Lee Kuan Yew: Singapore's Controversial Father

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[edwincheng]

"At the end of the day, what have I got? A successful Singapore.
What have I given up? My life."
- Lee Kuan Yew

[ragsoh]

Singaporean here. Growing up in the 1960s, I remembered standing outside my house and there was nothing much as far as the eye can see. Only a few trees and one small building. In a short span of 50 years, i see a prosperous, safe and orderly Singapore. When LKY died, I stood in the CBD and waited for the cortege to pass. When it was in front of me, I remembered mumbling "Thank you Mr Lee" and my tears rolled. I have never cried as an adult. But that day I did. I remembered thinking what would happen to Singapore without LKY. He never claimed to be the father of Singapore. Every moment he is awake, he would think of Singapore's survival. I have deep respect for him.

[athanasius_lim]

To sum it up: Lee Kuan Yew is the strict parent who shows tough love to his children because he cares for them.

[Alverya]

As a Singaporean, thank you for making this balanced & fair. Lee Kuan Yew created a nation that everyone said was impossible. Nobody believed Singapore would survive when we were kicked out of Malaysia. But now, I personally think that was one of the best things that happened to us. Yes, Lee Kuan Yew was ruthless a lot of times, and I personally may not agree with a lot of his actions, but one cannot take away the fact that he truly loved Singapore and its people, and built a country that is one of the safest in the world with such a rich & diverse culture. I'm proud to be born & bred in this tiny island city nation.

[ray]

As a Singaporean, I say this with the deepest respect: LKY built our country and he built it well. When he passed, millions of us queued to pay our respects and I saw so many people crying.

[FluidKaos]

Seems he was the closest thing to a "philosopher king" in modern history. Tyrant when he needed to be, but ultimately looking out for his people and country first and foremost. He was definitely an "ends justify the means" guy. I don't agree with all of his means, but they seem to have worked.

[ethanramos]

“A nation is great not by its size alone. It is the will, the cohesion, the stamina, the disciple of the its people and the quality of their leaders which ensure it an honorable place in history.”
Lee Kuan Yew

[PhillipHilton]

I've lived in Singapore for 11 years. I'm from the UK and prior to coming to Singapore I've lived and worked in three other countries - Japan, the US and Australia. As a guest here I am a massive fan of what has been accomplished - even in my short tenure - by the Singaporeans. It's a testament to having a solid leadership team, making pragmatic decisions without agendas, planning infrastructure decades in advance, applying broken window theory pragmatically, driving higher standards, establishing a national identity which overrides race or religion and having 'absolutely zero tolerance' for corruption in the administration.

As well as the HDB system I would also highlight the power of the still mandatory 2 years of national service in forging societal unity in a nation. Singapore could under different management very, very easily turn on itself if the populists were allowed to sow division. If you want to cut down on petty crime, violence and improve stability find something for men between the ages of 18-24 to do. If you are Singaporean or a PR and whether you are the son of street sweeper or a member of parlement from 18-20 years of age - and for two weeks every year for the next 20 years - you are running up and down hills with a 20 pound pack and a weapon.

'Getting to them early' tends to stop young men making 'poor life choices' early on, toughens up the more mathlete than athlete types and introduces the more closeted kids to a diverse peer group. Mixing everyone together helps build up a society's immune system and prevents division. It's a smart investment of time and resources with a longterm payout.

Thanks to nearly 60 years of smart management the only major challenges that Singapore 'really has' are around scale: access to natural resources (there is no hinterland here so no mining, logging, mass production of food or oil); access to a large economically relevant workforce (there are 3.5 million native Singaporeans and a resident population of 5.45 million[locals plus foreigners] even with a great education system statistically any population can only produce so many neurosurgeons, full stack developers, architects and quantum physicists); and the limits on space in general(the whole island is only 728 km sq).

This place improves and reinvents itself continuously but the only reason its able to do that is because of the start LKY gave the country.

[papafreddy]

As a Malaysian who's been to Singapore a few times, I think the simplest way to summarize his principles is that he understood the flaws of authoritarianism and what needed to be done to justify it. If one chooses to silence opposition, they have to make sure that they don't give the people a reason to oppose and prove that their methods are the better option. The reason why PAP has stayed in power for so long is because they always ensure the best for their people and keep their citizens happy in order to prevent dissent, other modern dictatorships found in countries like China, North Korea and Russia haven't been able to fulfill that promise which results in a lot of opposition towards their methods, especially from their own people which they regularly silent. But due to Singapore's (and to an extent Lee Kuan Yew's) survivalist mentality, they keep striving to do better in order to fix problems that critics may point out. It's the only country I've seen where authoritarianism actually worked out, because the people in power know very well that once they start slowing down or make mistakes in their way of governing, the people can very easily vote them out in favor of the opposition.

[SEAZNDragon]

There's a scene from his time as Senior Minister that I think sum up Lee Kwan Yew well. Lee was touring a park when he suddenly squat down on a sidewalk and felt it with his hand. Lee said the sidewalk was too hot and more trees should be planted for shade so parkgoers wouldn't be hot as they are walking on the sidewalk. A micromanager for sure but ultimately looking out for the well being of his citizens.

[DDELE]

As an American I am a firm believer that if you want to study a leader who could successfully build a nation in the 21st century you MUST study Lee Kuan Yew.

[jmill]

There are pros and cons to every style of government. Lee Kuan Yew seems to have balanced a good mixture to attempt to get most of the pros to propel Singapore forward. It's good to see a ruler that isn't just in it for themselves and truly wants a better world for the people they govern. Hard to find those people these days. Impressive man absolutely, a good leader sometimes has to make tough decisions.

[sleepy_dobe]

If there was ever a dictator who devoted his life to improving his country and the lives of his people, that dictator would be the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew. He held onto power with a vice-like grip because he didn't trust another to do good by Singapore's citizens with that amount of power. He ruled with an iron fist, because he knew if he accommodated individual freedom and rights like the western cultures, Singapore's diverse people of different ethinic groups and cultures would be fighting amongst each other and doom the little, young nation. He did everything he could, together with his team whom he would always give credit to as well, to ensure the foundations for a successful nation were firmly laid. I understand his rationale, and agree with his thinking though not with every method he employed. But I am deeply grateful to have been born in Singapore, and benefited from his wisdom and leadership. My respect and appreciation for him is immense, such that at every anniversary of his death, I change my social media profile photos to those dedicated to his passing. And if I'm out and about on that day, I still wear a black ribbon on my shirt collar to commemorate his death.

His way of governance were just right for Singapore at that time, in that era. Even he knew, as he admitted in his latter years, that his methods and way of governance would not have worked in today's Singapore. He was the right man, at the right time, to lead Singapore. I, for one, am grateful to have had a dictator who cared only for the betterment of his fellow citizens' lives, and not the accumulation of personal wealth and power as almost every other known dictator would. Whoever said that dictatorships are bad. You just needed the right person to be the dictator. Having said that, these right persons are few and far between. Singapore is immeasurably blessed to have had one as her first Prime Minister.

[taskdon]

Lee's visit to Hong Kong University in 1992 which he has discussed about his view of democracy. He was highly critical of the irresponsibility of former colonial (mainly UK) nations by simply abandoning their subjects by leaving to their own devices without providing a proper development in education prior to it.

[defaultsettings]

If I ever find myself living in an authoritarian country, I hope it's one like Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore.

[francischeong]

As a man in my 40s now. I pride myself as a Singaporean who is lucky to benefit from the great foresight of Mr. Lee and under his leadership that led a small fishing port island state nation that was in poverty to a first world nation in less than 40 years. I am utterly grateful to what Mr. Lee have contributed to our nation building.
My favourite quote from late Mr. Lee Kuan Yew: "I have no regrets. I have spent my life, so much of it, building up this country. There's nothing more that I need to do. At the end of the day, what have I got? A successful Singapore. What have I given up? My life."
RIP, Mr.Lee

[JustKrista]

Thanks for posting the full video!
Singapore got lucky with a leader who was iron fisted, but honestly invested in creating a great society. Multi- cultural, respectful of religions and language. A mix of socialism and capitalism. I can see why Singapore cherished him.

[MrVayolence]

That man is a hero, there is nothing controversial, he did what had to be done. The results speak for themselves.

[stianaslaksen]

If a world government would ever form, I would give my vote to Lee Kuan Yew. Abundant intellect, ruthlessness, passion, vision. No one better.

[digimongod]

Glad to have the corrected version up. Very interesting to see a leader who acknowledged that they aren't perfect and that they didn't do everything right.