Dhaka, Aug. 15 -- August 9, 2025 marks a historical milestone for Singapore. We celebrate our 60th year of independence this year. Singapore has come a long way since our early years of nationhood. When independence was thrust upon us, our GDP per capita was around $516. We were no longer part of a common market with Malaysia and no longer to play a role as the administrative, commercial and military hub of the British Empire in Southeast Asia. Dr Albert Winsemius, a Dutch economist who led the United Nations Development Programme's (UNDP) mission to provide advice on industrialisation, painted a bleak but not entirely hopeless picture for us back then. Singapore faced high unemployment, poor housing, low education, and the list went on....