This is 99% invisible. I'm Roman Mars.

In 1959, after nearly a century and a half of British colonial rule,

the people of Singapore took the first step toward their independence.

They voted to run their own internal government.

For 14 years since British colonial rule was restored after the Second World War.

A series of colonial administrators have ruled and ordered our lives.

Well, times have changed and will stay changed.

We the people of Singapore have decided to run the affairs of Singapore.

It was a joyous moment, but they inherited a difficult situation.

All of us want a better and a fuller life,

but a rise in the standard of living of our people cannot be created overnight.

Singapore was bombed heavily by Japan during the Second World War

and again by the Allies after Singapore fell to the Japanese. A lot of its infrastructure was in ruins, including

the port, which had brought foreign goods and a multi-ethnic, multilingual population of people

to the island for centuries.

No port meant no jobs.

Poverty was rampant.

Most of the island's residents were living in unpermitted makeshift houses

crammed into crowded villages throughout the island.

If you don't know, the country of Singapore is tiny.

Today the entire nation is really just one city.

It takes less than 45 minutes to drive across the island with traffic. But in the

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