21 hours ago, Kiwisailor said:

In the late 60's early 70's the gap between Bangkok (never ventured any further!) and Singapore was much narrower. Both Cities had a rich elite who lived in a world far removed from the average citizen. Singapore was already showing signs of moving away from "Third World" if they had not already done so due to British rule and laws. The great leap forward for Singapore was the continuation of the British approach to corruption in the Bureaucracy (eg it has to be weeded out) and in my opinion this is what Thailand 4.0 needs to address before any other issues.

I don't disagree with you but again, weeding out corruption in a country with 12x less population is a lot easier (and so is surveillance of your citizens and their behaviour). 

 

After visiting Singapore for nearly 20 years I only ventured to BBK about 3 years ago. I was shocked what this city had to offer. In terms of "Developed world" offering it does not have to hide behind Singapore. Upmarket shopping malls, hotels and restaurants are probably a level above Singapore by now.

3 hours ago, huberthammer said:

Upmarket shopping malls, hotels and restaurants are probably a level above Singapore by now.

Jeez, hardly a valid overall comparison of the two countries! 

1 hour ago, lvr181 said:

Jeez, hardly a valid overall comparison of the two countries! 

you and I might agree on this but we would be a minority in most SEA countries...