The Story of Singapore

Author: David Perell URL: https://www.perell.com/blog/story-of-singapore One-line: How Singapore leaped from third-world to first in 53 years under Lee Kuan Yew — by running clean systems, courting global capital, paying officials world-class salaries, and choosing discipline over the “exuberance of democracy.”

Key claims

• Singapore went third-world to first in 53 years, despite having no natural resources, a diverse immigrant population, and hostile neighbors at independence in 1965.
• Differentiation through reliability. Lee’s strategy: “They are not clean systems; we run clean systems… We become reliable and credible to investors.” World-class infrastructure and English-educated staff made it a trusted trade hub.
• Scarcity was a blessing. Lacking resources forced Singapore to “think in terms of a global network” and to be a stable, valuable trade partner; it bucked the third-world trend by inviting multinationals.
• Discipline over democracy. Lee: “what a country needs to develop is discipline more than democracy.” Popular democracy incentivizes short-termism and never-ending auctions of giveaways paid for by the next generation; the presidential system rewards TV-ready marketers over governors.
• No “all-you-can-eat” welfare state. Lee critiqued the West’s “Buffet Syndrome”; in Singapore, families — not government — are the safety net, and the government has run surpluses for decades.
• Small, efficient, high-quality government. Singapore spends ~5% of GDP on healthcare and ~3.3% on education yet gets world-class outcomes; America spends ~17% on healthcare alone. Top officials are among the world’s highest paid — “one of the few countries where there is brain drain into the public sector” (Tyler Cowen).
• Values reproduce themselves. Thrift, hard work, filial piety, and respect for learning, reinforced at home, school, and work, become “a self-reproducing, self-perpetuating cycle.”

Notable quotes

“How did we differentiate ourselves from them? They are not clean systems; we run clean systems. Their rule of law is wonky; we stick to the law.” — Lee Kuan Yew

“Contrary to what American political commentators say, I do not believe that democracy necessarily leads to development. I believe that what a country needs to develop is discipline more than democracy.” — Lee Kuan Yew

“Presidents do not get reelected if they give a hard dose of medicine to their people. So, there is a tendency to procrastinate, to postpone unpopular policies in order to win elections.” — Lee Kuan Yew

“Singapore is one of the few countries where there is brain drain into the public sector.” — Tyler Cowen

How it connects

• Singapore / Lee Kuan Yew — the country and the architect; the governance model under study.
• City Building — Singapore as a case study in deliberate, high-functioning state-building.
• Democracy — Lee’s critique of popular democracy’s short-termism (East-vs-West individual-vs-collective tension).
• Tyler Cowen — quoted on Singapore’s public-sector brain gain and intellectual polity.

Verbatim source notes — restored from Roam, 2026-09-21

• Americans have a quasi-religious belief in the power of popular Democracy. The system, however, is imperfect. The problem with popular democracy is it incentivizes a short-term mentality. In search of re-election, leaders avoid essential discussions and topics that may divide the voting populous. Incentives Politics
• Lee saw America’s debt as part of a broader issue — “Buffet Syndrome.” **Lee believed that the West’s real mistake has been to set up “all you can eat” welfare states. When benefits are free, people consume them voraciously. **In Singapore, families — not government — are the ultimate safety net. Singapore’s government has run budget surpluses almost every year for five decades.
• When I hear stories about trips to Singapore, people are always impressed by the knowledge of Singapore’s citizenry. They seem to have an unparalleled understanding of economic, engineering and public policy.
• When you have popular democracy, to win votes you have to give more and more. And to beat your opponent in the next election, you have to promise to give more away. So it is a never-ending process of auctions—and the cost, the debt being paid for by the next generation. Presidents do not get reelected if they give a hard dose of medicine to their people. So, there is a tendency to procrastinate, to postpone unpopular policies in order to win elections. So, problems such as budget deficits, debt, and high unemployment have been carried forward from one administration to the next.”
• __“Strikingly, ____**Singapore is one of the few countries where there is brain drain into the public sector. **__This stems partly from the high salaries paid. Top bureaucrats typically receive more than their American equivalents, and cabinet-level pay may exceed $800,000, with bonuses attached that can double that sum for excellent performance.”
• Singapore has leaped from third-world to first in just 53 years.
• Singapore’s citizenry has an ethos of public service. As Tyler Cowen remarked:
• __”____**The presidential system is less likely to produce good government than a parliamentary system. **__In the presidential system, your personal appearance on TV is decisive, whereas in a parliamentary system, the prime minister, before he becomes the prime minister, has been a member of parliament, and probably a minister, and in Britain the people have sized you up over a period of time…and they have come to certain conclusions as to what kind of a person you are, what kind of depth you have, what kind of sincerity you have in what you say… Your presidents, I mean, like Jimmy Carter… my name is Jimmy Carter, I am a peanut farmer, I am running for president. The next thing you know, he was the president! Security, prosperity, and the consumer society plus mass communications have made for a different kind of person getting elected as leader, one who can present himself and his programs in a polished way… I am amazed at the way media professionals can give a candidate a new image and transform him, at least superficially, into a different personality. Winning an election becomes, in large measure, a contest in packaging and advertising… A spin doctor is a high-income professional, one in great demand. From such a process, I doubt if a Churchill, a Roosevelt, or a de Gaulle can emerge.”
• “To succeed, Singapore must be a cosmopolitan center, able to attract, retain, and absorb talent from all over the world. We cannot keep the big companies out of the local league. Whether we like it or not, they are entering the region. The choice is simple. Either we have a first-class airline, a first-class shipping line, and a first-class bank, or we decline. One of the things we did in the early years was to buck the third world trend by inviting the multinational corporations, and we succeeded. Now, we must buck the third world trend to be nationalistic. We must be international in our outlook and practices…Our own talent must be nurtured to come up to world standards by exposure and interaction with their foreign peers. Some of our best have been attracted away by leading American corporations. This is part of the global marketplace.”
• “Few expected Singapore to survive when it became an independent country in 1965. It was a tiny, impoverished island with a diverse population of recent immigrants. They had little shared history and no natural resources. Singapore had been colonized, occupied, and abused for over a century, and it was surrounded by hostile nations in a region succumbing to pressure by Communist forces.
• Contrasting America with Asia, Lee observed:
• Due to its culture of entrepreneurship, America is always transforming. However, America’s belief in individual liberty comes at a cost:
• __“When I started, the question was how Singapore can make a living against neighbors who have more natural resources, human resources, and bigger space. __How did we differentiate ourselves from them? They are not clean systems; we run clean systems. Their rule of law is wonky; we stick to the law. Once we come to an agreement or make a decision, we stick to it. We become reliable and credible to investors. World-class infrastructure, world-class supporting staff, all educated in English. Good communications by air, by sea, by cable, by satellite, and now, over the Internet.”
• There are stark cultural differences between Singapore and America — East and West. America is democratic, while Singapore has an authoritarian bent; Singapore focuses on the collective, while America focuses on the individual; Singapore’s government operates with lean efficiency, while America is a bloated, inefficient bureaucracy. The Farewell (movie)
• Tyler Cowen called Singapore’s distinguished polity and “one of the best and most interesting sights of the contemporary world, more interesting than most natural wonders.” Singapore’s intellectual society is the result of a collection of traits that are encouraged by the government. educated citizenry
• Above all else, Lee admires America’s capacity for Creativity and entrepreneurship — renewal and revival:
• Singapore’s government officials rank among the highest paid in the world. Singaporeans believe that high pay for government officials will reduce — or even eliminate — corruption.
• Singapore’s lack of resources proved to be a blessing in disguise. Its reliance on the outside world forced the country to think in terms of a global network. To survive, it had to focus on being a valuable, stable trade partner.
• In his quest to improve Singapore’s economic standing, Prime-Minister Lee adopted the following strategy:
• Lee believes that popular democracy, especially in today’s media environment, leads to problems. For example, the best marketers — not the best governors — get elected.
• “Contrary to what American political commentators say, I do not believe that democracy necessarily leads to development. I believe that what a country needs to develop is discipline more than democracy. The exuberance of democracy leads to undisciplined and disorderly conditions which are inimical to development…
• “The ideas of individual supremacy…when carried to excess, have not worked. They have made it difficult to keep American society cohesive. Asia can see it is not working. Those who want a wholesome society where young girls and old ladies can walk in the streets at night, where the young are not preyed upon by drug peddlers, will not follow the American model…The top 3 to 5% of a society can handle this free-for-all, this clash of ideas. If you do this with the whole mass, you will have a mess…To have, day to day, images of violence and raw sex on the picture tube, the whole society exposed to it, it will ruin a whole community.”
• Lee instilled a belief in thrift, hard work, filial piety, loyalty in the extended family, and most of all, respect for scholarship and learning.
• __“One fundamental difference between American and Oriental culture is the individual’s position in society. In American culture, an individual’s interest is primary. This makes American society more aggressively competitive, with a sharper edge and higher performance.” __The Farewell (movie)
• As Devon Zuegel wrote:
• By focusing on stability, business conditions, and human capital, Singapore’s encouraged foreign investment:
• “America’s strengths include no grooved thinking but rather an ability to range widely, imaginatively, and pragmatically; a diversity of centers of excellence that compete in inventing and embracing new ideas and new technologies; a society that attracts talent from around the world and assimilates them comfortably as Americans; and a language that is the equivalent of an open system that is clearly the lingua franca of the leaders in science, technology, invention, business, education, diplomacy, and those who rise to the top of their own societies around the world.”
• __“Habits that make for high productivity in workers are the result of the values implanted in them at home, in school, and at the workplace. These values must be reinforced by the attitudes of society. Once established, like a language a society speaks, the habits tend to become a self-reproducing, self-perpetuating cycle.” __#Habits Home Centered
• From an American perspective, Singapore has achieved the impossible. The country spends on about 5 percent of GDP on the medical sector but delivers some of the world’s best health outcomes. Even education only consumes 3.3 percent of GDP. In contrast, America spends roughly 17 percent of its GDP on the health sector but suffers from worse outcomes. Singapore’s entire government spending (17 percent of GDP) is approximately equal to America’s spending on the healthcare sector. Singapore’s government is relatively small. Taxes are low, and there are no additional state and local government taxes. Healthcare