Swift Itch

Amidst all the feel-good vibes that Taylor Swift brought to her global audience, there were still a few dissonant chords.

First, there was the Prime Minister of Thailand, Srettha Thavisin, vowing to do whatever it takes to bring international mega-stars like Taylor to his country. That included, apparently, incentivizing them with not just tax breaks, but outright payment (hey, if hiring foreign stars using public funds is valid under their laws, why not?).

The Thai Prime Minister was smarting from the intel that he received that Singapore, our very own ASEAN sister, had dangled $3Million or so in front of Taylor, so she could agree to exclusivity within South East Asia. While we do not know if she did or didn’t agree, all the signs point in that direction because in Asia, Taylor picked only a couple of countries to perform in. In South East Asia, only Singapore was picked as prime.

Messr. Srettha rued the knowledge that it had taken moolah to rein in Taylor, proclaiming that if he had known this exclusivity deal, he would have brought the shows to Thailand. (To my simplistic mind, that just meant throwing oodles-more of cash at Taylor, rather than nuking Singapore.)

Not so our very own oh-so-brilliant government. This Taylor tidbit triggered an adverse reaction from a local lawmaker, who cried foul. Congressman Joey Salceda started fulminating about Singapore’s lack of neighborliness, and was so incensed that he even instructed the Department of Foreign Affairs to formally protest with the Singaporean embassy.

Head-scratching moment. Do we really want to protest the fact that Singapore’s government was smarter than our own? But we knew that. We see it every day in the incompetence and venality displayed by those in power in our pearly shores. And we can compare it the government of Singapore, which seems focused on bettering the lives of its citizens, from its sleek and always-upgraded infrastructure, to the consistent enforcement of its penal laws, to its socialized housing.

Our government officials, on the other hand, aren’t focused on our well-being - they’re there for reasons ranging from “I’m only here to collect my salary” to “I’m here to bilk the Filipino people as much as I can before I’m elected out of office.” Hence, our decaying infrastructure, our lack of enforcement of criminal statutes, and our squatter shanties.

What exactly should we protest against? Entire countries compete with each other to host the Olympics. There is a bidding war, and loads of fawning over and schmoozing with the International Olympic Committee delegates. Incentives are dangled, tax breaks are promised, and spanking new facilities are pledged. It’s an accepted spectacle that occurs every couple of years. We don’t see the losers filing diplomatic protests if they aren’t picked as the host country.

Same thing with economic zones, or even with retiree visas. In the pursuit of economic progress, countries compete with each other for investors or retirees by offering attractive packages. The packages are different: it’s up to each country to design the lures they think will bring in the dollars to their shores.

For economic zones, countries promise investors easy government interface. Lower taxes, or none at all. Quick export and import rules. Perks galore. Do we see the losers whining?

That’s the same lens we should use when viewing this Taylor brouhaha. The Swiftie effect on local economies is well documented - everyone got the joke when Trevor Noah quipped about economic growth as Taylor strode in at the Golden Globe awards. For six concerts in Singapore, the prediction was that her economic impact would approximate half a billion dollars.

It’s a competition out there, and if we don’t have the foresight (or the infrastructure) to compete in the world arena, there’s really nothing we can do about it. And certainly, if we don’t bag the prize, we cannot be sore losers and grumble about someone else being smarter or perhaps, more hungry than we are.

If we can’t do our job of steering this country towards competitiveness, let’s just buy a ticket to Changi and line up at the National Stadium.