When I was two or three, I went walkabout and wasn’t found until some time later at a local mall. What a close brush with disaster, readers will think. What a potential loss to English letters and the Clerkenwell restaurant trade. Relax. This happened in one of the safest countries on Earth. I got my infant meanderings out of the way in Singapore.
A point gets lost in all the coverage of the island state as it changes leadership this month. Economic enrichment is Singapore’s other achievement. It comes below, and wouldn’t have happened without, the creation of order and cohesion where there had been communal strife. To quote its per capita income, which now tops that of the US, is to understate what has happened in a once-fractious Chinese-Malay-Indian society.
So, what can other countries learn from Singapore? Be small. If the US could hive off 320mn people and 99 per cent of its land mass, it would be an easier nation to mould. Second, have a maritime rather than continental setting. The likes of Bolivia are missing a trick there. Third, and foremost, get an individual of the calibre of Lee Kuan Yew as founder-leader. I presume there are headhunters for these things.