How Singapore became Asia’s No.1 Country?
How Singapore became Asia’ No.1 Country?
Hello, friends! Imagine a country with widespread
poverty and unemployment.High crime rates. Drug-related problems, frequent
riots,
Overpopulation and
illiteracy as well. Can you imagine the dire condition of such a country?
But you do not need to
imagine for too long, because this was the reality of Singapore in 1965. But a
stark turnaround was seen over the next 25 years it left the world
shell-shocked. Singapore became a highly developed, high-income country, and is
considered to be among the Top 5 Richest Countries in the World today.
One of the Cleanest
countries in the world. With next to no corruption or other crimes. Perhaps the
No. 1 Asian country in the truest sense. But how was this possible? Who is the
hero of our story?
In this Artecal let's
dive deep into the magical story of Singapore."The hostility
between Singapore's ethnic Chinese and Malays finally erupted
into violent clashes." "And as long as I'm in charge, nobody's going
to knock it down." "From the lack of land in high density, but with
some hefty government purchasing power, they did the impossible."
"The Republic of Singapore was born!".
Singapore is a tiny country, friends. So small, that it
gets difficult to spot it on a map, look at the map of Southeast Asia, you can
clearly see Indonesia, and the Philippines is easy to spot, and even Malaysia
can be easily identified, but when you travel south, you will see the small
island of Singapore. The water body Strait of Johor separates
Singapore and Malaysia.
Singapore is half the
size of Delhi, area-wise. But on this small island, approximately 5.7 million
people reside. The total area is 710 km². So the population density of
Singapore is 8028 people per square kilometer.
We consider India to be
an overpopulated country, But for comparison, India's population density is 446
people per square kilometer. Singapore is 18 times more densely populated than
India. Overall, it is the 3rd most densely populated country. Lagging behind
Monaco and Macao.
Interestingly, the
origin of the name Singapore is from the Sanskrit word Singh Pur. Singh means
lion, and Pur is a city. So Singapore means "The Lion City". Oh, it
reminds me, Singapore is one of the four Asian tigers. The four highly
developed countries in Asia.
South Korea, Hong Kong,
Taiwan, and Singapore. Interestingly, the population density of these four
countries is higher than India. This might seem like a shocking fact to some
because many people blame India's population for the lack of development.
But the GDP Per Capita
and population density of the 2 tigers, is much higher than India's. Talking
about the people living here, Singapore is a diverse country. People belonging
to various religions live harmoniously.
There are people from
the 5 major religions here. And there's a small population of people from
Jewish, Zorastrian, Jain, and Sikh communities.
The second largest group
is the people who do not believe in religion, the Atheists. But apart from
religion, Singapore is very diverse in terms of ethnicity too.
The largest majority is
of Chinese ethnic people at 74.5%. Followed by Malays at 13.5%. And Indians at
9%. Among the Indians, the largest populations are Tamils, Bengalis, and
Punjabis. And the remaining 3% are made up of Eurasians and Arabs. While
talking about the people, we should not forget about Orang Laut.
They are the original
inhabitants living in Singapore for a very long time. The tribals. Overall,
'Unity in Diversity' is Singapore's present-day reality. But it wasn't the case
always. Going back into history, in early history, for a long time, the island
of Singapore was used as a trading island, by Malay, Thai, Indian, Arab, Japanese
and Chinese traders. Throughout its history, it was occupied by an Indonesian
ruler, the Portuguese, and the Dutch through their Dutch East India Company,
and in 1819, an ambitious officer of the British East India Company, Thomas
Raffles bought Singapore,
from the Sultan of
Johor.
The British entered this
island having bought it. Thomas Raffles turned Singapore into a Free Port. Any
ship passing through would not have to pay any fees. This gave rise to free
trading in Singapore. In 1869, the Suez Canal became operational so that the
ships did not need to go around Africa, this led to even more ships coming to
Singapore.
Most ships used
Singapore as a refueling station. In the nearby country, Malaysia, two
industries were very popular. Tin production and Rubber production. Since
Singapore was close by, Singapore became a rubber-processing hub as well.
This might sound like
signs of development in Singapore. But there was a dark side to it as well. In
reality, the Britishers were growing opium in Bengal. And they processed the
opium in Singapore. The Britishers had employed Chinese porters for this job,
where they could find one of the lowest-grade opium. The Chinese people working
in these factories, were far from their homes, with no source of entertainment,
so they turned into opium addicts.
Thousands of opium
addicts were living in Singapore. Crimes increased due to drug addiction.
People turned to theft. In 1941 it was estimated that there were about 16,500
opium addicts in Singapore. And the 1940s was the period of World War II.
"German bombers
attack British cities like Coventry And London." On 15th February 1942,
the Japanese invaded Singapore and Malaysia. Singapore surrenders to the
Japanese. Over the next 350 years, the Japanese ruled over Singapore. And the
Japanese Rule completely destroyed Singapore. chilling murders took place.
Not only on the field
but in hospitals also. Several soldiers were tortured as Prisoners of War.
Thousands of people were used as forced labor. Women were being used as a
commodity. Thousands of women were brought in from Korea, China, Indonesia, and
Malaysia, to the 'Comfort Stations' in Singapore, where they were available to
the Japanese soldiers.
By the time the
Japanese lost the War in 1945 and withdrew from Singapore, there were more than
30,000 opium addicts widespread gambling and prostitution in the country,
buildings were heavily destroyed.
There was large-scale
poverty, and high unemployment and the place was crawling with diseases. There
were food shortages, and people were starving to death. There was no end to
crime and violence, And Singapore had turned into a slum colony.
After the end of World
War II, The British reclaim Singapore's control, and a British Military
Administration tried to get things under some control. The basic services of
gas, water, and electricity, were restored. Canteens started to deal with the
food crisis.
The opinions of the
Singaporeans about the British were quite favorable and positive as compared to
countries like India. One of the biggest reasons for this was the British
defeated the Japanese, and the Japanese were more atrocious towards
Singaporeans. The second biggest reason was that the government changed in the
UK in July 1945.
Conservative Party
was no longer in power. And the Labour Party came into power. They were against
imperialism to some extent. So the British Rule over Singapore slowly receded.
And turned into Self Governance. I won't go into what happened in much detail,
because this would make this video even longer.
The First Election 1948
But in 1948, the first
elections were held. The elections were held for only some seats. Singapore's
Constitution was framed, it was revised twice in 1955 and 1958, And you can say
that in 1959, the proper full-scale Lee Kuan Yew.
The Secretary General of
People's Action Party. PAP Remember this, you will hear more about this in this
article He became the First Prime Minister of Singapore. Initially Lee
Kuan Yew believed that Singapore will not be able to survive as an independent
country. And that they should become a part of Malaysia.
He did this in 1963. He
merged Singapore with Malaysia. But now comes a shocking twist in your story.
The Malaysian government was not thrilled to have Singapore be a part of their
country. The biggest reason for this was the 1964 Malaysian elections PAP
decided to contest that election. The Malaysian politicians did not like, that
a political party from Singapore was contesting in the National Elections in
Malaysia.
On the other hand, the
people living in Singapore were not happy with this merger. Because of the
agreement that 40% of Singapore's revenue was to be paid to Malaysia's Central
Government, even though Singapore's population was 17% of the combined
population.
Singaporeans felt that
it was unfair. Additionally, as per Article 153 of the Malaysian Constitution,
Malays were given special rights and privileges, The Chinese and other
non-Malay ethnicities in Singapore did not like this discrimination. They saw
how Malaysia was turning into Malay Malaysia.
That it belonged to only
the Malay people. While minorities weren't given the same rights and equality.
"They want a Malay Malaysia. Where the Malays are on top, In charge of
everything. We wanted, gradually, not immediately, a Malaysian Malaysia,
whereas citizens, we share the burdens and the rewards."
Due to these
differences, in 1964, communal tensions increased, and racial riots were also
seen. "...things at each other. So I wedged my soldiers in between them,
and we fired a few tear gases." Due to these riots, in 1965 it was decided
that Singapore will once again be separated from Malaysia. And be an
independent country The Republic of Singapore. By this point in time, there was
some remnant of British control over Singapore.
In 1967 the British
announced that they would withdraw their troops from Singapore, and would leave
the country altogether. This might sound like good news to you. But for
Singapore's government and Singaporeans, this was problematic. The British
contribution was significant in running Singapore as an independent nation.
British forces provided
a large number of jobs to the Singaporeans. On top of it, Singapore did not
even have its own army. No defense forces. If the British left, they would have
been defenseless. This is why Lee Kuan Yew requested the British to postpone
their departure. To give them proper time to transition. And the British
agreed. The deadline for the British to leave the country was set in 1971.
Prime Minister Lee Kuan
Yew had 4 years to get a hold of his country. A country struggling with
poverty, unemployment, and drug addiction. In addition to the riots and the
separation of Malaysia and Singapore. They did not have any natural resources.
How could this country be taken to the path of development?
Friends, this is the
beginning of our miraculous story. A story with Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew as
the hero. He got to work at once. First, to make peace with the neighboring
countries,
and to solve
geopolitical problems. In 1967, he founded the ASEAN group. In which foreign
ministers from 5 countries, came together. With the purpose of collaborating
with other countries, cooperating across multiple fields, and creating peace
and stability in the region.
But this didn't mean that
the country did not need an Army. Second, for the defense of the nation, Lee
Kuan Yew introduced National Service in the same year. When the boys in the
country attained 16.5 years of age, they needed to register for National
Service. And after attaining the age of 18, he may need to enlist at notice.
Basically, it was made
compulsory for every boy of 18 years of age, to join the Army, Defence Forces,
or National Service. For a few years. If a country wants to be truly developed,
education is among the very first things that need to be focused on.
Singapore did this. The
country has compulsory Primary Education, and high-quality public education,
the government runs excellent schools and colleges. the infrastructure of the
schools is impressive. And public education is available at nominal fees. It is
almost free.
How Singapore became Asia’s No.1 Country? |
He promised the
Singaporeans that Singapore will be a multi-racial nation. That they would be
an example for the world. They are not a Malay State, They are not a Chinese
State. They are not an Indian State. Their country is not built on religion.
Their country is not built on a language.
Neither is it built on
culture. They are a secular nation where every citizen is equal. "Malay
population is at 43%. Chinese 41%. Indians 10%. The others are Eurasians,
Sinhalese, and so. And I say we gotta work with each other.
No group can oppress the
other. We work together. And you want Singapore to remain as the
sane stable place."
But it isn't enough to add the word 'secular' to the Constitution. This doesn't
ensure equality in the country. People are skeptical. When people from
different religions and ethnicity live in a country, with high communal
tensions, people doubt each other. They do not want to socialize with others.
To solve this problem,
Lee Kuan Yew took a proactive approach to assimilation. He introduced an Ethnic
Integration Policy. According to this policy, the government housing would have
a fixed ratio for the people living there, based on ethnicity. For example, in
a building, there have to be 22% Malays, 84% Chinese, 10% Indians, and other
minority groups. The percentage of ethnicity seen in the country should be
reflected in each building.
So that Chinese, Malay,
and Indians, can live together in a building. Friends, this was an outstanding
move. Because in reality, if people are left to their will, the communally
brainwashed people will not want to live together. They create their own
ghettos. The self segregates into "Hindu areas" or "Muslim
areas." There's demarcation within the city. To stop this self-segregation
ensured that different ethnicities lived in all buildings so that they could
interact with each other and be neighbors.
And live together
harmoniously. In 1990, the Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act was passed,
under this Act, Singapore created a Presidential Council for Religious Harmony.
2/3rds of its members were representatives of the major religions.
These representatives
were tasked with ensuring that people from various religions were interacting
with each other. Additionally, Singapore introduced a Racial Harmony Day as
well. Every year, on the 21st of July, school kids in Singapore dress up in the
traditional costumes of other religions.
, a Hindu may dress up
in a Muslim traditional costume, and a Muslim may dress up in a Hindu
traditional costume. And together they read the Declaration of Religious
Harmony. Right from the school level, children are taught that the principles
of secularism, diversity, and unity need to be upheld in the country, and the
way to do so. These small steps are very effective, ones that our country can
learn a lot from. The next point that Lee Kuan Yew put across to ensure that
the country is developed is cleanliness. In his opinion, cleanliness is the
hallmark of civilization
.
So he launched a
campaign to keep Singapore clean. "On the 1st October 1968, a nationwide
Keep Singapore Clean Campaign was launched by the Prime Minister."
"We have wealth, we have progressed. but there is no hallmark of success,
more distinctive and more meaningful,
than achieving our
position as the cleanest and the greenest city, in South Asia."
And this campaign was in
effect every 2-3 years between 1958 to 1988. This wasn't a superficial event,
where politicians stood in front of cameras and moved a few leaves, and print
ads promoting clean Singapore. Nope.
r
This was a concrete
campaign with multiple steps. Public waste collectors were licensed by the
National Environment Agency. Each public housing estate had blue recycling
bins. A large number of public toilets were created. And special programs such
as the Happy Toilet Program were run so that the toilets could be kept clean
and well-maintained.
In 1992, chewing gum was
banned in Singapore. No compromise in cleanliness. Apart from this, major laws
were enacted, to levy heavy fines. For spitting, littering, and smoking, the
first offense would be fine of S$1,000 (Singaporean Dollar). Second offense
S$2,000. And the third offense would attract a fine of S$5,000.
The next problem was
slums. Singapore had slums all over the place. What could they do about it?
More than 26,000 families were relocated from slums, and high-rise buildings
and public housing were developed. Meanwhile, water supply, electricity, and
gas supply were provided in the free public housing. And things began to
improve. As of 2021, about 80% of people in Singapore, live in public housing.
Homes provided by the
government. This is why there is next to no homelessness in the country. Last
year, only 616 people were sleeping on the streets. After this, they focused on
urban planning. The people working at stalls on the side of the road are an
important part of the informal economy. But in addition to it, in terms of
cleanliness and beautification, they detract from the beauty of the city.
It was important to
organize them. More than 4,900 hawkers were relocated to food centers.
New wholesale markets
were developed for vegetable sellers. For beautification, the pig farms and
duck farms were phased out from the catchment area. Rivers were cleaned.
More than 2,800
industries were relocated. Now, it is very important to focus on healthcare as
well. In Singapore, public as well as private health care is quite inexpensive.
Under the Ministry of Health, government hospitals have been equipped with
thousands of beds. And they have the innovative Medi Safe, Medi Shield, and
Medi Fund systems in the healthcare sector.
In a country as small as
Singapore with such a high density of people with so little place for people to
live, building-wide roads for vehicles waste a lot of precious land. If every
citizen owned a vehicle, it wouldn't leave space for residential areas. And the
country would be covered in roads. So it was necessary to discourage people
from buying cars. And to promote public transport. This is why, even today,
Singapore is the most expensive city if you want to buy a car. There's a heavy
tax on buying a car. In the country, a limited number of cars can be on the
road.
If anyone wants to add a
new car, they can do so only by replacing an existing car.
On the other hand, for
public transportation like buses and the metro, Singapore has one of the least
expensive public transport in the world. It is affordable for people, in
addition to being one of the cleanest and safest.
With the things that I
have talked about till now, you might think that the government is offering
cheap things. Education, healthcare, public transportation, and housing. People
are given these at a low cost to make these affordable.
But where does the
government get the money to do so? Does the government charge a high tax rate
from the government? The way it is in several European countries where the tax
rate crosses 50% even. Countries like Sweden, Finland, Denmark, and Austria.
But no, the income tax
rates in Singapore are quite low. Between 2% to 24%. So how can the government
manage to bring in the funds? Friends, here we need to discuss the primary
principles of Singapore's government. They focus a lot on sustainability and
fiscal deficit.
Let me explain with an
example. Look at this company's website. Temasek Holdings. This looks like a
large MNC. With more than 900 employees. 33 nationalities. Its Net Portfolio as
of March 2022 was $403 billion. But who owns this company? The Singaporean
government
.
This is a government
company. Singapore's government owns many such companies working in the
transport, power, and media sectors. Many such companies are Temasek
subsidiaries. Temasek invests in other national and international companies to
derive profits
.
When we think about
Indian government companies, they are so mismanaged that the government has to
privatize them."Government has no business to be in business." But by
privatizing, the profits of the company go to private owners. To billionaires.
But if a government company is run well, if it's managed properly, the profits
will go to the government. And eventually, the citizens will benefit from it.
Apart from this, do you know which are the areas with high taxes?
The tax on motor
vehicles is very high. That's another source of revenue for the government.
There's a wealth tax as well. There's even property tax and GST. But overall,
Singapore's government is in a fiscal surplus for most years. It earns more
than it spends. The rules of fiscal discipline are written down in their
constitution as well. But if you look at this from the individual level, there
are some people who are not very careful with their money.
They engage in
unnecessary spending and do not save properly. This is why the government has
instituted a Central Provident Fund. People deposit a part of their salary into
this fund. This exists in India as well.
In total, there are more
than 4.2 million members of the Central Provident Fund as of September 2022.
This is why Singapore has one of the highest savings rates in the world. In
2021, the Gross Domestic Savings was 57.5% of the GDP. This puts Singapore
among the Top 3 countries in the world. Not only is the government managing its
funds efficiently,
but also the citizens.
But going back in time, as I told you, Singapore doesn't have natural
resources.
That can be exploited or
sold to earn money. So this begs the question, how are people earning in a
country like Singapore? At the time of independence, they had barren lands.
Friends, in such cases, the economy needs to be kick-started.
It can be done in 2
ways. 1st: by large-scale government spending. Creating large infrastructure
projects, PSUs, 2nd: by opening up the economy, so that foreign companies could
invest in the country. Lee Kuan Yew did both. He invested government money in
big infrastructure projects.
Such as building a
world-class port. If you visit their airport today,
you will be mesmerized.
Singapore has one of the best airports in the world. They have built a mini
city inside the airport itself. Building homes for the workers. He created the
Housing Development Board, and Economic Development Board, These projects
provided a large number of employment to the people, which became the backbone
of the economy.
Since the country did
not have any natural resources, it meant that the location of the country was
its only advantage. A small island can never be self-reliant. It meant that
they needed to open up the economy, And the rest of the world will need to be
given the opportunity to benefit from Singapore. As I've already told you,
Singapore was a port for ships for a long time.
For international
trading. The Singaporean government continued with this. By building a robust
airport, being a hub for connecting flights, and facilitating international
trading. To attract foreign investment, Singapore had to be a stable country
where it's easy to carry
on a business. So they reduced tax rates, ended red-tapism, and useless
paperwork, developed a single trade window, fired the lazy and corrupt workers
from government agencies, invited international businesses, and eased up the
processes. As a result, today, in terms of ease of doing business, Singapore is
ranked No. 2 in the world, following New Zealand. To do this, a major precondition
was to eliminate corruption in the country. Corruption would only hinder
businesses.
Today, out of 180
countries, Singapore is the 4th least corrupt country in the world. It is the
only Asian country to rank in the Top 10 in the last 10 years. What was Lee
Kuan Yew's trick to end corruption? First, he raised the salaries of government
employees. As well as the salaries of politicians and ministers.
They are paid such high
salaries that you won't believe it. The current Prime Minister of Singapore is
the son of Lee Kuan Yew. He is the highest-paid Prime Minister in the world.
He is paid a salary of
$1.61 million. Much more than US President Joe Biden, or the Russian dictator
Vladimir Putin. it is the same for government employees.
They are paid good salaries.
The logic for this is if you pay good salaries to government employees and
ministers, they cannot be encouraged to engage in corruption. Since they
already receive a good income. On top of it, the salaries have a
performance-related component as well. For the ministers and government
employees. Their good performance is rewarded by this. Third, if a minister is
so greedy as to engage in corruption despite the high salary,
they will be given heavy
punishment. Fine up to $100,000 and imprisonment up to 5 years. In 1960, PAP
introduced the Prevention of Corruption Act.
"The Prevention of
Corruption Act was passed today." "While directed mainly at
corruption in the public services." Their Corrupt Practices Investigation
Bureau was given more powers. It was made independent. Basically, it is an
agency that investigates corruption. It is given Operational Autonomy. Even
though it works under the Prime Minister's office, the Prime Minister cannot
interfere in its work.
No political leader can
interfere in it, this allows this agency to remain independent. This autonomy
is very important since if any politician engages in corruption, this agency
can take action against it as well. In terms of the environment, in 1972, the
Singaporean government
launched an initiative
of Tree Planting Day. A specific day on which all residents come together
to plant trees. This
initiative was so successful that within 10 years, the number of trees planted
was the same as the number of people living in Singapore. Within 10 years, they
had cleaned their river. And today, the best indoor gardens are found in
Singapore. Look at the beautiful greenery all around the city.
Singapore's greenery has
become a tourist attraction now. Talking about specific sectors, Singapore
started with textile and petrochemical refineries. But Lee Kuan Yew did not
want his country to become a low-cost factory for the rest of the world.
He ensured that the
Singaporeans learned skills in technical schools and internships. Law mandated
that the employers in the country had to pay a monthly Skill Development Levy
for the employees working for them. This is sent to the Skills Development
Fund. To support the workforce upgrading programs.
With the help of Skill
Development, by the 1990s, Singapore had become a part of
the global supply chains
for sophisticated technologies. Such as biotech engineering, aerospace,
integrated circuits, pharmaceuticals, petroleum chemicals, and semiconductors.
They provided good quality education to their citizens, and taught them useful
skills, to enable them to work in industries that did not require natural
resources.
Friends, after doing so
much, do you know what's amazing? Lee Kuan Yew knew that under all
circumstances he couldn't allow a personality cult to develop around him. He
was focused on his work to develop the country.
Rather than developing
his image. Today, if you visit Singapore, you will not find busts or statues of
Lee Kuan Yew. No monuments to honor him. No temples to worship him. He took a
country from rags to riches. Even so, no monuments were built for him.
Why? Singapore's current
Prime Minister gave a statement regarding this in April 2015,
About a month after Lee
Kuan Yew's death. He developed Singapore so miraculously, that he could have
depicted himself as a superhero. He could have turned people into his
followers, going as far as saying that he was an avatar of God, for taking the
country from rags to riches, but he did none of these.
Lee Kuan Yew was
an educated person, he was pragmatic, and didn't feel very strongly about any
ideology. It's said that his ears were always listening. He paid attention to
all suggestions. These qualities are rarely found in politicians. "To
govern Singapore, one must have that iron in him. I have spent a whole lifetime
building this. As long as I'm in charge, nobody's going to knock it down."
Today, many people categorize Lee Kuan Yew as a benevolent dictator,
because to some extent,
he was against free speech. Singapore improved in many factors.
but in terms of the Press
Freedom Index, it doesn't rank as well. Things have been improving over the
last few years.
But during Lee Kuan
Yew's governance, press freedom was nearly non-existent. Many people learn the
wrong lesson from this story. Since he was a benevolent dictator, people
imagine that they too need a dictator for their country one that could put a
stop to freedom and enforce their will. But in most cases, free media is very
important, to hold the people in power accountable.
To keep them in check.
Singapore is an exceptional case because Lee Kuan Yew knew how to hold himself
accountable.
He listened to others.
The lesson that we need to learn from this story is the exact policies
implemented by him. To take the country to the level of development it has
reached. What do you think? Comment below.
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