Singapore follows a 20-year cycle. Your thoughts please

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An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:

Singapore seems to follow a 20-year cycle. Our status as a sovereign nation which we first achieved on 31 Aug 1963 (via unilateral declaration of independence) marked the beginning of the first cycle which saw phenomenal industrial growth, and the forming of a coherent multi-cultural identity (not to be confused with an overall national identity or what it means to be Singaporean per se).

The second cycle began with the deep recession of the mid '80s, after which government policies moved from being people-oriented to being business-oriented and citizens starting to become economic digits. During the second cycle, wages were suppressed, CPF contributions were slashed, the asset enhancement framework for property drove prices up, and that was also the period when Singaporeans started to develop the famous kiasu-kiasi-kiachenghu mentality.

The third cycle began with the election of LHL as PM and that was when SG started opening the floodgates to foreigners which in turn caused all the problems we see today ranging from overburdening of infrastructure to underemployment of PMETs to declining service standards and declining overall quality of life.

The fourth cycle I suspect will begin around the 2020s.

As usual, the start of a new cycle will be defined by our country having to face a major political or socio-economic problem. The first cycle started with our having to deal with merger, independence as well as the communists. The second cycle started with our having to deal with deep recession caused by the excesses of the previous cycle. The 3rd cycle started with the successful end of SARS and overcoming of the economic recession as a result of the 9/11 terror attacks and the dot-com bust.

And it will be the tackling of this national crisis that will cause major shifts in govt policy as well as the tenor of the country as a whole.

The start of the 4th cycle will be defined by having to deal with the excesses and problems created by the 3rd cycle. This time, the FT issue will be the key issue.


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