o develop it's own system of government and economic policies to retain its success. After all the smoke cleared Singapore was able to accomplish this feat and much more. Setting Singapore has approximately the area and population of the city of Chicago. The total land area is about 239 square miles including 58 surrounding islets. It is separated from the mainland of Malaysia by the Johore Strait to the north. Across the Strait of Malacca and the Singapore Strait to the west and south of the island lies Indonesia. It is situated just 85 miles north of the equator so its climate is tropical (Deyo, 104). The population is entirely urban with "a strong manufacturing base, and active service sector, and virtually no agriculture" (Gregory, 261). There are also virtually no natural resources (Woronoff, 122). Throughout its development, Singapore's population has increased at a blinding rate due to immigration and high birth rates. It went from a few thousand when Raffles arrived to about a million after the war to about 2.8 million today (Buchanan, 162). Economy Singapore has one of the World's most open economies, rivaled only by Hong Kong. There are few protective tariffs and the government has provided an attractive climate for foreign investment. It has one of the world's largest and busiest ports and oil refinery centers. Also, it is a major financial center, trailing only London, New York, and Hong Kong in the number of commercial banks (135) and is the center of the Asian Dollar Market with 190 financial institutions that cater to foreign depositors. Compared to the size of its economy, Singapore leads the world in foreign trade (Wood...
