Would Singapore be a genuinely worse place to live if its GDP per capita would be "just" $35,000 instead of $70,000?

It would probably have slighly smaller population, less economic regulation and more sustainability. So the difference between Yew and "number two" is the difference between "Excellent" and "Great".

Come on, is that so important? I'd rather read on about a leader who turned "mediocre" into "pretty good".

Because most countries are not Singapore, they don't have what it takes to be even Taiwan.

"When a Rhino looks at the moon, he wastes the flowers of his spleen", as neither Japanese nor Chinese say.