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| Lee Kuan Yew |
LEE KUAN YEW was one of the great statement of
the post-WWII era. He made Singapore an economic powerhouse, demonstrating that
so-called natural resources aren’t necessary for prosperity, that the key is
creating an environment in which human ingenuity can thrive. He didn’t tolerate
corruption; to eliminate the temptation and attract capable people, Lee paid
government officials high salaries. He kept a tight grip on spending and pushed
down taxes; the top rate on personal incomes is all of 20%. He knew the folly
of weak money; the Singapore dollar looks like the Rock of Gibraltar compared
with most currencies—including the U.S. dollar, most of the time.
Lee simultaneously
demonstrated that sound finance can coexist with soundly thought out social
programs. He pursued a vigorous housing program that enabled people who didn’t
earn high incomes to buy their homes; his was a model for how subsidies need
not lead to the housing-related disasters that have plagued the U.S.
Singapore’s health care system has provided comprehensive coverage to its
people without the rationing, high costs and dicey care that characterize so
many others. Singapore’s pension system avoided the pay-as-you-go trap that is
hurtling those in other countries toward insolvency. Under Lee’s guidance Singapore developed a real-life playbook for
how an impoverished country can flourish. When Lee became prime minister in
1959, Singapore’s per capita income was little more than $400. Today it is over
$56,000, higher than that of all but a handful of other countries. Critics will tell you that Lee was no Jeffersonian democrat, and he wasn’t. But
he allowed elections, even if he didn’t give the opposition a lot of breathing
room (though if he had, he would have won handily). More important, under his
leadership Singapore developed a thriving middle class, along with the civic
institutions and habits that are crucial to a sustainable democracy. Too many
times we’ve seen that merely holding an election does not a lasting democracy
make. Singapore’s political system is evolving in a way that bodes well for
long-term stability.
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| Lee helped launch forbes during 2001 conference with forbes chairman... |
Early in his political career Lee shed his socialist sympathies and became a
hardheaded pragmatist. He ruthlessly suppressed communist attempts to hijack
his political party, even though he had made common cause with them in the
fight for independence, when Singapore was a British colony.
In the 1950s and 1960s Lee demonstrated superb
political skill in maintaining Singapore’s independence in the face of real
hostility from two immensely larger neighbors, Indonesia and Malaysia.
But Lee’s influence extended far beyond his small
country. One wishes he could have been the leader of a country like Indonesia
or China. (He would have conducted U.S. foreign policy better than almost all
of our Secretaries of State.) He supported U.S. efforts in trying to save South
Vietnam from communist takeover by the North. Although the U.S. lost that war,
Lee argued that our long effort gave the rest of Asia the time needed to
develop the strength to resist communist takeovers. He strongly supported a
robust U.S. role in the region as a counter to the old Soviet Union and China.
I got to meet Lee, thanks to our chairman, Cap
Weinberger. When Cap was Secretary of Defense, he worked closely with Lee and
considered him a stalwart ally, whose insight and advice were extremely
valuable and who provided enormous practical help during the Cold War.
To listen to Lee talk
about the world situation was an enlightening delight. During one of our most
memorable visits he recounted the story of his meeting with Deng Xiaoping soon
after Deng had won the reins of power and was mulling how to go about
rebuilding China in the aftermath of Mao’s horrific Cultural Revolution. Deng’s
trip to Singapore in 1978 was his first and only trip there. He was stunned by
what he saw in Singapore: a booming area populated by Chinese that was
independent and politically stable. “How did you do it?” Deng asked Lee. Deng
threw aside his itinerary and spent hour after hour in intense conversation
with Lee.
When Deng returned to
China, he began putting Lee’s precepts to work, creating special Singapore-like
economic development zones along China’s coast. Thus was China’s historic and
rapid modernization set in motion.
One of our journalistic
coups occurred in 2001, when Lee Kuan Yew kindly accepted our offer to become a
FORBES columnist, agreeing to share his insights with our audience every three
months. It’s so unfortunate that the civilized world has lost such a wise voice
at this troubled time.
Source @Forbes 2015
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