ABSTRACT
Singapore is an unusual city-state in many respects. In June 1959, it attained self-government from Britain and the People’s Action Party (PAP) government assumed office after winning the May 1959 general election. The newly elected PAP government inherited many problems: a population of 1.58 million that was growing at the rate of 4 percent; an economy based on entrepot trade and an unemployment rate of 5 percent; a serious housing shortage with half of the population living as squatters; labor unrest; rampant corruption; and a high crime rate. With a per capita gross domestic product (GDP) of S$ 1,330 (US$ 443) in 1960, Singapore was a typical poor Third World country struggling for its survival (Quah 1998: 105). Not surprisingly, Albert Winsemius, the Dutch economist leading the United Nations study mission to Singapore in 1960, was pessimistic about Singapore’s future as he observed that “Singapore is going down the drain, it is a poor little market in a dark corner of Asia” (Tamboer 1996: 29).
