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Singapore: Unlikely Power
Singapore has gained a reputation for being one of the wealthiest and best-educated countries in the world and one of the brightest success stories for a colony-turned-sovereign state, but the country's path to success was anything but assured. Its strategic location and natural resources both allowed Singapore to profit from global commerce and also made the island an attractive conquest for the world's naval powers, resulting in centuries of stunting colonialization.
In Singapore: Unlikely Power, John Curtis Perry provides an evenhanded and authoritative history of the island nation that ranges from its Malay origins to the present day. Singapore development has been aided by its greatest natural blessing-a natural deepwater port, shielded by mountain ranges from oceanic storms and which sits along one of the most strategic straits in the world, cementing the island's place as a major shipping entrepot throughout modern history. Perry traces the succession of colonizers, beginning with China in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries and followed by the island's most famous colonizer, Britain, which ruled Singapore until the 1960s excluding the Japanese occupation of World War II. After setting a historical context, Perry turns to the era of independence beginning in the 1960s. Plagued with corruption, inequality, lack of an educated population, Singapore improbably vaulted from essentially third-world status into a first world dynamo over the course of three decades-with much credit due longtime leader Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore's first prime minister who led the country for over three decades, who embraced the colonial past, established close ties with former foe Japan, and adopted a resolutely pragmatist approach to economic development. His efforts were successful, and Singapore today is a model regime for other developing states.
Singapore's stunning transformation from a poor and corrupt colonial backwater into an economic powerhouse renowned for its wealth, order, and rectitude is one of the great-and most surprising-success stories of modern era. Singapore is an accessible, comprehensive, and indeed colorful overview of one of the most influential political-economic models in the world and is an enlightening read for anyone interested in how Singapore achieved the unachievable.
In Singapore: Unlikely Power, John Curtis Perry provides an evenhanded and authoritative history of the island nation that ranges from its Malay origins to the present day. Singapore development has been aided by its greatest natural blessing-a natural deepwater port, shielded by mountain ranges from oceanic storms and which sits along one of the most strategic straits in the world, cementing the island's place as a major shipping entrepot throughout modern history. Perry traces the succession of colonizers, beginning with China in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries and followed by the island's most famous colonizer, Britain, which ruled Singapore until the 1960s excluding the Japanese occupation of World War II. After setting a historical context, Perry turns to the era of independence beginning in the 1960s. Plagued with corruption, inequality, lack of an educated population, Singapore improbably vaulted from essentially third-world status into a first world dynamo over the course of three decades-with much credit due longtime leader Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore's first prime minister who led the country for over three decades, who embraced the colonial past, established close ties with former foe Japan, and adopted a resolutely pragmatist approach to economic development. His efforts were successful, and Singapore today is a model regime for other developing states.
Singapore's stunning transformation from a poor and corrupt colonial backwater into an economic powerhouse renowned for its wealth, order, and rectitude is one of the great-and most surprising-success stories of modern era. Singapore is an accessible, comprehensive, and indeed colorful overview of one of the most influential political-economic models in the world and is an enlightening read for anyone interested in how Singapore achieved the unachievable.
- GenresHistoryNonfictionAsia
360 pages, Hardcover
First published August 1, 2016
90 people are currently reading
312 people want to read
About the author
John Curtis Perry
9 books5 followersJohn Curtis Perry, also known as John Perry, was an East Asian and Oceanic studies professor and historian. He was the Henry Willard Denison Professor of History at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University. He was also the director of that school's Maritime Studies program and founding president of the Institute for Global Maritime Studies, until his retirement in 2014.
Perry wrote history books and articles on topics including Pacific Asia-US relations, the American occupation of Japan, American expansionism toward the Pacific Ocean, and Singapore's history. His writing style is characterized by artfully conveying history to the general reader with pith, wit, and clarity. The Japanese government awarded him the Imperial decoration of the Order of the Sacred Treasure for his contributions to US-Japan relations.
Perry wrote history books and articles on topics including Pacific Asia-US relations, the American occupation of Japan, American expansionism toward the Pacific Ocean, and Singapore's history. His writing style is characterized by artfully conveying history to the general reader with pith, wit, and clarity. The Japanese government awarded him the Imperial decoration of the Order of the Sacred Treasure for his contributions to US-Japan relations.
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
February 13, 2019
Singapore is, in some ways, the modern Venice, a maritime city made wealthy by being in the right place, with the right assets, at the right time. Also like Venice, it doesn’t loom large in the modern American imagination. Mostly, if we think of Singapore, it’s as the setting for "Crazy Rich Asians." It should get more attention—Singapore is interesting for its history, its economics, and for combining democracy with limitations on the popular will, a particular interest of mine. So, wanting to learn more, and given that this book is the only recent overview of Singapore, by a noted Asia expert, I thought it would be a good choice. Not really. This book is dull, plodding, and a bit of a fraud.
It’s not technically inaccurate, as far as I can tell. My complaint is that whatever the accuracy of its portrayal of Singapore, it was published in 2017, but very obviously written nearly twenty years before (probably the last time that the author, retired professor John Curtis Perry, prepared a new lecture for his students at Tufts). Despite slapping in a few references to the 2000s and 2010s, something Perry probably got a graduate student to do (I’d guess the same one assigned to write the hagiographic profile of Perry on Wikipedia), nothing in this book that is not trivia takes place after 2003. The reader therefore feels underinformed and shortchanged. Still, other than that, and the boring style, it’s a competent enough short history of Singapore. At the end, I know more than I did before—but probably less than could be gotten from Wikipedia.
Most of the book is taken up with a linear history lecture. As far as beginnings, Perry is eager to believe that Singapore was a relevant place before the British, in the form of Stamford Raffles, showed up in 1819. To be fair, Raffles himself contributed to this myth, while attempting to sell Singapore to those back in England. The reality was, and even Perry has to admit it, that although there were a few transitory trading villages several centuries before, and the Portuguese tried to set up a fort there, when Raffles arrived it was all jungle, and Singapore was created singlehandedly by the English. By itself, this doesn’t mean much, but it’s just one example of Perry’s ham-handed efforts to show that he’s all multicultural and liberal and stuff, despite being an old white guy. Other examples include carping constantly about the British, “with all their faults,” while never specifying any, and puffing his chest out when telling us that Singaporeans, unlike dumb Americans, don’t restrict stem cell research using human embryos. Naturally, he poo-poohs the Communist threat of the 1950 and 1960s. None of this adds to the book; it just erodes what little good will the reader has left.
For the creation of modern Singapore, a few things mattered. First, when the English created Singapore out of nothing, it was designed as a planned port and city, and it emphasized free trade and free immigration. From that, everything else flowed. Free trade meant less corruption, as well, and under English management Singapore made all the right moves and right investments through the nineteenth century, expanding the harbors and other infrastructure and flexibly adapting to changes such as the move from wind power to steam power. British dominance of the seas helped, of course—nobody was likely to attack Singapore when the Royal Navy would come and shell you a few weeks later. And then came the disaster of World War II, in which the British ignominiously lost Singapore and its people were subjected to a brutal Japanese occupation.
As far as postwar Singapore, the focus of the book is naturally on Lee Kuan Yew, who made modern Singapore in his image. But we don’t learn all that much about him. Perry’s main source appears to be David Marshall, a lawyer who was briefly first Chief Minister after Singapore held its first elections (prior to independence), and later a moderately leftist opposition politician. He died in 1995 and did not write any books, but Perry offers numerous direct quotations without sources, so presumably Perry knew him personally. All of this is mostly impressionistic and holistic, though—the reader isn’t told the details of Lee’s program with any specificity. What we can derive is that Singapore is basically a technocracy where the government does not solicit the opinion of the average person, but offers comfort, stability, and corruption-free rule. True, the country is democratic, in that there are relatively free elections, though we are told almost nothing about the opposition parties, which would have been interesting. But the media is controlled, and the opposition neutered, in part through punitive civil suits. In practice, the government is big on planning—not in the sense of socialist central planning, even if the government does own quite a few local companies, but in guiding the overall thrust of Singaporean progress. This includes most of all planning for infrastructure, both for business reasons, and for leisure and public perception, such as the giant Jurong Bird Park and the equally massive Marina Bay Sands hotel.
Critically, Singapore is a meritocracy, where excellence is what matters. Both industry and government seems to be run like a very competent business, where all that matters is getting things done, done right, and done now. Along the same lines, fiscal discipline, and discipline in general, seem to characterize the Singaporean government (this is one of the “Asian values” Lee pushed). For example, in America we all pay Social Security tax, but it’s simply used to pay current beneficiaries, not invested or segregated in any way. Singapore has an equivalent, which goes into a sovereign wealth fund and has been carefully and successfully invested for decades. This technocratic prudence allows a free market system with low taxation (a maximum income tax rate of 22%, and zero capital gains or inheritance tax). Whether such a system, which works in a homogenous Asian society of six million people, could work in a society like America, is an open question, but it’s certainly worked for Singapore.
As successful as this recipe (the specific elements of which have varied over the decades as Singapore successfully developed) has been at creating prosperity, though, it’s only part of what makes a truly successful society, which needs a spiritual side as well. That side must be fed by high culture, of which Singapore, by deliberate choice, has none at all (though apparently it has lots of good food). It’s also fed by religion; it is not surprising that what seems to be the prevalent religion in Singapore is nothing, followed closely by megachurch Christianity, Moralistic Therapeutic Deism, exemplified by Joseph Prince. Thus, the life arc of Singapore is probably going to be also like that of a business; eventually, having no deeper resources and faced with new challenges, it will just have played itself out.
And even as a business, that playing out is probably going to be sooner rather than later. As Perry notes, Singapore does not offer any kind of “creative sparks flashing from entrepreneurial inspiration and brilliance.” Perry moreover ignores the main challenge facing Singapore today—the fatal decline in its birthrate. (Really, we don’t get anything on modern Singapore’s problems. The only “Looming Threats” Perry discusses are piracy and that someone, perhaps China, will build the “Kra Canal” across Malaysia, an unlikely project Perry is very concerned to repeatedly discuss.) It is hard to tell from this book why the fertility rate has cratered to 1.16, one of the lowest in the world, despite desperate government attempts to reverse the slide. No doubt it is for the same reasons that Darrell Bricker and John Ibbitson adduce in "Empty Planet." Urbanization and societal selfishness are probably exacerbated by the anxiety Singaporeans face from history and being menaced, to some degree, by both Indonesia and China. The government has been only too eager to remind them of external threats for decades, for its own purposes, such as by having February 15, the date of the British surrender to the Japanese in 1942, as a holiday, “Total Defense Day.” That strategy makes less sense now that Singapore’s people are collectively declining to invest in the future—so as a result Singapore is going to end up like Xerox or Sears.
But though the future is bleak, it’s evident that Singapore is a classic example of the universal truth that culture dictates civilizational success. The Malays or the Indonesians would not have built Singapore. It becomes evident in this book that Singaporean culture is in essence a Chinese culture, threaded around critical elements of English culture (of the nineteenth century, not its rotten modern culture). Other elements are just not very important, even if everyone conspires to pretend they are. Actually, Singaporean Chinese culture appears to be a subculture of China, of groups from southern China that both were willing to emigrate and that were particularly trade oriented (as Perry notes several times, Confucianism looks down on merchants). Moreover, the Chinese have high IQs; that would also seem relevant, to both culture and success, but Perry lectures us that is only because they have low disease rates in Singapore. No other reason. Move along now. Perry shies away from discussing anything interesting about Singaporean culture; you have to look in the gaps between what he says to learn, such as that the Malays have never been entrepreneurial. Bu the key takeaway is no Chinese, no Singapore.
I did learn some interesting facts from this book. For example, Singapore has a huge petroleum refining industry (not that it has its own oil). Tin smelting (of Malaysian ore) was once a big part of the economy. It has to buy water to drink. And I was reminded of some facts often forgotten today, such as the cruelty and sadism of the World War II Japanese military police, the Kempeitai (very well portrayed in the Amazon alternate reality series "The Man in the High Castle"). But to my disappointment, I will have to wait for another day, and another book (perhaps Lee Kuan Yew’s memoirs?) to actually examine what Singapore can tell us about successfully limiting democracy and encouraging virtue through the government. I suspect that Singapore’s model only works in Singapore, but you can’t tell that from this book—or much else, either. Too bad.
It’s not technically inaccurate, as far as I can tell. My complaint is that whatever the accuracy of its portrayal of Singapore, it was published in 2017, but very obviously written nearly twenty years before (probably the last time that the author, retired professor John Curtis Perry, prepared a new lecture for his students at Tufts). Despite slapping in a few references to the 2000s and 2010s, something Perry probably got a graduate student to do (I’d guess the same one assigned to write the hagiographic profile of Perry on Wikipedia), nothing in this book that is not trivia takes place after 2003. The reader therefore feels underinformed and shortchanged. Still, other than that, and the boring style, it’s a competent enough short history of Singapore. At the end, I know more than I did before—but probably less than could be gotten from Wikipedia.
Most of the book is taken up with a linear history lecture. As far as beginnings, Perry is eager to believe that Singapore was a relevant place before the British, in the form of Stamford Raffles, showed up in 1819. To be fair, Raffles himself contributed to this myth, while attempting to sell Singapore to those back in England. The reality was, and even Perry has to admit it, that although there were a few transitory trading villages several centuries before, and the Portuguese tried to set up a fort there, when Raffles arrived it was all jungle, and Singapore was created singlehandedly by the English. By itself, this doesn’t mean much, but it’s just one example of Perry’s ham-handed efforts to show that he’s all multicultural and liberal and stuff, despite being an old white guy. Other examples include carping constantly about the British, “with all their faults,” while never specifying any, and puffing his chest out when telling us that Singaporeans, unlike dumb Americans, don’t restrict stem cell research using human embryos. Naturally, he poo-poohs the Communist threat of the 1950 and 1960s. None of this adds to the book; it just erodes what little good will the reader has left.
For the creation of modern Singapore, a few things mattered. First, when the English created Singapore out of nothing, it was designed as a planned port and city, and it emphasized free trade and free immigration. From that, everything else flowed. Free trade meant less corruption, as well, and under English management Singapore made all the right moves and right investments through the nineteenth century, expanding the harbors and other infrastructure and flexibly adapting to changes such as the move from wind power to steam power. British dominance of the seas helped, of course—nobody was likely to attack Singapore when the Royal Navy would come and shell you a few weeks later. And then came the disaster of World War II, in which the British ignominiously lost Singapore and its people were subjected to a brutal Japanese occupation.
As far as postwar Singapore, the focus of the book is naturally on Lee Kuan Yew, who made modern Singapore in his image. But we don’t learn all that much about him. Perry’s main source appears to be David Marshall, a lawyer who was briefly first Chief Minister after Singapore held its first elections (prior to independence), and later a moderately leftist opposition politician. He died in 1995 and did not write any books, but Perry offers numerous direct quotations without sources, so presumably Perry knew him personally. All of this is mostly impressionistic and holistic, though—the reader isn’t told the details of Lee’s program with any specificity. What we can derive is that Singapore is basically a technocracy where the government does not solicit the opinion of the average person, but offers comfort, stability, and corruption-free rule. True, the country is democratic, in that there are relatively free elections, though we are told almost nothing about the opposition parties, which would have been interesting. But the media is controlled, and the opposition neutered, in part through punitive civil suits. In practice, the government is big on planning—not in the sense of socialist central planning, even if the government does own quite a few local companies, but in guiding the overall thrust of Singaporean progress. This includes most of all planning for infrastructure, both for business reasons, and for leisure and public perception, such as the giant Jurong Bird Park and the equally massive Marina Bay Sands hotel.
Critically, Singapore is a meritocracy, where excellence is what matters. Both industry and government seems to be run like a very competent business, where all that matters is getting things done, done right, and done now. Along the same lines, fiscal discipline, and discipline in general, seem to characterize the Singaporean government (this is one of the “Asian values” Lee pushed). For example, in America we all pay Social Security tax, but it’s simply used to pay current beneficiaries, not invested or segregated in any way. Singapore has an equivalent, which goes into a sovereign wealth fund and has been carefully and successfully invested for decades. This technocratic prudence allows a free market system with low taxation (a maximum income tax rate of 22%, and zero capital gains or inheritance tax). Whether such a system, which works in a homogenous Asian society of six million people, could work in a society like America, is an open question, but it’s certainly worked for Singapore.
As successful as this recipe (the specific elements of which have varied over the decades as Singapore successfully developed) has been at creating prosperity, though, it’s only part of what makes a truly successful society, which needs a spiritual side as well. That side must be fed by high culture, of which Singapore, by deliberate choice, has none at all (though apparently it has lots of good food). It’s also fed by religion; it is not surprising that what seems to be the prevalent religion in Singapore is nothing, followed closely by megachurch Christianity, Moralistic Therapeutic Deism, exemplified by Joseph Prince. Thus, the life arc of Singapore is probably going to be also like that of a business; eventually, having no deeper resources and faced with new challenges, it will just have played itself out.
And even as a business, that playing out is probably going to be sooner rather than later. As Perry notes, Singapore does not offer any kind of “creative sparks flashing from entrepreneurial inspiration and brilliance.” Perry moreover ignores the main challenge facing Singapore today—the fatal decline in its birthrate. (Really, we don’t get anything on modern Singapore’s problems. The only “Looming Threats” Perry discusses are piracy and that someone, perhaps China, will build the “Kra Canal” across Malaysia, an unlikely project Perry is very concerned to repeatedly discuss.) It is hard to tell from this book why the fertility rate has cratered to 1.16, one of the lowest in the world, despite desperate government attempts to reverse the slide. No doubt it is for the same reasons that Darrell Bricker and John Ibbitson adduce in "Empty Planet." Urbanization and societal selfishness are probably exacerbated by the anxiety Singaporeans face from history and being menaced, to some degree, by both Indonesia and China. The government has been only too eager to remind them of external threats for decades, for its own purposes, such as by having February 15, the date of the British surrender to the Japanese in 1942, as a holiday, “Total Defense Day.” That strategy makes less sense now that Singapore’s people are collectively declining to invest in the future—so as a result Singapore is going to end up like Xerox or Sears.
But though the future is bleak, it’s evident that Singapore is a classic example of the universal truth that culture dictates civilizational success. The Malays or the Indonesians would not have built Singapore. It becomes evident in this book that Singaporean culture is in essence a Chinese culture, threaded around critical elements of English culture (of the nineteenth century, not its rotten modern culture). Other elements are just not very important, even if everyone conspires to pretend they are. Actually, Singaporean Chinese culture appears to be a subculture of China, of groups from southern China that both were willing to emigrate and that were particularly trade oriented (as Perry notes several times, Confucianism looks down on merchants). Moreover, the Chinese have high IQs; that would also seem relevant, to both culture and success, but Perry lectures us that is only because they have low disease rates in Singapore. No other reason. Move along now. Perry shies away from discussing anything interesting about Singaporean culture; you have to look in the gaps between what he says to learn, such as that the Malays have never been entrepreneurial. Bu the key takeaway is no Chinese, no Singapore.
I did learn some interesting facts from this book. For example, Singapore has a huge petroleum refining industry (not that it has its own oil). Tin smelting (of Malaysian ore) was once a big part of the economy. It has to buy water to drink. And I was reminded of some facts often forgotten today, such as the cruelty and sadism of the World War II Japanese military police, the Kempeitai (very well portrayed in the Amazon alternate reality series "The Man in the High Castle"). But to my disappointment, I will have to wait for another day, and another book (perhaps Lee Kuan Yew’s memoirs?) to actually examine what Singapore can tell us about successfully limiting democracy and encouraging virtue through the government. I suspect that Singapore’s model only works in Singapore, but you can’t tell that from this book—or much else, either. Too bad.
March 10, 2017
Just as he did with his epic book FACING WEST, Professor Perry combines exhaustive research with engaging prose to bring us SINGAPORE: UNLIKELY POWER. Starting with the earliest known history of the region and its peoples, he takes us through Singapore's many trials, successes, and reinventions right up to the present day. But this isn't just a history; Professor Perry's global perspective neatly analyzes and explains the macro and micro factors that have affected this small but powerful city-state. Giving just as much attention to the culture as to the commerce, and to the ecology as to the economy, he captures the forward-looking attitude that has typified much of Singapore's history. Tremendously informative, and highly entertaining. --Vincent H. O'Neil, author of GLORY MAIN
April 19, 2021
It's a pretty good book on the history of Singapore. I liked the fact the he takes a longer term approach, and goes back way before independence. Placing Singapore in the historical context of the British Empire, and especially in the Suez-China sea routes, clarifies a lot about the geopolitical context.
Strong on history and culture, weak on economics. Especially missing is the tax haven aspect.
Overall, a pleasant and entertaining read, highly recommended if you are interested in this amazing city state.
Strong on history and culture, weak on economics. Especially missing is the tax haven aspect.
Overall, a pleasant and entertaining read, highly recommended if you are interested in this amazing city state.
January 24, 2022
关于海事发展的部分很翔实清晰，但不得不说中间引用的道听途说的小片段太多了。比如“华人游客在飞禽园讨论哪种鸟好吃”这种描写既没有必要也非常不专业。
May 9, 2021
The author really has an extremely low energy in communicating his ideas, its an extremely dull book, does have some brief amount of intrinsic details but for the vast majority it is just basic information on Singaporean history. The book is not very much detail oriented.
If you want to know about Singaporean history and lee Kuan in detail I won't recommend.
If you want to know about Singaporean history and lee Kuan in detail I won't recommend.
April 23, 2017
Having being recently in Singapore, I was quite curious about the history and the "secret" of its success. This book provided me with the fascinating story of the small nation-state and also with several clues about it's economic development and success. I highly recommend it.
October 1, 2024
麻六甲有全世界近一半的海上貿易，特別是新加坡成為石油港，是中日韓進口石油的重點航道。
海上貿易和海洋成為資訊流通重要媒介都是核心；全球網路中90%的部分是透過海底電纜，90%的洲際貨櫃也是海路輸送。［海底電纜、軍艦 丹戎巴葛公司］
ㄧ個民族的品質決定ㄧ個國家的結果，你如何挑選人才、訓練、組織、管理他們，決定差異。
15世紀的麻六甲：麻六甲��阿拉伯文的交會地之意；麻六甲離新加坡127英里。當時是貿易因喉，印度、阿拉伯、亞美尼亞、猶太人等匯集。
Bugis 來自印尼群島的更東部和本地馬來人，成為最早的居民。相對暴力、像海盜、莽撞，現在已洗白。
新加坡如何成為華人佔3/4的國家？新加坡官���法律高層很多是印度人，阿拉伯人是商人。19世紀擁有一半的土地。hotel raffles 是亞美尼亞人蓋的。華人峇峇。
西方強權爭奪：
Dutch 商業上荷蘭人的缺點就是給的太少、要的太多，Dutch uncle 陷入麻煩
19世紀麻州Salem 也投入蘇門答臘胡椒貿易，美東到非洲好望角；美到歐販售。
Thomas Stamford raffles 影響世界看到新加坡！其實是集體決定這個地點。Raffles 寫作能力強、具說服力、很會報告。
華人銀行與客戶關係良好，可欠帳；英國銀行以與倫敦和世界市場為連結。華人主導貿易、英人主宰政治。
錫和鐌膠
造船廠、拆船廠
世界大戰日本殖民：石油
三巴旺基地，英日聯盟或作戰
印度鮑斯在新加坡組印度國民軍、自由印度臨時政府。新加坡出兵緬甸、在中國革命和印度獨立佔有角色，可惜鮑斯墜機。
重建：李光耀、拉惹勒南、林清祥
新加坡招攬外籍，吳慶瑞邀Albert Winsemius 荷蘭專業航運重建專家，專研優質廉價飯店、食物、水。再來找日本公司石川島播磨重工業。
掃地出門後，對出口貿易、外資、公共服務設施都積極效率達成。
現正是腦力服務業為重，亞洲價值和國家認同並行。能服從、能思考！
海上貿易和海洋成為資訊流通重要媒介都是核心；全球網路中90%的部分是透過海底電纜，90%的洲際貨櫃也是海路輸送。［海底電纜、軍艦 丹戎巴葛公司］
ㄧ個民族的品質決定ㄧ個國家的結果，你如何挑選人才、訓練、組織、管理他們，決定差異。
15世紀的麻六甲：麻六甲��阿拉伯文的交會地之意；麻六甲離新加坡127英里。當時是貿易因喉，印度、阿拉伯、亞美尼亞、猶太人等匯集。
Bugis 來自印尼群島的更東部和本地馬來人，成為最早的居民。相對暴力、像海盜、莽撞，現在已洗白。
新加坡如何成為華人佔3/4的國家？新加坡官���法律高層很多是印度人，阿拉伯人是商人。19世紀擁有一半的土地。hotel raffles 是亞美尼亞人蓋的。華人峇峇。
西方強權爭奪：
Dutch 商業上荷蘭人的缺點就是給的太少、要的太多，Dutch uncle 陷入麻煩
19世紀麻州Salem 也投入蘇門答臘胡椒貿易，美東到非洲好望角；美到歐販售。
Thomas Stamford raffles 影響世界看到新加坡！其實是集體決定這個地點。Raffles 寫作能力強、具說服力、很會報告。
華人銀行與客戶關係良好，可欠帳；英國銀行以與倫敦和世界市場為連結。華人主導貿易、英人主宰政治。
錫和鐌膠
造船廠、拆船廠
世界大戰日本殖民：石油
三巴旺基地，英日聯盟或作戰
印度鮑斯在新加坡組印度國民軍、自由印度臨時政府。新加坡出兵緬甸、在中國革命和印度獨立佔有角色，可惜鮑斯墜機。
重建：李光耀、拉惹勒南、林清祥
新加坡招攬外籍，吳慶瑞邀Albert Winsemius 荷蘭專業航運重建專家，專研優質廉價飯店、食物、水。再來找日本公司石川島播磨重工業。
掃地出門後，對出口貿易、外資、公共服務設施都積極效率達成。
現正是腦力服務業為重，亞洲價值和國家認同並行。能服從、能思考！
May 7, 2020
Good, concise, interesting read. Informed & insightful.
Started reading this while on vacation in Singapore. The story of a nation's almost accidental birth and the determination-filled will to succeed, the upsides and the downsides, etc, this is an insightful peek into what has made and continues to make modern Singapore tick. Recommended.
Started reading this while on vacation in Singapore. The story of a nation's almost accidental birth and the determination-filled will to succeed, the upsides and the downsides, etc, this is an insightful peek into what has made and continues to make modern Singapore tick. Recommended.
February 28, 2021
Three stars for a lot of interesting info even though it can be slow at times. I only skimmed the book because I was so put off by his initial premise that Singapore needs to be a “soft authoritarian” state to stay economically successful. One star for saying a diverse population means they need an authoritarian to keep them all together and on the same path of making $$.
November 21, 2018
A concise, very enjoyable read about a unique country. The length is about right for a short introduction. I would have preferred a little bit less attention to the pre-independence period and more time on the Lee Kuan Yew years, which feel a bit hurried. But worth the read.
Read
July 29, 2023This book was a concise yet very insightful history of Singapore. I very much appreciated the author's attempt to explain maritime industry development as it has been intertwined with the political-economic development of Singapore.
February 8, 2024
As a quick concise read for Singapore history, yes. But there are towards the end, the history about Lee Kuan Yew and then jumping immediately to the modern Singapore, there are quite some histories are missing, like the 2 major riots.
February 27, 2024
I found this book to be useful in terms of learning about the history of Singapore. I thought the writing style was dry and could have gone further in terms of detailing why Singapore has been so successful in recent history.
May 23, 2017
A very readable account (with a focus on maritime and trade and technologies) of Singapore's history and its evolution into the unique nation-city it is today.
January 23, 2022
還可以。
大約可以分成幾個段落，英國殖民前，英國殖民到二次大戰前，二次大戰，戰後重建與李光耀，現代新加坡。
英國殖民前對我沒有特別的亮點，英國殖民到二次大戰提到蘇伊士運河開通與電報、蒸汽船對於航運的影響，挺有趣的。二次大戰就，很慘。戰後的新加坡則可以看到如何透過政策規劃建立現代國家，也會讓人思考民主的價值。
不過整篇有點像是參雜著個人意見的新加坡史，不會太瑣碎還可以接受。
大約可以分成幾個段落，英國殖民前，英國殖民到二次大戰前，二次大戰，戰後重建與李光耀，現代新加坡。
英國殖民前對我沒有特別的亮點，英國殖民到二次大戰提到蘇伊士運河開通與電報、蒸汽船對於航運的影響，挺有趣的。二次大戰就，很慘。戰後的新加坡則可以看到如何透過政策規劃建立現代國家，也會讓人思考民主的價值。
不過整篇有點像是參雜著個人意見的新加坡史，不會太瑣碎還可以接受。
February 20, 2022
Maritime history. Lack of coverage on the aviation industry.
March 14, 2022
作为一本了解新加坡的入门读物，无疑是很好的选择。
它对我特别感兴趣的一些方面，诸如新加坡独立后的政治生态和运作制度，着墨并不多。对新加坡自身历史的介绍，也可谓不功不过。但作者似乎对海洋史造诣颇深，所以能在新加坡历史之外，额外提供了不同时期里有关海洋史的许多背景信息，从而能够反过来更好地帮助读者理解新加坡的塑造过程。这才是本书最大的优点了吧。
它对我特别感兴趣的一些方面，诸如新加坡独立后的政治生态和运作制度，着墨并不多。对新加坡自身历史的介绍，也可谓不功不过。但作者似乎对海洋史造诣颇深，所以能在新加坡历史之外，额外提供了不同时期里有关海洋史的许多背景信息，从而能够反过来更好地帮助读者理解新加坡的塑造过程。这才是本书最大的优点了吧。
October 29, 2022
Academic but interesting book about history and development of Singapore. Deserve to use several hours to read.
November 4, 2024
小白了解坡县历史挺好的入门书，第七第八章最近的历史一口气读起来很有意思，政府通过优越的执政表现来证明其统治的合法性，只要人民的生活过得好，他们便会接受这种合法性的假设，威权政治到现代社会如何解决合法性问题呢？
November 11, 2019
baker's crossroads is more comprehensive, but this is a quicker read
March 17, 2017
Given to me by a friend who is a foreign correspondent. A timely and informative read that provided a lot of historical context for my week in Singapore.
March 19, 2021
雖然全世界都讚揚新加坡經濟成功，但是批評者立刻指出在威權政府統治下付出的代價。新加坡政府發起、指導並指揮公民的生活，其對自由所造成的傷害雖然肯定小於日本在二戰期間的軍事佔領，卻大於英國的殖民當局。不過，人民一直都能夠自由投票，而現在雖然媒體仍然受到政府管理，民眾已經可以透過網路發抒心聲。這些聲音通常都是批評，但是二〇一五年九月的選舉，人民行動黨政府仍然大勝，得票率近百分之七十，在國會八十九個議席佔有八十三席。
新加坡和其他先進國家現在都面臨相同的基本問題。我們要如何才能最好地培養經濟永續成長？其中大部分依賴於如何領導和管理「電信」（telectronic）社會的全球交流，努力消化並在遠距離利用由網路交織而成且極速增長的全球資訊池。對於美國人和新加坡人而言皆然，管理資訊流通的理想社會似乎取決於政府如何在自主和資訊安全的需求間找到平衡。這需要人們能直言不諱地提出與生活最切身相關的問題，即使這些問題可能破壞了傳統帶來的舒適感。
新加坡已經把自己推進到在今天的世界名列前茅，成為富裕和秩序的表率，但是還未建立有利於創造性破壞和產生新鮮構想的機製，這就是它最大的挑戰。相關的討論可能已經出現，但還未臻於實現。
人類的雙手重新改造新加坡的物質世界，它的地形、島上地貌和海岸，同時也雕塑了他的臉貌，平滑和柔化了他有皺紋的景觀，將其地貌改變成符合新的使用模式所要求的樣式，好像這個城市國家「有種要改變其面貌的強迫性衝動」。隨機和意外幾乎不存在。新加坡被稱為「純粹的意圖」，代表著「當代獨特的生態」，它的景觀提供了對永無止境的操縱經驗的隱喻。「新加坡永遠不會停下步伐。」
很顯然，新加坡掌握到浪潮，天時、地利、人和相互配合造成今天的面貌。四周的海洋，輕快、易變，使新加坡適應其不斷變化的用途，並取得驚人的物質優勢。現在，這個島國面臨更大的挑戰，要超越既定模式達成無形的創造力。要全力以赴，必須超越資產負債表上的功能或數字。無形資產才是真正的寶藏。美國科學家和工業家艾德溫·蘭德（Edwin.Land）曾經說過：「最終的結果只有上天才知道。」究竟什麼是「成功」？新加坡現在也在苦思摸索。這也是我們所有人的共同課題。
新加坡和其他先進國家現在都面臨相同的基本問題。我們要如何才能最好地培養經濟永續成長？其中大部分依賴於如何領導和管理「電信」（telectronic）社會的全球交流，努力消化並在遠距離利用由網路交織而成且極速增長的全球資訊池。對於美國人和新加坡人而言皆然，管理資訊流通的理想社會似乎取決於政府如何在自主和資訊安全的需求間找到平衡。這需要人們能直言不諱地提出與生活最切身相關的問題，即使這些問題可能破壞了傳統帶來的舒適感。
新加坡已經把自己推進到在今天的世界名列前茅，成為富裕和秩序的表率，但是還未建立有利於創造性破壞和產生新鮮構想的機製，這就是它最大的挑戰。相關的討論可能已經出現，但還未臻於實現。
人類的雙手重新改造新加坡的物質世界，它的地形、島上地貌和海岸，同時也雕塑了他的臉貌，平滑和柔化了他有皺紋的景觀，將其地貌改變成符合新的使用模式所要求的樣式，好像這個城市國家「有種要改變其面貌的強迫性衝動」。隨機和意外幾乎不存在。新加坡被稱為「純粹的意圖」，代表著「當代獨特的生態」，它的景觀提供了對永無止境的操縱經驗的隱喻。「新加坡永遠不會停下步伐。」
很顯然，新加坡掌握到浪潮，天時、地利、人和相互配合造成今天的面貌。四周的海洋，輕快、易變，使新加坡適應其不斷變化的用途，並取得驚人的物質優勢。現在，這個島國面臨更大的挑戰，要超越既定模式達成無形的創造力。要全力以赴，必須超越資產負債表上的功能或數字。無形資產才是真正的寶藏。美國科學家和工業家艾德溫·蘭德（Edwin.Land）曾經說過：「最終的結果只有上天才知道。」究竟什麼是「成功」？新加坡現在也在苦思摸索。這也是我們所有人的共同課題。
June 12, 2017
"To Southeast Asia American ships would typically carry cheap trinkets and Mexican silver dollars, or simply silver and ballast. Returning with precious pepper, the trade made many American fortunes. A stiff import duty contributed heavily to the 5 percent that Salem alone contributed to the annual federal budget." (27)
"British rule and Chinese entrepreneurship proved a powerful formula for commercial growth." (55)
"Cart and carriage gave way only slowly in Singapore. Various schemes to introduce a railway, improve the road, dig a canal, or use boats got nowhere. The government had other concerns. Thus, paradoxically at a time when Singapore was already a ranking world port, the pace of the ox determined the speed of cargo distribution." (c. 1900, 87)
"'[C]ompetition is an expensive luxury.'" (quoting John Samuel Swire, 97)
"'Shoes were not [to be] shined by white men in the Orient.'" (quoting Harry L. Foster, 117)
"He [Lee Kwan Yew] would later be called 'the finest Englishman east of Suez,' and Zhou Enlai supposedly dismissed him as a 'banana,' yellow on the outside, white on the inside." (192)
"But this is not a story of unbroken progress; success for Singapore has never been a foregone conclusion. Beneath the cresting events of the narrative run deep currents of ambition and anxiety, an ardent desire to pus ever forward intermingled with a strong sense of apprehension ... Singapore's sense of vulnerability has become obsessive." (258-9)
"British rule and Chinese entrepreneurship proved a powerful formula for commercial growth." (55)
"Cart and carriage gave way only slowly in Singapore. Various schemes to introduce a railway, improve the road, dig a canal, or use boats got nowhere. The government had other concerns. Thus, paradoxically at a time when Singapore was already a ranking world port, the pace of the ox determined the speed of cargo distribution." (c. 1900, 87)
"'[C]ompetition is an expensive luxury.'" (quoting John Samuel Swire, 97)
"'Shoes were not [to be] shined by white men in the Orient.'" (quoting Harry L. Foster, 117)
"He [Lee Kwan Yew] would later be called 'the finest Englishman east of Suez,' and Zhou Enlai supposedly dismissed him as a 'banana,' yellow on the outside, white on the inside." (192)
"But this is not a story of unbroken progress; success for Singapore has never been a foregone conclusion. Beneath the cresting events of the narrative run deep currents of ambition and anxiety, an ardent desire to pus ever forward intermingled with a strong sense of apprehension ... Singapore's sense of vulnerability has become obsessive." (258-9)
March 31, 2017
Great introduction to Singapore, but I found myself wanting more detail on various pivotal events in Singapore's history (e.g., Japanese occupation, Singapore as part of Malaysia, or Singapore's independence)
April 10, 2017
Nicely written, not too dry for a Oxford publication.
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June 7, 2017Nice introductory to Singapore History, as it touch and go in some key points in Singapore History, how and why Singapore is what it is today.
Book felt rushed, especially in the recent history portion (late 80s - 2016).
Coverage rested heavily in the early till the period, just before World War 2 (1941).
Expect a follow on book, as there are lots of material between 1941-early 1980s, that can be written upon.
Book felt rushed, especially in the recent history portion (late 80s - 2016).
Coverage rested heavily in the early till the period, just before World War 2 (1941).
Expect a follow on book, as there are lots of material between 1941-early 1980s, that can be written upon.
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