Nation building
22 stories
The obstacle isn't always what it looks like. Sometimes you can remove it — one page at a time.Plate 099SingaporeAli Ismail / Hotel New World
They moved the whole building because the ground wasn't right. Most people would've just forced it.Plate 086MalaysiaPetronas Twin Towers
Don't inspect the spreadsheet. Inspect the wiring.Plate 085SingaporeLim Kim San
I grew up knowing one version of Singapore's founding story. It had one name in it.Plate 083Singapore & MalaysiaKwa Geok Choo
He left home on a cargo boat with no blessing. 30 years later, his 101-year-old father traveled to Singapore to hear that anthem performed for the first time.Plate 074SingaporeZubir Said / Majulah Singapura
He arrived the same year as Sir Stamford Raffles. Raffles came with an empire. He came with vegetables. Both shaped Singapore.Plate 069Singapore & MalaysiaTan Tock Seng
The man Singapore trusted most was once too ashamed to go home.Plate 064SingaporeS.R. Nathan
The hardest enemy to kill is the one inside youPlate 063SingaporeSQ117 / Fred Cheong
When you can't win the primary customer, win the customer everyone else ignores.Plate 060Singapore & MalaysiaSingapore Airlines
An architect sees a city. An economist sees a spreadsheet. Singapore got its MRT because the architect won the argument.Plate 053SingaporeOng Teng Cheong
Everyone said nobody visits a zoo at night. He built the most-visited nocturnal zoo in the world.Plate 050SingaporeNight Safari
The best design isn't the one people notice. It's the one 5 million people never have to think about.Plate 044SingaporeLiu Thai Ker
New entrants assume they have to earn their way in. The best ones find what the incumbent can't afford to lose.Plate 042Singapore & MalaysiaLim Chin Beng
50 years of failure because everyone was solving the wrong problem. One man solved it in 10 — by refusing to treat the river as an environmental problem.Plate 041SingaporeLee Ek Tieng
The hospital treating your family in Yishun? Named after the guy who founded Malaysia's biggest bank — after they kicked him out.Plate 039Singapore & MalaysiaKhoo Teck Puat / Maybank
One object beats five priorities. We're taught to diversify, balance, be well-rounded. Pillay won by doing the opposite.Plate 036Singapore & MalaysiaJ.Y. Pillay
When you don't have the resource, become the place where the resource gets processed.Plate 035SingaporeJurong Island
Four times he ignored the experts. Four times he was right. The fifth time, he ignored the people — and it ended him.Plate 031Singapore & MalaysiaHowe Yoon Chong
Most people in Singapore know two things about Ho Ching. Her husband became Prime Minister. And she lost billions on a bad trade.Plate 029SingaporeHo Ching
Your biggest liability and your biggest asset are often the same thing. The difference is the question you're asking about it.Plate 023SingaporeGoh Choon Phong / Singapore Airlines COVID
Singapore teaches every student about Lim Bo Seng. Almost nobody learns her name.Plate 017SingaporeElizabeth Choy
I used to run past the Raffles statue near the Singapore River on my evening runs. Never thought much about it. Just another colonial leftover, right?…Plate 002Singapore & MalaysiaAlbert Winsemius