History of Singapore Voice Over Script
This island nation is smaller than New York City, but it’s the wealthiest country in Asia and one of the richest in the world. Its GDP per capita itself has surpassed the likes of the UK, the US, France and more. Over six decades, Singapore has transformed itself from a colonial trading port to a buzzing financial center that’s envied the world over. And it’s held up as an example for any country seeking to grow a robust, high-tech economy. Its wealth is the product of decades of planning by a party that’s been in power since independence.
So what’s Singapore’s formula for success? And as its leadership changes for the first time in 20 years, can it continue to prosper?
When Singapore became independent in 1965, the first prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew, and other founding leaders recognized it had an economic problem: It had no natural resources. So if they wanted to develop an export-led economy and attract foreign capital, they would need to build up the country’s manufacturing industry.
Its location gave it an edge. It has access to the Strait of Malacca, to the Indian Ocean, to the South China Sea, which makes it a pivotal shipping hub. Singapore because a manufacturing base with a focus on labor-intensive industry to lower the high unemployment rates.
But Lee only ever intended manufacturing as a stepping stone to a more developed economy. He laid the fundamentals, which includes a solid financial and legal system, a stable and largely clean government, efficient public transportation, and world-class healthcare infrastructure.
In the 1980s, Lee started laying the groundwork for what is now Singapore’s biggest source of wealth, finance. Following the lead of places like the US and UK, he liberalized the financial services industry with lighter touch regulation. The legacy of that approach is evident today. 4200 multinational companies have regional headquarters here, largely because taxes are low in Singapore. Singapore’s corporate tax rate is just 17% and can hit 13.5% or lower for some activities.
Lee’s successor, Goh Chok Tong, continued to lean into attracting big business. Singapore shifted emphasis to a knowledge-based economy that relies more on creativity and growing Singapore’s entrepreneurs.
In 2004, Lee Hsien Loong, Lee Kuan Yew’s eldest son, took over the premiership, and he realized that to retain the flow of businesses and wealth, Singapore needed to be an even more attractive place to live in. This became a major key to Singapore’s success, as the country became a destination in itself, with leisure and entertainment options throughout. Since the land reclamation project of the 1970s, Singapore has been filled with office, apartment buildings, entertainment hubs, casinos (or integrated resorts, as they are called by the government), and special events like the F1 night race. Singapore was ideally situated to attract the region’s ultra-wealthy from both China and India, who could then enjoy the casinos and nightlife, but also park their money.
The results – the total value of assets under management in Singapore jumped from $420 billion at the start of Lee Hsien Loong’s tenure to 3.6 trillion in 2022.
While Singapore has been an economic success, Singapore’s leadership is criticized by some for the restrictions on civil liberties and the media.
Freedom of the press and freedom of the news media must be subordinated to the overriding needs of the integrity of Singapore. One of the chief criticisms under Lee Kuan Yew’s governance was this climate of fear in Singapore. People were afraid to criticize the government.
Subsequent governments also faced criticism for maintaining a tight grip. Protests are still largely illegal. The government is definitely cognizant that its population is changing.
It is much more diverse and much more vocal. At the same time, the government feels Singapore needs to stay competitive as other countries learn from its model of growth. And climate change is becoming a threat to national security.
This is the Singapore that the Lawrence Wong Leadership transition is inheriting as the country’s new prime minister. Wong, who grew up in public housing, earned praise for his leadership in the country’s COVID-19 response.
TOP-10 Scripts from Edge Studio's Voice Over Script Library
[Skyrim opens with an Imperial wagon driving four prisoners down a snowy mountain pass. All are seated and bound; the one dressed in finery is gagged.]
Ralof: Hey, you. You’re finally awake. You were trying to cross the border, right? Walked right into that Imperial ambush, same as us, and that thief over there.
Lokir: D**n you Stormcloaks. Skyrim was fine until you came along. Empire was nice and lazy. If they hadn’t been looking for you, I could’ve stolen that horse and been half way to Hammerfell. You there. You and me — we should be here. It’s these Stormcloaks the Empire wants.
Ralof: We’re all brothers and sisters in binds now, thief.
Imperial Soldier: Shut up back there!
[Lokir looks at the gagged man.]
Lokir: And what’s wrong with him?
Ralof: Watch your tongue! You’re speaking to Ulfric Stormcloak, the true High King.
Lokir: Ulfric? The Jarl of Windhelm? You’re the leader of the rebellion. But if they captured you… Oh gods, where are they taking us?
Ralof: I don’t know where we’re going, but Sovngarde awaits.
Lokir: No, this can’t be happening. This isn’t happening.
Ralof: Hey, what village are you from, horse thief?
Lokir: Why do you care?
Ralof: A Nord’s last thoughts should be of home.
Lokir: Rorikstead. I’m…I’m from Rorikstead.
[They approach the village of Helgen. A soldier calls out to the lead wagon.]
Imperial Soldier: General Tullius, sir! The headsman is waiting!
General Tullius: Good. Let’s get this over with.
Lokir: Shor, Mara, Dibella, Kynareth, Akatosh. Divines, please help me.
Ralof: Look at him, General Tullius the Military Governor. And it looks like the Thalmor are with him. D**n elves. I bet they had something to do with this. This is Helgen. I used to be sweet on a girl from here. Wonder if Vilod is still making that mead with juniper berries mixed in. Funny…when I was a boy, Imperial walls and towers used to make me feel so safe.
[A man and son watch the prisoners pull into town.]
Haming: Who are they, daddy? Where are they going?
Torolf: You need to go inside, little cub.
Haming: Why? I want to watch the soldiers.
Torolf: Inside the house. Now.
Galadriel: (speaking partly in Elvish)
(I amar prestar aen.)
The world is changed.
(Han matho ne nen.)
I feel it in the water.
(Han mathon ned cae.)
I feel it in the earth.
(A han noston ned gwilith.)
I smell it in the air.
Much that once was is lost, for none now live who remember it.
It began with the forging of the Great Rings. Three were given to the Elves, immortal, wisest and fairest of all beings. Seven to the Dwarf-Lords, great miners and craftsmen of the mountain halls. And nine, nine rings were gifted to the race of Men, who above all else desire power. For within these rings was bound the strength and the will to govern each race. But they were all of them deceived, for another ring was made. Deep in the land of Mordor, in the Fires of Mount Doom, the Dark Lord Sauron forged a master ring, and into this ring he poured his cruelty, his malice and his will to dominate all life.
One ring to rule them all.
One by one, the free lands of Middle-Earth fell to the power of the Ring, but there were some who resisted. A last alliance of men and elves marched against the armies of Mordor, and on the very slopes of Mount Doom, they fought for the freedom of Middle-Earth. Victory was near, but the power of the ring could not be undone. It was in this moment, when all hope had faded, that Isildur, son of the king, took up his father’s sword.
Sauron, enemy of the free peoples of Middle-Earth, was defeated. The Ring passed to Isildur, who had this one chance to destroy evil forever, but the hearts of men are easily corrupted. And the ring of power has a will of its own. It betrayed Isildur, to his death.
And some things that should not have been forgotten were lost. History became legend. Legend became myth. And for two and a half thousand years, the ring passed out of all knowledge. Until, when chance came, it ensnared another bearer.
It came to the creature Gollum, who took it deep into the tunnels of the Misty Mountains. And there it consumed him. The ring gave to Gollum unnatural long life. For five hundred years it poisoned his mind, and in the gloom of Gollum’s cave, it waited. Darkness crept back into the forests of the world. Rumor grew of a shadow in the East, whispers of a nameless fear, and the Ring of Power perceived its time had come. It abandoned Gollum, but then something happened that the Ring did not intend. It was picked up by the most unlikely creature imaginable: a hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, of the Shire.
For the time will soon come when hobbits will shape the fortunes of all.
To sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark, dock,
In a pestilential prison, with a life-long lock,
Awaiting the sensation of a short, sharp, shock,
From a cheap and chippy chopper on a big black block!
Do I really look like a guy with a plan, Harvey?
I don’t have a plan …
The mob has plans. The cops have plans.
You know what I am, Harvey? I am a dog chasing cars… I wouldn’t know what to do with one if I caught it.
I just do things. I am just the wrench in the gears. I hate plans.
Yours, theirs, everyone’s. Maroni has plans. Gordon has plans.
Schemers trying to control their worlds.
I am not a schemer. I show the schemer how pathetic their attempts to control things really are.
So when I say that you and your girlfriend was nothing personal, you know I am telling the truth.
I just did what I do best. I took your plan and turned it on itself.
Look what I have done to this city with a few drums of gas and a couple of bullets.
Nobody panics when the expected people gets killed. Nobody panics when things go according to plan, even if the plan is horrifying.
If I tell the press that tomorrow a gangbanger will get shot or a truckload of soldiers will be blown up, nobody panics. – because it’s all part of the plan.
But when I say that one little old mayor will die, everybody lose their minds.
Introduce a little anarchy, you upset the established order and everything becomes chaos.
I am agent of chaos.
And you know the thing about chaos Harvey?
“IT is FAIR.”
Hello, ladies, look at your man, now back to me, now back at your man, now back to me. Sadly, he isn’t me, but if he stopped using ladies scented body wash and switched to Old Spice, he could smell like he’s me. Look down, back up, where are you? You’re on a boat with the man your man could smell like. What’s in your hand, back at me. I have it, it’s an oyster with two tickets to that thing you love. Look again, the tickets are now diamonds. Anything is possible when your man smells like Old Spice and not a lady. I’m on a horse.
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