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Computers monitor everything in Singapore from soil composition to location of manholes. At theairport, it took just 15 seconds for the computerizedimmigration system to scan and approve mypassport. It takes only one minute to be checkedinto a public hospital. By 1998, almost every household will be wiredfor interactive cable TV and the Internet, the global computer network. Shoppers will be able to view and pay for products electronically. A24-hour community telecomputing network will allow users tocommunicate with electedrepresentatives and retrieve information about government services. It is all part of thegovernments plan to transform the nation into what it calls the Intelligent Island. In so many ways, Singapore has elevated the concept of efficiency to a kind of national ideology. For the past ten years, Singapores work force was rated the best in the world-aheadof Japan and the U. S.-in terms of productivity, skill and attitude by the Business Environment Risk Intelligence service. Behind the Singapore miracle is a man Richard Nixon described as one of the ablestleaders I have met, one who, in other times and other places, might have attained the worldstature of a Churchill. Lee Kuan Yew led Singapores struggle for independence in the 1950s,serving as Prime Minister from 1959 until 1990. Today , at 71, he has nominally retired tothe office of Senior Minister, where he continues to influence his countrys future. Lee offeredcompanies tax breaks, political stability, cheap labor and strike-free environment. | 
