Drawing from the body of the membership once again, our talk today was all about the economic progress of Singapore. His daughter has lived there for over 27 years and no doubt, this along with his visits there sparked his interest.
Coming from a financial background he viewed the island with a keen eye on economics and over the years he has seen incredible growth which led him to ponder why.
Singapore is an island at the southern end of the Malay peninsula. It covers just 270 square miles—about the size of Derby—and has a shape resembling the Isle of Wight. Originally it was only 220 square miles but land reclamation by importing a special sand has seen it grow. Now they are using the Dutch method of polders.
In 1819 Sir Stamford Raffles secured control and immediately saw the potential for a new free port with its deep-water harbour. By 1824 the entire island became part of the British Empire. Prior to Raffles arrival the population of the island was less than 1000 but by 1860 this had risen to some 80,000 largely due to Chinese workers. Trading in Tin, Rubber, Sugar and Oil, Spices and Warehousing for transhipment.
Largely unaffected by WW1 Chinese merchants made fortunes during the 20s and 30s and the island prospered.
Of all the people to make a mark, Lee Kuan Yew, born in 1923, was destined to heat up the economy. By 1959 he was Prime Minister, educated at Cambridge and the LSE, on returning to the island it wasn’t long before his PAP (peoples action party) held some 90% of the seats in Parliament.
His focus in government was to employ very well-paid civil servants whose role was to help and nurture business rather than to stifle if with endless red tape. This forceful combination saw huge increases in manufacturing from the likes of Olivetti, Philips and Hewlet Packard. Along with communications and transport, the economy grew at a pace. It is now home to over 5 million people!
Between 1965 and 1995 GDP per capita grew at and average of 6% per annum.
Maybe there is a lesson in there for the UK?