Singapore: Self Replicating
May 23, 2006

In what has to be considered an ingenious solution to its crisis of lack of land, Singapore has offered to "manage" one of Indonesia's 17,500 islands. While Indonesia has yet to officially consider the offer, according to the author it makes "good sense." Singapore is long considered one of Asia's most productive and efficient economies. Its brand of "Singapore operating system" - a high-quality administration has been exported to various Asian countries such as Malaysia, India and China. Such "mini-Singapores" were mostly very successful in the early 1990s in stimulating local economies, while enabling Singapore to make "juicy profits."

The author contends that such a 'deal' would make sense for Indonesia - many of its islands are short on foreign investment, and are currently struggling with high levels of unemployment. Singapore would supply the much-needed impetus to local economies while expanding both physically and financially profiting from Indonesia's abundant land and cheap labor.