Abstract
SOME 15 short years ago, the sultry, green-clad island of Singapore, tightly wedged between the Malay Peninsula jutting south from Asia and the great island chain of Indonesia, was a complacent, unprogressive white man's colony with a polyglot population of Chinese, Malays, and Indians held-but not welded--together by the accident of geography and British imperial rule. Today, it is a remarkably and increasingly affluent Asian city-state with a growing sense of pride and identity, considerable racial integration, a per capita income closely approaching that of the West, and the cleanest streets, the best social services, and the most corruption-free government in the great sweep of non-Communist nations stretching from Afghanistan to Japan. This striking Asian success story owes nothing to abundant natural resources, esoteric Taoist charms, Malay magic or, indeed, to the fairy-godmother aid of affluent Western countries. Rather, it was achieved through the intelligent leadership of a small, cohesive group of competent technicians headed, firmly and unmistakably, by a sharpwitted, intellectually arrogant young man (only just 50) of Chinese ancestry, an upper-class British education and accent, and complete dedication, not to personal profit but to the creation of a prosperous and equitable society through the combination-rare in underdeveloped nations-of sound, realistic planning, efficient administration, hard work, and the cooperation of little, everyday people because they clearly benefit from it. To the writer's remark that Singapore was easily the most effectively administered metropolis in Asia, a widely-traveled and experienced diplomat said recently, Not just in Asia. It's the best-run city in the world. It is true, as Indonesians and Malaysians tired of hearing of their small neighbor's accomplishments unfailingly and resentfully point out, this island of 225 square miles and just over two million people is manageably-sized, a state in miniature. But the many problems that
Published Version
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