do, and that is constantly happening around our lives, as we speak.

I started by asking, which part of their body did the teams use the most to “innovate” on the projects – after a few hesitant moments, the hands went up … answers ranged from - head ! hands ! thumbs !! ears !! eyes ! brain !! and even feet!!!!! … Then a girl uttered “Heart”.. aha... joy.

There is so much written about innovation, and theorised that it is hard to find what it really is, unless you yourself have walked the route, experienced it and reflected on it.

Yes, what lies in between the ears, the head or brain is of course most important. The brain in itself has two hemispheres, the logical left and the creative right. Its not just using the right brain that causes innovation but the ability to fire up both hemispheres, perhaps alternating. Much has already been said about it. But, that’s not enough - no innovation has ever happened by the sheer power of the brainpower alone… there is this emotional element, and a strong one at that, which is called passion. This passion is a piece of the heart, it carries patience, commitment and total dedication together with it... all are features of a strong heart. "Whats in it if you don't have your heart in it, anyway ??  That completes the first 2 parts. Now there is this important 3rd piece of the jig, a vital part – and it is the Gut (belly!).

You have always heard about that “fire in the belly” expression, it the seat of a certain vital energy. When you are really angry you almost feel that heat or pain in the stomach…. It seats a great deal of energy - both positive and negative, and on a more subtle level, we have heard of Intuition – a message that strikes you, in a cryptic language or image of its own, but never leaving you in doubt. A kind of revelation, that instantly tells you something rather strongly and powerfully. It is the “gut” that says it all. Isn’t it a common expression you have heard and used, surely in your life “I feel in my gut!”?… That’s perhaps the Eureka moment. The gut is equally the seat of courage and risk taking. Hence, here you go bingo. Mind, Heart and Gut …the 3 elements of Innovation.

However - Gut, alone might lead you to disaster, and Mind alone might leave you with heavy head and confused, and with a Heart alone sadly - great feelings may lead to supreme disappointments.

The key is to be a conscious and holistic innovator, it helps being perceptive and sensitive to these three inner drivers within one self, that can make you so much more effective in trying to be successful. Now tickle yourself to wake up all the 3 resident parts of your body, and go and innovate… its an exciting journey anyway, whether you succeed or you have dared to try…..its worth it, my young friends.

A tale of Two Families

Last night, I got a WhatsApp message from a friend in Abu Dhabi, to inform me that they were celebrating in the United Arab Emirates (“UAE”) passport had just overtaken Singapore’s as the world’s most powerful. The UAE passport lets you into 167 different countries visa-free versus 166 for Singapore. As a good Singaporean, I offered my congratulations and we ended up chatting about the history of Singapore and the comparison with Dubai.

On paper, Dubai and Singapore are very similar. Both are small trading ports that have prospered with very little by way of natural resources (OK, Dubai had some oil, and Singapore has a fabulous port). Both have thrived as havens of stability in regions which aren’t known for it (a more accurate description is that Dubai is a haven of “fun” in a region that is the living opposite of “fun”). When my stepdad moved there in the early 1990s, his only remark was that Dubai models itself on Singapore. Having visited in 2017 and most recently, two weeks ago, my description of Dubai is that it is “Singapore on Steroids.”

 Like Singapore, Dubai builds a lot of big tall buildings on very little. Like Singapore, life in Dubai seems to centre around the “Shopping Mall.” It’s just that everything in Dubai seems to be that much more extravagant than in most places – Singapore included.

The description of Dubai as Singapore on steroids has spilled into an interesting rivalry in a few areas. The most recent one was the battle for British shipping Company, P&O Maritime Services, which became the subsidiary of Dubai Ports after a takeover with ……Port Authority of Singapore (PSA). That’s not all. Singapore’s national airline, SIA constantly competes with Emirates of Dubai to see who produces the best fist class experience.

However, while Dubai and Singapore are similar in many ways, their paths and approach to prosperity were and are very different and you have to look at their different paths to prosperity in terms of their relationship with their immediate neighbor. For Dubai, it’s the anchor Emirate of Abu Dhabi and for Singapore it’s Malaysia. Both Singapore and Dubai share, what one Indian business executive called a “constructive” rivalry where each tries to out do each other in constructive things – ie you build a port, I build a bigger one – you have an F1 race, I’ll have a better F1 race.

Yet, there are subtle differences in how the relationship with the “bigger brother” has shaped the culture of both cities.

As a Singaporean, I’ve grown up with the message that Singapore has succeeded in spite of everything. Lee Kuan Yew our founding father, went as far as to describe the concept of an “Independent Singapore” as a “ridiculous notion.” We are constantly reminded that Singapore has no natural resources, particularly water and we are told that we need to “fight” in the world for what little we have.

While, I do think from time-to-time, that the threat from Malaysia and Indonesia is overblown, there was a time when it was not or at least, it wasn’t worth the risk trying to find out. My two and a half years in the SAF were all about ensuring that Singapore could hold its own in the world should the neighbourhood bullies think we were a soft touch.  

And Malaysia, has coincidentally done its part to ensure that we can keep our culture and policies of paranoia. While native born Singaporeans and Malaysians almost speak the same language, the politicians in KL have uncanny ability to frighten us into something. Back when I was doing PR for PUB, I always argued that the man who made Singapore’s “Newater” available was the once and current Prime Minister of Malaysia, Dr. Mohammad Mahathir, who had made threatening noises about cutting off Singapore’s water supply. At that moment, our then Prime Minister, Mr. Goh Chok Tong, promptly revealed that we had found a way of getting healthy recycled water and we, the public drank it as a celebratory “up yours” to our cousins in the north.

While Singapore and Malaysia may seem like churlish siblings to the rest of the world, there was a time when things were downright ugly thanks to one of the worst of the “isms” – racism. Singapore remains majority Chinese. Malaysia remains predominantly Malay. As an ethnic Chinese, I say this with no malice intended but the Chinese are, as a group, more aggressive and commercially successful. This minor fact allowed unscrupulous politicians to play up resentments and there is a generation of people who have experienced being on the wrong side of brutal race riots.

One of the ironies of history is that Lee Kuan Yew, who was by all accounts, a man in a hurry and a man with great ambition, wanted Singapore to be part of Malaysia. He had a vision where a well-run Malaysia, with all its natural resources, could be exceptionally prosperous. Being part of Malaysia would have made Singapore secure in terms of its food, water and energy resources. However, Mr. Lee, while exceptionally brilliant, failed to read the mood in Malaysia and the feelings of the ethnic Malays. His brash, let’s finish it in half the time, style didn’t gel with Malaysia’s founding Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman. An excerpt of an interview with the “Tunku” can be found below:

https://www.esquire.my/lifestyle/culture/tunku-abdul-rahman-malaysia-singapore-split-1965

As was said around Lee Kuan Yew’s death, his greatest success, namely independent Singapore came as a result of his greatest failure – the Federation of Malaysia. Everything that Singapore has gotten right comes from the sense of vulnerability of being thrown out unceremoniously from the Malaysian Federation. As far as Malaysia was concerned, Mr. Lee was a brash upstart who did not know his place and you can’t help but feel that Singaporeans treat their Malaysian cousins as the bumpkins who didn’t understand the future.

Dubai and Abu Dhabi have a different sort of relationship. If Singapore is Malaysia’s younger, pushier cousin with a chip on his shoulder, Dubai behaves like the extrovert brother who understands big brother still loves him but he’s big brother for a good reason.

The UAE was something that both sides wanted to happen. Both Sheikh Rashid Bin Saeed Al Maktum (father of the current ruler of Dubai) and Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan (father of the current ruler of Abu Dhabi) got along well enough to see the value of being in a federation together. The formation of the UAE is famously recorded as being part of handshake deal between two tribal leaders below:

https://www.thenational.ae/uae/heritage/sheikh-mohammed-bin-rashid-remembers-the-day-the-dream-of-the-uae-was-born-1.705568

While the relationship between Abu Dhabi and Dubai (particularly between the ruling families), hasn’t always been smooth sailing, both sides managed to come to an agreement on how to work together for each other’s mutual benefit.

Dubai has marketed itself brilliantly, so much so that it tends to annoy people from everywhere else in the region. I still remember working for the Saudis and having to deal with upset Saudis who were asked “which part of Dubai” are you from (Saudi Arabia being most of the Arabian Peninsula and Dubai being a speck by comparison)?

While Dubai has positioned itself as the place to be in the Arabian Gulf, Abu Dhabi the “real” power in the Emirate. Dubai was impressive and had lots of activity (booze and spas included), it was very clear upon entering Abu Dhabi that this was where the real money was. I always remember being blown away by the Arabi women coming out of the Shangri La dressed in Abaya.

How does this work? I guess you could say that Dubai gets away with it because Abu Dhabi is by no means the poorer relation in the way that Kuala Lumpur is to Singapore. Big Brother is secure in his position.

If I return to my analogy of Dubai being Singapore on steroids, its because Dubai comes from a very different perspective. In Singapore, we’re told that you run or die. We can only do so much because everything is limited and there are millions trying to have our lunch. You can’t have steroids because, well there are no steroids.

While Dubai itself has no hydrocarbon wealth, it has an insurance policy of a big brother with plenty of hydrocarbon wealth. While Dubai does contribute to the federal budget of the UAE, Abu Dhabi remains by far and away the place with the real money and as most famously shown in the 2008 crisis, investors looked to Abu Dhabi to come to the rescue and Burj Al Arab became Burj Khalifa in honour of the ruler of Abu Dhabi who stepped in to save the day.

As someone who was self-employed for many years, I realized that I often ended up doing jobs because something was better than nothing even if the job would end up costing more than it was worth. I needed money and didn’t know when the next cheque was coming. People who don’t need the money can afford to say no and eventually get their jobs and their price.

If you use that analogy, Dubai is the self-employed person who can afford to say no because they know they have a back-up in the form of Big Brother’s support. Dubai can build bigger and better than anyone else because the damage of failure won’t be what it is compared to what it is in a place like Singapore.

What does Abu Dhabi get out of being Dubai’s back up? The answer is probably the fact that first movers don’t always win. Abu Dhabi is well aware that it cannot live off hydrocarbons forever and its got to find other sources of revenue – but which way should they go.

The answer lies in Dubai. While Dubai does this and that, Abu Dhabi can sit back and observe what works and what does not work.

When I went to meet my friend in Abu Dhabi, it coincided with the preparations of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. I remarked that Abu Dhabi was quieter than Dubai and she said, “Yes, we are more conservative than Dubai but we are now competing with Dubai to bring the world to us.” Tourism worked for Dubai and so, Abu Dhabi is working to develop tourism. Abu Dhabi has also seen what type of tourist they want (a different sort from Dubai). As far as the Abu Dhabi -Dubai relationship is concerned, big brother is watching little brother tread the stones in the river and following a more careful path.

Singapore and Dubai’s path to success are different. Neither is better or worse, but suits their context. Historical conditions got Singapore on the path that it did and the same is true for Dubai.

For entrepreneurs, there’s probably a lesson from both cities. One should probably be like Singapore in the early stages of development – work in Andy Grove’s maxim of “Only the paranoid survives.” Always have the mentality that you can be squashed at any moment – it will help you conserve resources and you learn to play off bigger boys against each other.

But you should also be like Dubai in the way it is cultivated a symbiotic relationship with a “patron,” someone who will help keep you safe from the nasty stuff the world has to offer.