Why Singapore’s Dictatorship Actually Works

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Select video clips courtesy of Getty Images

Select video clips courtesy of the AP Archive

Special thanks to MapTiler, OpenStreetMap Contributors, and GEOlayers

[Evan-gvhb]

The fact is that a lot of countries have the potential to become very strong both militarily and economically. But the corruption makes it impossible for the country to become so.

[zuckermaisSuppen]

I remember a quote that my history teacher once told me about protests and riots in Singapore: 'keep the citizens wealthy enough to ensure they do not protest. What's the point of joining a protest when the first car the crowd burns is yours?'

[farcydebop]

The guy managed to finish SimCity in hard mode.

[annarchydeclutteranddesign]

I'm suprised you did not mention Lee Kuan Yew's insistence on the planting trees from early on, and the prohibition against litter, all helping to make Singapore a preferred destination. I remember when Lee Kuan Yew was being interviewed in New Zealand, he said the advantage of Singapore was that once they brought up the residents' standard of living, they didn't then have an influx of people from the rural areas that would also need helping, as other countries would have.

[zuckermaisSuppen]

Imagine a 10yo kid living in Singapore in 1965. He or she literally witnessed the transition of Singapore from a small trade town to a global city today, while doing it with no natural resources.

[shayaanzarifrahmanvictoria]

Fun fact, Sir Winston Churchill considered the fall of Singapore to Japan as the most significant failure of WWII, meaning the value of Singapore to the British is WAY higher than this video was able to portray

[AnjaLSL]

As a half Dane, half Singaporean, I have noticed the two countries' vast differences but also similarities. Both have populations of about 5 million, both are strategically placed on sea routes, both have the absolute lowest rates of corruption in the world and both have low crime rates, despite one being strict and one being relaxed on rules. It seems that there is more than one path to a good society.

[MEMERAOBAMBEDKAR]

How one leader can change the entire course of a country!!
Lee Kuan Yew did a great job.

[ultimaxed]

one error, Singapore only imports about 24% of water from malaysia, with the other 3 quarters being either local catchments, newater and desalinated water.

[ysma]

Tiktok CEO: Senator I'm Singaporian
US politician: So you"re Chinese?

[ernesto-dev]

I’m Cuban. And watching this video is painful. To see how a countries can take vastly different paths, 180 degrees apart.

[ghaznavid]

I spent a week in Singapore I'm 2018, it's an insanely impressive country. It is meticulously kept clean, there are flowers and animals everywhere, even in general public parks. Absolutely worth visiting. They've made something special from almost nothing.

[biocapsule]

*Speaking as a Singaporean. This clip is incorrect on several important points.* The problem with the clip is that you use too much Western/US terms and mindsets in the wrong way to describe us.

*1) We are not 'Low Regulation'. We are 'Strategically Regulated'.* You do not get stability with a lax of regulations and rules. If you want to use US terms, *Singapore is the Biggest Government for it's size.* Your clip pointed out as much, the Government itself are heavily invested in almost every aspect. Education, healthcare, labour etc. You think the PAP can keep people happy if any of our labour laws are laxing? But you will not see the government denying the term 'Low Regulations', because it's something the West likes to hear. But regulations is about priorities. The rules have to fit the purpose. It's why US gun regulation doesn't work, because the priority is not gun control, it's not preventing death. It's to maintain the status quo of gun ownership and the 2nd amendment.

They don't call us the most over-planned city in the world, for nothing. Priorities and goals have to be clear, with the amount of regulations and intervention to match. The US have to 50+ sets of different laws and regulations, where most country only have 1. Hence all the bureaucracy they claim to hate. While it is logical to have diverse regulations for different region in such a huge land mass, that is not their priority. Their priority is to maintain "freedom" of choosing not to have the same rules. Why does a country even need 50+ different sets of age of marriage or consent. When every country settle with one. That's 50 times the complexity needed. Because arbitrary notions of 'freedom' for each State is more important then function. If American conservatives actually understood what we do, they would be calling us Socialists, with the amount of government intervention that is involved. But they don't, because it suited their narrative to call us low tax, low regulation because they want to promote low tax, low regulation.

*2) We are relatively 'low tax' only by nature of our size, * which comes with both pros and cons. We don't have much resources which also means we don't have much land mass that needs to spend money on. Also means predatory equity firms don't buy up resources and expect to extract them with low pay labours. We are mainly a middleman in most global trade activities. A lot of things we do are possible because we have no 'fly over' territory to be concern about, but that also limit the choices we have.

*3) Sir Stamford Raffles, is the only Brit that saw the potential of Singapore.* He have to fought his superiors to make Singapore a colony, when there is no interest. That's why he is the only Brit we honored. That's why Singapore didn't developed much when the Brits were here, and why most of the success you describe comes with the 'post-British' attachment. The HDB being one of the prime example of both the British disinterest and why Western countries has housing crisis even with their low population density. Singapore build housing, because housing people, are the priority. As oppose to the West, where they have to be concern of lowering property prices if too many house got build or concern about the profitability of landlords. Western mentality, public housing is something you 'grew out of' when you got rich or something to be disdain by the rich, instead of something developed for all. And you can apply this to almost every aspect of our development.

[BandenTCY]

Proud to see Singapore standing on where it's at today, sending love from Japan as a Malaysian Chinese!

[AifDaimon]

Born and raised in Singapore. I'm proud!! And for this video to be uploaded during our SIXTIETH year of independence!!

[LordOffal]

Singapore has one extra bonus too which helped them out. Their population speaks English, or at least a very close dialect to it. Locals often say they speak Singlish but as someone who speaks English natively I never had any more difficulty understanding someone than someone from Glasgow (which isn’t hard to understand either).

With English being so prevalent across the entire population (and frankly a good unifying language across the ethnic groups) it makes it incredibly easy for foreign business to work with them.

[GMDN]

My grandparents and parents built this country up. And I'm so proud to be a Singaporean today. My kids are proud Singaporeans today. No1 education, no 1 passport, no 1 airport, no 1 airline.. All not without the blood sweat and tears of Singaporeans

[connaisseurm]

Thank you for consistently providing quality content. You really make a differece!

[guotaian]

Proud Singaporean here! Our nation's success is thanks to the incredible vision of Lee Kuan Yew and his team. 🇸🇬

[DarkFalconAnimations]

My aunt and uncle live in Singapore, and I go there every year. It’s a beautiful country, and it’s by far one of my favourite places in the entire world. I love you, Singapore! 🇬🇧❤️🇸🇬