I love Hong Kong (probably my favorite city in the world), but in the case of Singapore and Malaysia (which were the most closely tied), I'd rather be from the worst-off group in Singapore (Malay?) than from the best off group in Singapore (politically connected and Malay, except maybe from the top few families), so a lot of it was due to PAP and post-1965 actions. If you're Chinese or Indian it's even more clear which country is going to give you more opportunity to succeed.
The strangest thing is reading about how relatively poor Singapore and even Hong Kong were in the 1970s and early 1980s; it was really the opening up of China, end of the Cold War, and explosion in trade (as well as government policies in each which benefitted from these trends) which turned them into such amazing countries.
The strangest thing is reading about how relatively poor Singapore and even Hong Kong were in the 1970s and early 1980s; it was really the opening up of China, end of the Cold War, and explosion in trade (as well as government policies in each which benefitted from these trends) which turned them into such amazing countries.