This book is an attempt to understand and analyse Singapore's culture of control. In addition to being a nation which has moved very rapidly from colonial status to one of the economic power houses of Asia in less than forty years, Singapore is also one of the most intensively controlled societies in the world. The state offers the paradox of a free enterprise economy alongside one of the most rigorously policed and closely directed social formations in existence. This book explores the city-state's colonial heritage as well as the forces that helped to mould its current social landscape.