What a load of bullshit !!! Singapore is "good" because it is basically a mafia-racket run by giant international corporates who are descendants of old colonial trading companies. "Singapore" is less a country, more a "Tech-Park", and all Tech-Parks are clean and efficient because they are funded by the companies in charge.

Meanwhile an "Average Citizen" of Singapore is forced to serve in the Armed forces. Thus every family ends up "giving" their children to this "Army" that basically serves the large corporates who run the "government" there.

As to the second point about de-centralization and that rapidly growing cities, this has some merit, because the population within cities are generally a small number and vote based on immediate material gains as opposed to larger identity politics.

However, at the same time, Singapore, being a trading port is pretty much protected by larger stakeholders - China, UK, India, Malaysia etc. So, all the efforts are directed towards internal development and not external defence. So, I'm not buying it 100% but I'm willing to listen.