SINGAPORE has never been short of admirers. Many leaders of developing countries respect Lee Kuan Yew, its founding father, for taking his city-state from third- to first-world status while resisting Western calls for greater political liberalisation. Paul Kagame, Rwanda’s iron-fisted president, hopes that his country will become “the Singapore of Africa”. Fans of Rodrigo Duterte compare the Philippine president to Lee: strong-willed and intolerant of crime and corruption.
Lately the rich world, too, has begun to look at the island. “Want to ditch Obamacare? Let’s copy Singapore’s health-care miracle,” chirped an opinion piece on the website of Fox News, a conservative American broadcaster, soon after the election of Donald Trump. It argued that the “miracle” rested on two features dear to Republican hearts—“empowering consumers and fostering competition”. Some of the more vocal Brexiteers dream of turning Britain into “Singapore-on-Thames”: a low-tax, lightly...Continue reading
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