Singapore celebrates success on 60th anniversary but challenges loom ahead

Singapore – As Singapore’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations gully to a adjacent connected Saturday night, a immense fireworks show volition illuminate the city’s bonzer skyline.

The galore skyscrapers and futuristic buildings basal arsenic a tribute to the country’s singular improvement aft separating from Malaysia successful 1965.

This tiny Southeast Asian state, with a colonisation of conscionable implicit six cardinal people, has 1 of the highest rates of wealthiness per capita successful the world. Its precocious system besides attracts workers from crossed the globe.

The fiscal hub is famed for its stability, precocious modular of living, forward-thinking attack and infamous for its centralised benignant of governance.

While Singapore volition bask successful immoderate occurrence this weekend, erstwhile the flags are taken down and the SG60 merchandise is removed from the shelves, the island-nation volition get backmost to enactment and statesman contemplating its future.

Plans are already successful question to proceed Singapore’s growth, with its astir celebrated landmark – Marina Bay Sands – acceptable to location a caller 4th operation of edifice rooms successful 2029, portion a 15,000-seat indoor arena volition besides beryllium built astatine the site.

Changi planetary airport, which was ranked this twelvemonth arsenic the world’s champion for the 13th time, volition besides summation a 5th terminal by the mid-2030s.

Residents of the “Lion City” intelligibly person plentifulness to look guardant to, but the roadworthy up whitethorn besides incorporate immoderate potholes.

Al Jazeera has been taking a look astatine immoderate of the challenges that Singapore could look successful the adjacent 60 years and however they mightiness beryllium tackled.

Singapore’s iconic Merlion statue with the concern territory successful the inheritance successful 2019 [File: Vincent Thian/AP Photo]

Climate change

As a low-lying island, sitting conscionable northbound of the equator, Singapore is peculiarly susceptible to the menace of a changing climate. The country’s erstwhile premier minister, Lee Hsien Loong, erstwhile described it arsenic a substance of “life and death”.

Rising seas and accrued rainfall could pb to flooding, with utmost upwind events acceptable to beryllium a much communal occurrence.

While the city-state has truthful acold dodged the benignant of upwind disruption that plagues galore of its neighbours, the authorities is preparing for the worst.

Rising oversea levels are of peculiar concern, with alarming estimates that the waters astir Singapore could emergence by much than a metre (3.2ft) by 2100.

To antagonistic the threat, plans are being considered to physique 3 artificial islands disconnected the country’s eastbound coast. These areas of reclaimed onshore would beryllium linked by tidal gates and beryllium higher than the mainland, acting arsenic a barrier.

Benjamin Horton, erstwhile manager of the Earth Observatory of Singapore, said the state could travel to a standstill if catastrophic rainfall were to harvester with a precocious tide.

“If it flooded a batch of the infrastructure successful Singapore, closing down MRTs [mass accelerated transit], shutting down exigency routes, flooding a powerfulness presumption and the energy went down – Singapore would beryllium crippled,” Horton said.

The already-sweltering Southeast Asian fiscal hub volition besides person to header with adjacent hotter conditions.

Pedestrians shield from the prima with an umbrella arsenic they locomotion successful beforehand of the parliament gathering successful Singapore successful May 2025 [File: Vincent Thian/AP Photo]

A 2024 authorities survey recovered that the regular mean somesthesia could emergence by up to 5 degrees Celsius (9 degrees Fahrenheit) by the extremity of the century.

Horton, who is present dean of the School of Energy and Environment astatine City University of Hong Kong, said this could interaction the country’s economical productivity.

“Singapore is ever processing and is reliant connected migrant labour that works extracurricular during the day. Climate alteration is going to interaction that significantly,” helium said.

Yet, Singapore, Horton said, has “the imaginable to beryllium the pb successful however you accommodate to clime alteration and to beryllium the person successful coastal protection”.

Demographic clip bomb

Singapore’s colonisation is ageing astatine a accelerated rate.

By 2030, it’s estimated that astir 1 successful 4 citizens volition beryllium aged 65 and above.

The beingness expectancy for a Singaporean calved contiguous is simply a small nether 84 years, with residents benefitting from a precocious prime of beingness and a world-class healthcare system.

But this demographic displacement is acceptable to situation the city-state implicit the adjacent six decades.

An ageing colonisation volition inevitably necessitate much concern successful the aesculapian sector, portion the country’s workforce could look shortages of younger workers.

Older Singaporean women signifier Tai Chi, a Chinese signifier of meditative exercise, successful 2013 [File: Wong Maye-E/AP]

“The resulting strain volition not lone trial the resilience of healthcare institutions but besides spot important emotional, physical, and fiscal unit connected household caregivers,” said Chuan De Foo, a probe chap astatine the National University of Singapore’s (NUS) Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health.

While the authorities are looking to grow and fortify healthcare facilities, they are besides urging citizens to marque amended manner choices successful bid to enactment healthier for longer. New selling campaigns promote regular wellness check-ups, allowing for aboriginal intervention, portion caller exertion is besides being utilised.

“AI-driven tools are being developed to enactment intelligence wellbeing, observe aboriginal signs of objective deterioration and assistance successful diagnosis and illness management,” Foo told Al Jazeera.

Fewer babies

Alongside surviving longer, Singaporeans – similar galore precocious Asian economies – are besides having less babies, adding to the country’s demographic woes.

The fertility rate, which measures the mean fig of children a pistillate is expected to person successful her lifetime, fell beneath 1.0 for the archetypal clip successful 2023 and shows small motion of increasing.

That fig is adjacent little than Japan’s fertility complaint of 1.15. This week, Japan reported its 16th consecutive twelvemonth of colonisation decline, with astir a cardinal much deaths than births successful 2024.

Kalpana Vignehsa, a elder probe chap astatine NUS’s Institute of Policy Studies deliberation tank, said the Singapore authorities is “swimming against a taste tide” successful its efforts to reverse the diminution successful births.

“Now is the clip for expansive enactment to marque parenting little expensive, little stressful, and astir importantly, a highly valued and communally supported activity,” said Vignehsa.

Children successful Singapore walk by an OCBC slope subdivision successful 2020 [File: Edgar Su/Reuters]

An unstable world

Singapore is renowned for its neutral attack to overseas policy, balancing beardown ties with some China and the United States.

But arsenic relations betwixt the world’s 2 biggest superpowers go progressively strained, the Lion City’s neutrality could beryllium challenged.

Any pivot towards Washington oregon Beijing is apt to beryllium subtle, said Alan Chong, elder chap astatine the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies.

He said that this concern occurred during the COVID pandemic, erstwhile Washington was not forthcoming with assistance for Asian economies.

“Almost each of Southeast Asia, including Singapore, tilted towards Beijing for economical enactment without announcing it,” said Chong.

US President Donald Trump’s punitive tariff argumentation has besides caused consternation successful the Southeast Asian concern hub, which relies heavy connected planetary trade.

Despite the menace from Washington’s progressively protectionist policies, Chong believes that Singapore is prepared to upwind the tempest aft signing a commercialized pact successful 2020.

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership was agreed betwixt 15 chiefly Southeast Asian countries, positive large North Asian economies including China, Japan and South Korea.

“It’s a immense security against immoderate broad planetary commercialized shutdown,” said Chong.

Stability astatine home

While the planetary outlook appears progressively troubled, Singapore’s home governmental country is acceptable for much stableness implicit the coming years.

The ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) has been successful powerfulness since the state was formed and shows nary signs of losing control.

In May’s election, the PAP, led by caller Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, won each but 10 seats successful parliament with conscionable implicit 65 percent of the vote.

While the country’s leaders are apt to enactment the aforesaid successful the near-term, Teo Kay Key, probe chap astatine the Institute of Policy Studies Social Lab, said younger Singaporeans volition soon privation a antithetic benignant of politics, 1 that is much unfastened and much participatory.

“They are much apt to favour discussions and speech of views,” she said.

“There is besides a increasing inclination wherever the penchant is to behaviour unfastened discussions, with a much antiauthoritarian speech of ideas,” she added.