2023 saw the 100th anniversary of the birth of Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s first prime minister, and the man at the heart of the state today. The anniversary was marked by a torrent of remembrances of the figure once described by Henry Kissinger as “one of the asymmetries of history.” Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (Lee Kuan Yew’s son) is stepping down on 15 May and passing the baton to a new generation of leadership unrelated to the Lee family. The continuation of Lee’s People’s Action Party and the entire edifice of the Singaporean state hangs in the balance.

Since the start of the pandemic, Singapore has seen an unprecedented level of capital inflow. More than $400 billion SGD (nearly $300 billion USD) in capital flowed into the country in 2021 alone. The capitalists of the region and beyond sense the coming economic crisis and accompanying political and social turmoil and are betting big on Singapore to be the safe harbour to ride out the storm. However, the crisis of capitalism on a world scale will only worsen, and the capitalists will find that