If HK can make goods why can't we?

SINGAPORE, Monday, January 5, 1959

The president of the Singapore Manufacturers' Association, Mr David Lee today (Sunday, January 4, 1959) disagreed with Mr J.A. Mason that Singapore was "too small" to support industrial development.

He told the Straits Times: "Singapore has enough space for industrialisation and its goods can find a market not only at home but overseas if the prices are competitive."

"At the same time, this island can still maintain its entrepot status."

Mr Lee was commenting on a statement by Mr Mason, retired chairman of three major local companies, who said Singapore had neither the space nor the market for any great industrial development.

Mr Mason had added: "The great prosperity of Singapore in the past has been based on a free port economy and any shift in this policy would need the utmost thought, otherwise the result would merely be a rise in our already high cost of living."

So puzzling

Describing Mr Mason's statement as 'puzzling', Mr Lee said: "Hongkong is smaller than Singapore."

"Yet today she is one of the most highly industrialised cities in the world while keeping her entrepot trade."

"Why can't Singapore do the same?" he asked.

"Instead of being a middle man, we can produce our own goods and sell them ourselves - at competitive prices."


Source: The Straits Times