Singapore Introduction
Figure 1. Singapore, 1989
The world's busiest port, the modern nation of the
Republic of
Singapore, was founded as a British trading post on the
Strait of
Malacca in 1819. Singapore's location on the major sea
route
between India and China, its excellent harbor, and the
free trade
status conferred on it by its visionary founder, Sir
Thomas
Stamford Raffles, made the port an overnight success. By
1990 the
multiethnic population attracted to the island had grown
from a few
thousand to 2.6 million Singaporeans, frequently referred
to by
Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew as his nation's greatest
resource. If
Raffles had set the tone for the island's early success,
Lee had
safeguarded the founder's vision through the first
quarter-century
of Singapore's existence as an independent nation,
providing the
leadership that turned it into a global city that offered
trading
and financial services to the region and to the world.
Modern Singapore would be scarcely recognizable to
Raffles, who
established his trading center on an island covered with
tropical
forests and ringed with mangrove swamps. Towering
skyscrapers
replace the colonial town he designed, and modern
expressways cover
the tracks of bullock carts that once led from the harbor
to the
commercial district and the countryside beyond. Hills have
been
leveled, swamps filled, and the island itself expanded in
size
through extensive land reclamation projects
(see
fig. 1).
Offshore
islands are used for recreation parks, oil refineries, and
military
training bases. Despite the scarcity of land for real
estate, the
government has worked to maintain and expand the island's
parks,
gardens, and other green spaces. By housing 88 percent of
its
population in mostly multistoried public housing,
Singapore has
kept a rein on suburban sprawl. In Raffles's town plan,
separate
areas were set aside for the various ethnic groups of the
time:
Malays, Chinese, Arabs, Bugis, and Europeans. Government
resettlement programs begun in the 1960s broke up the
former ethnic
enclaves by requiring that the public housing
projects--called
housing estates--that replaced them reflect the ethnic
composition
of the country as a whole. As a result, modern Singapore's
three
main ethnic groups--Chinese, Malays, and Indians--live
next door to
each other and share the same housing development
facilities,
shops, and transportation.
Despite efforts to maintain an ethnic balance in
housing,
however, the stated goal of the nation's leaders is not
that
Singapore become a mini-melting pot, but, rather, a
multiethnic
society. Of the country's 2.6 million inhabitants, about
76 percent
are Chinese, 15 percent Malay, 6.5 percent Indian, and 2.5
percent
other. There are, however, mixtures within this mixture.
The
designation Chinese lumps together speakers of more than
five
mutually unintelligible dialects; Singaporean Malays trace
their
forebears to all of the major islands of the Indonesian
archipelago, as well as to the Malay Peninsula; and the
ancestral
homes of Indians include what are the modern states of
India,
Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka. Out of this
diversity, the
government leadership has attempted to establish a what is
calls
"Singaporean identity," which would include certain
unifying and
modernizing elements but yet retain essential variations,
based on
Asian culture and values. One of the unifying factors is
the
English language, selected as the medium for educational
instruction both because of its neutrality in the eyes of
the three
dominant ethnic groups and because of its position as the
international language of business, science, and
technology. In
order not to lose touch with their Asian heritage,
however,
Singaporean school children are also required to study an
appropriate "mother tongue," designated by the government
as either
Malay, Tamil, or Mandarin Chinese--a vast
oversimplification of the
polyglot of Singaporean native languages.
Singaporean identity, as envisioned by the country's
leadership, calls for rugged individualism with an
emphasis on
excellence; the government constantly exhorts its citizens
to be
the best they can be. Education, home ownership, and
upward
mobility are all considered appropriate goals. Although
Singaporeans are expected to be modern in their outlook,
they also
are encouraged to retain a core of traditional Asian
values and
culture. In a society in which all share a common
education system,
public housing, recreation facilities, and military
training, the
government considers it important to highlight the
uniqueness of
the three official ethnic groups--Chinese, Malays, and
Indians--
through the setting aside of national ethnic holidays and
the
sponsorship of ethnic festivals. Singaporean ethnic
differences are
usually maintained, however, not so much by these somewhat
self-conscious displays of ethnicity but rather by
membership in
ethnically exclusive associations. Usually religious,
charitable,
or business in nature, many of these associations had
their origins
in colonial Singapore and represent finer distinctions of
ethnicity
than those supported by the government. Chinese trade
associations,
for example, are usually restricted to speakers of a
particular
dialect. Hindu temples are sometimes associated with
worshipers who
trace their heritage to a particular region of India.
Singapore is multireligious as well as multiethnic.
Major
religious preferences reported in 1988 were Buddhism (28
percent),
Christian (19 percent), no religion (17 percent), Islam
(16
percent), Daoist (13 percent), and Hindu (5 percent).
Singapore's
nineteenth-century immigrants valued the social as well as
religious aspects of their congregations, and their
descendants are
more likely to concern themselves with social activities
centered
around their temples and mosques than with elaborate
ritual or
ceremony. The government, although secular, views religion
as a
positive force for instilling moral values in the society.
At the
same time, it keeps a watchful eye out for social or
political
activism within religious groups. Muslim fundamentalists
and
over-zealous Christian proselytizers alike are kept under
careful
scrutiny, lest they upset the religious and ethnic harmony
of the
country.
Singapore closely resembles developed countries in
terms of its
low birth rates, high life expectancy (73.8 years at
birth), and
major causes of death--heart disease, cancer, and stroke.
Although
in the early years of independence the government mounted
campaigns
to lower the country's high birth rate, it became
concerned in the
1980s when the rate dropped below the replacement level.
Campaigns
and incentives were instituted to encourage those who
could afford
it to have more than two children. College-educated women
were
especially encouraged by exhortations and incentives to
marry and
have children.
In terms of public health, Singapore also closely
resembles
developed countries. Although some observers criticize the
country's modern, sanitized environment and mourn the loss
of the
old port's charm, they probably either have forgotten or
never knew
the open sewers, tuberculosis sanatoriums, and opium dens
of
colonial Singapore. Whereas the manufacture and sale of
opium
continued to be a major source of revenue for the colonial
government up until World War II, the government
effectively
combats drug use in modern Singapore through antidrug
campaigns,
rehabilitation centers, and a mandatory death penalty for
trafficking. The government heavily subsidizes services in
order to
make them affordable to all and sets aside 6 percent of
the monthly
income of each worker into a personal Medisave account,
which can
be used to pay hospitalization costs for any family
member. The
Medisave account is part of the Central Provident Fund,
which is
Singapore's compulsory national social security savings
plan.
Contribution rates due to be phased in in the early 1990s
mandate
a contribution of 40 percent of the gross wages of
employees under
fifty-five, with employee and employer sharing the burden
equally.
Singaporeans can use these funds to invest in approved
securities,
to purchase homes in government housing projects, or to
pay for
hospitalization and retirement. By 1990 some 88 percent of
Singaporeans lived in Housing and Development Board
apartments, a
vast public housing and urban redevelopment project
initiated in
the early postwar years. Under the program, which began in
earnest
after independence, Singapore's slums and ethnic
neighborhoods
gradually were replaced with modern housing estates,
self-contained
units providing shopping, restaurant, and recreation
facilities as
well as apartments of various sizes, scattered outward
from the old
central city. A network of superhighways and a
state-of-the-art
mass rapid transit system connect Singapore's housing
estates with
commercial and industrial areas.
Although Singapore's founder and other
nineteenth-century
residents would no longer recognize the island, they would
at least
be able to identify with certain aspects of its modern
economy. The
principle of free trade laid down by Raffles was still
largely in
effect in the late 1980s, with only a few revenue tariffs
levied on
such things as tobacco and liquor. Trade continued to be
the
island's lifeblood; in 1988 the value of Singapore's
international
trade was triple the total of its gross domestic product
(GDP).
Although some aspects of the trade have changed, others
remained
the same. The island's initial success resulted from its
role as a
conveniently located and duty-free entrepôt for the
three-way trade
among China, India, and various parts of the Malay
Archipelago.
This trade was an ancient commerce, and trading posts
probably had
flourished intermittently at that favored location for two
millenia. In early colonial times, silks from China,
manufactures
from Europe, incense from India, and spices from the
Moluccas all
were shipped on the various seasonal trade winds to
Singapore,
where they were bought, sold, traded, or stored for a
future
customer. By the late nineteenth century, however, the
British
overlords of Singapore had extended their influence or
control
throughout the Malay Peninsula, and the port acquired a
large
hinterland rich in resources. Singapore became the outlet
for
Malaya's tin and rubber, as well as the gateway through
which were
funneled supplies and workers for the peninsula's mines
and
plantations. Tin smelting and rubber processing were added
to the
list of services that Singapore provided--a long list that
already
included wholesaling, ship repair and provisioning,
warehousing,
and a host of banking and financial services.
In 1990 the economy of modern Singapore was still based
on the
same services that were performed by the colonial port,
although
most of these services had been greatly expanded or
modified and
new ones added. The major sectors of the economy were the
regional
entrepôt trade, export-oriented manufacturing, petroleum
refining
and shipping, production of goods and services for the
domestic
economy, and a vastly expanded services industry.
When independence was suddenly thrust upon Singapore in
1965,
its economic prospects looked bleak, if not precarious. In
the
aftermath of World War II, Singapore had faced staggering
problems
of high unemployment, slow economic growth, inadequate
housing,
decaying infrastructure, and labor and social unrest.
Separation
from Malaysia meant the loss of its economic hinterland,
and
Indonesia's policy of military Confrontation directed at
Singapore
and Malaysia had dried up the entrepôt trade from that
direction.
Moreover, with the announcement in 1968 of Britain's
departure from
the island's bases, Singapore faced the loss of 20 percent
of its
jobs. These problems led Singapore's leadership to take a
strong
role in guiding the nation's economy. The government
aggressively
promoted export-oriented, labor-intensive
industrialization through
a program of incentives designed to attract foreign
investment. By
1972 one-quarter of Singapore's manufacturing firms were
either
foreign-owned or joint-venture companies, with the United
States
and Japan both major investors. The response of foreign
investors
to Singapore's favorable investment climate and the rapid
expansion
of the world economy at that time were factors in the
annual
double-digit growth of the country's GDP during most of
the period
from 1965 through 1973. By the late 1970s, however,
government
planners had adopted a policy of replacing Singapore's
labor-intensive manufacturing with skill- and
technology-intensive,
high value-added industries. Information technology was
particularly targeted for expansion, and by 1989 Singapore
was the
world's largest producer of disk drives and disk drive
parts. In
that year, earnings from manufacturing accounted for 30
percent of
the country's GDP.
Although Singapore lost its former hinterland when it
separated
from Malaysia, its northern neighbor remained the leading
source of
primary imports and a major destination for Singapore's
manufactured exports. Malaysia was Singapore's third
largest
overall trading partner in 1988, and Singaporean companies
were
major investors in Malaysia's southern state of Johor. The
entrepôt
trade with Indonesia had long since revived following the
end of
Confrontation in 1966. By the late 1980s, Singapore was
the world's
third largest petroleum-refining center as well as third
largest
oil-trading center, serving the needs of oil-rich
Indonesia and
Malaysia. By 1988 Singapore had nosed out Rotterdam as the
world's
busiest port in terms of tonnage. Some 700 shiplines used
its
modern facilities each year, including Singapore's own
merchant
fleet, which ranked fifteenth worldwide. Four major
shipyards
employed about 70,000 workers, about 40 percent of whom
were from
neighboring Asian countries.
One of the fastest growing sectors of the economy was
Singapore's international banking and financial services
sector,
which accounted for nearly 25 percent of the country's GDP
in the
late 1980s. Historically, Singapore served as the
financial
services center for Southeast Asia, and in the late 1980s
it ranked
with Hong Kong as the two most important Asian financial
centers
after Tokyo. The government provided incentives for the
continuing
diversification and automation of financial services, and
Singapore's political stability and top-notch
infrastructure were
important attractions for international bankers and
investors.
Trade, manufacturing, and international financial services
were
closely linked in Singapore, which in 1990 hosted more
than 650
multinational companies and several thousand international
financial institutions and trading firms. Singapore's
reliance on
the international economy, over which it had little
control,
provided incentive for the government to play a strong
role in
regulating domestic conditions. Soon after independence,
the
government brought under control the serious labor unrest
of the
1950s and early 1960s in order to present a more favorable
climate
for foreign investment. Discipline imposed on the labor
force was
counterbalanced, however, by provisions for workers'
welfare. While
the booming economy of the late 1960s and 1970s brought
new jobs to
the private sector, government provision of subsidized
housing,
education, health services, and public transportation
created jobs
in the public sector. The Central Provident Fund, built up
by
compulsory contributions by both employer and employee,
provided
the necessary capital for government projects as well as
for the
country's comprehensive social security scheme.
Singapore, Inc., as some observers refer to the
country, spent
the first twenty-five years of its independence under the
same
management. Led by Lee Kuan Yew, the country's first and
only prime
minister, the People's Action Party
(
PAP--see Glossary)
won all or
nearly all of the seats in parliament in the six elections
held
between 1959 and 1988. Based on a British parliamentary
system,
with free and open elections, the Singapore government was
recognized for its stability, honesty, and effectiveness.
Critics
complained, however, that the government's authoritarian
leadership
reserved for itself all power of decision making and
blocked the
rise of an effective opposition. A small nucleus of
leaders
centered around Lee had indeed closely guided the country
from its
turbulent preindependence days and crafted the policies
that led to
Singapore's economic development. During the 1980s,
however, a
second generation of leaders was carefully groomed to take
over,
and in early 1990, only Lee remained of the first
generation
leaders.
In late 1989, Lee announced that he would step down in
late
1990 and that his successor, First Deputy Prime Minister
Goh Chok
Tong, had already largely taken over the day-to-day
management of
the government. However, based on the prime minister's own
assertions that he was not yet ready to relinquish all
control,
observers speculated on just what powers Lee would
continue to
hold. Goh acknowledged in late 1989 the growing
sophistication and
rising expectations of younger Singaporeans, who want a
greater
participation in the country's political life, and noted
that he
expected the opposition to claim a larger share of seats
in
parliament in the 1990s. In contrasting his leadership
style with
that of Lee, Goh stated that Lee "believes in firm
government from
the center . . . whereas our style is a little more
consultative,
more consensus-building." Behind Goh in the Singapore
leadership
queue was believed to be Lee Kuan Yew's son, Brigadier
General Lee
Hsien Loong, who served in the cabinet as minister for
trade and
industry and second minister for defence. His meteoric
rise in the
late 1980s through the ranks of bureaucratic and political
responsibility was regarded with interest by both foreign
and
domestic observers.
The transition to a new generation of leaders was a
phenomenon
not unique to Singapore. In neighboring Malaysia and
Indonesia, the
independence generation was also rapidly dwindling, and
the 1990s
will surely mark the passing from the scene of Prime
Minister
Mahathir Mohamad and President Soeharto as well as Lee
Kuan Yew.
The close relationship between Singapore and both its
neighbors had
been built to a large extent on personal ties between Lee
and his
counterparts in Malaysia and Indonesia. Nonetheless, the
new
leadership of these countries will very likely continue to
build on
the foundation laid by their predecessors.
In late 1989, Goh discussed the prospect of Johor
State, the
nearby Indonesian island of Batam (currently being
developed), and
Singapore forming a "triangle of growth" within the region
in a
cooperative rather than competitive effort. There were
also signs
of increased military cooperation among the three
countries.
Singapore, for example, conducted bilateral land exercises
for the
first time with both Malaysia and Indonesia in 1989.
Bilateral air
and naval exercises had been conducted with both countries
during
most of the 1980s. All three countries (along with
Thailand,
Brunei, and the Philippines) were members of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(
ASEAN--see Glossary),
formed in 1967 to
promote closer political and economic cooperation within
the region. The invasion of Cambodia by Vietnam in 1978
brought increased unity to the organization throughout the 1980s,
as it
sought to find a peaceful solution to the Cambodian
problem.
Although there was considerable bilateral military
cooperation
among ASEAN states, the organization was not viewed by its
members
as a military alliance. However, Singapore and Malaysia,
along with
Britain, Australia, and New Zealand, were also members of
the 1971
Five-Powers Defence Agreement, which provided for
consultation and
support by the latter three nations in the event of an
attack on
Singapore or Malaysia. Cooperation under the agreement
diminished
during the 1970s, but by the late 1980s extensive military
exercises involving all five participants were again being
held.
In August 1989, Lee Kuan Yew created a stir within the
region
by stating that Singapore was "prepared to host some
United States
facilities to make it easier for the Philippines to host
the United
States bases there." Malaysia reacted negatively to the
announcement, and other ASEAN countries expressed some
dismay. In
October, however, the Singapore foreign ministry clarified
the
issue by stating that an increased use of Singapore's
maintenance
and repair facilities by United States ships had been
agreed on by
the two countries, as had short-term visits by United
States
aircraft to Singapore's Paya Lebar Air Base. The agreement
followed
a period of somewhat strained relations between the two
nations,
during which the United States had been critical of
Singapore's use
of its Internal Security Act to detain dissidents
indefinitely, and
Singapore had accused Washington of meddling in its
internal
affairs. The United States, however, was Singapore's
largest
trading partner and foreign investor, and the relationship
was one
that neither country was eager to upset.
By the last decade of the twentieth century, the former
colonial port of Singapore had become a global financial,
trading,
and industrial center that continued to live by its wits
in the
world of international trade, just as it had done in the
nineteenth
century. Singapore's leadership and its people have always
managed
to adapt to the changing demands of the world economy, on
which so
much of their livelihood depended. In the coming decade,
however,
a new generation of leaders will take full control of the
nation's
government and economy. Before them lies the task of
reconciling
the need to steer a steady course in the nation's
continuing
development with the people's growing aspirations for an
increased
share in political and economic decision making.
March 17, 1990
Barbara Leitch LePoer
Data as of December 1989
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