Singapore: Road to success

Throughout World War II, Singapore was ruled and directed  by the Japanese Empire . When the war ended in 1945, the British took over the land. In 1965, it was the first time in modern history for the country to declare independency. 

Until the 1970s Singapore was facing severe unemployment and a housing crisis. But the picture changed when the country embarked on a modernization program that focused on establishing a manufacturing industry, developing large public housing estates and investing heavily on public education.

Primarily emphasis was placed on educating the young people. When that was largely fulfilled in the 70’s the emphasis then switched to the secondary education and technical education. The last emphasis adjustment was when the government wanted to focus on education more specialized.  

Tiny and underdeveloped Singapore had no natural resources and a population of relatively recent immigrants with little shared history. 

Country’s first prime-minister Lee Kuan Yew was mainly responsible for transforming the country. Himself and a very efficient small trustworthy team gave emphasis to support those who were able. Resources were spent on those who had the abilities. All in order to develop the human resource of the country. But not taking out of the picture those that were not as quick in learning. Until the 1990s, the country had already become one of the world's most prosperous nations. A highly developed free market economy and a strong international trading city. 

Constraints: 

Very small domestic market 

Need to export goods 

Fundamental factors for Singapore’s economic success

 1.made use of what the world could offer in terms of technology, capital, investments . Under Mr. Lee Singapore welcomed foreign trade and investment. Multibillionaires found Singapore a natural hub and were encouraged to expand and prosper 

2. Understood the most valuable resource it possessed: people (Over 75 % of Singaporeans are Chinese.15% Malays and 7% Indians. And 3 % containing Arabs, Japanese as well as Europeans.) Singaporeans displayed remarkable levels of energy and work ethic, especially, if you consider that Singapore is in the humid tropical belt facing relatively high day and night temperatures. Education became the most important fundamental factor for the transformation. 

3.Government policy and government spending 

In the beginning, the government did not have many resources .What it could offer was strict policies that would help the society keep a correct living mindset. Some of the restricted legislations included gambling, chewing gum, the right to strike, throwing cigars etc. Any of these  could result in hefty fines. In order to better understand the harsh legislation it is critical to get to know better the overall philosophy of state before individual. 

4.Strategic location and natural harbor enabled the country to ship many goods from different parts of Asia, Africa even Europe to many parts of Australia and New Zeeland. (took advantage of the geographic position).

 5.Local politicians realized that the economy of Singapore will be much more quickly developed if they concentrated on creating possibilities of exports. Instead of trying to substitute imports.

 Examples of development: 

• Singapore has one of the most modern urban systems in the world. It took barely 3 years to build the mass rapid transit system .
•  Has reduced the infant mortality faster than any other society, going down from 35 per 1,000 live births in 1965 to 1.8 in 2014. 
• Singapore has the highest home ownership of any country in the world, with 90 percent of residents living in homes they own. 
• There is no corruption in Singapore. It’s a clean society. 
• Limited land was always a major problem for this little island nation, but the most ingenious solutions were applied to create space.       

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