Election Day in 1959

Singapore was a very different place in 1959. The challenges were different. The problems were more difficult, and the resources we had to solve them were much more limited. Keeping Singapore malaria free, providing adequate basic health care and primary education are often taken for granted today, but in our formative years, these were pressing and highly challenging issues.

But from these small beginnings, we began to lay the foundations of what makes Singapore successful today.

In 1959, Singapore's economy was still dependent on its entrepot trade, benefiting from its strategic location in the middle of Southeast Asia, along the trade routes between the East and West.

The new government of Singapore decided that the development of the economy needed not only stimulation of trade, but also the development of industrialisation. Industrialisation would create better employment opportunities for the local population. However, this did not mean high-technology factories that we are familiar with today, but more labour-intensive production.

To ensure a more attractive and stable business environment, smaller unions were amalgamated into the Trade Union Congress. An industrial court was also set up to help resolve disputes between employers and workers. Furthermore, an economic Development Board was established to act as an industrial bank and to carry out the planning and preparation of industrial sites.

Public transport then did not comprise the mass rapid transit system or air conditioned buses we are familiar with today. Stuffy, overcrowded buses were a fact of life.

Singapore looked very different then. Its waterfront was further back, as major land reclamations had yet to begin. There were no skyscrapers, nor were there polished steel and glass buildings that pepper our landscape today.

Much of Singapore remained undeveloped, with most of the population concentrated in small urbanised areas to the south of the island, where the poor lived in overcrowded conditions. Some even lived in slums.

Only the Singapore Improvement Trust (SIT), an organisation set up in 1927 by the British colonial government, was building flats. But the supply was not enough to provide for the growing population.

To solve the problem, the Housing Development Board (HDB) would soon be set up in 1960 to build housing for Singaporeans, laying the foundation for today’s housing estates.

In the meantime, the population grew rapidly. This created a challenge in providing health care from limited resources, but the government was relentless in its efforts, and it showed. Death-rate reached a record low, and infant and maternal mortality rates fell. For three years running, Singapore was free from indigenous malaria.

Besides health care, the growing population and the push for industrialisation created challenges in education too.

The government sought to change the emphasis of the syllabus on languages and science. An overhaul of textbooks was also carried out. To ensure that the policy was adopted quickly, the school week of English-language schools was extended to six days, bringing them in line with the Chinese-language schools. All teachers were required to put in an additional half session a day for training.

The number of children in schools increased by 28,000 to a record 320,977. The cost invested in education rose to $63 million, almost 24% of the government's annual budget. This was to set the direction in the later years.