Most people around the world, and those especially abreast of news of Asian economies would know that the progress of Singapore from 1959 to present can be described nothing short of a miracle. Singapore has now, the 2nd highest per capita income in Asia next to Japan, her per capita now actually exceeds that of her former colonial masters, the UK and has in all respects an income and lifestyle, at par with any first rate Western European or American city. It is one of the cleanest cities of the world, if not the cleanest, unemployment is of the lowest in the world, it is one of the best managed countries in the world, leaders in electronic communication, crime rate the lowest, there is no racial disharmony, no labor unrest, it has one of the highest educational standards, and all in all, nothing less than brilliant. And mind you, to confirm the miracle, all this happened in just 43 years. This article tries to give Gopalan Nair’s personal knowledge to explain this, Gopalan Nair being a native of Singapore by birth.
Singapore was colonized by the British since 1819, first indirectly by the British East India Company which was also at that time ruling India. After some developments in the interim, after World War 2, Singapore became a British Crown Colony. In 1955 although Singapore remained a British colony, the British were prepared to allow a limited form of home rule to Singapore with defense, finance and foreign affairs still under the British Crown. Local elections were held in 1955 and the flamboyant, brilliant criminal lawyer of Jewish descent, Mr. David Marshall, became the first Singapore Chief Minister. One year before, in 1954, a young Chinese lawyer, recently graduated from Cambridge, member of the Middle Temple, had formed the People’s Action Party (the PAP) which formed a strong collaboration with the Communists. The PAP had won a few seats in the 1955 elections. As Marshall had promised to obtain full independence and if he failed he will resign, such a challenge having been made, and unable to keep it, the Marshall government resigned in 1959, resulting in another general election, in which this time, the PAP succeeds in sufficient seats to form the majority and therefore forms the government.
In 1963, Singapore obtains full independence from the British when Singapore as part of Malaya, Sabah and Sarawak form the new independent country of Malaysia with Tunku Abdul Rahman as the Prime Minister of Malaysia and Lee Kuan Yew as the Chief Minister of Singapore. Since inception there was friction between the Tunku and Lee, principally caused by the fact that Singapore population was predominantly Chinese and the rest of Malaysia had a slight Malay Muslim majority. There had been some traditional conflict between these races and the union tended to create greater division. Unable to get along, in 1965, the Tunku unilaterally evicted or kicked out Singapore from the Malaysian union, and for the first time, on August 9, 1965, Singapore became an independent country on it’s own right. Lee Kuan Yew became Prime Minister or rather he went back to his title which he held from 1959. In essence, this miracle that we attribute to Singapore has been achieved principally by this man, Lee Kuan Yew and by his far-sighted policies, albeit some of it, rather unusual. This article states briefly what these are.
Singapore, as you would know lies at the southern tip of Peninsular Malaya, now Malaysia. It consists of one major island, the island of Singapore and some outlying islands, such as Sentosa, the tourist island, and some very small islands. Singapore Island by itself is very small, 16 miles north to south and 26 miles East to West. One could perhaps say that the whole of Singapore is as large as Fremont, Milpitas and San Jose combined. Nothing more!
Singapore has 3 different races, Chinese forming about 70 percent, Malays and Indians equally forming the balance. Singapore has no natural resources, no agriculture for obvious reasons, and very limited supply of water. To satisfy it’s water needs, it purchases water from Malaysia through a water pipeline running from Malaysia to Singapore.
Singapore realized that although political theories generally accepted as good such as democracy, are preferable, they must be looked at and applied according to the ground and in relation to the realities of world economy and global politics. As explained, Singapore is small, and because of it’s unique racial and cultural mix, coupled with the lack of any natural resources, meant that some unusual measures should be taken for Singapore to survive. In 1965, the whole world wondered whether in fact this tiny place, no larger than one-third the size of Bombay, could in fact survive as an independent country. But to the surprise of many, it not only did, but did more than well. The writer, Gopalan Nair, born in Singapore and having lived through this transformation, gives his own first hand view of this success.
Singapore realized, from it’s inception, that it could only survive, let alone succeed, with the help of the international community. As it has no natural resources, and no real domestic economy to speak of, it could only survive with international trade, with foreign investment to provide jobs for local Singaporeans and with tourism. In order to achieve these goals, it must create a local atmosphere which is congenial to these objectives. Take labor relations for instance. Singapore tightened labor relations laws making strikes very difficult and the last option. This created labor conditions suitable and attractive for foreign investors attracting foreign investment. Take the free press for instance. If the free press were indeed absolutely and completely free to say whatever they want, they could upset the objectives of the government in their goals. Therefore criticism of government objectives were controlled thereby giving the government free reign to proceed with their goals. Take free speech, public demonstrations for instance. If the people were free to demonstrate and create disruption whenever they wanted, this would upset production and the smooth running of the country. Therefore curbs and controls on free speech and public demonstrations. Take the infra structure for instance, telecommunications for instance. It is absolutely important for any foreign investor to know that there exists a good telecommunications and wireless system in place for them to do good business and to communicate with the rest of the world. Therefore Singapore’s excellent communication system that beats those of all the neighboring countries. Take mass transport for instance. It is important for investors Singaporeans and visitors alike to have a good and smooth transport system, not one where cars clog the roads in perpetual traffic jams. Therefore Singapore’s policy to curb ownership of private vehicles and a tremendous improvement of the public transport system in subways, buses and taxis. In Singapore as one can see, there is a smooth flow of traffic despite it’s small size.
What Singapore and the Lee government has done is to keep their objectives well targeted on the horizon, and then to streamline all major organs of government to cater for and amenable to the achievement of those objectives. By these actions Singapore has managed not only to survive but do exceptionally well in the circumstances. Those who criticize Singapore base their criticisms on the erosion of pure democratic principles such as the control of the press. But my view is that if these undiluted democratic principles would in fact have detrimentory effects on a country, especially a unique country such as Singapore with unique circumstances, then they should be set aside for expediency and survival.
In Singapore now, there is a very high level of literacy, standard of living and affluence. The facts speak for themselves. I am for the Singapore style of government, for countries trying to come out of the third world into the first.

Gopalan Nair
Attorney at Law
39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1
Fremont, CA 94538
Tel: 510 657 6107
Fax: 510 657 6914
Email: GopalNair@aol.com