Definition: The mind-bending, whiplash-inducing transformation of a swampy, resource-free fishing village into a gleaming, hyper-efficient global financial fortress within a single human lifetime, achieved through borderline-robotic levels of discipline, strategic geopolitical chess moves, and an obsessive focus on educating its entire population into high-value human capital. It skipped the ‘developing nation’ phase entirely, going straight from third-world backwater to first-world powerhouse fueled by nothing but sheer will, smart policy, and maybe the collective anxiety of its citizens striving for perfection. This place makes rags-to-riches look like a casual weekend project.
Example: “My grandpa used to trade fish here, now I’m coding algorithms for a bank taller than mountains. That’s the Singa-poor to Rich pipeline in action, buddy. Tourists complain about the chewing gum ban, but they forget we literally built Atlantis on a marsh with just our brains and Lee Kuan Yew’s stubbornness.”