on meritocracy

Very interesting article on different types of meritocracy and their implications for Singapore.
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For the last year or so, i've been following Donald Low's writing on FB. He strikes me as someone who, as a former insider, knows the system well enough to understand how it functions, its strengths and weaknesses, and therefore is well placed to critique it and suggest good, viable avenues of positive change in terms that The Establishment can easily understand. We need more people like him.
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Interestingly, i actually think that his view of governance and social equity is closer in spirit to what our founding fathers had in mind in the 1960s than our current modus operandi. Somewhere along the way, the vision shifted to the right and hardened. i think success tends to do that to people -- which is precisely why systemic safeguards need to be in place to protect people from the natural leanings of human nature.
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The good news is that lots of people are paying attention to what he's saying -- people who will probably be making the decisions in future. The bad news is, i'm not sure if the ones making the decisions now are ready to listen to him, and others like him, and take their views on board. Because if our current leaders don't listen, the situation here is just going to go downhill, and who knows what kind of herculean effort it would take to set things right after that.
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