gamex79

Don't get me wrong. Democracy is a total joke in Singapore. That's why I left. My dad has never voted in his life because there aren't enough opposition candidates. The police actively harrasses members of the opposition (I had a friend who's husband was an opposition MP).

But given all that could have happened, I do stand by that assessment.

> Yew would have been thrown out of office in a week and some "coup" would have been organized if some big foreign power has special interests in the area and wanted him gone.

There was significant interest from foreign powers doing just that, look up Operation Coldstore and the history of communist insurgency in Singapore.

Any Americans here retired to Malta? It came up on some lists of best places in the world to retire. Would love to hear your experience.

I've reflected on this a lot over time. My conclusion is that it would be pointless. That would be akin to companies like Google and Walmart looking to a wildly successful mom and pop shop for business advice.

Not separate at all. You are right that he did weep.

Singaporean here. What would you say is the point?

My own tldr is that we severely lacked in a number of areas:land mass, natural resources, a defensible position, a meaningful economy.

Geography was pretty much the only thing we had going for us. That and amazing leadership.

Singaporean here. This is a technicality but we didn't voluntarily split from Malaysia, we got thrown out.