What is the reason behind Singapore becoming such a powerful dictatorship?

I disagree with the previous answer.  (And I believe it
does not answer the question since the question asks why
Singapore is a dictatorship while the first answer tries to talk about
if it is a dictatorship...) I would argue that Singapore
has essentially been a dictatorship (or at least a very strongly authoritarian country
with one man holding a dominant position) under Lee Kuan
Yew.

To quote Fareed Zakaria from the foreignaffairs.com
link below

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Singapore’s government can best be described as
a "soft" authoritarian regime, and at times it has not been so soft. He was prime
minister of Singapore from its independence in 1959 (it became part of a federation with
Malaysia in 1963 but was expelled in 1965) until 1990, when he allowed his deputy to
succeed him. He is now "Senior Minister" and still commands enormous influence and power
in the country.

In my
opinion, the reason that Singapore got to be this way is a combination of the personal
characteristics of Lee and the fact that East Asian countries seem to have an affinity
for allowing autocracies.  (Please note that I am of Filipino ancestry and would assert
that the Philippines shares this affinity.  So I do not think I can be accused of
anti-Asian racism...)  There is clearly something in East Asian political culture that
has allowed dictatorships and single party governments to arise in many countries in the
region.

That said, I would argue that Lee's personal
abilities allowed Singapore to be the stable and prosperous country that it has
become.

So I would say that East Asia's political culture
helps make a dictatorship possible while Lee's personal qualities made it a very
successful dictatorship that has done pretty well for its
subjects.