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One of the greatest leaders of modern times. Singapore was a backwater country with no natural resources when he came to power. It's since evolved into one of

by DevX101 12y ago

One of the greatest leaders of modern times. Singapore was a backwater country with no natural resources when he came to power. It's since evolved into one of the primary economic hubs in Asia, with a higher per-capita GDP than her former colonizers, Great Britain. To transform a country in such short a time is nothing short of remarkable.

stefantalpalaru 12y ago
http://therealsingapore.com/content/why-are-frail-elderly-still-working-s%E2%80%99pore http://therealsingapore.com/content/why-are-frail-elderly-st...
- skinnylatte 12y ago
  This is kind of the equivalent of someone posting something from Breitbart or NYPost and saying "this is real news".
  - stefantalpalaru 12y ago
    You don't like the source, lah? Take this one instead: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-01-06/what-retirement-singapore-older-workers-stay-on-the-job http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-01-06/what-retir...
    - azeusa 12y ago
      please, don't use "lah" or any other form of Singlish. it's condescending and, worse, embarrassing for you when you get the syntax wrong, as in this case.
      - stefantalpalaru 12y ago
        Speak good English lah! And dun worry about my syntax leh.
      - skinnylatte 12y ago
        exactly. thank you for saying that.
oska 12y ago
I recently learnt that Kuan Yew fought desperately against the expulsion of Singapore from Malaysia. At the time, he didn't believe Singapore was viable as an independent state. "Every time we look back on this moment when we signed this agreement which severed Singapore from Malaysia, it will be a moment of anguish. For me it is a moment of anguish because all my life ... you see, the whole of my adult life ... I have believed in merger and the unity of these two territories. You know that we, as a people are connected by geography, economics, by ties of kinship..." Quote taken from transcript of a press conference given by LKY on August 9th, 1965 [1] [1] http://web.archive.org/web/20140809182331/http://www.nas.gov.sg/archivesonline/data/pdfdoc/lky19650809b.pdf http://web.archive.org/web/20140809182331/http://www.nas.gov...
- archlight 12y ago
  that is why he is great man. when you are abandoned against you believe is best for your country, he didn't give up and come up with even better solution.
adventured 12y ago
Their economic production is quite remarkable. Circa 2001 their GDP per capita was 1/3 lower than Japan, and about 1/5 lower than Hong Kong. They suffered a decade of stagnation from the early 1990s until 2003. They've been on a tear ever since, with GDP per capita now 45% higher than Japan and Hong Kong. Quite a jump in just 13 or 14 years. Likely within another few years they'll pass Malaysia in GDP, with Malaysia having six times the population.
- seanmcdirmid 12y ago
  I think with China weakening, it can't continue. We are probably in for a second Asian Financial Crisis in the next few years. Also, Singapore is very much like Switzerland: they have to import many/most of their workers, except whereas Switzerland focuses on the high end, they focus on both (importing Chinese bus drivers and American programmers). Its a weird mix that isn't sustainable (also, they should stop using cheap construction for everything, concrete shouldn't be used so much in a modern city!).
  - adventured 12y ago
    I agree, China will create an economic blackhole effect in the near future. They've accumulated between $25 trillion and $45 trillion in new debt in the last seven years (depending on which analysts you listen to), and are strictly reliant on trillions in new annual debt at this point to continue their fake GDP growth. Their real estate market is crashing. They have a demographics nightmare looming. The age of robotics replacing low value manual labor has arrived. And to top it off, China has half a billion farmers that are effectively unemployed with no future prospects. I'd argue they stopped growing in real terms years ago. Most of their added GDP the last five years has been purely low value debt derived 'growth.' Also, the last time the US Dollar behaved like it is now, it caused a large emerging markets crash, and it's likely that will be repeated again (if to a lesser degree). http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-03-16/strongly-rising-dollar-poses-threat-to-asian-economies http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-03-16/strongly-ri... The countries that benefited hugely from China's rise, will suffer as China's boom turns into decades of stagnation. That will include Singapore, Australia and much of Asia in general. I think given China is repeating Japan's debt mistakes, and has a similar demographics problem (but much worse given the extreme poverty covering 2/3 of their population), China will at best probably mimic Japan's post 1980s stagnation.
CyberDildonics 12y ago
You might want to look deeper into that. Economically Singapore has been well run, every other way is up for debate.
- yen223 12y ago
  I believe that a strong economy will ease the transition from an autocratic society to a more liberal one. Singapore appears to be loosening up socially.
  - _delirium 12y ago
    It will be difficult, because their strong economy is directly tied to the fairly non-democratic society. Its main competitive advantage are the large quantities of cheap labor it is surrounded by, which it manages very carefully with a top-down system of residence classes. A Singapore with more equal rights would be a very different one economically.
    - yen223 12y ago
      One could argue that Singapore's competitive advantage is that they can attract top talent from neighbouring countries by offering a better quality of life - which, anecdotally, is the case among my friends - in which case a Singapore with more equal rights might actually be stronger economically.
      - ptaipale 12y ago
        Some of that quality of life is dependent on having cheap labour from neighbouring countries (and repressing any protests). Who washes the laundry quickly and efficiently at a low price, and serves at that nice restaurant? For tech jobs talent, the immigrant status is different of course. I'm not telling Singaporeans what to do, this is just for the note.
- skinnylatte 12y ago
  Every other way is up for debate? We have a good education system, and I would not trade our healthcare system for what you're likely used to; as a gay Singaporean, I have no curtailing of my social freedoms. I cannot marry or adopt legally yet, but that's the conversation that we're soon going to have (and which the "West" has only just recently gotten). The civil service is good. More can be done for the low income, and that's happening at the moment. The roads are clean and everything gets fixed. I walk around the city at any time of day and night with no fear, in any neighbourhood. Which ways are up for debate?

by DevX101 12y ago

stefantalpalaru 12y ago

http://therealsingapore.com/content/why-are-frail-elderly-still-working-s%E2%80%99pore http://therealsingapore.com/content/why-are-frail-elderly-st...

skinnylatte 12y ago
This is kind of the equivalent of someone posting something from Breitbart or NYPost and saying "this is real news".
- stefantalpalaru 12y ago
  You don't like the source, lah? Take this one instead: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-01-06/what-retirement-singapore-older-workers-stay-on-the-job http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-01-06/what-retir...
  - azeusa 12y ago
    please, don't use "lah" or any other form of Singlish. it's condescending and, worse, embarrassing for you when you get the syntax wrong, as in this case.
    - stefantalpalaru 12y ago
      Speak good English lah! And dun worry about my syntax leh.
    - skinnylatte 12y ago
      exactly. thank you for saying that.

oska 12y ago

I recently learnt that Kuan Yew fought desperately against the expulsion of Singapore from Malaysia. At the time, he didn't believe Singapore was viable as an independent state. "Every time we look back on this moment when we signed this agreement which severed Singapore from Malaysia, it will be a moment of anguish. For me it is a moment of anguish because all my life ... you see, the whole of my adult life ... I have believed in merger and the unity of these two territories. You know that we, as a people are connected by geography, economics, by ties of kinship..." Quote taken from transcript of a press conference given by LKY on August 9th, 1965 [1] [1] http://web.archive.org/web/20140809182331/http://www.nas.gov.sg/archivesonline/data/pdfdoc/lky19650809b.pdf http://web.archive.org/web/20140809182331/http://www.nas.gov...

archlight 12y ago
that is why he is great man. when you are abandoned against you believe is best for your country, he didn't give up and come up with even better solution.

adventured 12y ago

Their economic production is quite remarkable. Circa 2001 their GDP per capita was 1/3 lower than Japan, and about 1/5 lower than Hong Kong. They suffered a decade of stagnation from the early 1990s until 2003. They've been on a tear ever since, with GDP per capita now 45% higher than Japan and Hong Kong. Quite a jump in just 13 or 14 years. Likely within another few years they'll pass Malaysia in GDP, with Malaysia having six times the population.

seanmcdirmid 12y ago
I think with China weakening, it can't continue. We are probably in for a second Asian Financial Crisis in the next few years. Also, Singapore is very much like Switzerland: they have to import many/most of their workers, except whereas Switzerland focuses on the high end, they focus on both (importing Chinese bus drivers and American programmers). Its a weird mix that isn't sustainable (also, they should stop using cheap construction for everything, concrete shouldn't be used so much in a modern city!).
- adventured 12y ago
  I agree, China will create an economic blackhole effect in the near future. They've accumulated between $25 trillion and $45 trillion in new debt in the last seven years (depending on which analysts you listen to), and are strictly reliant on trillions in new annual debt at this point to continue their fake GDP growth. Their real estate market is crashing. They have a demographics nightmare looming. The age of robotics replacing low value manual labor has arrived. And to top it off, China has half a billion farmers that are effectively unemployed with no future prospects. I'd argue they stopped growing in real terms years ago. Most of their added GDP the last five years has been purely low value debt derived 'growth.' Also, the last time the US Dollar behaved like it is now, it caused a large emerging markets crash, and it's likely that will be repeated again (if to a lesser degree). http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-03-16/strongly-rising-dollar-poses-threat-to-asian-economies http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-03-16/strongly-ri... The countries that benefited hugely from China's rise, will suffer as China's boom turns into decades of stagnation. That will include Singapore, Australia and much of Asia in general. I think given China is repeating Japan's debt mistakes, and has a similar demographics problem (but much worse given the extreme poverty covering 2/3 of their population), China will at best probably mimic Japan's post 1980s stagnation.

CyberDildonics 12y ago

You might want to look deeper into that. Economically Singapore has been well run, every other way is up for debate.

yen223 12y ago
I believe that a strong economy will ease the transition from an autocratic society to a more liberal one. Singapore appears to be loosening up socially.
- _delirium 12y ago
  It will be difficult, because their strong economy is directly tied to the fairly non-democratic society. Its main competitive advantage are the large quantities of cheap labor it is surrounded by, which it manages very carefully with a top-down system of residence classes. A Singapore with more equal rights would be a very different one economically.
  - yen223 12y ago
    One could argue that Singapore's competitive advantage is that they can attract top talent from neighbouring countries by offering a better quality of life - which, anecdotally, is the case among my friends - in which case a Singapore with more equal rights might actually be stronger economically.
    - ptaipale 12y ago
      Some of that quality of life is dependent on having cheap labour from neighbouring countries (and repressing any protests). Who washes the laundry quickly and efficiently at a low price, and serves at that nice restaurant? For tech jobs talent, the immigrant status is different of course. I'm not telling Singaporeans what to do, this is just for the note.
skinnylatte 12y ago
Every other way is up for debate? We have a good education system, and I would not trade our healthcare system for what you're likely used to; as a gay Singaporean, I have no curtailing of my social freedoms. I cannot marry or adopt legally yet, but that's the conversation that we're soon going to have (and which the "West" has only just recently gotten). The civil service is good. More can be done for the low income, and that's happening at the moment. The roads are clean and everything gets fixed. I walk around the city at any time of day and night with no fear, in any neighbourhood. Which ways are up for debate?