Hello, friends! Imagine a Country with widespread poverty and unemployment. High crime rates. Drug-related problems, frequent riots, overpopulation and illiteracy as well. Can you imagine the dire condition of such a country? But you do not need to imagine for too long, because this was the reality of Singapore in 1965. But a stark turnaround was seen over the next 25 years it left the world shell-shocked. Singapore became a highly developed, high-income country, and is considered to be among the Top 5 Richest Countries in the World today. One of the Cleanest countries in the world. With next to no corruption or other crimes. Perhaps the No. 1 Asian country in the truest sense. But how was this possible? Who is the hero of our story? In this video, let's dive deep into the magical story of Singapore. "The hostility between Singapore's ethnic Chinese and Malays, finally erupted into violent clashes. " "And as long as I'm in charge, nobody's going to knock it down. " "From the lack of land in high density, but with some hefty government purchasing power, they did the impossible. " "The Republic of Singapore was born! " Singapore is a tiny country, friends. So small, that it gets difficult to spot it on a map, look at the map of Southeast Asia, you can clearly see Indonesia, the Philippines is easy to spot, even Malaysia can be easily identified, but when you travel south, you will see the small island of Singapore. The waterbody Strait of Johor separates Singapore and Malaysia. Singapore is half the size of Delhi, area-wise. But on this small island, approximately 5. 7 million people reside. The total area is 710 km². So the population density of Singapore is 8028 people per square kilometre. We consider India to be an overpopulated country, But for comparison, India's population density is 446 people per square kilometre. Singapore is 18 times more densely populated than India. Overall, it is the 3rd most densely populated country. Lagging behind Monaco and Macao. Interestingly, the origin of the name Singapore, is from the Sanskrit word Singh Pura. Singh means lion, and Pur is city. So Singapore means "The Lion City". Oh, it reminds me, Singapore is one of the four Asian tigers. The four highly developed countries in Asia. South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore. Interestingly, the population density of these four countries is higher than India's. This might seem like a shocking fact to some, because many people blame India's population for the lack of development. But the GDP Per Capita and population density of the 2 tigers, is much higher than India's. Talking about the people living here, Singapore is a diverse country. People belonging to various religions live harmoniously. There are people from the 5 major religions here. And there's a small population of people from Jewish, Zorastrian, Jain, and Sikh communities. The second largest group is the people who do not believe in religion, the Atheists. But apart from religion, Singapore is very diverse in terms of ethnicity too. The largest majority is of Chinese ethnic people at 74. 5%. Followed by Malays at 13. 5%. And Indians at 9%. Among the Indians, the largest populations are Tamils, Bengalis, and Punjabis. And the remaining 3% are made up of Eurasians and Arabs. While talking about the people, we should not forget about Orang Laut. They are the original inhabitants living in Singapore for a very long time. The tribals. Overall, 'Unity in Diversity' is Singapore's present-day reality. But it wasn't the case always. Going back into history, in early history, for a long time, the island of Singapore was used as a trading island, by the Malay, Thai, Indian, Arab, Japanese and Chinese traders. Throughout the history, it was occupied by an Indonesian ruler, the Portuguese, the Dutch through their Dutch East India Company, and in 1819, an ambitious officer of the British East India Company, Thomas Raffles bought Singapore, from the Sultan of Johor. The British entered this island having bought it. Thomas Raffles turned Singapore into a Free Port. Any ship passing through would not have to pay any fees. This gave rise to free trading in Singapore. In 1869, the Suez Canal became operational so that the ships did not need to go around Africa, this led to even more ships coming to Singapore. Most ships used Singapore as a refuelling station. In the nearby country, Malaysia, two industries were very popular. Tin production and Rubber production. Since Singapore was close by, Singapore became a rubber-processing hub as well. This might sound like signs of development in Singapore. But there was a dark side to it as well. In reality, the Britishers were growing opium in Bengal. And they processed the opium in Singapore. The Britishers had employed Chinese porters for this job, where they could find one of the lowest-grade opium. The Chinese people working in these factories, were far from their homes, with no source of entertainment, so they turned into opium addicts. Thousands of opium addicts were living in Singapore. Crimes increased due to drug addiction. People turned to theft. In 1941 it was estimated that there were about 16,500 opium addicts in Singapore. And the 1940s was the period of World War II. "German bombers attack British cities like Coventry, And London. " 15th February 1942, the Japanese invaded into Singapore and Malaysia. Singapore surrenders to the Japanese. Over the next 350 years, the Japanese ruled over Singapore. And the Japanese Rule completely destroyed Singapore. chilling murders took place. Not only on the field but in hospitals also. Several soldiers were tortured as Prisoners of War. Thousands of people were used as forced labour. Women were being used as a commodity. Thousands of women were brought in from Korea, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, to the 'Comfort Stations' in Singapore, where they were available to the Japanese soldiers. By the time the Japanese lost the War in 1945, and withdrew from Singapore, there were more than 30,000 opium addicts widespread gambling and prostitution in the country, buildings were heavily destroyed. There was large-scale poverty, high unemployment, and the place was crawling with diseases. There were food shortages, and people were starving to death. There was no end to crime and violence, And Singapore had turned into a slum colony. After the end of World War II, The British reclaim Singapore's control, and a British Military Administration, tried to get things under some control. The basic services of gas, water, and electricity, were restored. Canteens started to deal with the food crisis. The opinions of the Singaporeans about the British, was quite favourable and positive as compared to countries like India. One of the biggest reasons for this was the British defeated the Japanese,

and the Japanese were more atrocious towards Singaporeans. The second biggest reason was that the government changed in the UK in July 1945. Conservative Party was no longer in power. And the Labour Party came into power. They were against imperialism to some extent. So the British Rule over Singapore slowly receded. And turned into Self Governance. I won't go into what happened in much detail, because this would make this video even longer. But in 1948, the first elections were held. The elections were held for only some seats. Singapore's Constitution was framed, it was revised twice in 1955 and 1958, And you can say that in 1959, the proper full-scale elections were conducted. These elections were won by the young leader Lee Kuan Yew. The Secretary General of People's Action Party. PAP Remember this, you will hear more about this in this video. He became the First Prime Minister of Singapore. Initially Lee Kuan Yew believed that Singapore will not be able to survive as an independent country. And that they should become a part of Malaysia. He did this in 1963. He merged Singapore with Malaysia. But now comes a shocking twist in your story. The Malaysian government was not thrilled to have Singapore be a part of their country. The biggest reason for this was the 1964 Malaysian elections PAP decided to contest that election. The Malaysian politicians did not like this, that a political party from Singapore was contesting in the National Elections in Malaysia. On the other hand, the people living in Singapore were not happy with this merger. Because of the agreement that 40% of Singapore's revenue was to be paid to Malaysia's Central Government, even though Singapore's population was 17% of the combined population. Singaporeans felt that it was unfair. Additionally, as per Article 153 of the Malaysian Constitution, Malays were given special rights and privileges, The Chinese and other non-Malay ethnicities in Singapore did not like this discrimination. They saw how Malaysia was turning into Malay Malaysia. That it belonged to only the Malay people. While minorities weren't given the same rights and equality. "They want a Malay Malaysia. Where the Malays are on top, In charge of everything. We wanted, gradually, not immediately, a Malaysian Malaysia, where as citizens, we share the burdens and the rewards. " Due to these differences, in 1964, communal tensions increased, and racial riots were also seen. ". . . things at each other. So I wedged my soldiers in between them, and we fired a few tear gases. " Due to these riots, in 1965 it was decided that Singapore will once again be separated from Malaysia. And be an independent country The Republic of Singapore. By this point in time, there was some remnant of British control over Singapore. In 1967 the British announced that they would withdraw their troops from Singapore, and would leave the country altogether. This might sound like good news to you. But for Singapore's government and Singaporeans, this was problematic. The British contribution was significant in running Singapore as an independent nation. British forces provided a large number of jobs to the Singaporeans. On top of it, Singapore did not even have its own army. No defence forces. If the British left, they would have been defenceless. This is why Lee Kuan Yew requested the British to postpone their departure. To give them proper time to transition. And the British agreed. The deadline for the British to leave the country was set in 1971. Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew had 4 years to get a hold of his country. A country struggling with poverty, unemployment and drug addiction. In addition to the riots and the separation of Malaysia and Singapore. They did not have any natural resources. How could this country be taken to the path of development? Friends, this is the beginning of our miraculous story. A story with Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew as the hero. He got to work at once. First, to make peace with the neighbouring countries, and to solve geopolitical problems. In 1967, he founded the ASEAN group. In which foreign ministers from 5 countries, came together. With the purpose of collaborating with other countries, to cooperate across multiple fields, and to create peace and stability in the region. But this didn't mean that the country did not need an Army. Second, for the defence of the nation, Lee Kuan Yew, introduced National Service in the same year. When the boys in the country attained 16. 5 years of age, the needed to register for National Service. And after attaining the age of 18, he may need to enlist at notice. Basically, it was made compulsory for every boy of 18 years of age, to join the Army, Defence Forces, or National Service. For a few years. If a country wants to be truly developed, education is among the very first things that needs to be focused on. Singapore did this. The country has compulsory Primary Education, high-quality public education, the government runs excellent schools and colleges. the infrastructure of the schools is impressive. And public education is available at nominal fees. It is almost free. Friends, education is actually quite basic but the main difference between developing and developed countries. Practical skills are essential to become a developed nation. Singapore focused on vocational training as well. But unfortunately, in our country, most people do not even have basic practical skills. We need to try our best, to learn these skills, to be constantly learning and being lifelong learners. Here, for lifelong learning and upskilling, I'd recommend Udemy. Udemy is a global destination to learn many skills, that are taught through online courses by experts. Here, I'd like to recommend a course on Udemy, An Entire MBA in 1 Course by Chris Haroun. This course focuses on real-world business concepts. Such as financial analysis, managing cash flow, and such aspects. Apart from this, you can join courses on digital marketing by Rob Percival, or the Business Analysis Fundamentals by the BA Guide. There's a New Year Sale on Udemy, so when you purchase a course, in addition to a discount, you will also get a learning guide and many special offers. You can go try it out. The link to it is in the description below. And start learning on Udemy today. Now let's get back to the topic. He promised the Singaporeans that Singapore will be a multi-racial nation. That they would be an example for the world. They are not a Malay State, They are not a Chinese State. They are not an Indian State. Their country is not built on religion. Their country is not built on a language. Neither is it built on culture. They are a secular nation where every citizen is equal.