Singapore hopes for an end to its shame
They must be spitting razors in Singapore’s corridors of power as I write this.
Singapore is perhaps the perfect example of what “enlightened dictatorship” is capable of achieving. The expression is often derided as oxymoronic but Singapore seems to prove that it is not. A prosperous first world economy was produced out of nothing in less than a single generation because a people collectively and willingly bowed to the will of a powerful and extremely clever lawyer, Mr Harry Lee Kuan Yew.
In Mr Lee’s mind prosperity depended first upon decent, rule-abiding behaviour and unquestioning respect for authority. If Mr Lee woke up with a bad feeling about something, his solution was to find a clever, if legal, way of declaring that something to be illegal and then see to it that the law was strictly enforced in both letter and spirit. Thus, when carelessly disposed of chewing gum was found to be blocking the doors of Singapore’s shiny new underground trains, Mr Lee’s authorities did not reach for lily-livered cures like a severe fine. No. Chewing gum was banned outright from the country. To discourage slovenliness and poor hygiene, strict sanctions were imposed against filth. If you deposit an unsightly mess in a Singaporean toilet and leave it for others to deal with, you will find yourself hauled off to chokey; leaving a toilet unflushed is a criminal offence.
Even august western publications like The Economist have found themselves banned from Singapore for daring to be critical of the government’s (for which read “Mr Lee’s”) methods.
The no nonsense nature of Mr Lee’s methods was brought into sharp focus in the 1990s. An American teenager called Michael Fay thought he could treat Singaporean residential streets like Chicago’s back alleys and vandalise motor cars when his excitable spirit moved him. Fay was arrested, tried and sentenced to six strokes of the cane. The Americans could not believe that one of their citizens could suffer such “barbarism” and the then president, Bill Clinton, tried asking the Singaporeans to be sensible. The message from Singapore was despatched back to Washington at a high rate of speed: “you do not tell us what to do with criminals here, matey!” The foolish boy was duly flogged.
Imagine then the outrage, the fury, the sheer indignation felt in the island city-state at the certainty that their country will now forever more be associated with easily the most blatant example of crookedness in motor racing and one of the worst ever in the history of sport itself. The 2008 Singaporean Grand Prix could hardly have been more execrable. Nelson Piquet Jr. was ordered to crash his car by his bosses at Renault in order to force a safety car episode at a time which so suited his team-mate Fernando Alonso that he went on to win the race. Formula One is now thought about as a mafia-controlled, vile sport where anything – even people’s lives – is expendable. Because of the skulduggery of Flavio Briatore and his loyal lieutenant, Pat Symonds, the first ever night-time Grand Prix – an event which was supposed to showcase the best of Formula One’s glamour and pizzazz - is now linked with the ludicrous new word “Crashgate”. Oh dear.
It does not take too much imagination to see that some hapless government official or minister from the appropriate government department was probably summoned to the office of Mr Lee Kuan Yew – who, although well into his eighties, now sits in the Singapore cabinet of his son, the Prime Minister, as Minister Mentor – and had heavy objects hurled at his head.
As we now know, Briatore and Symonds are now not even allowed within a mile of a Grand Prix circuit, so you might well be wondering what is to become of Nelson Piquet Jr. You are probably thinking that he is viewed like someone who has just emerged from the depths of a pit latrine liberally covered in “mature” substances and will never drive an F1 car again, right? Wrong!
At least four new teams are coming into Formula One next season and one of them has almost certainly lined Piquet Jr. up for a drive. Why? Well, Piquet Jr. is no ordinary driver, you see. This, however, is nothing to do with the Brazilian’s driving skills. Putting it delicately, he is not the most brilliant of racers (by all accounts, he even made a hash of the crash in Singapore – it wasn’t supposed to be so severe and it should have been against the opposite wall). But Nelson Piquet Jr. is special because – yes, you guessed it! – he is the son of Nelson Piquet Sr. Daddy has never been sparing in lavishing millions on his son – he even bought the boy his own racing team in Formula Three and GP2 – and would not be averse to paying any cash strapped new team a few million to keep the boy racing. Nelson Piquet Sr. is also very influential and could attract a lot of sponsorship money to any team employing his son. In other words, whether or not Piquet Jr. will be driving in Formula One any more is a no-brainer.
Singapore - and those in the world, like me, who wish we could all move on from this tawdry affair – sits with bated breath in anticipation of this weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix. Will it provide sufficient razzmatazz to allow us a soothing break from talk of gangsterism, thuggery and cheating? I await it with interest; particularly because we are now at a critical point in the drivers’ world championship.
With only four races left this season, there are now just four drivers with a mathematical chance of being world champion: Jenson Button, Rubens Barrichello, Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber. The two Red Bull drivers, Vettel and Webber are so far behind Button – 26 and 29 points respectively – one has to conclude that it would take something as terrible as a crash eliminating Button and Barrichello from the rest of the season’s races for either of them to be in with a chance.
Barrichello looks like the only driver with a realistic chance of displacing Button. The Brazilian is 14 points behind his English team-mate. Button must, therefore, make 26 points in the last four races to prevent Barrichello defeating him. That is to say, Button must achieve at least 3 third places and one second place if Barrichello wins all four races. Given Barrichello’s age, experience and the fact that this is almost certainly his best and last ever chance of winning a world championship, one must conclude that four wins from him are highly likely. He has everything to gain and nothing to lose by going hell for leather. Button, by contrast, has everything to lose by gunning for it. I expect a daredevil will to win from the Brazilian and caution from the Englishman.
What we do not know is the role team orders are likely to play. Will Ross Brawn really let his two drivers race each other to the wire? I would love to be a fly on the wall of the team briefings this weekend.
If I was to bet I would put my money on Button. In all the circumstances it seems safest.
Notwithstanding Crashgate, the Singapore Grand Prix is an exciting night-time race at an amazing street circuit. Try and concentrate on this as you knock back a chilled Tiger beer and,
Enjoy Singapore!
Gitau
24 September 2009
Singapore is perhaps the perfect example of what “enlightened dictatorship” is capable of achieving. The expression is often derided as oxymoronic but Singapore seems to prove that it is not. A prosperous first world economy was produced out of nothing in less than a single generation because a people collectively and willingly bowed to the will of a powerful and extremely clever lawyer, Mr Harry Lee Kuan Yew.
In Mr Lee’s mind prosperity depended first upon decent, rule-abiding behaviour and unquestioning respect for authority. If Mr Lee woke up with a bad feeling about something, his solution was to find a clever, if legal, way of declaring that something to be illegal and then see to it that the law was strictly enforced in both letter and spirit. Thus, when carelessly disposed of chewing gum was found to be blocking the doors of Singapore’s shiny new underground trains, Mr Lee’s authorities did not reach for lily-livered cures like a severe fine. No. Chewing gum was banned outright from the country. To discourage slovenliness and poor hygiene, strict sanctions were imposed against filth. If you deposit an unsightly mess in a Singaporean toilet and leave it for others to deal with, you will find yourself hauled off to chokey; leaving a toilet unflushed is a criminal offence.
Even august western publications like The Economist have found themselves banned from Singapore for daring to be critical of the government’s (for which read “Mr Lee’s”) methods.
The no nonsense nature of Mr Lee’s methods was brought into sharp focus in the 1990s. An American teenager called Michael Fay thought he could treat Singaporean residential streets like Chicago’s back alleys and vandalise motor cars when his excitable spirit moved him. Fay was arrested, tried and sentenced to six strokes of the cane. The Americans could not believe that one of their citizens could suffer such “barbarism” and the then president, Bill Clinton, tried asking the Singaporeans to be sensible. The message from Singapore was despatched back to Washington at a high rate of speed: “you do not tell us what to do with criminals here, matey!” The foolish boy was duly flogged.
Imagine then the outrage, the fury, the sheer indignation felt in the island city-state at the certainty that their country will now forever more be associated with easily the most blatant example of crookedness in motor racing and one of the worst ever in the history of sport itself. The 2008 Singaporean Grand Prix could hardly have been more execrable. Nelson Piquet Jr. was ordered to crash his car by his bosses at Renault in order to force a safety car episode at a time which so suited his team-mate Fernando Alonso that he went on to win the race. Formula One is now thought about as a mafia-controlled, vile sport where anything – even people’s lives – is expendable. Because of the skulduggery of Flavio Briatore and his loyal lieutenant, Pat Symonds, the first ever night-time Grand Prix – an event which was supposed to showcase the best of Formula One’s glamour and pizzazz - is now linked with the ludicrous new word “Crashgate”. Oh dear.
It does not take too much imagination to see that some hapless government official or minister from the appropriate government department was probably summoned to the office of Mr Lee Kuan Yew – who, although well into his eighties, now sits in the Singapore cabinet of his son, the Prime Minister, as Minister Mentor – and had heavy objects hurled at his head.
As we now know, Briatore and Symonds are now not even allowed within a mile of a Grand Prix circuit, so you might well be wondering what is to become of Nelson Piquet Jr. You are probably thinking that he is viewed like someone who has just emerged from the depths of a pit latrine liberally covered in “mature” substances and will never drive an F1 car again, right? Wrong!
At least four new teams are coming into Formula One next season and one of them has almost certainly lined Piquet Jr. up for a drive. Why? Well, Piquet Jr. is no ordinary driver, you see. This, however, is nothing to do with the Brazilian’s driving skills. Putting it delicately, he is not the most brilliant of racers (by all accounts, he even made a hash of the crash in Singapore – it wasn’t supposed to be so severe and it should have been against the opposite wall). But Nelson Piquet Jr. is special because – yes, you guessed it! – he is the son of Nelson Piquet Sr. Daddy has never been sparing in lavishing millions on his son – he even bought the boy his own racing team in Formula Three and GP2 – and would not be averse to paying any cash strapped new team a few million to keep the boy racing. Nelson Piquet Sr. is also very influential and could attract a lot of sponsorship money to any team employing his son. In other words, whether or not Piquet Jr. will be driving in Formula One any more is a no-brainer.
Singapore - and those in the world, like me, who wish we could all move on from this tawdry affair – sits with bated breath in anticipation of this weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix. Will it provide sufficient razzmatazz to allow us a soothing break from talk of gangsterism, thuggery and cheating? I await it with interest; particularly because we are now at a critical point in the drivers’ world championship.
With only four races left this season, there are now just four drivers with a mathematical chance of being world champion: Jenson Button, Rubens Barrichello, Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber. The two Red Bull drivers, Vettel and Webber are so far behind Button – 26 and 29 points respectively – one has to conclude that it would take something as terrible as a crash eliminating Button and Barrichello from the rest of the season’s races for either of them to be in with a chance.
Barrichello looks like the only driver with a realistic chance of displacing Button. The Brazilian is 14 points behind his English team-mate. Button must, therefore, make 26 points in the last four races to prevent Barrichello defeating him. That is to say, Button must achieve at least 3 third places and one second place if Barrichello wins all four races. Given Barrichello’s age, experience and the fact that this is almost certainly his best and last ever chance of winning a world championship, one must conclude that four wins from him are highly likely. He has everything to gain and nothing to lose by going hell for leather. Button, by contrast, has everything to lose by gunning for it. I expect a daredevil will to win from the Brazilian and caution from the Englishman.
What we do not know is the role team orders are likely to play. Will Ross Brawn really let his two drivers race each other to the wire? I would love to be a fly on the wall of the team briefings this weekend.
If I was to bet I would put my money on Button. In all the circumstances it seems safest.
Notwithstanding Crashgate, the Singapore Grand Prix is an exciting night-time race at an amazing street circuit. Try and concentrate on this as you knock back a chilled Tiger beer and,
Enjoy Singapore!
Gitau
24 September 2009
posted by Gitau at 4:23 pm
2 Comments:
Great blog, as always, Boss.
A really haphazard compromise these dudes have come up with, I must say.
I don't have a problem with the suspended ban for Renault, as they probably didn't know, but they should also get some kind of fine (not $100mm, but at least $5-10mm) because they got a tangible benefit from the cheating. When a white-collar crook pleads guilty (as Renault effectively did), disgorgement of ill-gotten profits is always part of the deal.
I don't believe that Alonso knew of the plan in advance, but in light of the evidence, his claim yesterday that it's still a valid win is just ridiculous. If I were in his shoes, I would seriously consider Fed Ex-ing the trophy to Massa and letting the story die.
Also the gap between Briatore's life ban and Symonds' 5-yr suspension seems a bit arbitrary. Sure, Briatore did not co-operate and probably lied, but Symonds clearly was more involved in the details and he wasn't the most forthcoming witness, either. Don't know if the FIA made a calculation that Symonds probably needs to work, while Briatore is rich and doesn't need the income (and is a bigger scalp to boot), but it's very uneven punishment for the same crime.
But the most outrageous part of all is to allow Piquet back on the track! Ever! If I were a driver at any level, I would flat-out refuse to risk my life with an idiot who deliberately throws a race and endangers the lives of his peers who themselves are just trying to win. Yes, he did come forward, but that was more out of spite than any late conversion. Yes, it is valid to give someone immunity in return for a full accounting of his crimes, but I'm not sure it was necessary in this case, since he obviously came forward to spill the beans. As far as I'm concerned, as soon as he copped to the crash, they should have got him to accept at least a 1 or 2-yr suspension, and he would have been happy to take it against a lifetime ban; but to let him walk scot-free in the same year that Henry Surtee was killed and Massa grievously injured, is something no-one will understand if he gets a car next year.
Tugs
Yr comment - :singapore born out out nothing - is definately an observation that is furthest from the truth. To really know Singapore you have to look under the carpet. We must be the highest taxed nation in the world, layer after layers of direct and hidden taxes. Never mind about the people, revenue collection to sustain the Ivory tower and fuel the perception of a vibrant economy is of most important. We have to hookwink the world. People in Singapore are mere digits - its slavery of the 21st century here.
Most electricity is generated from LPG, but cost are based of crude prices. this is bit only one example of the financial tyranny here - a smokescreen - for ecopnomic growth. I suggest before you praise our economy further come and have an indepth look. Talk to locals. Praising singapore economy doesnt help the pain of the average singaporeans one bit.
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