Singapore - Finland

After our street tour and learning more about the important men in Singapore’s history, I was surprised how generous they were and how much they helped the development of Singapore. I was also impressed by their wealth they accumulated by making different kinds of business. Of course there were a few similar men in Europe that contributed to the society and helped building the nation with their wealth. However, to the best of my knowledge these kinds of men were not many. During the industrial revolution, beginning of 19th century, the key word for businessmen was exploitation of people.

Finland however is a bit different. We have a long history of oppression from Sweden and Russia/Soviets, we have fought 3 wars in the past 100 years. During the Swedish and Russian reigns from 13th century to the beginning of 20^th century, our businessmen did not have free hands in doing business. Therefore there were not businessmen who could have contributed so much to the society. Only after our independence in 1917 we were really able to begin building our society. By that time, and especially after the wars, the hot theme in Finland was building a welfare society. This was done by having high taxes and letting the government fund building schools, giving medical services and other social services. Still today we have free education from pre-school to university, social services and free medical services to all. Therefore we do not share a similar history where a few important men could have contributed to our society as in Singapore.

By the time our successful businessmen could have been able to give back to the society as much as the Singaporean businessmen did, they already had paid their high taxes and in our way contributed to building our country. Still, however you look at it, I find it admiring and remarkable that these men in Singapore were unselfishly helping the development of their country.