credit to mevotex @ miricommunity.net

In economic case studies, Southeast Asian economists inevitably, have a penchant to compare Brunei and Singapore, the 2 smallest but wealthiest Southeast Asian states whom both shared a currency interchangeable agreement. A tale of 2 nations, Brunei and Singapore set out to diversify their economies 60 years ago, and diverged their path from there; one adopted an open, meritocratic system with emphasis to absorb the best and brightest foreign talents; another embraced a closed, ethnocentric structure which placed heavy restrictions on foreigners. The result is a real-life model lesson for other Southeast Asian states.


One couldn't imagine this was Singapore in 1960s, plagued with housing crisis and filled with slums and squatters


---------------------------------- 1950s -----------------------------------


By 1950s, Brunei had recovered from the ashes of World War 2. The destruction in war however, especially to its oil facilities, made Brunei aware of the needs to diversify its economy. At that time there was only one known reservoir in Seria, and the fear of it running out led the country to set forward and introduced the first National Development Plan (NDP) with an allocation of $100 million in 1953. The plan seek to lay the foundation for economic development by building infrastructure (communication systems, roads, water, electricity), and providing healthcare and education to all districts so to create a healthy, educated workforce.

Singapore suffered heavily in World War 2. The British boasted the island as the 'Gilbratar of the East', a fortress that would withstand any attack, so the Japanese blockaded it and gave it air bombings everyday to inflict maximum damages, until the surrender of the island in 1942. By 1950s though, Singapore had been stabilized enough to again focus on economic development.


Brunei: Seria 1950s, nation was undergoing mass infrastructure development

Emerged from the war in physical ruins, Singapore found itself with a large number of homeless residents whose homes were destroyed, and insufficient commercial activities to support them, leading to housing crisis, squatters and high unemployment which plagued the island throughout the 1950s. In 1947, the British Housing Committee Report noted Singapore had "one of the world’s worst slums - a disgrace to a civilized community", with the average person per building density was 18.2 by 1947 and high-rise buildings were rare. In 1959, the problem of shortage was still unsolved, and the people of Singapore was already not happy with the British as their leaders.

The British authorities granted Singapore and Brunei the power of self-government in 1959, but the colonial administration still controlled external foreign relations and shared responsibilities in matters such as police and defense.


---------------------------------- 1960s -----------------------------------


Going into 1960s, Brunei had became a livable place with booming economic activities, and a GDP per capita 3 times higher than Singapore. A second reservoir in South West Ampa field was discovered, further boosting oil revenues. Oil exports account for 92% of the economy while rubber exports 1.5%

A simple statistics in 1960, Brunei, with a population of slightly under 0.1 million, exported $326 million worth of goods, impressively compared to Singaporean (1.64 million population) exports of $543 million. The Sultanate was clearly way ahead of the Lion City at this time.


Singapore 1960s: Chinatown, a chaotic slums, common occurrence throughout the country.

Suffocated by high unemployment and housing crisis, Singapore in mid-1950s identified industrialization as the way to diversify and keeping the economy afloat. The entrepot trade accounted for 70% of the economy at that time, but was deemed shaky as Malaysia and Indonesia could commit themselves to build a rival port across the strategic Strait of Malacca anytime. This came true when Malaysia later built the Port Klang, eventually growing into the closest competition against the Port of Singapore in Southeast Asia.

The 1950-1960s was a completely different era for Singapore. There was little or no foreign investments, and if Singapore wished to industrialize, it must carry them out on its own, under limited budget. So serious was the economic problems that in 1963 Singapore decided to join the Federation of Malaysia in hope to solve its stagnated economy and other social issues.

Singapore began 'forced industrialization', building cheap factories in mass quantities and sent the unemployed to work there, setting up the Jurong industrial estate, its first industrial town. Singapore's industrialization programme began with factories producing garments, textiles, toys, wood products and hair wigs. The Housing and Development Board (HDB) was formed in 1960 to solve Singapore's housing crisis, and to clear up the squatters and slums. It began to construct what is known as HDB flats to resettle the population. Only after nearly 20 years, and the building of tens of thousands of flats, Singapore's housing problems was finally solved at late 1970s.


Brunei 1960s: Clearly a better place than Singapore

The merger with Malaysia did not go well, Singapore was rocked by racial riot in 1964 (Brunei was similarly hit by a revolt in 1962) and the increasing tension with Kuala Lumpur led to its expulsion from the Malaysian federation in 1965. By the time Singapore was ejected from Malaysia, its economy was in a very bad shape and Western analysts were predicting that the new country, with no resource at all, could not survive. No one at that time could had known that, in 2012 Singapore would be one of the most developed nation on Earth.


---------------------------------- 1970s -----------------------------------


The 1970s was a good time for Brunei. Angered by Western support for Israel, Arab nations launched the oil boycott, leading to the 1970s energy crisis and oil price shock. This gave Brunei a windfall and awashed it with petrodollar, followed by a sharp rise in living standard; for instance, just before the energy crisis in 1972, Brunei's per capita GDP was $2,926, but in 1973 it blossomed to $6,971 - even more than Japan's $4,157. By 1980, per capita in Brunei hit $25,538; the richest in Asia, compared to Japan's $9,034 and Singapore's $4,857. It was from here onwards the tiny Sultanate is to be forever associated with the word 'rich and wealthy'. It was also at here Brunei reached its greatest extent, never again in future would it had so wide a lead vis-a-vis Singapore and Japan.

Today, the 1970s golden age and the fact that Brunei was once Asia's richest in GDP per capita at that time, is rarely mentioned in the country, perhaps due to the embarrassment it might brought with the country's currently struggling economy.


Brunei 1970s: Good infrastructure, thriving commerce

Sudden boom in oil revenues allowed Brunei to enter a period of rapid economic growth, with oil income greatly expended to modernize the state. In 1974 it built the Brunei International Airport (1 year before Singapore Changi Airport was built in 1975), the country was able to connect itself with properly paved roads, commerce flourished and new wealth was created (many companies founded at this period went on to become the leading retailers in the country today), telecommunication greatly improved, infrastructure was better than Singapore, and education level rose sharply. The future of the Sultanate looked bright.

Despite that though, oil has given Brunei a sense of complacency. Other industries who once made up a considerable share of exports, like coal, rubber and cutch, were increasingly being neglected. Singapore was facing existential and survival threats, that forced it to act, while Brunei was able to sit comfortably on its oil revenues. Even though the 1970s was modern Brunei's best times, it also solidified its reliance on oil & gas.

After building factories continuously for 15 years, in 1970, Singapore finally got its high unemployment solved. There were some issues though, unlike Brunei who were rich enough to fund all developmental projects, the city-state was poor and could only afford to build flats and factories all these while.

Sorting housing crisis and high unemployment were the first priorities at that time, and infrastructure and education were left aside. In 1970, Singapore began to realize that no matter how much low-cost factories it built, it is only a tiny nation with tiny population, and neighboring Malaysia and Indonesia can eventually field a much larger labor force. There is no way it can compete if that occurred, but if Singapore has highly-educated workforce and high tech industries, it would be able to stay ahead.


Singapore early 1970s: Road much better and streets cleaner with slums cleared

Noting its poor infrastructure and low level of education, Singapore then stopped the mass-construction of factories, and instead allocated the funds to education, infrastructure development and factories upgrade. But the country wasn't rich and the budget couldn't support all the projects. Moreover it would take at least one decade before the new batch of highly-skilled workforce could be produced, something the city-state couldn't afford to wait. Singapore decided it wasn't plausible to do it by its own, and appealed to foreigners, opening up the country to foreign investments and skilled foreign immigrants.

The Singaporean leadership promised foreign companies what they loved to hear; the government would be incorruptible, the government would respect capitalism and all foreign investments, with no nationalization or seizure of assets would ever take place, and that Singapore would have regular and predictable law - many third World governments encourage investments but then change the rules at will, this would not be applicable to Singapore. The Lion City kept its promises and enforced them religiously. This differentiated Singapore with other third world nations, and successfully caught the attention of international businesses. Foreign investments began to flush into Singapore.

Sensing that it had won foreign interests, Singapore moved to offer "goodies" like tax concessions, simplified immigration procedures, tariff protection and exemption from import duties, and finally the lifting of foreign exchange controls. This pleased multinational corporations even more and they flocked in en masses, whose capital helped sped up Singapore's development by at least 10 years ahead. The rapid industrialization of Singapore also greatly aided it attracts large pool of talented foreigners, with the skill inflow so massive that, by 2011, 40% of Singapore's population are immigrants (27% non-citizens and another 13% foreign naturalized citizens)


Singapore late 1970s: with mass influx of foreign investments, modern high-rise replacing old buildings

The Singaporean government adopted a business-friendly approach and actively adapt to their needs, for example, in 1970s, when high-tech industries abroad informed Singapore that they wanted labors with adequate technical skills, the city-state immediately launched free government training institutes which would train working adults twice a week for 3-hour sessions over a period of two year to meet that demands. IT companies like Apple Computers was satisfied and located its facilities to Singapore. The good governance, responsive and proactive economic policies of the island attracted even Shell and Esso, who constructed the world's third largest oil-refinery center on Singapore. The foundation to make Singapore a future first world industrialized nation, was planted in this period.


---------------------------------- 1980s -----------------------------------


Stepping into 1980s, the energy crisis had calmed and oil prices subsided. This hit Brunei hard and GDP fell sharply, a price to pay for failing to identify and develop alternate industries in the golden 70s. After Sultanate attained independence in 1984, economic diversification was again being raised. There were 2 economic paths Brunei could take; the nation's environment was ripe for rapid industrialization at the time, but would require the huge absorption of foreign workers. This was the developmental model later taken up by wealthy Gulf states like Kuwait, Dubai and Qatar in their industrialization progress.

Qatar absorbed so much foreign workers that in 2011 the Qatari only account for 20% of the population. Similar case can be applied to Kuwait where only 33% of its population at the moment is Kuwaiti. For Dubai, only 17% of its population are Emirati. Dubai however, has successfully diversified its economy with oil and natural gas currently accounted for less than 6% of the government's revenues.


Brunei 1980s: Seria, excellent infrastructure, living standard high, but very slow progress

Foreign worker absorption of such extent though, is rather impossible in Brunei due to the country's MIB (Melayu Islam Beraja: Malay Islamic Monarchy) philosophy that stressed the ethnic Malay, who make up the majority of Brunei's population, must always remain dominant race in the country. The conservative social and political nature of Brunei also played its role in the hesitation towards opening up the country; the fears that an influx of foreign elements may disrupt the nation's social customs, tradition and religion, together with the concerns that local Bruneian Malay entrepreneurs may not be ready for intense international competition, means the Sultanate would not be seeing the same kind of massive foreign participation like in Singapore.

Plan for industrialization was dropped (which it came to regret later) in favor of investing Brunei's huge foreign reserves overseas. Among Brunei's investments include luxurious hotels in North America and Europe frequented by top ranking Bruneian officials (which later merged to form the Dorchester Collection), the Willeroo Cattle Farm in Australia, which itself is larger than the entire Brunei, and various property assets across the world. The dependence on oil hence continued, though the fisheries and retail industries saw significant expansion at this time.

On the other hand, as a result of massive foreign investments and rapid industrialization, Singapore had emerged as an Asian economic tiger by 1980s. Its industries at this time had been upgraded and equipped with sophisticated technologies way ahead of all other ASEAN states. The country's capital-intensive industrial base had been setup and was ready to transform itself into an advanced, high tech economy. Around this time, as part of its high-tech drive, the island successfully attracted Southeast Asia's first wafer fabrication plant, which by 2011 would help Singapore produced 10% of the world's silicon wafer. The dependence on foreign firms was also noted, in 1980, foreign-owned firms accounted for 73.7% of Singapore's gross output, and 84.7% of its direct exports.


Singapore 1980s: City central already well-developed with towers

During the 1980s, Singapore's industries had expanded to electronics, computer, shipbuilding and repairing, oil rig construction, chemicals, petroleum refining, and raw materials refining like rubber processing. The first ever economic recession since independence however, took the country by surprise in 1985, devastated Singaporean economy and sent its rapid growth into negative.

The government quickly identified the problems and responded by freezing wages, lowering taxes, and reducing Central Provident Fund contributions. The island was able to nurse itself back to health by 1988, but learnt the painful way that while trying to diversify the economy, it focused too much on high-tech manufacturing. Such lesson would forever changed Singapore, and the country decided to further diverse into service industries as the 'second growth engine', concentrating on the likes of IT, telecommunications, engineering, banking & finance, and medical, while adding more varieties to manufacturing. In 1987, the country built its first MRT line.

This post has been edited by soundsyst64: Jun 24 2012, 09:03 AM

---------------------------------- 1990s -----------------------------------


With little industrial development, the Bruneian economy began to slow down in 1990s. Increasing emphasis on MIB as a state ideology has also resulted in the banning of alcohol, nightclubs, public celebration of Christmas, and commercial pig farming in 1991. The period also marked a critical time for Brunei; Singapore per capita GDP had grown dangerously near Brunei, while other ASEAN states like Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand were waking up from their economic slumber.


Brunei 1990s: modern high-rise over capital

Realizing the mistake of not taking part in industrialization earlier on, and being aware that the country might fall behind if industrialization still doesn't take place, the 1991-1995 Brunei's NDP called for industrial promotion and expansion. A number of industrial estates were identified, this include those in capital Bandar Seri Begawan and the Beribi industrial estates, with factories focusing on furniture, pottery, tiles, cement, chemicals, plywood, glass, textiles, food and electrical.

Brunei's push for industrialization came 40 years late. It was something Singapore had done in the 1950s. By that time the wages in Brunei were already considered too high, the industrial base too limited, and technological edge too low to compete with larger neighboring state in terms of scale and cost (ironically, this was the exact concerns in Singapore during the 1960s which led it to shift into high-tech industrial platform)

Moreover, bureaucratic difficulties, poor coordination between government departments, and lengthy approval process deterred foreign investments, which mean the country couldn't count on foreign multinationals unlike Singapore to develop its underdeveloped industrial sector. The country must proceed on its own instead.

Brunei then began a period of 'state-led construction growth' (similar to Singapore's 1960s 'stated-led industrial growth'), initiated a plethora of construction phases and plans across the entire country, leading to the 1990s construction boom to diversify from an oil-reliant economy to one that is service- and tourism-oriented (it was also what Dubai did since 2000) The restriction on foreign workers were temporarily relaxed to allow large-scale projects and landmarks to be constructed, among them were a theme park, a magnificent hotel, and a giant power station.


Singapore 1990s: rich, robust and modern

All these however, was abruptly disrupted in the Asian financial crisis 1997-98. It is not clear if Brunei could have achieved a similar kind of development like in Dubai shall the construction plannings were to be continued. Soon after the construction spree took off, Dubai enacted a law in 2002 that allows non-nationals of the UAE to own property, leading to an inflow of foreign professionals and real estate boom. This was not seen in Brunei, who remains staunchly opposed to foreign ownership.

The Asian crisis shattered Brunei's economy, wiped out half its foreign reserves it never recovered from, and put it to sleep. After that, the country seemingly lost its ambition and economic direction, which would later saw it descended into the slowest-growing economy in the region by next decade.

Singapore had became an exciting place in the 1990s, it had advanced into NICs (Newly Industrialized Country), and was regarded as the land of opportunities. The island had also matured to become the third most important financial center in Asia after Tokyo and Hong Kong. The development and industrialization of Singapore was so rapid at this time it warranted the needs of land reclamation to accommodate new industries. In 1960, the size of Singapore was 581.5 sq km, this had been expanded to 710 sq km in 2011. The country is in progress of adding another 20 sq km of lands from sea.


Singapore overtook the UK by GDP per capita in 1990, all done without natural resources

Explosive industrial growth also mean that the country, in a sudden, found itself having not enough skilled labors. The city-state sweetened its immigration policies; highly-educated foreign talents from anywhere around the world choosing to work in Singapore, would be granted fast-paced PR (Permanent Resident) The huge inflow of top talents gave Singapore a highly competent labor force. In 1996, Singapore was ranked by the World Economic Forum as the most competitive economy in the world. Business Environment Risk Intelligence has rated Singapore's workforce as the best every year since 1980.

An extremely skilled workforce further strengthened its high-tech manufacturing and domestic competitiveness. The country had bred a new generation of local entrepreneurs who successfully competed with and took back the Singaporean economy from foreigners, not by affirmative acts but meritocracy. In 1980, foreign firms contribution to the economy was 73%, but in 1998, Singaporean-owned companies contributed 55% to the economy.

The Asian financial crisis put Singapore into recession, but the government immediately worked out a solution to allow for a gradual 20% depreciation of the Singapore dollar, to bring forward in advance government programs such as the Interim Upgrading Program and other construction related projects, pre-emptively agreed to CPF cuts to lower labor costs, and made no attempt to directly intervene in the capital markets, allowing the Straits Times Index to drop 60%. In less than a year after crisis, the Singaporean economy fully recovered and continued on its growth trajectory.

By the end of 1990s, Singaporean firms are ready to go global. The country signed 13 Free Trade Agreements in order to expand its external trade ties, and advised local companies to go regional. The companies would later be among the largest investors in China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar and Indonesia.

---------------------------------- 2000s -----------------------------------


Even though the Sultanate did not witness social unrest as seen in neighboring Malaysia and Indonesia at the height of financial crisis, by 2000s, Brunei began to focus on social consolidation and Islamization to preserve 'stability and harmony'. Since 2000, the country's economic stagnation was confirmed, which would led it to become the ASEAN economic laggard later on.


If we adjust the GDP per capita to inflation, Bruneians are actually richer in the late 1970s than now


Singapore GDP per capita adjusted to inflation revealed that Singaporeans today are 4 more richer than in 1970s, compare that to the Bruneian charts above

The 1990s drive for industrialization did not create a thriving manufacturing industries like that of Singapore. Manufacturing in Brunei had never accounted for more than 3% of GDP (it occupied approximately 27% of the Singaporean GDP, 13% of Dubai GDP and 1% Bruneian GDP as of 2011) The government however, refused to accept that it failed on what others succeed (Malta, Luxembourg and Iceland, 3 countries having the closest population to Brunei, for instance, their manufacturing industries accounted for 18-27% while Brunei a mere 1%)

Brunei continues to make attempts for manufacturing, such as partnering with Heidelberg on cement production, Alcoa on aluminum smeltering, and finally the high profile Sg Liang SPARK project with Mitsubishi/Itochu to produce Methanol.

One of the challenges for Brunei though, is the failure to secure consecutive follow-up investments. In its pursue for a strong semiconductor industry, Singapore attracted its first silicon wafer plant in the 1980s, since then this is followed by investments from many other corporations and the island now has 14 silicon wafer plant, 20 semiconductor assembly and test operations center, and about 40 integrated circuit design centres, making it currently the world #2 silicon wafer producer after Taiwan. In Brunei, follow-up investments from other companies after the first, is rare.

Throughout 2000s, Brunei had also tried to expand into service industries such as offshore financial banking, and tourism, with little success. Efforts was also made in food & agriculture, however, the food sufficiency target has not been reached as of 2011. Recognizing that its industries could not compete without a higher level of technologies, Brunei established the iCenter, with aim to nurture the country's technical skills. This is however, again, 40 years late. It was what Singapore had done in the late 1960s.


SPARK - another project attempted to industrialize Brunei

Malaysia and Thailand, whose industries are getting more sophisticated and capital-intensive (i.e. the 1980s Singapore) possess a far advanced industrial technologies estimated 20 years ahead of Brunei, and while Indonesia and Vietnam, the 2 newly emerging economies, are considered low-tech, they have huge production base which Brunei couldn't possibly match.

The 2000s was a period of great economic leap for Singapore. Its diversification into service industries materialized. Singapore had became the medical hub for Southeast Asia, its technological and communication hub, with 50% market share of the region's datacenter capacity. The country's engineering feat is now world's renowned, being responsible for 70% market of global offshore rig construction and 20% of the world's ship repair market. The Port of Singapore surged to be the world's busiest (until it was overtaken in 2009 by Shanghai)

One of the challenges Singapore faced, is the increasing sophistication of industries in neighboring states such as Malaysia and Thailand, who are likewise getting more high-tech. By late 2000s, the computer peripheral industries had been largely lost to Malaysia who is able to produce it more cheaply, and electronics suffered decline, prompting Singapore to identify new industries to support its economy.


Port of Singapore at night

Tourism, biotechnology and gambling were decided. After 40 years ban on casino in Singapore, the prohibition was reversed, perhaps seeing how much surplus and development gambling industries had brought Macau. Singapore set a new tourism goal of 15 million visitors by 2015 (the figure had reached 13 million in 2011) The country aggressively promote and develop its biotechnology industry, investing hundred of millions of dollars were into the sector to build up infrastructure, fund research and development and to recruit top international scientists to Singapore. As of now leading drug makers, such as GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Pfizer and Merck & Co., have set up plants in Singapore.

The country became a developed country in 2006. Singapore was hit by the global financial crisis 2008-2009 but again quickly rebounded. By the end of the decade, more than 3,000 multinational corporations (MNCs) from the United States, Japan, and Europe are investing in Singapore, in almost all sectors of the economy.


---------------------------------- 2010s -----------------------------------


By mid-2000s, Brunei has a new national vision, the 'Wawasan 2035 Negara Zikir', which called for a pure Islamic economy by 2035. Rapid Islamization then proceed, which include a compulsory Islamic studies for non-Muslim students. The central focus is on the 'Brunei Global Halal Brand', however it is not known how this would generate further revenues for the country. The 'Brunei Halal' actually humored Malaysia and Indonesia, with the two having a stronger Halal Brand and are among the biggest food producer in the Muslim world, but did not seek a global Halal authority like Brunei.


Brunei 2010s - lagged behind Kuching and Kota Kinabalu

The country enacted a sudden credit card regulations in 2009, and in 2012 closed foreign property ownership through PA (Power of Attorney), with all laws being retroactive. This spooked investors and confirmed the fears of third world irregularities, the exact character Singapore promised investors in 1960s it would not be, leading to mass industrialization.

While the state concentrated on development towards building a knowledge-intensive economy, it seems to allow and ignore the continuation of brain-drain and skill outflow from the country. Upon its independence, one of the government's most important priorities is to encourage the development of Brunei Malays as leaders of industry and commerce. Participation of local Malays is required on tendering for contracts with the government or Brunei Shell Petroleum. The ethnic implementation on economic policies effectively deterred foreign talents inflow. In addition, a huge proportion of the country's Iban and Chinese population are denied citizenship, making them stateless.

With their future unsecured and not wanting the same nationality woes for their descendants, the Chinese, an economically active group in Brunei especially in the private sector, flee the country, taking with them their capital and skills to nations like Singapore, Australia and Canada. In 1960s, the ethnic Chinese accounted for 26% of Brunei's population, this had fallen to 18% in 1990s, and yet another plunge to an estimated 11% in 2010. By 2011, Brunei has 20,992 stateless population, amounted to 5% of its population. It is unclear if a knowledge economy could be fulfilled if the country is not willing to even embrace such percentage of its domestic-born population, exacerbating skilled labor shortages.


ASEAN business survey 2012

The rest of ASEAN seemingly have the same views and sentiment on Brunei's economic environment, now stagnated and slowest-growing in the region. In April 2012, the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKY School), the National University of Singapore, and the Singapore Business Federation (SBF), in association with the ASEAN Business Advisory Council, conducted a survey among businessmen, investors and executives across various industries from all ten ASEAN member economies. The survey asked them which ASEAN countries they and their businesses would invest in.

In the survey, Indonesia was ranked the most favored investment destination to its ASEAN peers, while Brunei the least favored. While Bruneians may have different views, the ASEAN business communities are perceiving it as a nation in decline.

Running into 2010s, Singapore has increasingly focus on knowledge and innovation-intensive activities, with R&D now a cornerstone of the country’s economic development. In hope to maintain its wide technological edge, by 2012 Singapore will be spending $8.8 billion in R&D, with the 9 other ASEAN states combined will spend $8.5 billion. Malaysia will spend $3.2 billion, Indonesia $2.4 billion, Thailand $1.5 billion, Vietnam $0.8 billion, Philippines $0.5 billion while Brunei $0.03 billion.



60 years of good governance and efficient economic planning is bearing fruit for Singapore. In 2010, the economy of Singapore overtook Malaysia, a country 5 times more populated and whom expelled it from the Federation nearly 50 years ago. But the greatest prize is perhaps, the GDP overtaking of rival Hong Kong, a dream Singapore harbored since independence.

Industries in Singapore now include electronics, chemicals, financial services, oil drilling equipment, petroleum refining, rubber processing and rubber products, processed food and beverages, ship repair, offshore platform construction, life sciences & biotech, and entrepot trade. Its innovative yet steadfast form of economics that combines economic planning with free-market has given it the nickname the Singapore Model. Strong export-oriented economy now provide more than enough revenues to purchase natural resources and raw goods which it does not have, a far cry from when it was still a poor and insecure state in the 1960s.

Again reviewing the export statistics, by 2011, the Singaporean (5.2 million population) exports was $409 billion compared to Brunei (0.47 million population) $10.7 billion, a sharp turn from 1960, it is now clear which country is way ahead of another.


Source:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/commandingheights/...g_economic.html

http://emergenteconomics.com/2012/03/12/718/

http://www.guidemesingapore.com/blog-post/...es-in-singapore

http://www.sedb.com/edb/sg/en_uk/index/abo.../the_2000s.html

http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/Asia-an...re-ECONOMY.html

http://books.google.com.bn/books?id=z1cpiE...tsec=frontcover

http://library.thinkquest.org/C006891/reclamation.html

http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/Asia-an...am-HISTORY.html

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb02...ag=content;col1

http://www.ats-sea.agr.gc.ca/ase/5674-eng.htm

singapore beat malaysia?

in before how malaysia cannot be singapore

I never regard Brunei as success story.

They depended too much on oil.

singaporean cakap, singaporean dianak tirikan gomen, foreigner dibelai manja....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resource_curse

Singapore managed to grow its economy that can rival HK, Malaysia despite having no natural resources and no large market.

HK even during British days, has mainland China as economy support, but not Singapore.

their economy mainly driven by foreign investment rite?

their port helped them alot. meanwhile malaysia, doesnt even bother to compete with singapore.

we could rombak tambak johor, provide i lil shorter passage for ship...can build port also

which country is not?

however to say that singapore is a FDI nation is not accurate these days, they have moved on to international trade and finance, Oil refining and shipping

it doesnt matter. what matters is the concentration of people and urbanisation. the more people in a city, the more vibrant its economy, and this vibrancy is what leads to national economic growth. that's why underpopulated brunei lags behind singapore. even in the 1960s, brunei was better only in terms of 'living standards' - having more space, less congestion, etc. likewise, malaysia too is underpopulated, even discounting the rural areas, kl is small.

if you look at it in a macro view, why would kl and penang (or even new york, london or any large cities today) exist, since none of the cities have any mining, drilling or forestry industries within it?

Same like any country.

However, look at SIA, Creative, Capitaland, Singtel...all regional players

That does not explain why gap between Malaysia and South Korea became much pronounced in 1980's.

they got brains. which comes from good and early education including diciplination.

i mean, we have oil, land for growing crop.... so what makes them so far ahead? management? foreign policy?

nice info TS..i read from start until the end.

the turning point for singapore was when they opened up total investment to foreigners

basing on the established theory that cities are connectors i.e. they connect resources to the world market and people with other peole, some theorised that malaysia and singapore retard each other's growth. malaya basically had one port, singapore. even after 65, malaysian companies continue to utilise the sg port instead of say, port klang.

if there was no singapore (like it suddenly disappears), trade would flow through the johor, penang and klang ports, encouraging growth in these areas. likewise, if malaysia had no ports, singapore wouldve been a larger city.

also, since malaysia had more natural resources, more people need to be relatively low-skilled - if you have a mine, you will need miners. if you have no mines, you can allocate more people to higher value jobs (through incentivisation, etc. you dont need to tell people to what work they need to do - if there's a mining job, someone will take it. if there's none, there's a natural incentive for people to work harder and become more kiasu, for example).

nicely done

thanks for good reading info

in econcomics you cant look at it in this manner, the GAP became big likely due to policies made long time ago.

malaysia against the asian tigers (HK, SG, JAP, etc etc) was late to enter the market, we started in the 80's while those other nations sstarted in the 70's.

we also lack the strategic american love that some of these nations shared

there are other issues, we also decided to go socialist instead of go capitalist over the years. preferring a feudalistic outlook to the economy than the capitalistic view, and so on.

the ironic part is that the rakyat still wants this when this was the problem that brought us here in the first place

i dont think because they oil.i think the main factor the Sultan itself.must remeber Sultan Brunei use konsep Monarki Mutlak..if he said NO.so u become NO...dont try say YES.....Malaysian use Raja Berpelembagaan..when u said NO its become YES..example Lynas.dah tahu dangerous pergi buat.rakyat said NO.goverment said YES..(give reason and Excuse)

This post has been edited by K.I.T.T: May 5 2012, 08:24 PM

the problem is malaysia's productivity is 6x less then an australian

When an malaysian do a blowjob, Australia do 6 times edi. wtf

real or not ?

why I feel that most of the australia r lazy.. they really good at enjoying their life

while most asian work like no tomorrow

aussie also not productive.... many immigrant seeking job there, but local says no job?

Still, all is not lost for us.

We must capitalise on what we have, such as Scomi monorail, locally made solutions for transit, Proton etc.

SG vs brunei..there are few difference
SG is braggy..brunei is keeping it low profile
SG more advance..brunei stays ordinary
SG hard to survive...brunei many welfare/goodies
in the end....brunei is still a better place to live in

depend on current situation, malaysia need to liberalize its industry. open total control for foreigners.

currently, the govt has already liberalized some industry but not all

it doesnt necessarily have to be that they work 6X as fast, its that an hour of their work results in 6X the average value of malaysian production. its either they really do work 6X faster, one worker does the job of 6 men (through mechanisation) or that they produce goods 6X the value of our goods.

australia has ore and as long as the chinese interferes with the ore, they are in the green.

they also have other good industries, while the banking and finance is as good as non-existent, they have a strong domestic market, agricultural market, education and health care market

we should make more palm tree's
more and more palm tree's and more palm tree's

palm oil is the future.

Similarly, government must develop a policy that ensures the continued demand for higher tech equipments, through comprehensive development policy, such as public transit.

Hehe, if at least 4 to 5 cities in Malaysia has metro, our local company such as Scomi will have enough demand and at the same time, boosting its portfolio, so that Scomi will be even more marketable.

manage by chinese, of coz successful la, tipu, corruption, kroni, tongkat, wait what am I toking here???????

simple

Padini vs Bilabong

MAS vs Quantas

Malaysian Beef Vs Australian Grade Angus

if you had the money, which will you pick. honestly, look around your room, what IS malaysian?

Mean while in Malasysia?

also, ive been reading a book i just bought last week: triumph of the city

it talks about cities, and how it shapes a country. and it also talks about how public transport in turn shapes a city. when i read the part about how pedestrian cities result in cramped close-quarter buildings (like india), and cities with transit systems result in concentrated grids (like ny), and how car-cities have gently curving roads and a more dispersed growth pattern (like kl), i thought that you'd enjoy the book.

2 words.

Majulah Singapura.

Singapore is braggy because they deserve to be braggy. They have worked hard, smart and thought way ahead from the rest of countries in ASEAN.
Tell me, which other country in this world could achieve what Singapore has achieved based on their circumstances?

And who says Brunei likes to do low profile?

In Brunei, everything was controlled by the Sultan. If you read the scandals about the Brunei Sultan and his brothers are in it would make you blush.
All the monies they earn, they squandered by joli-joli and making bad investment decisions.

The only saving grace is that Brunei has a low population.

About Brunei's welfare and goodies...one day like any minerals, the oil will run out. Once it does, where does that country have the money to continue to give goodies to their people?

Point is, Brunei is comfortable now. But it is a country without a future.

totally suppork the govt decision to award the MRT job to MMC, Gamuda for developing local expertise..

Basically this article is about Brains v Natural Wealth.

Natural Wealth will solve all your problems in the short run, but will make your leaders complacent and unable or unwilling to plan strategically for the future. Once the Natural Wealth runs out and you have no plan, to turn around would be almost impossible as your neighbors would have slaughtered you economically.

But if you really on Brains only to survive, planning is vital and you could not afford to make big mistakes. The leaders have to be constantly on their toes and their country will always make decisions that effect them 30-40 years down the line.

This post has been edited by tat3179: May 5 2012, 09:15 PM

1st Q...Hong Kong, they're the head of asia for a reason
and when i refer to low profile..meaning wealth...the only way u see how wealthy brunei is to see the sultan's car collection
and brunei as 1 of the richest and low population, they can last long...unlike UAE where they just spend it all
got future or not...still need to see how they do but as a "bruneians"...its VERY VERY GOOOOD

More like because we have no choice since we have already lost high tech to the likes of Singapore, Taiwan and Korea.

UAE spend because they want to diversify their economy such as tourism. they dont want to be to dependent on oil.

all songlap ofcoz lose to small country lar

tapi when foreign investment nak masuk ex, lynas... ppl dun want

They have beaten Hong Kong which after WWII was way more economically advanced than Singapore and many other Asian countries during the 50s because of their status as a British Crown Colony. Heck, the Singaporeans are proud because they beat Hong Kong recently and don't even bother about the news that they surpassed Malaysia.

Hong Kong was their rival, not Malaysia.

Read the article.

Like I said, you are looking in the short term. No matter how much oil Brunei has now, it will run out. The article states that more than 90 percent of Brunei's economy is oil based. They almost have no industrial base and no knowledge worker base. Their people are not productive and I think depends on the oil money their government hand to them. In fact, the article states that the government even embarked Islamification policies recently that drives even more smart and productive people out from the country. Their attempts on diversification has failed repeatedly.

They are in fact, worse than the UAE. At least Dubai is more modern than Brunei and embarked to a more successful diversification by attracting talent to go there until the big bust of 2008. Brunei, the opposite is happening.

Sure, Brunei looks very gooding now, Tell me. Would you stake your children's and their children's future on a country like Brunei?

SK president, after retired, get into jail, or suicide. they have law. even president is not given special treatment.

our former president? rich, richer, richest.

we are lawless. what do we have to combat corruption?

uproot the weeds, don't think about your own kind and yourself, think about the country

posting in butthurt tered...

Very well articulated. The last question is a good reinforcement to your points.

malaysia got NEP, got shit policy. gov want money but dont want work.... become like shit now lor

why ppl today all so provocative? saturday night surfing kopitiam is forever alone and rage?

i dun have the power to uproot the weed.

i have one vote. and i know what should i do with it though.

What I care is the Sultan, he has too much "toys". His cars are uncountable.

ya..its smart they did that
but their things are kinda like..not cheap
their tourism is for ppl who are doing quite well only..not for airasia free ticket customers

1 SGD = 1 Brunei Dollar

You want to see a potential failed state in the making, try counting the no. of cars and palaces their leaders have.

But even the UAE is not successful in transforming themselves and diversify completely from oil.

Why? When a country attracts more low skilled workers to be their maids, security guards, waiters, laborers..etc than high skilled workers you are going nowhere.

When your own people are too spoiled to learn, work and gain knowledge to compete with the East Asian economies, you're screwed.

When your people refuse to break through your sense of superiority and the comfort zone of your religion and culture and adapt to globalisation, you just can't compete.

One must see beyond the shiny towers and impressive infrastructure that your oil money could buy.

I do not know how many million spend by the sultan just for supercar alone, not included palaces. I heard cutlery is make of gold ?

Mevotex in Lowyat? LOLz..

eh soundsys...u copied from miricommunity.net

But the article was very well written and the contents are very compelling.

It is for college thesis?

mevotex in lyn?

good read i would say

but one can sense by the way the article is written,
that sg will come out eventually as winner
against all odd.....a bit dramatic article

To be a success story in the areas of brains, u have to be fair to EVERYONE irregardless of race.

This is something Singapore does better than Brunei.

What's the use if wealth is not distributed evenly?

I thought in Malaysia also got "erm" at Johor with lots of Super Cars?

My sentiments are not really being pro-Singapore, I for example don't like their kiasuness and sense of superiority to us, especially to the Malaysian Chinese.

But facts are facts.

This tiny island, so poor in resources that even water have to piped to it from a foreign country, surrounded by bigger rivals that are in fact hostile to it and would like no more to see crawling back to Malaysia, in 60 years transformed into the only 1st world country in South East Asia. This is a fact.

You can say that this article may be biased towards Singapore, but do you have any data or facts to refute what has been written?

The only country that could replicate what Singapore did was Israel, and the Israelis received far more military, economic and diplomatic aid from the US. Singapore has to do more by its own.

Fact is, no matter how you dislike Lee Kuan Yew, he is probably the best leader in his cohort in the entire South East Asia hands down.

If Malaysia adopted meritocracy based system in the 1980's, we could have been as developed as Singapore.

But no, they prefer having stupid frogs like Ibrahim here barking and polluting the air space with dog shyt which does not add any value to our standard of living.

nah. investment research

More like what's the use if you don't know how to expand and secure your nation's wealth properly and successfully.

You have to first catch the chicken before even discussing how to divide it evenly.

malaysians are too pampered with goodies and handouts from goverment. PR makes it worse by providing free tertiary education and more subsidies. instead of private charities, poor people depend on goverment.

we need to acknowledge that free market capitalism turned 4 asian tigers including singapore from 3rd world backwater to 1st world country and yet socialists blame it for widening gap between rich and poor. of course socialistic policies like public housing and free early education are important as a starting point for social mobility and that's all. the rest should be left to free market.

kesian no reply after few pages. lemme donut 1 FUCUK to you

I don't think the issue is about capitalist vs socialism or goodies and handouts by the government.

Remember, the PAP is socialist party. Though in reality they are pragmatists in administration. The HDB is an example of socialist policies. They know how to blend both capitalist and socialist policies properly.

The real issue here is meritocracy, governance, planning and foresight. And a sense of constantly being feeling an existential threat as a nation by the bigger nations around you thus removing complacency that afflict all other governments in SEA.

Brunei has no future, when it runs out of oil.

Actually chinese in malaysia not reject stock wan but the gomen control and tie us up like tree people.

Thanks for sharing this eye opening article TS.A fine read i must say.

This post has been edited by Racerx: May 5 2012, 10:04 PM

Brunei is an economic time bomb,
dunno if they realize this or not.

Singapore dun want.. If the "tambak johor" is replaced by a bridge (added advantage to Johor Port), Singapore Ports have to fight for the survival by better service and lower costs (port charges, port dues, tax on bunker fuel, tax on portable water, etc) to retain the existing shipping lines and attract new lines.

pap a socialist party? not really. their opponent, the workers' party, is socialist - which resulted in them getting pretty much gagged and oppressed.

and it's because of this lack of opponents that the government was free to enact non-populist measures. if they had, likeus now, both sides will outbid each other trying to push for which party can give more unsustainable subsidies to the people. if you're the only kid on the block, you dont need to do that.

and of course, having a natural port and infrastructure that was built up by the brits and an already present concentration of educated workforce prior to independence helps too.

to name a single socialist policy in a tomb of capitalist movements is rather wrong.

the real issue not those that you mentioned, it is very typical for one to dismiss our rakyats flaws but to blame it on the government. first governments suck at making money, inreal fact they cannot they can facilitate, groom and influence but not make it.

even assuming we do have good governance it will be the same, why? our service industry is lackluster, we have the talent but not the systems and the vision to do it. we do things old school, which is a big curse. our companies are small and non competitive, look up bursa malaysia do you see any REAL regional beaters there? no. even our banks maybank and CIMB are nowhere in pure financial power close to those that lurk in asia.

these things are nothing to do with government, but it has everything to do with the rakyat not comming up to par with the world.

like our UM, once great the best university in the region or asia. today pifft......why? because at one point in time to win votes and improve "graduates" in malaysia our government reduced the passing grades for SPM and UM. the public? went in full support...

in the speeches, i only hear abolish ptptn, nothing about revamping our education system to be globally competitive, nothing about using english as the main medium, making elite schools only for the best and stuff.

Once you start to favour a single race, everything goes wrong.

And, don't bite the hand who feed you.

If you read LKY's memoirs, LKY always claimed that PAP is a socialist party and a member of Socialist International.

The Worker's Party on the other hand, is actually communist, not socialist.

In any event, PAP launched many socialist policies, like setting up co-op stores which is government run, and the HDB which is also govt run and many more. They know however, where to step back, and where to intervene effectively.
You could also argue that Temasek, one of the largest sovereign wealth fund is socialist because it is government run and not a private fund.

I also wish we can be like Singapore

During the Dr M era, we can easily imprison all opposition and win the election

This way, we can do non-populist measures as empyreal said. We can remove subsidies without fearing hitback

The problem with democracy, is stuff thats good for the ccountry, are ussualy stuff that is bad for the government.

We should phase out of democracy, and emulate china and singapore.

with democracy. we need leader with balls. for example. the iron lady.

lky can say that, and he can also say that it was a monarchy if he likes.

i think you're classifying something on the small portion of what they do, instead of what their main business is. establishing pro-business policies, clamping down on unions and relatively low taxes for the rich, are all more fundamentally against socialist principles than erecting subsidised housing and sovereign funds. sovereign funds isnt even socialist since they partake and support a capitalistic economic system or unless this is used to work towards controlling a significant or all the productive capacity of the economy - the anti-thesis of fdi.

if you're old, got a degree, are already working with a family and kids, you dont call yourself a high school student just because you've put on a high school uniform. trivial things dont count if the fundamentals are not achieved.

besides, workers' party really want to appropriate all the capital in singapore, turn all businesses to government-run businesses and impose a flat wage for all, if theyre commie?

kesian malaysia

Good read

wow wow so kuching is more developed than brunei...

This post has been edited by Gaiking: May 6 2012, 11:16 PM

I saw the sources but ts u wrote this article? If so well done. Good read.

great article ts

a good lesson for resource rich economies not to fall into the trap the same way brunei did.

Wow, indeed a good article.

Really informative. Thanks TS.

Singapore, with limited natural resources, but they are focus on human talent, technology and service orientated economy.

Imagine they have an oil rig, I believe they would share the equal fate like Brunei.

Actually there is nothing wrong with Brunei utilising its natural resources, however its like a blessing in disguise, you are addicted and rely to it, once its run out, you r in trouble.

Good reflection for fellow Malaysians.