ABSTRACT
The transformation of Singapore within a short span of 50 years from a British colony, with a declining trading economy in the 1960s, to a first world economy of global financial services, big pharmaceutical and petrochemical corporations and the preferred regional headquarter location for multinational enterprises is nothing short of spectacular. The People's Action Party (PAP) was founded in November 1954, just in time to contest the first local election for an advisory legislative council to the British colonial governor. Singaporeans, without doubt, are among the well-housed urban citizens in the world. The economic success, underpinned by periodic general elections, has enabled the PAP government to entrench its system of government that is distinctly non-liberal: instead of free-market, the state is an active entrepreneur and owns a very significant portion of the domestic economy; instead of protecting private property, it nationalizes land for public housing and instead of equality of individuals, it selectively discriminates against individuals for social order.
