Good Fences, Good Neighbors

We are not in the habit of writing about nations which have achieved milestones, no matter how successful they have been in nation-building. But a special case is made for Singapore, Indonesia's close neighbor whose fate inevitably, one way or another, for better or for worse, is closely intertwined with ours. Its policies and pragmatism over the past five decades have elicited among us a mix of glee, ridicule, envy, amazement and at times, even anger. It is balanced only by a sense of grateful relief in knowing that the attributes of the first world, like high-tech medical care and a top-notch education system is just an hour's flight away.

Singapore is a nation that invites epithets, both positive and negative. It was, after all, one of our former presidents who referred to the city state as 'the little red dot', now an oft-quoted clich which even the Singaporeans themselves use on occasion. It is far more than that, of course, transforming itself into a regional financial hub that can rightfully call itself the 'Switzerland of Asia'.