The Reality: Africa and Asia: Why Asia Matters Most

 The Reality: Africa and Asia: Why Asia Matters Most


As a student of International Relations and the fact that a keen interest in foreign affairs exists in me, I asked myself so many questions when I got Mr. Lee Kuan Yew book. 


1. What is interesting is Africans always try to compare themselves with Singapore or Asia to a greater extent. What we do when we make those comparisons is we don’t look at who these countries are, and whether their circumstances are the same with ours. So, you are like a child who came up in a township, and from a poor family, trying to compare yourself with your next neighbor who has got a rich uncle or rich parents, thinking that your circumstances are the same, and trying to use that blueprint for yourself. You can’t. 


2. Who is Singapore? What is Singapore? Where did Singapore come from? And what’s its position in the current value system? Singapore is a former British colony that currently repairs British, American ships. They are strategically kept where they are to have a U.S. base and a British base-to repair ships. This is one of the industries that they have. 


3. 60 percent of Singaporeans are Chinese people; 13 percent, I think are Indians e.t.c. Why is that important? It’s important because Singapore is at the tip of China in the South China Sea. And their job is: when China was close to the world was to be a ghetto point for European companies to put in their products into China through Singapore (remember I said 60 percent of its population are Chinese), and also to do the same to India. You have a 4 billion market in South Asia. So, how many other countries can be a Singapore? Very few. South Africa is the closest country to a Singapore. Will Nigeria be a Singapore? It’s difficult. 


4. Africa was not targeted by the West to become the factory of the world—which may allow the West to be willing to put technology, education, knowledge and finance—to industrialize Africa and make it an industrial hub, and the manufacturing factory of the world. Africa is a low-cost resource extracting center. It’s deliberately denied education, investment, technology. These are the positions we are in. We can not be a Singapore in Africa, unless we create the conditions for ourselves. Most Asian countries were included in the Marshal Plan after the Second World War. They were even given reparations by Japan. All these make Asia totally different compared to Africa. 


Having brought what we can learn from them, just like what Dr. Adamu Tilde did, I think we can prosper in our individual capacity. 


Thank you, Dr. for the insight. This is what I have learnt from my end.


MA

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