Singapore has the advantage of being a tiny city-state with one airport, a small, secure border with Malaysia, and a well-regulated port. Combine that with broad police powers, and that is today's Singapore.
Yes but they also have a very strong respect for the rule of law.
We were in Australia last December when some kid was executed in Singapore for smuggling in some dope. It was amazing, there were all these heartfelt stories in the media about why the kid shouldn't be executed [it was some pitiful amount, like 300 grams; he was doing it to help pay off his twin brother's gambling debts, etc. etc] but still over 50% of the country thought he should be executed for breaking the law.
And amazingly I think something like 52% of Australians thought he should be punished as well! I couldn't believe how high the numbers were, you'd never get numbers like that here.