A widely read, and apparently common undergraduate reading text, on Singapore is Alvin Tan’s “Singapore: A Very Short History, From Temasek to Tomorrow”, which was first published in 2000 and updated in a 2022 edition. I picked this up in Singapore looking to understand more about the political economy, and this did not deliver much on that. It does offer more of a political history, which is interesting but provides somewhat less insight into what makes Singapore thrive. Will be looking for other books that better answer that question. A few notes:

“Declaring Singapore a free port was the most important and consequential of Raffles’ early instructions. But it was not just a free port in the sense that trade was not taxed. It was literally free because John Crawfurd had abolished port changes and fees. It was also the only free port in the region at the time. Traders and businesses in Singapore enjoyed substantial cost savings because of this. A laissez faire trade policy also meant that all traders, regardless of nationality, were free to trade in Singapore. Together, these two policies generated the economic activity that powered the colony’s growth and expansion in the years to come.” (p. 26)

“Within a generation, the Singapore economy had taken off.THe MNCs invested heavily in Singapore. With its open economy and pro-business agenda, Singapore had become useful and relevant in a global economy dominated by MNCs seeking skilled labour and a good business environment. Singapore had, as Lee had envisioned, become the First World oasis in the Third World that was home to high value  manufacturing, financial services and petrochemical refining.” (p. 146)

“The achievements of Singapore’s public housing programme have spoken for themselves in the last fifty years. And public housing has none of the negativity commonly associated with the term – it is non synonymous with neglect, deprivation, squalor or ghettoisation. In Singapore, living in an HDB flat in a self-contained, well maintained, and clean HDB housing estate (also known as a ‘new town’ in the earlier years) With its shops, swimming pools, parks, and schools, is a way of life. Today, 80% of Singaporeans live in 1.1 million HDB flats and 90% of these flats are owner-occupied.” (p. 155)