The Rhetoric
“I will tell you from my 40-plus years of experience, that the one factor that made Singapore succeed was confidence. The people have confidence in the Government and foreign investors have confidence, knowing that the people have confidence and was backing the Government. It’s as simple as that.”
– SM Lee Kuan Yew, Straits Times, Nov 2, 2001The Reality
“A half-yearly survey by Mastercard International, of consumers in 13 countries in the Asia-Pacific region, has found Singaporeans to be among the most pessimistic about prospects in the next half year.”
– Straits Times, Jan 29, 2003