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Singapore – The Roaring Lion of the East

After visiting so many countries around the world and seeing the plethora of diverse cultures, great civilizations and unique nations I feel Singapore is one of the best countries to live I have never ever seen around the globe. Every civilian would unconditionally love his motherland just like I love India irrespective of whatever state it is. But anyone who visits Singapore would fall in love with this Island nation irrespective of where he belongs.

Singapore is a city state located in South East Asia between Malaysia and Indonesia. Despite Malay being the national language English is the Lingua Franca. Merlion is the emblem which commonly represents the Lion Nation with 5 partings of the mane which translates into pentagon of 5 stars of the national flag representing – Democracy, peace, progress, justice and equality. It is a melting pot of diverse cultures and ethnicities mostly Chinese, Malay, Indian, Caucasian and Eurasians.
It consists of 63 tiny islands which have increased the connectivity mostly by land reclamation. Its geostrategic location was instrumental in making it an entrepot. Surprisingly it is one of the 20 smallest but on the contrary 2nd most densely populated country. Being a free market economy has highest GDP in the world.

Due to the strong political will and leadership  Singapore achieved remarkable growth in few decades and transformed into developed country from a third world country which is reflected from the below facts:
v  Singapore ranks 2nd in Asia and 19th in the world in "Soft Power 30" (2016)
v  Singapore is the least 'miserable' nation in the world - Misery Index (70 countries), Bloomberg, June 2016
v  Country Brand – Education system, ranked 3 out of 102 brands
v  Economist Intelligence Unit: Cost of Living Survey 2014, ranked 1 out of 140 cities in the world 
v  ECA International: Singapore tops global liveability index (2015)
v  Singapore has the world’s fastest average peak Internet speed (Akamai, December, 2015).
v  Singapore is ranked first worldwide for the ease of doing business by the World Bank for 2012, consecutively for 7 years.
v  Singapore is ranked first in the Global Enabling Trade Report.
v  Singapore is ranked the 3rd most competitive country in the world.
v  Singapore is first in the world to have the best protection of intellectual property
v    Transparency International: Corruption Perceptions Index 2010, ranked joint 1st with Denmark and New Zealand out of 178 countries.

Apart from many other laurels sung and records it holds, Singapore has the best public transport system, healthcare and educational institutes. Tourism in Singapore is a major industry and contributor to the Singaporean economy, attracting 16,402,593 international tourists in 2016, over thrice of Singapore's total population. It’s home to the world’s first night zoo, Singapore pioneered the first F1 night race, It’s one of the world’s greenest cities.

Also due to growing rhetoric and hate crimes across the globe in many parts of the world Singapore is becoming the most favorable destination for highly skilled migrants and on top of that the tax friendly policies have attracted many ultra-rich entrepreneurs to settle in Singapore. Transparent governance, corruption free and ease of doing environment, high COE to curtail the number of cars running on road and apparently the traffic on roads leading to pollution control complemented with very good law enforcement makes the safe island paradise the most enjoyable city in the South East Asia and The Roaring Lion of the East.

“At the end of the day, what have I got? A successful Singapore. What have I given up? My life.”


-Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s Founding Prime Minister
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