The Singapore Report: National Landscape, Current Challenges and Opportunities for Growth

• Main Authors: Institute for Societal Leadership, PARAMARTHA, Aji, KHEE, Shihui, UNSON, Regina, HEIN, Sai
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2015
• Subjects: Singapore; Politics; Culture; Development; Asian Studies; Growth and Development; History; Political Science
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/isl_research/13; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1011&context=isl_research
• Institution: Singapore Management University

Singapore has come a long way, since her beginnings as a sleepy fishing village and a tiny Malay settlement ruled by the Sultan of Johor. Sir Stamford Raffles first arrived in Singapore in 1819 and immediately recognised that its strategic location along the Straits of Malacca would be useful to the British in developing an alternative to challenge Dutch influence and monopoly in the region. During British colonial rule, Singapore developed into an important free port and trade city, an essential trait that continues to feature heavily in Singapore’s economic development to this day.