Posted on 03/24/2015 9:36:51 AM PDT by jazusamo
It is not often that the leader of a small city-state — in this case, Singapore — gets an international reputation. But no one deserved it more than Lee Kuan Yew, the founder of Singapore as an independent country in 1959, and its prime minister from 1959 to 1990. With his death, he leaves behind a legacy valuable not only to Singapore but to the world.
Born in Singapore in 1923, when it was a British colony, Lee Kuan Yew studied at Cambridge University after World War II, and was much impressed by the orderly, law-abiding England of that day. It was a great contrast with the poverty-stricken and crime-ridden Singapore of that era.
Today Singapore has a per capita Gross Domestic Product more than 50 percent higher than that of the United Kingdom and a crime rate a small fraction of that in England. A 2010 study showed more patents and patent applications from the small city-state of Singapore than from Russia. Few places in the world can match Singapore for cleanliness and orderliness.
This remarkable transformation of Singapore took place under the authoritarian rule of Lee Kuan Yew for two decades as prime minister. And it happened despite some very serious handicaps that led to chaos and self-destruction in other countries.
Singapore had little in the way of natural resources. It even had to import drinking water from neighboring Malaysia. Its population consisted of people of different races, languages and religions — the Chinese majority and the sizable Malay and Indian minorities.
At a time when other Third World countries were setting up government-controlled economies and blaming their poverty on "exploitation" by more advanced industrial nations, Lee Kuan Yew promoted a market economy, welcomed foreign investments, and made Singapore's children learn English,...
(Excerpt) Read more at creators.com ...
There were rules for having males’ hair short or the males went to the back of the line in any government office (like post offices) Chewing gum was banned for a while because people were spitting it in inappropriate places. That being said, it is a clean, orderly society and their version of social security is a model we should use.
It is extremely rare for an individual to land in that position and to have the right stuff. Did he create a system that would automatically replace him with like minded people? That’s the trick.
Thanks...I know very little about Singapore other than our son has met some of their Air Force personnel here in the US and was impressed by them.
learn something new everyday. thank you Dr Sowell.
“In other words, democracy has prerequisites, and peoples and places without those prerequisites will not necessarily do well when democratic institutions are created.”
I’m beginning to wonder whether those prerequisites any longer exist here in the US.
I understand what you’re saying and am doubtful they do.
bkmk
That was the whole point of Sowell's article! Lee Kuan Yew stepped down as prime minister in 1990, as stated in the first paragraph.
We've had 25+ years to assess that legacy. To most Americans it's as if no transfer of power ever happened.
The most literate, humble, and patriotic son Asia has ever produced in the modern era.
The Rise of Singapore, and to the same extent Korea show just what can be achieved when the right minded people (adults) take charge.
A no nonsense education system, linked with a respected police force, national service, and a real chance for everyone to succeed (not just in sports and music), made both countries real Asian tigers.
RIP Lee Kuan Yew
I wonder the same thing!
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