SINGAPORE THE ASIAN TIGER-HOW IT GOT THERE?

 

Singapore is a great country/city in the world and there is none to equal it in many ways. Singapore consists of 63 islands. It has a population of 61 lacs and is multi religious and multi ethnic with Buddhism being the leading religion with 31% following it. 20% people do not follow any religion, 19% follow Christianity, 16% follow Islam, 9% follow Taoism & 5% follow Hinduism.  On ethnicity, 74% are Christian, 14% Malay & 9% Indian. That means there are 550,000 Indians in Singapore of which 198,000 are Tamils. Tamil is one of the official languages of Singapore. 

If one checks the countries in the world with over 100,000 in population, then the list on nominal per capita is headed by Ireland with USD 129,132, followed by Switzerland with USD 111,047 and the 3^rd place is taken by Singapore with USD 94,481. Of course among the bigger countries the US stands unequalled on nominal per capita with USD 89,599. Singapore is also ranked as one of the most expensive cities in the world for expatriates & foreign workers. Singapore is the world’s 3^rd least corrupt country after Denmark & Finland. Incidentally on this corruption index, of the 180 countries India is ranked 96, Pakistan 135, Bangladesh 151, the 178, 179 & 180 ranks go to Venezuela, Somalia & South Sudan respectively.   

On PPP per capita Singapore is the country with the 3^rd highest in the world with USD 157,000 only after Monaco & Liechtenstein where the latter 2 are very small countries with about 40,000 populations each. Singapore is the only country in Asia with a sovereign credit rating of AAA from all major rating agencies. There are only 10 such countries in the world on AAA rating and 8 of them come from Europe and the rest 2 are Australia and Singapore.

Singapore was supposedly founded by Sang Nila Utama, a prince from Palenbang in Java in 1299 AD. It was a Hindu-Buddhist kingdom. It was originally known as the Kingdom of Singapura. After coronation Nila Utama’s official adopted title was Sri Tri Bhuvana. Singapore in the 14^th century was known as Temasek and was part of the Indosphere.

                            INDOSPHERE IN ORANGE. 

Indosphere is a term used for areas of Indian linguistic influence in the neighbouring Southern Asian, Southeast Asian, and East Asian regions. It is commonly used in linguistics in contrast with the Sinophone languages of the Mainland Southeast Asia linguistic area of the Sinosphere.

In the 14^th century Singapura’s  ruler Parameswara was attacked by the Javanese or Siamese kingdoms and was thrown out. In 1613 AD Portuguese raiders burned down the settlement. For the next 2 centuries Singapore was under the Johor Sultanate and the Dutch conquered it when they conquered Malacca in 1641 AD. The British arrived in the island in 1819 and the then the sultan of Johor gave them rights to establish a trading post in return for USD 5000 per year. In 1824 another treaty with the British made the entire island a part of the British Empire. When the British first arrived in 1819 there were hardly 1000 people living on the island. By 1860 this has boomed to 80,000. Later Singapore grew rapidly.

In the 2^nd World War the British suffered their worst defeat in Singapore when 60,000 British forces surrendered, and 5000- were killed and wounded. The British forces planned to liberate Singapore in 1945/46, but by that time the war ended on account of the Atom bombs. The British, Indian and the Australian forces under Mountbatten accepted the surrender of the Japanese forces.

Much of the infra of Singapore was destroyed during the 2^nd World War, Shortage of food led to malnutrition, disease and rampant crime and violence. A series of strikes crippled the economy. However, by late 1947 the economy began to recover.

The failure of Britain to successfully defend Singapore in the war made the image of the British tarnished in the eyes of Singaporeans. On 1^st April 1946 Singapore became a British crown colony. During the1950’s the Chinese Communists waged a war in the state. In 1959 the British agreed to give full independence to Singapore except in defence and foreign affairs. This happened days before the general election when the PAP (People’s Action Party) party of Lee Kuan Yew won a landslide victory.

Lee was an outstanding scholar and earned a double starred first class honours at Cambridge which showed his consistent academic excellence.  He was also a brilliant lawyer who defended radical students and postal and port workers at the same time not losing the confidence of the establishment.  In 1959, when PAP won 43 seats out of the total 51, Lee himself drove his car to the Government house to be sworn in as PM.

Singapore had strong links with Malaya (now Malaysia) and the PAP leaders believed that their future lay with Malaya. In 1961 Malaya offered a federation named Malaysia of which Singapore would also be a part with high autonomy. Singapore accepted that after a referendum. Indonesia was against this arrangement.

However, in this federation Singapore was discriminated against and there were lots of political and economic differences between Malaya and Singapore. In August 1965 Singapore separated from the Malaysian Federation and became an independent country with Lee Kuan Yew as Prime Minister.

In 1967 Singapore co-founded the ASEAN. Lee’s emphasis on rapid economic growth, racial integration, promotion of business entrepreneurship and curbs of democratic freedoms by governing with extensive legal powers shaped Singapore’s policies for the next half a century.

Steady Economic growth continued throughout the 1980’s at 8% with the unemployment rate falling to 3% and continued till 1999. Lee’s government developed Singapore port into one of the world’s busiest ports and service and tourism industries also expanded significantly during this period.  

The PAP under Lee has remained in power since 1959 and is the political party in power with the most longevity in the world. 

As usual opposition political parties view the PAP as having tight regulation of political and media activities along with its stringent laws as an infringement on political rights.

In 1990 Goh Chok Tang became the 2^nd PM of Singapore after Lee. Goh had to face two crisis’s; the 1997 Asian Financial crisis & the 2002-04 SARS outbreak. In 2004, Lee’s son became the 3^rd PM of Singapore. After mismanagement of the economy by him the PAP had the worst victory in the elections ever in 2011. Of course that was a good 60% vote share though. In 1968 elections the PAP had the best ever tally of 87%. Lee Kuan Yew’s death in 2015 brought back the PAP with a 70% vote share in the elections held that year. In 2024 Laurence Wong of the PAP became PM.

The PAP stormed into power in 1959 and has never looked back since. In 1968 it won with a massive 87% vote share and no party could ever defeat them till now. That is the real magic of Lee Kuan Yew. PAP ruled Singapore for 67 years in succession without a single defeat and the least percentage of vote share they ever got in an election was 60%.

How did that happen? Singapore was described by a British politician as a “Pestilential and immoral Cesspool”. From there it transformed itself into a powering tiger marching forward nonstop.  

This was because of the amazing first leadership of Lee Kuan Yew provided to Singapore, which built a lasting legacy that could not be erased from people’s minds. When he died in 2015 Singapore mourned the loss of a great leader which shaped its destiny. But he must have died a truly happy man for his achievement of making Singapore a great country and gave his countrymen what they wanted. That is a glorious death which is not possible for everyone.

But he was pretty strict in Singapore and also authoritarian. The sole opposition MP J.B. Jayaretnam at one time was ruined by continuous lawsuits. A political activist spent 32 years in detention. Lee believed that good governance did not depend on human rights or liberal democracy. I am completely with him on that. He never accepted the press as a guardian of the nation as he felt the media houses were too corruption ridden.

Tom Abraham was India’s first High Commissioner to Singapore. He was a lifelong friend of Lee. He said of Singapore that he knows about all the beatings and tortures and what happened in Singapore but despite all that the PAP has done a remarkable job. No doubt about that at all because the worst vote share PAP got in their elections was 60%. So, there is not a shred of doubt about their delivery. 

Singapore is one of the 4 countries in the developed world to retain the death penalty. Apart from it, only the USA, japan and Taiwan have retained it. Singapore levies a death penalty for drug trafficking on which Amnesty and Human Rights Watch cry hoarse about. They want human rights for drug traffickers.

This is what AI says about Lee; 

"Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore's founding father, was a notoriously tough, pragmatic leader who transformed a vulnerable, resource-poor island into a global economic powerhouse. He wielded significant, sometimes authoritarian power, acting as a "benevolent dictator" to enforce discipline, root out corruption, and drive rapid modernization, often using an "iron" will to secure the nation's survival." 

I personally think that the policies followed by Lee were perfect for a developing country. While for a developing country, providing living security and governance to its population should become the primary task and freedoms should take a backseat.

For a developing nation the priorities are different with policies hinging on development with selective curb on freedoms. This does not mean that dissenting people should be tortured but certainly they should be dealt with firmly because they act against the larger goal set for the country. 

China succeeded because of following this policy and so did Singapore while great colonial powers like the UK and France which had immense resources at their command could become prosperous only in hundreds of years while both Singapore and China took far less than a hundred.    

Once the country develops then the security issue gets sublimed with that of freedoms and then they become important. Having no freedom for a developed nation is bad and the people would be disillusioned.

Amazingly Lee visited India 17 times during his tenure starting in 1959. In contrast he visited China only in 1976. When the then Chinese premier gave him a copy of “India’s China War” of Neville Maxwell telling Lee that it was the correct version,  Lee politely returned the book stating that it was Chinas version and there was another Indian version.

Lee was a man who recognised India’s potential even before Indians themselves did. It was he who introduced India to the ASEAN. 

Even before the ASEAN he wanted involve India in the region and suggested to Indira Gandhi that India should enforce a Monroe like doctrine to Asia. 

He warned south East Asian students in 1962, with China rising, unless India emerged “Asia would submerge”. He attributed his strategic vision to Nehru and KM Panikkar. He spoke with reverence of Indian civilization and that it played a role in Asia as Greece and Rome have done in Europe. He always alluded to Singapore’s Sanskrit name Singapura. For him Nehru was his failed God who failed because of allowing populist politics to erode his promise.