[bilbo0s]

In all fairness, back in the old days, you really had to watch your step in HK. It had more than its fair share of crime. Far more. But this was in the 80's and early 90's.

They had an anti-crime and anti-corruption campaign, and of course there was the handover. So obviously crime dissipated as a result. But it was really bad in the old days.

I don't really know much about Singapore. I've never been there. That said, if crime is low, I'd imagine there were, at least for a time, exceedingly strict punishments for lawbreakers given the population density.

[Hasknewbie]

You are correct about HK (in fact I think the higher crime rate was much older that just the 80s and dated back to the 50s and mass emigration caused by the successive troubles in the mainland). I do think it's a great story, as it demonstrates an administration can completely turn around a police force from utter corrupt to highly professional in around a decade. In Western countries where the worldview is often 'static' it's also a good reminder that societies can change quickly.

And yes in Singapore the laws (and their enforcement) are much more strict.

[fallingfrog]

Hong Kong started phasing out leaded gas around 1992; so you would expect a drop in crime rates about 2004 or so. And of course that's exactly what the statistics show.