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Episode details

World Service,07 Aug 2015,18 mins

Singapore at 50

Business Daily

Available for over a year

Is the story of the late Lee Kuan-Yew's city-state one of unmitigated success? As Singapore prepares to celebrate a half century of independence, the BBC's Karishma Vaswani and Sharanjit Leyl explore the trade-off between rapid development and political freedom. They speak, among others, to former Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong; Kishore Mahbubani, dean of the Lee Kuan-Yew School of Public Policy; and Chee Soon Juan, leader of the opposition Singapore Democratic Party. Also, Mariko Oi relates the mixed pleasures of finding love and bringing up a child as an ex-patriot in Singapore. (Photo: Singapore harbour. Credit: AFP/Getty Images)

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