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Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew says a key challenge in transforming Singapore from a third-world to a first-world city, was getting the people to support the government's policies.
Mr Lee said this at a dialogue jointly held by the World Cities Summit and the International Water Week on Tuesday evening.
The Minister Mentor addressed a wide range of issues, from renewable energy to immigration.
And of the challenges faced by the republic, the biggest difficulty was in getting Singaporeans to behave as first-world citizens, says Mr Lee.
"We had a very untidy city - litter, filth, people urinating on the streets. To stop all that, to have a litter-free country, and no vandalism, no graffiti, you need discipline. We had graffiti experts from England and Switzerland to try to break our laws. Well, we caught one of them and he has to pay the penalty. It's harsh but that's the way to keep it as it is."
On the challenge of managing Singapore's low birth rate, Mr Lee said the country has been absorbing immigrants from Malaysia, India and China.
These number about 1.5 million presently, compared to the resident population of 4 million.
He noted their children will grow up as Singaporeans, but the concern is they may also have one child only, said Mr Lee.
"They watch their neighbours and they say ah, if I have two children I lose out on my promotions and every child cost so much. Kindergarten, ballet classes, music classes - all these were not available or thought of when we were poor. They get into our scale, our values and they say the Singaporean family is right - let's settle for one. And so we may have to keep like this for years and years and years."
Mr Lee later presented a prize, named after him, to Spain's Bilbao City Hall for its success in transforming the former industrial city.
The award is called the Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize.
He also presented the Lee Kuan Yew Water Prize to China's Yellow River Conservancy Commission, for its work on managing the water supply in the river basin.