How Singapore Beat the Odds: Insider Insights on Governance in the City-State

“Singapore’s development in the past 60 years has been nothing short of a miracle. This book shows how the miracle happened.”
—Tommy Koh, Ambassador-at-Large, Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs

“That Singapore has become the gold standard for exemplary public governance among the member countries of the United Nations is an accepted and inarguable fact for most public governance cognoscenti. These experts attribute Singapore’s success to Singapore’s focus on high aspirations, meritocracy, values, hard work, discipline, innovation, speed and excellence in the creation of business- and citizen-friendly policies and in their execution, the desire to benchmark and learn from countries that perform better than Singapore, and the creation of global best practices in public governance. The openness, generosity and altruism of several successful former political and public sector leaders have resulted in this invaluable book. It is a must-read for everyone interested in good public governance everywhere.”
—Narayana Murthy, Founder and Chairman Emeritus, Infosys

“Pragmatic, bold, and often unorthodox, Singapore’s public policies produced in the short space of a few decades a remarkable economic transformation. Here you will encounter many of the individuals behind those policies, reminiscing about their experience and, through their example, offering useful guidance to others who want to emulate Singapore's success.”
—Dani Rodrik, Ford Foundation Professor of International Political Economy, John F Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University

“The Singapore Story fascinates more people in the world than many of us who live here realise. In our successes and failures, they derive lessons and insights for their own development. Narayana Murthy, a dear friend and admirer of Singapore — and whose advice I personally benefitted from when I was Minister for Trade & Industry — commissioned this book as a primer for public service leaders in other countries, especially in the developing world. He thinks they will benefit by studying Singapore's experience. If they do, we in Singapore will earn much goodwill internationally, which we always need. The interviewees featured in the book have shared their insights with a spirit of openness and sincerity.”
—George Yeo, Visiting Scholar, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, and former Singapore Cabinet Minister