well, my guest is singapore's long—serving home minister, k shanmugam.singapore's political and economic balancing act sustainable in a world of rising tensions? minister k shanmugam in singapore, welcome to hardtalk. thank you, mr sackur. let me ask you about singapore's model. it was sort of set up by lee kuan yew. it's been in effect for well over six decades. it combines economic openness with a real sense of political control and social control. do you think that model needs to change? well, i disagree with the assumptions in your question about political control and economic control. you know, in the last elections, we had 61%, the opposition had 40% of the votes. voting is free and fair. the reason why the pap has managed a substantial dominance is because in 1965, when the pap came to... when we took independence, or when we had independence thrust upon us, gdp per capita was about $500. today it's $55,000. it's... on any index that you look at — education, healthcare, housing, law and order — we are, you know, in the top three or four in the wor