On 9 August 2025, The Republic of Singapore celebrates our 60th anniversary. There is a lot that Singaporeans can be proud of. Clichés notwithstanding, this city-state was relatively poor back in 1965. Some of the oldest volunteers at TWC2 remember being on milk-feeding programmes as schoolchildren. “We had to line up to get our daily ration of milk donated from richer countries to supplement our meagre diets. Our teachers would watch us to make sure we drank it.”
The economy was that of a basic, albeit bustling, entrepôt, with little by way of industry. For large numbers of people, housing was substandard, clean water and discharge sewers weren’t universal and public transport a mess of decrepit and smokey buses.
Sixty years on, this is a different place. There has been ceaseless construction since the 1960s, not just above-ground but underground too. Industries have moved in and, as technology evolved, moved out, to be replaced with higher-tech sectors. In the last 30 years, which is half of the 60 years we’re celebrating, Singapore has been short of people. Our economy has grown far larger than we have the human bodies to run it, and we’ve increasingly come to depend on foreigners, from top-tier expatriates, through middle-tier technicians and low-wage labour – lots and lots of them – to keep the wheels in motion.
Nor is it just the hardware and infrastructure, though just about everyone knows that the buildings proudly adorned with flags were built by them. Migrant labour provides a lot of services too, from household chores to raising children, looking after the sick and elderly, to manning the counters at glitzy retail malls or serving customers whether in fine dining restaurants or humble food courts. And keeping all these places, including our housing estates, tidy and clean.
They’re part of the Singapore story. We aren’t what we are today without them. In their honour, we’ve made a little video to celebrate National Day SG60.