my impression is that the social contract tween siaporeans and the government will continue for som.population is very used to pa. so in someays, i think that the populatio is not ready to be independent, and the government knows that, and basically it's top-down system. is nothat's very strikingndent, and the gin singapore.ws that, narrator: singapore began with a favorable location, but it has succeeded ahead of other locations because of the commitment to investment in people, facilities and infrastructure-- factors which encourage its use as a regional transport hub. but other regional port locations, like malaysia, hong kong, kaohsiung in taiwan, aneven shanghai are not simply looking on with envy. they are undertaking eir own development programs and steadily attracting more business. singapore is feeling ireasing pressure from their competition. and e late 1990s saw the asian economic crisis-- slowdowns in some soutast asian counies had a domino effect on singapore. to stay ahead, singapore needs to keep finding new ways to set itself apart. it's now a gbal hub ofechnological