Decolonization Models for America’s Last Colony: Puerto Rico

Singapore

35 Singapore An island fourteen times smaller than Puerto Rico, with a similar number of inhabitants. —Ángel Collado-Schwarz Singapore in 2010 Population: 5 million Territory: 1,000 square kilometers Population density: 7,252 per square kilometer Gross domestic product (GDP): $208.8 billion Gross national income (GNI): $203.4 billion GNI per capita: $40,070 Unemployment rate: 5.9 percent (2006–2009) Internet users: 70.1 per 100 people Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2011). Singapore  37 Updated Comments Singapore’s average rate of real GDP growth was higher than 7 percent between 2004 and 2007. Growth slowed to a mere 1.1 percent in 2008, and a sharp contraction was expected in 2009 owing to the financial crisis. Thanks to an expansionary fiscal policy, however, the actual contraction was less than predicted—only –2.1 percent. The fiscal push and a rebound of exports led to outstanding growth in 2010: 14.5 percent. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate has remained quite low. It is currently (2011) only 2 percent of the labor force, which is basically frictional unemployment. The Economist Intelligence Unit forecasts 5 percent average annual growth for 2011 to 2015. Francisco Catalá-Oliveras Juan Lara Interview Interview aired on La Voz del Centro, Univision Radio Puerto Rico and New York, April 22, 2007. ÁNGEL COLLADO-SCHWARZ: The first time I had contact with Singapore, to evaluate it as a possible model for Puerto Rico, was more than twenty years ago at a conference held at the Bankers Club in Hato Rey sponsored by a committee headed by Teodoro Moscoso, Antonio Luis Ferré, and Rafael “Papi” Carrión. On that occasion, Lester Thurow, a professor of economics from MIT, was invited to be the guest speaker. In the forum, Professor Thurow talked about Singapore as a model for Puerto Rico. Months later I visited Singapore and met with the director of the Department of Economics of the University of Singapore, and we also talked about Puerto Rico. She remarked that Singapore had used Puerto Rico as an economic model when it established and launched [its own] new economy. When I reflect on where Puerto Rico got off track, I see that the turning point was when we chose to take the road of welfare and dependence on federal transfer programs. Whereas Singapore explored 38  Interviews new opportunities in biotechnology, Puerto Rico was taking the easy road—welfare dependency. Paco, let’s give our radio listeners some background on Singapore. FRANCISCO CATALÁ-OLIVERAS: For the benefit of our audience, Singapore is an island nation off the southern tip of Malaysia, to the north of Indonesia, on the Malacca Straits connecting the Indian Ocean with the Pacific. It has built a train and road link to Malaysia. Its size changes because [the Singaporeans] reclaim land from the sea, but it is roughly 640 square kilometers, which makes it one-fourteenth the size of Puerto Rico. Singapore has a population of 4.3 million, which gives it a population density sixteen times higher than Puerto Rico. It can be thought of as a city-state, although this was not always so. When adventurer Thomas Stanford Raffles established a colonial post there at the beginning of the nineteenth century, Singapore was a fishing village with just two hundred inhabitants. That post thrived, and Singapore gradually transformed itself into a port city similar to others in Asia, Latin America, and Africa. For many years, that was its role, without becoming an example of outstanding development. In the 1950s, with the disintegration of the British Empire, Malaysia achieved independence, and Singapore became part of the Malaysian Federation . Then in 1965 it detached itself from the federation and became a sovereign state. That was when Singapore’s experience truly became interesting. ACS: During the period in 1965 that you mention, one of the important elements in the refounding of Singapore was its leadership. [It] had an extraordinary leader who is still living, Lee Kuan Yew. His son is the current prime minister. Some people simplify Singapore’s achievements, attributing them to the quasi-dictatorial powers of the founder of modern Singapore. Would you care to comment on this? FCO: If it depended on the doings of dictators, the whole world would be developed because we have certainly had our share of dictators in many different geographical regions. Singapore is formally democratic, but there is no question that it...