Efficiency at the expense of resilience

Singapore is said to be able to face a wide range of national related security threats. She has been through times when communist riots were rampant and through crisis like the SARS period. Besides, our Armed Forces are amongst the most advanced, highly trained and disciplined militaries. We have also done an excellent job of convincing large international players like United States to have direct interests in staying engaged in the region. With respect to threats such as organized crime, pandemics or terrorism, Singapore is well served by national agencies. All these make Singapore amongst the best protected states in the world. However, is Singapore really safe? Is there a threat that could kill Singapore or render it vulnerable? I would have to agree with the writer and most probably say yes. It may even be an “inside job”. Which is the unhealthy mindset of being overly focused with efficiency and following business models, cutting all redundancies and leaving the most basic of core functions. That means, if a specific job requires only five people to accomplish the task and the original manpower is seven, being efficient would mean cutting away the two redundant people. This may be acceptable to a government which works in an environment of stability without rapid change or crisis. However, the greatest flaw in this system is that it is not adaptable in a time of crisis. The government should not address issues of efficiency but rather, issues of continuity and survivability in period of crisis or rapid change. A good government is one which adapts well and not one that is efficient. A country must have the surge capability and redundancies to ensure survival. For example, if our army were to cut down manpower to the bare minimum to function efficiently, we would be in serious trouble if war were to strike. The bare manpower that the army has may not be able to sustain the prolong period of war and where people have to work 24/7. The key indicator for a government is how well it survives a crisis or sudden turn of events, not how efficient it is. Therefore, a government should not set itself up to have indicators which measure success against goals that bear little resemblance to the real world crisis and change. Businesses go out of business quite frequently. This is not what the government or citizens want. A better future for Singapore greatly depends on both the overall strength of the government and the resilience of its people. By maintaining redundant capabilities in government and building a stronger civil society, Singapore can continue to face the future with confidence and security. Redundancies are like fats. People always think of cutting down on fats. However, they do not realise that they still need a certain amount of fats to keep them warm during an emergency and turn that fat into extra muscles when the basic muscles that you need in order to function efficiently has been exhausted.

link for newspaper article -- http://enewslink.asia1.com.sg/brsweb/read_1.brsw?this=result&QDT=1&QFLST=HD%3AHG%3APD&DB=BT%3AST%4006-07&QSTR=%28%28efficiency+%29%29.HD.&DTSTR=%28%28PD+%3E=+20060910%29+and+%28PD+%3C=+20070210%29%29&PSZ=10&MAXL=200&SUMY=1&HLT=0&LSTN=0&ID=000004583@ST07

The Straits Times, Monday, January 29 2007