“For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully.” – 1 Corinthians 13:12
CEO of UWI’s Arthur Lok Jack Global School of Business Mariano Browne’s thoughtful examination of Singapore’s development journey in the Digital Trinidad Guardian just before Christmas 2025 — set against Trinidad and Tobago’s post-independence experience — offers a useful mirror for the wider Caribbean.
Reading his analysis, I was struck not only by the similarities he identifies, but by how closely his observations echo my own long-standing comparison between Singapore and Barbados, first articulated publicly in my July 1993 column “Barbados – The Singapore of the Caribbean.”
Like Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados inherited many of the same post-colonial tools Singapore deployed: an educated population, functioning institutions, and access to international markets. The divergence, as Browne rightly notes, lies not in the tools but in the discipline, coherence and continuity with which they were used.
Singapore treated development as a national project, not a cyclical political program. Policy consistency, meritocracy, institutional discipline and an unrelenting focus on productivity became cultural norms. Barbados, to its credit, adopted aspects of this model — particularly social cohesion, education and macroeconomic stability — but never fully embedded productivity, performance measurement and institutional accountability as non-negotiable pillars.
Where Trinidad leaned heavily on energy rents, Barbados leaned on social partnership and services,
especially tourism and international business. Both approaches brought periods of stability, but neither fully escaped the trap of consumption over competitiveness. As I have often argued since 1993, Barbados admired Singapore’s outcomes but hesitated to replicate its tough choices — linking wages to productivity, enforcing meritocracy without apology, and insisting on execution over rhetoric.
Mariano Browne’s central question — why similar tools produced different outcomes — applies equally to Barbados. The answer lies less in economics than in governance culture. Singapore institutionalized long-term thinking. We, Caribbean societies, often personalize it.
The lesson remains timely. Development is not a speech, a plan or a budget line. It is a disciplined national habit. Until we internalize that truth, Singapore will remain our favorite reference point — and our most uncomfortable mirror.
(Dr. Basil Springer GCM is a corporate governance adviser. His email address is basilgf@marketplaceexcellence.com. His columns may be found at https://www.nothingbeatsbusiness.com.)