The program ends by saying that Singapore is going to face the
same challenges like in the past or rather, right in the beginning
when Singapore was founded by Raffles. It didn't elaborate or I may
have missed it. However, it also said that since Singapore had
managed to solve those challenges in the past, we should be able
handle those same challenges in the future.
IMO, the past challenges was solved by the colonial rulers. They
promoted free trade and build up the country from scratch. When the
current govt took over from the colonial rulers, they create new
set of problems which they have to solve.
What if LKY has not fight for independence? Would we face those
problems that arises after independence? Would we need to merge
with Malaysia if we have no desire to be independent? Which lead to
the chain of events that cause the racial riots.
IMO, if we have continued to let the Bristish govern the country,
we wouldn't be much different like Hong Kong now. Free trade will
still be the order of the day as compared to now where 60% of the
businesses are state controlled.
However, kudos should still be accorded to the current ruling party
for providing housing and finding jobs for the people together with
tight social control.
