critical view of Singapore's developmental success This book offers an alternative view of Singapore's developmental success.
It criticizes the commonly perceived view that Singapore, by itself, created success from nothing; that through clever policies, Lee Kuan Yew and his party (PAP) turned a swamp into the technologically advanced, logistics super-hub that it is today.
King argues otherwise. For example, that when the British left control of the island-city to the Malays, they left behind a significant infrastructure that facilitated the build-up of the logistics industry. And that when Singapore first became independent in 1959 it was already one of the most well-educated country's in Asia, before Lee Kuan Yew and PAP even came to power. He further adds that Singapore received a significant amount of financial funding aid from developed countries to further build up its infrastructure.
He is critical to Singapore's perceived image as a significant source of technological innovation. King argues that, in terms of innovation, Singapore lag far behind countries like Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. And that the only thing Singapore is any good at, technologically, is modifying existing technology, rather than creating new.
He also criticizes Singapore Airlines, which is partly government-owned. King believes that the airline has unjustifiably been crowned as the 'best airline in the world'. King argues that only in terms of service is Singapore Airlines of star quality, but that in terms of flight safety, its record is not better than other major airlines such as SAS (Scandinavia)and Qantas (Australia).
If these were just unsupported arguments I would think little of this book except as a source of speculation. But King backs up his critique with actual data, facts and figures. These are not just lucid ramblings of an disgruntled ex-pat, this is a well-researched and significant work.
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