Singapore: safe haven, model society
By Jeremy Warner, Assistant Editor..The Telegraph...
6:00PM BST 07 Sep 2013
Singapore is booming and well placed to weather any Asian storms, but success has brought its own problems.
Looking out towards the sea from Singapore's Marina Bay Sands infinity swimming pool, perched precariously 57 storeys above the ground – these are tough assignments, I know, but someone has to do them – is a sight as deeply resonant of man's desire to trade and better himself as any in the world.
As far as the eye can see, from shore to distant horizon, there are ships, hundreds of them, all queuing for a berth at the world's second-busiest cargo port. The vast bulk of this trade has very little to do with Singapore as such. The containers come and go without being opened or offering much of a clue as to what's inside them. Rather it is to do with the city state's unique geographic location – slap bang in the middle of the world's fastest- growing trading routes, with deep waters free from storm, tsunami and other natural threats.
These attributes make it the perfect entrepôt, or trading hub, as Sir Stamford Raffles, the founding father of Singapore, quickly appreciated when he first arrived at this outpost of empire in the early 19th century. Today, his vision for the region has come of age.
There are many different economic models in Eastern and South East Asia, but Singapore's is one of the most interesting, as well as manifestly the most successful.
Since independence in 1963, GDP per head has grown 80-fold, and now exceeds even that of Britain.
