Lee Kuan Yew, the founding father of Singapore died today of natural causes. He would have been proud of how he has left his country.
Lee Kuan Yew (LKY) will be remain a great leader even if he wasn't the most popular leader outside Singapore.
If one has to appreciate the work that was done by him one has to live in Singapore for sometime like I had the opportunity to. I lived in Singapore for about a year and completely enjoyed my time there. This one year gave me the opportunity to examine why Singapore was so successful. Coming from a country like India which got independence much earlier than Singapore it is just incredible how he converted a third world country to a first world in a single generation. This kind of feat is not matched by any leader in world history.
Of course he did not do it alone. There were other leaders too. Also LKY crushed his rivals and was not kind to dissent in his own party or even others. He ruled Singapore with an iron hand. This might seem untenable to a European or American but Singapore needed that kind of a leader in 1965. Otherwise it would have slowly degenerated into a banana republic like Zimbabwe or Myanmar. He was the leader that Singapore needed.
When I lived in Singapore I was saddened by how India could have been as developed if not for populist and socialist Congress Party. Jawaharlal Nehru could not for all his greatness become as great a leader as LKY. Far worse he left a poor legacy in Indira Gandhi and her dynastic politics to send India into political and economic ruin. Where did India miss the bus when we got our independence in 1947?
The difference was the vision that LKY had for his country which none of our Indian leaders had. As examples I would just mention 3 instances of his great vision. There are many more but these are instances which stand out for me.
1. Drinking water Independence
During the world war II, Singapore was offering strong resistance to the Japanese invasion and even destroyed the bridge connecting Malaysia to Singapore. Japanese cut off their water supply from Malaysia and Singapore surrendered within three days. This may seem inconsequential but LKY took a lesson from this and built the Marina Barrage where water flowing into the sea was collected in a dam like entrapment. In 20 years time the salt water reservoir became drinking water and now Singapore is completely self sufficient in fresh water requirement. Some would have called LKY a mad man then but now you can't hear anyone laughing
During the world war II, Singapore was offering strong resistance to the Japanese invasion and even destroyed the bridge connecting Malaysia to Singapore. Japanese cut off their water supply from Malaysia and Singapore surrendered within three days. This may seem inconsequential but LKY took a lesson from this and built the Marina Barrage where water flowing into the sea was collected in a dam like entrapment. In 20 years time the salt water reservoir became drinking water and now Singapore is completely self sufficient in fresh water requirement. Some would have called LKY a mad man then but now you can't hear anyone laughing
2. Public Transport
Singapore got it's Mass Rail Transit (MRT) in 1987 and India got it's first Metro in 1984. Today singapore has the one of the best and cheapest forms of public transport in the world and India is struggling even in the biggest cities. To see how we in India literally missed the bus we have to realize that one had to wait till 2007 to see a Delhi metro materialize and we still haven't seen the Bangalore metro become a reality anytime soon. We were 20 years too late.
Singapore got it's Mass Rail Transit (MRT) in 1987 and India got it's first Metro in 1984. Today singapore has the one of the best and cheapest forms of public transport in the world and India is struggling even in the biggest cities. To see how we in India literally missed the bus we have to realize that one had to wait till 2007 to see a Delhi metro materialize and we still haven't seen the Bangalore metro become a reality anytime soon. We were 20 years too late.
3. Human capital.
LKY realized quite early that he was not going to achieve much without any natural resources so he made Singapore the point of business for all of Asia. He created human capital. He made English one of the national languages and that gave Singapore linguistic currency to deal with the west. He did business with everyone who gave them business. China, Malaysia, North Korea, Myanmar....it did not matter. That was a very astute move for a small country to do to improve economy and avoid war from neighboring countries.
LKY realized quite early that he was not going to achieve much without any natural resources so he made Singapore the point of business for all of Asia. He created human capital. He made English one of the national languages and that gave Singapore linguistic currency to deal with the west. He did business with everyone who gave them business. China, Malaysia, North Korea, Myanmar....it did not matter. That was a very astute move for a small country to do to improve economy and avoid war from neighboring countries.
My admiration for LKY stems from the way he built a country from nothing and which now has one of the fastest growing economies and a strong currency. No Singaporean today wants to settle down in another country but several in India are dying to....and that says a lot about LKY as a leader and statesman and how far Singapore has come since 1965.
