ABSTRACT
Singapore's success story has aroused great controversy. Its admirers point to the highest standard of living in Asia outside Japan, coupled with parliamentary government and social tranquility in a multiracial society. Singapore's social and economic achievements since 1963 have been reminiscent of those of two larger island states which built their success on commerce, import of materials and export of manufactures – England in an earlier epoch and Japan since 1868 and especially since 1945. The foundation for that dominance has been a grass-roots community organization which has probably never been equalled by any other political party in the world and should be widely studied as a model by political scientists. Meanwhile, Singapore has achieved one of the world's most successful family planning programmes. The proportion of those with only lower secondary education or less is roughly in proportion to the population.
