Well, a leader can only do so much with what he/she is given. (or conversely, for all the success, only attribute some of it to a leader) One of the most impor

Well, a leader can only do so much with what he/she is given. (or conversely, for all the success, only attribute some of it to a leader) One of the most important contributing success factors was that Singapore had a population and people dying (literally dying) to have effective government, material improvements in their lives, and a willingness to be compliant with leaders who delivered. It really makes a big difference when your people are cooperating with government. It costs less. It produces more. When your people contribute their own time and work, when people keep things clean and disapprove of crime, when they don't tolerate disorder or corruption, gangs, etc., when they don't sue each other left and right, you achieve a lot more with the same resources. It's a cultural thing, so it's hard to reproduce except over decades of changing a people's mindset. You could put all these structures in place somewhere else, but if people don't want it, or don't support it, it could simply produce every run-of-the-mill banana republic that we know all too well, with elite institutions and guarantees of competence on paper and nothing in reality.