How did Singapore become such a wealthy successful state? 5/6/24
This is an ironfisted wonderland with a chewing gum ban , caning for vandals, hanging of drug trafficker's
It is modern that driverless cars are being tested there. It is on the global circuit of bankers lawyer IT contractors drawing capital and white collar talent from the US. It is cited as a role model for free enterprise and the world has adopted Singaporean style math teaching.
Sheltered from unreliable results of untrammeled democracy could throw up. The democracy is in a framework of restrictions of free speech. But in this narrow political space it has achieved first world prosperity.
1992 Chewing gum importations were stopped as putting in the doors of the trains stopped doors closing and trains couldn't go.
1959 Lee Kuan Yew The first Prime Minister was a Cambridge educated barrister while it was still a British Colony. It was part of the federation of Malaysia till 1963. In 1965 it broke away and was very vulnerable as it lacked natural resources and relied on Malaysian water. It was a Chinese majority with a Malay and Indian minorities. By the time Lee died in 2021 Singapore was one of the richest nations in the world.
1819 Sir Thomas Stanford Raffles recognized the virtues of the location and it became the linchpin of the British opium trade between the Bengal and Bihar poppy fields and China.
1869 The Suez Canal opened with 99 steamers call the port, a year later the figure increased to 541.
1901 population of 200,000, more than 9000 died malaria. Was the main cause but tuberculosis and beri beri and easily curable disease. The system of night soil was only done away with in 1978
1963 Independence from Britain and part of Malaya
1965 the unemployment was 9 % and a few years later the UK closed military bases here, making 40,000 more unemployed. Officials acquired a reputation of honesty and investment poured in. Singapore launched into exports while much of the rest of Asia was closed for business under Communist rules. Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan were trailing for globalization. There were the 4 Asian Tiger till 1990 and they were trail blazers for globalization Women were given greater equality.
The country averaged a 9% annual growth.. With affluence women clambered for greater say. From an economy on par with Jordan in 1965 today Singapore has outstripped Japan. There is no unemployment and there is a state build home for everyone, and the education system is the best in the world.
1990 Lee stepped down but carried on in the role of mentor.
IN 1984 he said human rights are not bankable. Outsider quickly discover how little freedom there is in Singapore. Ministers hold degrees from the worlds finest universities Harvard, Cambridge , Yale. The city had no time for nostalgia and shrines and colonial area cottages were ripped down for high-rise's. Different Chinese dialects were junked to make way for Mandarin.
Malays are mostly Muslim , Indians mostly Hindu while White and Chinese are Buddhist Christian and Taoists.
Before the Suez Canal most shipping passed further south. Personal safety which is miserable in developing countries is good here and violent crime is a rarity.
They children spend long hours studying under tutors after a school day. Fathers spend long hours at work and an Eat With Your Family day was introduced in 2003. Government policy is improving peoples lives while rooting out corruption. It is authoritarians with Gucci handbags.
Productivity is boosted through technical advances and improved management practices, also by more people going to school and then universities.
2011 elections showed that the voices of the people had broken through the system and so migration was curtailed. Top income tax rate is 22% but will rise in the future. The ethnic Chinese grasp of Mandarin means that the island is placed to exploit Chinese trade. Singapore keeps economic links to China while independent and neutral.
2 centuries ago there were1000 people on the Mangrove swamps with jungles and tiger today it has 5 million, 4 million of whom are permanent residents..
A statue is 150 years old. On the plinth is written in English Chinese Malay and Tamil "On this historic site Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles first landed in Singapore on 28th Jan1819 and with genius and perception changed the destiny of Singapore from an obscure fishing village to a seaport and modern metropolis. Unlike other colonies on independence here the name of the European founder is a mark of prestige and the colonial buildings at the heart of the city have been preserved.
Under Canning Hill where the first colonial governors resided is the remains of a royal palace, from700 year old settlement..
The Dutch were the dominant European power controlling the trade of nutmeg and cloves from the Moluccas. Their biggest possession was Java where the peasants grew coffee pepper, rice and indigo. Raffels learned the Malay language and history and expanded British trade. He was 14 when he joined the service of the East India Company at 23 he earned an appointment in Penang.
1811The Dutch Capital here was called Batavia (Jakarta today) Java was seized by the British and Raffles tried to reform the agriculture there and ending forced labour for public works.
1816 Java was returned to the Dutch following the Napoleon wars. 1817 he was awarded a knighthood from the Prince Regent. Between India and China is the Straights of Malacca and he was given the job of finding territory free to Dutch control to act as a British base.
1819 he arrived to find a feud between half brothers Hussein and Abdul Rahman. He took advantage of this and signed a treaty with the elder brother giving the EAC the right to establish and outpost and paid the sultan a annual stipend.. He raised the Union Jack and left Farquhar in charge.(loc 339) British ship guaranteed security and it became a free port no taxes were paid by ships and this brought early prosperity that attracted Asian entrepreneurs. When Raffles returned 1822 he objected to the gambling dens, slavery and monopoly rights. He gave money for a new school for the sons of the regional elites. It was traditional for the captains of ships to give gifts to the Malay Chiefs , Raffles saw that as bad for a free port
1824 Singapore in it entirety was ceded to the EAC It had 11 Chinese men for 1 women and many women were trafficked to Singapore. Opium had provided half the administration revenue.
1877 Rubber was introduced by the British who shipped seedling from Kew gardens and grown in Malaya and tin was mined there for canning also oil was developed. Workers were brought from China and India.
1890 A German and Scottish businessman set up a smelting industry and by 1912 this smelted 66% of Malaya tin
1897 Shell set up oils storage on Pulau Bukom island.
1904 A Chinese entrepreneur bought a piece of jungle and from his Fujian province workers and planted pineapples and rubber.
1912 The corrupt Qing dynasty was overthrown in China. This was supported by Tan and Chinese businessmen who financed Chinese education schools in Singapore and a Chinese language daily. Most affluent Chinese of all races attended English language schools, many to be able to work in the Colonial civil service.
1917 Both Firestone and Goodyear set up subsidiaries to buy rubber.
1941 the first 16 story Cathey Building was build.
1959 SinWar
1942 Feb Japanese Occupation to 1945 Sept. and made the area part of the Co-Prosperity Sphere. Schools taught Japanese. Before the war consumers had been boycotting Japanese goods and supported the Chinese war effort. The British had set up Singapore as a naval base to defend the Empires Pacific Rim. The worlds largest dry dock the King George VI was set up in 1938. Chinese leaders helped the British and volunteers Dalforce force was set up under Police Chief John Dalley. Many of these escaped to the Malayan jungles and became guerillas. Some joined a Communist group. Japanese extorted millions and printed banana currency that devalued. There were food shortages and people set up vegetable gardens.
Lee obtained a Japanese language proficiency certificate in August 1942 and worked in a friend's company and then the Kumiai, which controlled essential items. He got a job with the Japanese propaganda department (Hōdōbu) in late 1943 and worked for the Japanese occupation force as an English specialist.
Lee Kuan Yew was 18 years old and saw how raw power could totally control a society by fear.
Subhas Chandra Bose and Burma's independence leader the father of Aung Sang su Ki both supported the Japanese. The Indian Nationalist Army was recruited and fought alongside Japan.
Every person Chinese in particular was screened and all suspected of being anti-Japanese, and were transported away and murdered.
Over 40,000 died in the war.
1945 Sept 1945 Lord Mountbatten accepted the surrender of the Japanese here. After the war you had a English speaking middle class of white collar workers. Communism had a powerful appear amongst Chinese in South East Asia. and in 1948 predominantly Ethnic Chinese launched a revolt against British rule. 3 European manager of rubber plantations were murdered and Britain declared a state of emergency in Malaya. The Communist party was banned in Singapore.
1957 Malaya had become independent led by PM prince Abdul Rahman and by 1960 the communist insurgency was crushed. Malaya was predominantly rural Malay while Singapore was a Chinese majority and more urban. The wealthiest in Malaya were Chinese tycoons.gapore became self governing British providing defense. The fortunes of the country were tied to commodity prices.
1961 the refinery that opened up was the biggest in the world. Dutch economist Albert Winsemius, who was chief economic advisor for two decades of miraculous growth from 1961 to 1983. He advised him to get rid of any communists and keep the statue of Raffles in its place.
1962 Mass graves of the of victims of the Sook Ching massacres' were unearthed in 14 places across the island resulting in a rally and demands for compensation at a time when Lee was looking for Japanese investment.
This blood debt claim was settled in 1966 .when Elsaku Sato referred to the war as unhappy incidents. Japan became a major investor.
Singapore homes have build in bomb shelters, and the country has a high level of military alertness. the view is that" if you cant defend it it is not yours"
1965 Singapore became independent from Malaya which supplied most of the countries drinking water. Singapore was a statelet of 2 million.
Today Most people live in public housing a single person has to wait till the age of 35 to apply. Thousands of graves were exhumed to make way for development. They are fastidious about public cleanliness, litter droppers are sent to clean the streets as 'Corrective Work Orders' Singapore is the first place in the world with driverless taxis, hoping this will reduce car ownership.
They are worried about climate change, their area heats up double the global average and a campaign was conducted to plant trees, and try to replace vegetation lost to construction They have set a goal to be a zero waste society and burn trash to generate energy. All urban planning takes climate change into account. New building are designed to catch the cooling wind. They are heading to being a cashless society. There are drones to detect puddles to deal with mosquitoes on roofs. A new airport will have it runway 5.5 meters above sea level, to deal with future sea rise. The city has to adapt to survive. Their is a British security law that allows detention for 2 years without being brought to trial. If you appose the state you might end up sacrificing your youth. They were worried about the violent communism of the 60s. Singapore has steadily become a more repressive society. 1966 Vandalism Act a law introduced canning for graffiti. Hundreds for books have been banned. Libel laws are used and it is the writer who has to prove his facts are true. There is a restriction of sale of foreign press. The Straits Times is the mouthpiece of the government. This is a progressive society but hardly an open one. Food appears to be the safest topic of conversation.
Note 1979 When the Shah faced problems he was urged to yield by the US. instead of dealing with the situation firmly. 1986 Marcos was deposed and this was encouraged by the Catholic Church.
For water they are reliant on Malaya's goodwill. Harvesting rainwater has been set up and extensive recycling established.
2001 The Speakers Corner was opened to relieved some of the pressure. To talk you have to register with the police and race and religion are forbidden. Gays are tolerated to show it is a cosmopolitan society to encourage investment.
Covid 19 The society showed it could deal with this quickly and as a model role, as it had had experience with the SARS virus, of 2002. However the migrant workers in dormitories were neglected which showed a weak link in defenses. There are 5.7 million population and there are 1.4 million foreign workers. Spitting in public is illigal.as the original purpose of this was to curb cholera and typhoid. The Health System is amongst the best in the world. and infant mortality is lower than in Britain. Citizens are encouraged to snitch on rulebreakers. Societies who value community over individuals are better placed to deal with emergencies.
No-one owes Singapore a living . Along with the politics education was the most important thing for Singapore's success. Initially school with to improve production and factory workers, to increase proficiency in English and math's. Education was a preserve of the affluent and two fifths of the population was illiterate. A system was build in the belief that every child was capable of learning. State run schools are in English medium, and no English schools were phased out in the 1980s The single version of Mandarin Chinese was adopted in 1979..
The Anglo Chinese School established in 1886 by the Methodist church grooms sons of the business elites.
Today the Raffles Institute students are the elitist. At schools children are taught citizenship and why nations rise and fall. The see examples of consequences of racial and religious tensions abroad.
Singapore is not a country of second chance so not suitable for Start Ups they are rather a copy and past society.
Internet Little attempt is made to block political content on line. Filtering content is restricted to pornography, sales of banned drugs and religious extremism.
2011 the general election showed that the public were critical of in influx of foreign workers and overcrowding of busses and trains which had failed to keep pace with the population growth. So even though the PFP got 60% it was down from previously and the authorities listened. to the citizens. However in 2013 they began to exert a firmer grip of online information. Fake News Law of 2019 Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation..
Questions are being asked why poverty especially amongst the elderly persists while Singapore is one of the worlds richest countries.
We are a small and multiracial society and can easily be overwhelmed by larger adversaries taking advantage of our fault lines.. The internet opened channels in which a rebellious roar became audible.
Families played a central role in Asian commercial development, and placing a family member in positions of authority is better than a stranger. Usually the eldest son inherits, rather than dividing the corporate empire.
Singapore defied the economic orthodoxy of the West, which stated the state has no business in running companies. It is unlike Hong Kong where tycoons dominate the political system.
1980 an effort was made into high tech and it is a big exporter of high tech goods. Singapore is a copy and paste society and not innovative.
It has a big banking and currency trading centre, and it is a big centre of investments for Kuwait and UAE's surpluses. Heirs of business dynasties usually head to US business schools.
1995 Nick Leeson based in Singapore caused the downfall of Baring bank
A new generation of mainland Chinese enterprises are making Singapore their home.
When superpowers collide smaller countries need to pick sides. The rights of an individuals are below that of society and state.
All male citizens do 2 years service in the army from the age of 18 and this acts as a binding of the segments of the society, by nature this emphasizes community over the individual.
Singapore is a difficult place for artist but the government gives them some help.
2005 Singapore was losing appeal as a tourist destination casinos were allowed and it is geared towards tourist, local have to pay $150 to enter, it is not allowed to advertise locally.
Epilogue
1932 The writer's father was born in north of Sri Lanka the British Colony of Ceylon and his grandfathers occupation is listed as a stall vendor, and they were Tamil speaking. His half sister was married to a Singaporean Tamil speaker and worked for the municipality. His father had arrived in London in 1960. His mother was raised in Malaysia studied biochemistry in India and was in London to do post graduate training, and connected via a far flung relative. In Britain they were a minority in a minority.
1983 to 2009 Sri Lanka was in a civil war, so he could not visit there as a kid. Singapore was a hard place for a journalist as people were conditioned to obedience.
A taxi driver complained of the hard life he had but blamed himself for not getting a better education.
"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself " G.B. Shaw. Thus all progress depends on the unreasonable.
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The Charismatic Leader Lee Kuan Yew and the Rise of Singapore as an Asian Tiger by Wiroon Tanthapanichakoon 2015 61pg
Singapore is a nation in progress and it is reclaiming land to increase its land mass. It has joined some islands to its landmass, 10% of which is allocated to public parks.
1819 It started with the southern part of the island as a trading post, by 1826 the whole island was under the British India company .By 1836 it became the regional headquarters. With the opening of the rubber industry. A large naval base was born to stave off the Japanese.
David Marshal won the first general election in. Singapore was now independent except for defense.
1959 The Peoples Action Party took over then.
1923 Lee was born. He was a 4th generation Chinese. He studies at the Raffles institute.
When the war started he was supposed to go to university. After the war he started at the London school of economics and continued at Cambridge. In his life he had sang 4 national anthem. Under colonial Britain God Save the Queen. Kimigayo under Japan, Negera Ku under Malaysia and finally Majulan Singapura
1950 Lee married Kwa Geok Choo and they spoke English to each other.
1951 he worked as a lawyer and became legal advisor for students and trade unions.
1957 In politics in the PAP the left wing communists were getting strong and they authorized the arrest of communists en mass., and Lee regained the post of secretary general.
Malaysia Tunka Abdul Rahman was chief minister from 1957 the Prime Minster till 1963. There was a standoff with Malaysia and Singapore felt it had no loyalty to the Malaysian Central Government
1965 agreement of separation, because Singapore was mostly urban and Chinese while Malaysia was dominantly rural, Singapore needed water from Malaysia. Britain under Harold Wilson under the former colonial power was shocked. At the age of 32 Lee studied Chinese. Under the Japanese occupation he learned Japanese.
Singapore joined the Commonwealth and spearhead ASEAN Association of South East Asians nations. Singapore became a member of United Nations.
Singapore became one of the worlds busiest ports and the 4th biggest financial centre, and also became a manufacturer.
Lee had a knack for pragmatic long term economic and social measures. He made English the language of the country. He got the Bible Society to stop publishing material on religion in Malay..
He was worried that high % of graduate women were single and set up an organization to get graduates to socialize and find partners. Reservoirs were set up and they did not want to rely on Malaysia for water, a program to bring about innovation to solve this proble was set up.
1990 Lee handed over leadership to Gob Chok Tong.and in 1992 gave him the title of PAPs secretary general.
2004 a campaign was set up to encourage Singaporen to change their Chinese from differnet dialects to Mandarin which is the standard language of China.
2006 Lee Hslen Leong Lee's oldest son became PM
Later in 2011 set up funds to bring bilingualism about.
2024 Lawrence Wong became PM
Private Life He was the epitome of rationality and a faithful husband and many Singaporean men could have learned from his traits. His son was the same. He enjoyed the advice of his wife who was an economist and they shared a joint bank account.
They tried to reduce income inequalities especially by making education and health available to all.
The dark side of Lee was that he had opponent arrested and their are many examples of families and professions ruined as a result. Critics argued that the rule of law could not be detached from economic growth.
Model of a world leader Deng Xiaoping sent thousands of Chines officials to learn to emulate the economic growth white subtilty suppressing dissenting voices. This also had an influence on Russia. Lee also worked hard to create a unique identity for Singaporeans under multiculturalism.
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Fall of Singapore the undefeatable British Fortress conquered. by Mei Mei Chun Moy 2017 103pg 14/5/24
This was considered the worst defeat of the British Army by Churchill.
The call of Asia for the Asian's was a betrayal by Japan because of the atrocities committed by the Japanese army. The details and images were forgotten compared to the Holocaust which is embedded in European collective memory.
1644 From then China had been ruled by the Qing Empire and as a result of internal rebellions and external wars the Quing Empire fell in 1911. While China struggled to hold itself together. Japan had contact with the west starting with the Dutch for trade. Japan opened herself up and embraced ideas of technology of the outsiders. This was the Meij Restoration which developed her economy, industry and military.
1819 Singapore had been an insignificant part of the Sultanate of Jahor. Stamford Raffles saw Singapore in the mouth of the Malacca Straits a perfect port location for the Chinese and Indian trade.
1826 This was part of the British East India Trading company but now was declared a British Colony. Raffles had enlightened ideas and eliminated slavery.
1832 Singapore became capital of the Straits settlement.
1869 Suez Canal opened increasing the value of Singapore's port for trading.
1894/1895 First Sino Japan War.
1900 Singapore Strategy. This would become a major military base, with a large garrison.
1904/1905 Russo Japan-War. Japan won and proved she was the important Asian power.
1905 Japan now ruled Formosa (Taiwan) the Liaodong province and Korea.
1919 Versailles Treaty transferred the German Shandong concession in China to Japan.
1931 Japan attacked Manchuria initially for acquiring resources later to gain economic power. The renamed it Manchukuo.
1934 The Long March consolidated Mao Zedong as leader of the Communists.
1937/1945 Second Sino/Japan War. The Chinese Communist and Nationalist under Chang Kei Shek were fight each other instead of the Japanese.
1938 the British Changi naval base was completed.
1941 April Soviet sign non aggression pact with Japan and Germany.
1941 Dec7th Pearl Harbour. 3 days later HMS Repulse and Prince of Wales were sunk off the Malayan coast. The British navy would never again be a great power. Japanese started bombing Singapore's 2 air bases Seletar and Tengah.
Japan's 25 Army landed at Kota Bharu on the Malaya coast the came from Indo China. Penang was taken and the Kuala Lumpar. Volunteer gueralla forces the Dalforce under senior police officer John Dalley. These were mostly Chinese.
1942 Feb Singapore fell to the Japanese.
130,000 Allied troops under General Percival were taken into captivity.
Under Japans General Yamashita this campaign was planned to take 100 day but they completed it in 70.
First Japan occupied the French Indo China and then started moving southwards on land with 3 divisions. The British had not planned for them to attack that way and as British troops retreated the destroyed about 250 bridges. The Japanese advanced on bicycles an enormous fleet of bicycles outflanking defending troops by sea. With bicycles were able to ford the rivers.
The had the British codes and heard the British complaining how weak they were. The British troops were mostly not prepared for the climate and wrongly trained. British ships came to support them without aircraft protection were torpedo bombed from the sky. This was the first time that Capital ships were destroyed from the air.
Kuala Lumpar was captured and 80,000 extra troops fled south to Singapore.
The British destroyed the causeway to Singapore but very little had been done to fortify the north of the island.
The water reservoirs were on the mainland and the Japanese cut off the water. The Japanese were also running out of supplies when the British capitulated.
After capitulation British troops tried to escape by sea but were captured by Japanese. The Japanese began the Sook Ching purges of Chinese who might be disloyal to them and Communists killing 40,000 At the time 77% of Singaporean civilians were Chinese. Japanese began looting and raping. This all carried on until capitulation.
Many of the troops in captivity died of neglect and starvation,
The British politicians had been pushing for disarmament and had cut much funding for the army before the war.
Japan now tried to Japanize Singapore with Japanese being taught at schools, tried eliminating western influences of music, film and theater. Celebrated the Emperors birthday and the yen became the currency. These countries were to be liberated from European imperialism. However the Japanese had no aptitude for governing. There was an enormous shortage of food as the Singapore soil was unsuitable for cultivation as most food was imported. People were encourage to go to Malaya where they had family.
At war's end the people welcomed the return of British troops. The British realized they couldn't return to pre war conditions.
1946 The British Administration governed Malaya and now Singapore as a separate colony. The Malayan Union was set up and this paved the way for Malayan states to self govern. The communist organization led successful strikes to campaign for higher wages. There was a post war scarcity of everything and food rationing. This was a period of social and economic recovery and the British were called "Black Market Administration"
The leading Japanese officers were charged for the Sook Ching Massacres' which was mostly against Chinese and it was nicknamed the " Chinese Massacre Trial" and in the end a total of 79 were executed, for crimes on Malayan soil. In 1993 Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa officially apologized for the inhuman acts.
1965 Singapore became and independent republic, but the Japanese occupation continues to have an impact as a painful part of the history.
Singapore History Time line
1811 Java was seized by the British from the Dutch and Raffles tried to reform the agriculture there
1816 Java was returned to the Dutch following the Napoleon wars
1819 Sir Thomas Stanford Raffle arrived in Singapore
1824 Singapore in it entirety was ceded to the EIC British East India company
1832 Singapore became capital of the Straits settlement. Penang also important.
1869 The Suez Canal opened
1877 Rubber was introduced by the British
1890 A German and Scottish businessman set up a smelting industry
1894/1895 First Sino Japan War
1904/1905 Russo Japan-War.
1912 The corrupt Qing dynasty was overthrown in China.
1917 Both Firestone and Goodyear set up subsidiaries to buy rubber.
1923 Lee was born to English speaking Chinese parents.
1938.The worlds largest dry dock the King George VI was set up in Singapore
1941 April Soviet sign non aggression pact with Japan and Germany
1941 Dec7th Pearl Harbour.
1942 Feb 8 to 15th Singapore capitulates to Japanese Occupation
1941 Dec 25th Japan occupies Hong Kong after 18days fighting followed by atrocities.
1942 March 28th Japanese occupy Sumatra, leaving no escape for soldiers leaving Malaysia
1945 Sept 1945 Lord Mountbatten accepted the surrender of the Japanese here.
1946 The British Administration governed Malaya and now Singapore as a separate colony.
. 1947 till 1960 8 years of the Malay Emergency. Ghurka and British Regiments and the Australian Airforce.
In 1951 Sir Henry Gurney the High Commissioner was assassinated
1954 Lee (aged 31) co-founded and led Peoples’ Action Party (PAP)
1957 Malaya had become independent led by PM prince Abdul Rahman
1959 PAP with Lee as Prime Minister elected on a platform supporting merger with Malaysia.
1962 Mass graves of the of victims of the Sook Ching massacres' were unearthed
1963 Singapore declares independence from Britain with Lee Kuan Yew The first Prime Minister under PAP and merger with Malaysia
1965 Singapore expelled from Malaysia, established as an independent nation with a population of 2 million. English declared official language with Malay and Chinese as secondary languages.
1966 Vandalism Act a law introduced canning for graffiti
1987 All School subjects taught only in English
1991 Lee stepped down but carried on in the role of mentor. handed over leadership to Gob Chok Tong.
1992 Chewing gum imports were stopped
2001 The Singapore Speakers Corner was opened to relieved some of the political pressure.
2002 SARS virus,
2005 Singapore casinos allowed to attract tourists.
2006 Lee Hslen Leong Lee's oldest son became PM
2015 Lee died aged 91
