Evolution of Singapore

 The evolution of Singapore

We all know Singapore as a modern city and technological hub today ,but what is the story behind the creation of this perfect nation? How did a country with no resources and less population become one of the most iconic software hubs on Earth?

It all dates back to World War II when Singapore was a British colony. Japan had launched an attack on Singapore as they wanted its strategically located ports. Singapore was in a thought process that Britain would protect them and deal with the Japanese. They were wrong. British surrendered Singapore and 60000 soldiers were prisoned and around 100000 civilians were massacred.

Just a few years later when World War II ended, The Japanese went away from Singapore when the other Axis power countries were captured leaving Singapore in a demolished state.10 days after the war ended ,Great Britain returned to Singapore. Singapore was not the city they had left behind and it was in utter dismay. They declared that they would leave in a few years but conducted the elections before they left. A brilliant leader named Lee Kuan Yew and some other people formed the People’s action party and won the election. Lee Kuan Yew proposed a deal to Malaysia that they accept Singapore aa a part of Malaysia and in return Singapore would give them access to their ports. This went on for a decade but a post war communal riot broke out resulting in many deaths and injuries. Malaysia kicks Singapore out of its country for violence. This leads to an economic crisis as the Singapore and Malaysian economy were interconnected and furthermore Singapore’s biggest employer ,the great Britain army was leaving Singapore suddenly which meant high unemployment and a lessening of 20% GDP.

Lee Kuan Yew started by building an army and appealed to India and other countries for help and Israel was the only one that came to its help and gave it military training. Singapore National Service compulsory act was passed out. Next, he opened the country for other companies at a cheap labour cost and a huge discount on import and export taxes. Further, He started by moving slum people into apartments as they took up a lot of space. He gave them at a cheaper cost and they were compelled to save 20% of their income for houses. He developed the Jurong port with all the funds from the IMF. This attracted all companies to have their Asian headquarters in Singapore including GOOGLE and PUMA.

This is the story of one country which started from scratch with no resources and less population and transformed into one of the most modern and richest countries in the world .