When big help may ultimately be no help

SINGAPORE'S business community has been sounding decidedly un-entrepreneurial of late, what with calls for greater government support and top-down intervention.

It's uninspiring, really, to hear business leaders asking the government to do even more - as they talk about building a more nimble and creative economy.

Take, for example, the proposals set out in the Singapore Business Federation's 32-page economic position paper, which "calls for a deep review of Singapore's existing economic strategies and for the government to formulate new responses" to a more challenging and volatile operating environment.