Over the years, the PAP has relied on fast economic growth and rising prosperity to maintain its legitimacy. Singapore's GDP grew 16.9% year-on-year in the first quarter this year and provisional estimates suggest it expanded 19.3% in the second quarter. Even allowing for an expected slowdown in the second half, full year GDP growth could hit the 13% to 15% range.The rosy figures may be attributed partly to the low baseline for the first two quarters of 2009, when the economy recorded negative growth in line with the global recession, and partly from exports to Asia's other robustly growing open economies. However, Singapore's growth and profits are increasingly generated by foreigners for foreigners, with the city-state permitting ever-rising levels of immigration to power the economy.
Citizens now question how much they are benefiting with so many foreigners competing for jobs and limited housing. Meanwhile, the income divide is fast widening. Nominated member of parliament Viswa Sadasivan recently noted that based on 2008 figures, Singapore has a much higher Gini coefficient - a statistical measure of income inequality - than other Asian countries, including China, Malaysia and the Philippines. Full Story
