Ex-PM Goh has used meritocracy and pragmatism, for the narrow purpose of avoiding more creative pro-business and pro-people solutions of problems.
Despite his lack of success in achieving many goals announced such as improving the wages of ordinary people, he is today still a strong believer of pragmatism which simply translates into money making for the government.
All the civil servants became mercenaries using every opportunity whenever there is a problem to use such problems as excuse to charge fees, increases taxes for "pragmatic" solutions to problems.
Pragmatism was conveniently used to cover up problems and override all issues when the final solutions to our problems should be to create a more cohesive culture, leadership-by-example social morality, cohesion, equity and justice among the people from overall education and governance system.
Singapore has missed a golden opportunity to upgrade and restructure the initial success from the 1970s with such culture- and social- approaches which will be more sustainable and lasting.
In the mess created, the whole domestic economy has been eroded with private sector struggling to survive rising costs of doing business.
The results are deep periodic recessions and structural unemployments due to failure to restructure the economy to value-add and technology-driven model talked about for years.
The hapless citizens who despite all the years of contributing to the coffers of HDB/LTA/URA etc suffered again and again from pragmatism and mercenary ways of taxing and profiteering by HDB/LTA etc and were made to pay more and more to no end to accumulate more and more surpluses and increase profits for all ministries and departments and their respective offshoots of GLCs.
Singapore has missed a golden opportunity due to wrong governing philosophy which presumed that simplistic utterances of leadership and talents and constant salary increases to a few top leaders would solve all problems.
They forgot that if they have motivated the people by more creative cultural and social approaches as mentioned they could have made use of initial success and surpluses and empty lands and factories, to create more vibrancy and jobs.
Now as long as they are still practising the so-called leadership and pragmatism, they will continue to exact higher taxes recover all possible costs, double-charging with COE, ERP, lands, assets already paid for by people by selling such assets to such GLCs and getting them to charge for same all over again.