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Why Singapore is what it now is.

Article Excerpt
To understand Singapore, you have to know how we were suddenly thrown out of the Federation of Malaysia in 1965 and became an independent state. Peninsular Malaya had been Singapore's hinterland ever since the British founded Singapore in 1819.

We faced a bleak future. We had no natural resources. A small island-nation in the middle of newly independent and nationalistic countries of Indonesia and Malaysia, each determined to cut Singapore off as the middleman. To survive, we had to create a Singapore different from our neighbours --clean, more efficient, more secure, with quality infrastructure, and good living conditions. We sought to provide an environment that our neighbours did not provide -first world standards of reliability and predictability. Important for investors and economic growth, is the rule of law, implemented through an independent judiciary, an honest and efficient police force, and effective law enforcement agencies. Had we not differentiated Singapore in this way, it would have languished and perished as a shrinking trading centre and never become the thriving business, banking, shipping and civil aviation hub it is today.

I studied law in the Cambridge Law School and am a barrister of Middle Temple, an English Inn of Court. I had practised law for a decade before I first took office in 1959 as Prime Minister of self-governing Singapore. Therefore I knew that the rule of law would give Singapore an advantage in the centre of Southeast Asia where the law was often what was...

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