The laws in Singapore might not be exactly to the liking of foreign companies but they would be fairly enforced. This proved to be a highly attractive feature of Singapore. The tax system was also attractive to foreign companies, often giving lower tax rates for foreign investment than for local residents.

One of the keys to Singaporean development was the upgrading of infrastructure, streets, roads, airports and port facilities. The upgrading was financed not primarily by borrowing but by a special infrastructure tax.

Lee Kuan Yew was not infallible. His ideological background was the social democratic Labor Party. His intention was to raise income levels of Singaporean labor and when his program for attracting foreign employers was proving successful he announced an increase in the minimum wage levels.

This produced a serious recession. The higher wages were a discouragement to foreign companies considering Singapore relative to other locations, but probably the most serious effect was the signal that Singapore might be like other Third World governments that would encourage investment and then change the rules when companies were vulnerable. Lee Kuan Yew learned his lesson and took a different strategy for raising Singaporean incomes.

The strategy was to improve the training of Singaporean workers through government training institutes. A typical training program would meet twice a week for three-hour sessions over a two-year period. The training was voluntary and free and it was geared to the needs of the companies operating in Singapore at that time.

Today, Singapore enjoys an impressive number of brand new high-tech buildings boasting some of the most advanced setups in the world, and it is becoming an innovator and hub for digital business. It does not hurt that the Singapore lifestyle is decidedly style-conscious and upwardly mobile. Straddling the line between Christian conservative values, a famously strict law system and the desires of Singaporean youth to more closely emulate their more freethinking and acting counterparts around the globe, Singapore appears to the outside eye to be in constant flux.