Singapore in 2004: Vigilance amid Growing Uncertainty

Summary

Singapore has thrived for 32 years since independence. Its traumatic birth spurred a hardworking and resilient population, led by honest and competent political leaders … Our challenge now is to sustain this performance beyond the founding generation … Our competition is becoming fiercer. So far, our policies have succeeded beyond expectations. But they need creative rethinking… In a rapidly changing world, we either adapt or become irrelevant.

Lee Hsien Loong, “Singapore of the Future”, 1998.

Introduction

Vigilance has been the hallmark of the pragmatic, realist-oriented Singapore government since an unanticipated independence 40 years ago. It is likely to remain so. Singapore simply has no other option. Although Singapore has prospered to become one of the richest states in the world, and its defence capability has improved considerably, the basic mindset of Singapore's leaders has not changed. International politics is seen as being dictated by the law of the jungle. As a small state, Singapore is faced with unique constraints. Singapore has to be able to signal potential aggressors that it has the capability and the will to deter them and defend itself. The first generation of Singapore leaders, led by its first Prime Minister (PM) Lee Kuan Yew, fought to get the island's “internal house” in order to ensure national survival. The opposition was crushed, and the nation set out to carve for itself its place in the world. Forced out of Malaysia in 1965, Singapore decided that it had to become a “Global City”, by making the world its hinterland. Its ambition is to become a global hub for international trade, investment, transportation, medical services, and tourism. The result of that sense of vigilance, against great odds, has been an exceptional and unique governmental performance which transformed Singapore's economy from Third World to First World status within a generation.

Singapore had a good 2004. The economy grew by an impressive 8.4 per cent on the back of a strong global economic revival, compared with 1.4 per cent in 2003. The official forecast is for a growth rate of 3–5 per cent in 2005.