We are almost on the eve of the Budget. There are more apprehensions than expectations. Expectations are not high if we judge from the actions and inactions of the past eighteen months. People do not expect any drastic changes that will make a perceptible difference or improvement to the morose economic trends or a sharp turn in our economic fortunes and, by extension, in our standard of living. Apprehensions abound basically for the same reasons, in addition to the budget deficit and public debt. Furthermore, the Middle East war has clouded the horizon, with a surge in inflation adding fuel to the fire.

This year’s Budget has to be different from its predecessor. It cannot once again harp on the inherited legacy, albeit true. There is no doubt that the previous government was responsible in large measure for the quagmire we are in; there were examples of both economic and fiscal irresponsibility and mismanagement. Neither was any new pillar created in ten years. On the contrary, its actions contributed to the rapid decline of the export sector. There is no need to belabour this point, as warning bells were sounded even when they were in power. It was not a question of money illusion but a deliberate policy to deceive and delude the population by flouting basic economic principles. The value of work was deprecated, yielding a culture of laziness and indolence like the Lotos-eaters in Tennyson’s poem, where

“…slumber is more sweet than toil, the shore

Than labour in the mid-ocean, wind and wave and oar.”

However, the population is weary of the same refrain and would like to hear another tune. It does not imply that nothing has been done. People can now breathe compared to the suffocation of the past, a freedom which is more valuable than any material thing. But the population has had enough of the past and is exasperated by the non-exemplary behaviour of many in power while they have to tighten their belts. The signal to our leaders is clear.

It is vital for the government to change gear for it to become the driving force for action, for change, for concrete projects, for development, for progress, the lack of which is direly felt. This is a tall order which calls for a break from its own record of the past eighteen months, but nothing short of a paradigm shift is required.

The traditional public relations exercise of the Budget, couched in beautiful language, will not dampen the pervasive negative mood of the population. At any rate, the government has failed to feel the pulse of the population due to the communication gap.

The Prime Minister is shouldering a big responsibility to turn things around, having chosen the delicate task of spearheading the finances of the country. As Shakespeare said, “Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.” From the little information he revealed at a function at the weekend, it seems that he will be undeterred from the chosen path and will not yield to demagogy. It remains to be seen how the ingredients will be mixed to produce the right recipe. Budget time will be an opportunity for greater credibility, but the risks are high. In this respect, the Budget can be a “make or break” situation.

It cannot be denied that external forces impinge heavily on our economic growth trajectory. But a growth of less than 3% should not be taken as a datum or a fait accompli. To be realistic, it will not help to solve the debt problem, the budget deficit or even inflation. These economic ills will be nagging us for years unless we accelerate our growth. We should fix a target growth of, say, 4% and devise ways and means to attain it. But we have to roll up our sleeves. The need of the hour is to tap into the potential of sectors to boost their activities and investment and contribute to growth. The Budget should provide a “déclic” to economic activities and implementation of projects ranging from micro to mammoth. There is scope to develop pillars like the ocean economy or even the knowledge hub.

The government cannot do it alone since it does not have the means. Instead, it has to build bridges with the private sector, which accounts for the bulk of investment. It should embrace a public-private sector partnership for a win-win strategy. Both sectors can pool their resources and energy to develop a synergy to attain nobler objectives. As Winston Churchill said, “Give us the tools, and we will finish the job.” If we do not turn the tide in our favour, we will be swept to the high seas.

The true mettle of leadership is to transform adversity into opportunities rather than pine over the causes. Lately, there has been a resurgence of interest in the Singaporean model. People are thirsty to explore new ideas and innovative approaches. We even had a visit from the founding father of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew, in the past. However, the chasm has been further widened ever since rather than narrowed. But we should not reinvent the wheel. We are fortunate to learn from their rich experience. However, we should not try to emulate blindly what has been achieved there, but we can take a leaf from their book to chart our own path and achieve our dream of prosperity and a brighter future. We can also open a new chapter, provided we lead by example and inculcate the right discipline from top to bottom rather than the other way round.