Lee Wei Ling first voiced her criticism of A*Star's approach in November 2006 in a commentary she wrote for the Straits Times. A*Star is the acronym for Singapore's Agency for Science, Technology and Research. Among its other missions, it's been tasked with building a biomedical sector in Singapore.

However, it was only in early February 2007, when she spoke to Reuters, that the matter blew up.

Her main beef was that A*Star was focussing on the wrong kinds of biomedical research. According to reports, much investment is currently going towards cancer, heart disease and stem cells, with Singapore setting up state-of-the art laboratories and pulling in quite a few top brains from around the world. Lee said it was pointless to compete with research centres in the West in the same fields -- they with much bigger funding and deeper research roots -- and that Singapore should concentrate on niche areas, particularly ones with relevance to Asia.

She mentioned hepatitis and head injuries as possible areas to focus on. The latter example is at best obscure. Some people have suggested a connection between that suggestion and the fact that Lee is the head of the National Neuroscience Institute, though for now it's quite beside the point.

Lee's criticisms echoed those of the World Bank which, in a paper last year, expressed doubts about Singapore's prospects in this area. The bank pointed out that our weaknesses included the lack of scale and an absence of a strong entrepreneurial culture that is needed to commercialise discoveries. There is also a heavy dependence on foreign talent, and long gestation periods for such work. Taken together, it "reduces the likelihood of anything more than episodic discovery," the bank said. It recommended that Singapore turn our initiatives towards niche specialties, particularly those catering to regional needs rather than aim for blockbuster drugs or treatments for the global market.

So far, A*Star, under outgoing head Philip Yeo [1], has refused to budge, instead refuting Lee's suggestions by saying, "How many people get head injuries? Get hepatitis? Young kids after 1987 have been vaccinated. Hepatitis is not relevant to us. Head injuries? Unless you bang your head against the wall..." [2]

In a separate interview, with Reuters, Yeo pointed out that the success of A*Star's strategy cannot be measured in the short term. "This is not an instant business. It takes 10 to 15 years to train these people." However, in the last few years, the agency has been successful in attracting some top scientists while sending plenty of promising young graduates abroad to do their PhDs. [3]

Meanwhile, "every major pharmaceutical company is in Singapore," he said, although he conceded that "we are young compared to Boston or San Diego."

The last statement gives a clue as to what A*Star may be striving for: an integrated biomedical sector, where the bottom line is really industry and its contribution to Singapore's economy. A*Star is not in it for pure research or even for medical applications alone, unlike what Lee Wei Ling seems to be expecting. They have set their sights higher, to build an industry cluster that can serve the world market. Attracting big pharmaceutical companies here is one leg of this strategy, but recognising that these companies need constant, research-intensive innovation, A*Star is also building a research capability to back them up. This of course raises the question how well any research findings will be integrated with these companies, for unless discoveries are commercialised, we can reap no economic benefit, but that is a technical question rather than a strategic one.

No doubt, by setting sights that high, the risks are higher too, and the World Bank's warning should be sobering. On the other hand, we may be too unambitious if we begin by thinking that no world-class industry can ever emerge from Singapore and thus stick to regional diseases only.

The other thing we should bear in mind is that research is often people-led [4]. If tomorrow, an expert on hepatitis comes along and wants to relocate his work to an A*Star-funded facility, there should be no reason why A*Star should turn him away. It may be far better to let researchers make proposals than for dirigiste bureaucrats to decide what fields of research we want to be involved in and then throw money at it.

Singapore bureaucrats do not have a good record of spotting trends -- hopefully something that Philip Yeo, as former head of the Economic Development Board, has learnt. Remember how we once boasted of becoming leaders in wafer fabrication? Mr Wang Says So has also pointed out that we made a bad mistake of scaling back on training lawyers only to suffer a serious shortage a decade later [5]. Of course, some prioritisation is unavoidable since resources are limited, but setting it broad (cancer, heart diseases and stem cells) may be better than setting it narrow (hepatitis and head injuries).

However, the latest news seems to be that the government has weighed in on A*Star's side. As reported by the Sunday Times,

'We believe that our biomedical effort is heading in the right direction, but we will continue to fine-tune our policies as we gain more experience,' said the Ministry of Trade and Industry on Friday.

Responding to queries, a spokesman noted that A*Star was doing important work in biomedical research, which had contributed significantly to the growth of the biomedical sector and the creation of high value jobs.

Singapore's small size and limited resources called for focus in its efforts, which A*Star has been doing. By looking at cancer and heart disease, for example - the top killers in Singapore and the rest of the world - A*Star was placing priority on ground-breaking research in these areas, to help develop more effective treatments.

'The emphasis on talent development and close public-private sector research collaboration has put us on the world map,' said the spokesman.

-- Sunday Times, 11 Feb 2007, Clash of titans over Singapore's biomed push

Despite this, Lee has vowed to take this battle to the bitter end. "We're talking about billions of dollars in taxpayers' money," Today newspaper quoted her as saying. "I will not let this mistake continue." [6]

Frankly, I won't claim to know what the right answer is between Lee Wei Ling's criticisms and A*Star's rebuttals, since the public is short of information as to how A*Star actually makes its grant-giving decisions. Maybe A*Star is indeed too focussed on its pet fields of cancer, heart disease and stem cells.

But changing course so soon after launching a biomedical effort will send out the wrong signal altogether. The top scientists that A*Star has attracted each took a risk moving to Singapore, and given the nature of their work, they have to think long term. If we give the impression that we're fickle about what research we will support, all confidence in our promises will evaporate in a minute.

It will be even worse if we changed course because Lee Kuan Yew's daughter was the one who spoke out, for this is likely to give the impression that decision-making in Singapore is unpredictable and ultimately dependent on family dynamics. We will have no more credibility as a rational partner.

However much our mainstream media tries to emphasise that Lee Wei Ling was speaking in her private capacity -- in its 12 Feb 2007 article [7], 'Today' newspaper used the term "citizen Lee" repeatedly -- it is undeniable that she is perceived for her pedigree. And since almost nobody outside of our charmed political circles has any inkling what really goes on within the Lee family (if anything at all goes on), people will tend to imagine the worst. It is only natural. It would be bad enough if A*Star changes direction abruptly, it would be worse if it is perceived, rightly or wrongly, that it was told to do so upon a Lee family member's outcry. Then we would really be seen as a banana republic.

© Yawning Bread