Singapore's political economy, 1997-2007: Strategizing economic assurance for globalization

Asian Survey

Volumn 47, Issue 6, 2007, Pages 952-976

  Chong, Alan ^a  

^a NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE   (Singapore)

Author keywords

Developmental state; Globalization; Government linked companies; Singapore's political economy; Transparency

Indexed keywords

CRISIS MANAGEMENT; ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT; FINANCIAL CRISIS; GLOBALIZATION; LIBERALIZATION; POLITICAL ECONOMY; STATE LED DEVELOPMENT; STRATEGIC APPROACH;

ASIA; EURASIA; SINGAPORE [SOUTHEAST ASIA]; SOUTHEAST ASIA;

EID: 57749164960     PISSN: 00044687     EISSN: 1533838X     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1525/as.2007.47.6.952     Document Type: Article

References (96)

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2. For example, see Werner Vennewald, Technocrats in the State Enterprise System of Singapore, Working Paper, no. 32 (Perth: Asia Research Center, Murdoch University, 1994), pp. 15-16;
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5. Ian Patrick Austin, Goh Keng Swee and Southeast Asian Governance (Singapore: Marshall Cavendish Academic, 2004), pp. 18-23.
6. Chan Heng Chee, Singapore: The Politics of Survival, 1965-1967 (Singapore: Oxford University Press, 1971), pp. 51-52.
7. See also Chua Beng Huat, Communitarian Ideology and Democracy in Singapore (London: Routledge, 1995).
8. These strongly parallel what Chalmers Johnson calls the "plan-rational" developmental state in his MITI and the Japanese Miracle: The Growth of Industrial Policy, 1925-1975 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1982), pp. 19-23.
9. Chan Heng Chee, "Politics in an Administrative State: Where Has the Politics Gone?" in Understanding Singapore Society, eds. Ong Jin Hui, Tong Chee Kiong, and Tan Ern Ser (Singapore: Times Academic Press, 1997), pp. 294-306.
10. See, for instance, Garry Rodan, The Political Economy of Singapore's Industrialization: National State and International Capital (Basingstoke, U.K.: Macmillan, 1989).
11. Krugman's thesis and the Singaporean reaction are captured in the report by Urban C. Lehner, "Asian Economic Survey 1995 - Dismal Science vs. the Dragons," Asian Wall Street Journal, October 9, 1995.
12. The Singapore Department of Statistics defines "overseas affiliates" as inclusive of "overseas subsidiary" and "overseas associate." It states that "an overseas subsidiary is a company incorporated outside Singapore in which a Singapore company owns at least 50% of the ordinary paid-up shares. An overseas associate is a company incorporated outside Singapore in which a Singapore company owns at least 20% but less than 50% of the ordinary paid-up shares." Singapore's Investment Abroad, 2004 (Singapore: Department of Statistics, 2006), pp. 8-9.
13. Calculated from ibid., Table 3, Total Direct Investment Abroad by Country, 1994-2004, p. 15.
14. Calculated from ibid. as well.
15. A simple range calculated from Table A1, Exchange Rates for Selected Asian Economies, 1997-98, in Dick K. Nanto, "The 1997-1998 Asian Financial Crisis," Congressional Research Service Report for Congress, February 6, 1998, hosted on the website of the Federation of American Scientists, at , accessed May 21, 2007.
16. Derek da Cunha, "Singapore in 1998: Managing Expectations, Shoring-up National Morale," Southeast Asian Affairs 1999 (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies [ISEAS], 1999), pp. 272-74.
17. A federation of trade unions since 1961.
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20. Susan Strange, States and Markets, 2nd. ed. (London: Pinter Publishers, 1994), pp. 119-38.
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25. Ibid.
26. Lee Hsien Loong quoted in Wang Hui Ling, "Retreating from Globalization 'Won't Help'," Straits Times (Singapore) October 14, 1998.
27. Goh Chok Tong, "Prime Minister's National Day Rally Speech, 1999: First-World Economy, World-Class Home," , accessed January 14, 2007.
28. Ibid.
29. Ibid.
30. Ibid.
31. Garry Rodan, "Singapore: Globalization, the State, and Politics," in The Political Economy of South-East Asia: Markets, Power, and Contestation, eds. Garry Rodan, Kevin Hewison, and Richard Robison, 3rd. ed. (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 2006), pp. 137-69.
32. Cited in Alex Josey, Lee Kuan Yew (Singapore: Donald Moore Press, 1968), pp. 62-63.
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35. Ministry of Trade and Industry, Singapore website, , accessed November 19, 2007.
36. The original data did not provide U.S. dollar conversions. These have been calculated by the author from the IMF Exchange Rate Archive for December 15, 2004 (hereafter IMF ERA) , accessed November 20, 2007.
37. Temasek Holdings, Investing in Value - Temasek Review 2004 (Singapore: Temasek Holdings, 2004), p. 5.
38. See Table 1.1, National Income, in Yearbook of Statistics Singapore, 2005 (Singapore: Department of Statistics, 2005), p. 2. U.S. dollar conversions are calculated by the author from the IMF ERA.
39. Kyunghee Park, "Hyundai Heavy to Build Oil Facility in Mideast," International Herald Tribune, September 27, 2006.
40. Department of Statistics, Singapore's Investment Abroad, 2004, p. 3.
41. Chua Lee Hoong, "Nepotism Not the Real Issue, It's Performance," Straits Times Interactive (Singapore) June 12, 2002, , accessed June 17, 2002.
42. Mano Sabnani, "Future of the Octopus," Today (Singapore August 5, 2002.
43. Author's calculation from the IMF's Representative Exchange Rate Archive (hereafter IMF's RERA) for December 15, 2006, , accessed November 20, 2007.
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47. William Mellor, "An Investor Meets Her Match. Can Temasek Chief Expand Abroad while Raising Disclosure?" International Herald Tribune, January 27, 2005.
48. Both sets of US dollar conversions in this sentence are calculated from IMF's RERA.
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65. "Editorial: Can We Trust the General?" Bangkok Post, July 4, 2007.
66. Author's calculation of U.S. dollar conversion from the IMF's RERA for August 2, 2007, , accessed November 20, 2007.
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68. Temasek Holdings, Temasek Review 2007: Creating Value (Singapore: Temasek Holdings, 2007), pp. 18, 38, , accessed August 22, 2007.
69. Lee, From Third World to First, pp. 90-96.
70. Ibid., p. 101.
71. Quoted in Ravi Velloor, "Step-by-Step Reforms for Singapore," Straits Times Weekly Edition (Singapore), May 16, 1998.
72. The Association of Banks in Singapore website, , accessed August 22, 2007.
73. MAS, "Explanatory Brief: The Securities and Futures Bill, the Financial Advisers Bill, and the Insurance (Amendment) Bill, 25 September 2001," p. 3, at
74. Ibid., p. 5.
75. This is clear from the Opening Address, by Mrs. Lim Hwee Hua, minister of State for Finance and Transport, at the 2006 NUS-SID Conference, Grand Ballroom, Ritz-Carlton Millennia, July 20, 2006, , accessed January 17, 2007.
76. Goh Eng Yeow, "Record Level of Foreign Funds Enters Singapore," Straits Times, January 16, 2007.
77. "Asia-Pacific-Singaporeans Stick with Government's Social Contract," Financial Times (London), November 27, 1998;
78. Philip Segal, "Risk of Social Crisis Rising in Asia, U.N. Agency Finds," International Herald Tribune, December 2, 1998;
79. New York Times and Hong Kong Standard quoted in Chua Lee Hoong, "World Notices Social Contract," Straits Times, November 28, 1998.
80. Lim Boon Heng, "I Walked the Tripartite Path Laid out by Nation's Pioneers" (farewell speech by NTUC Secretary-General Lim Boon Heng), Straits Times, January 6, 2007.
81. Ibid.
82. Ibid.
83. Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam's Budget Speech 2007 reproduced in "Securing Our Future, Engaging the World," Straits Times, February 16, 2007, , accessed October 22, 2007.
84. "S'pore Income Gap Will Narrow: MM," Straits Times, January 21, 2007.
85. Dr. Lee Boon Yang, quoted in "Many Uneasy over Foreign Talent Policy. Look after Locals First, Says MP," Straits Times Weekly Edition, March 21, 1998.
86. Quoted in Ginnie Teo, "Forget Economics, Where Are the Jobs?" Straits Times, October 13, 2002.
87. Ibid.
88. Chuang Peck Ming, "PM Moves to Tackle Income Gap," Business Times (Singapore), August 20, 2007.
89. Goh Chok Tong and Jenny Shipley, "Singapore and New Zealand Get on with Free Trade," International Herald Tribune, September 14, 1999.
90. Ibid.
91. Barry Desker, "In Defense of FTAs: From Purity to Pragmatism in East Asia," Pacific Review 17:1 (2004), pp. 3-26.
92. Christopher M. Dent, "The New Economic Bilateralism in Southeast Asia: Region-Convergent or Region-Divergent?" International Relations of the Asia-Pacific 6:1 (2005), pp. 92-99;
93. Thomas Fuller, "Free Trade by 2015 Is Backed as ASEAN Goal. Ministers Support Accelerating Plans for a Single Market," International Herald Tribune, August 23, 2006.
94. Daniel Buenas, "Downside of FTAs Highlighted," Business Times (Singapore), March 31, 2006.
95. This conclusion resonates with Charles P. Kindleberger's, in Manias, Panics, and Crashes - A History of Financial Crises, foreword Peter L. Bernstein, 3rd. ed. (Chichester: John Wiley and Sons, 1996).
96. Nelson Schwartz and Vikas Bajaj, "How Wall Street Missed a Financial Time Bomb - Despite Signs of a Mortgage Meltdown, Many Investors Looked the Other Way," International Herald Tribune, August 20, 2007.