Lee Kuan Yew: From Third World To First - The Singapore Story 1965-2000

HarperCollins

$49.95

Review: Nicholas Tarling*

This is the second volume of the autobiography of Lee Kuan Yew, Prime Minister of Singapore for 31 years, and since 1990 its Senior Minister.

The first volume, published in 1998, covered the period up to 1965: the war years, the founding of the People's Action Party, the struggle with the communists, the creation of Malaysia in 1963 and Singapore's extrusion from it in 1965.

In the 1950s small states were thought too vulnerable to be viable. But since becoming independent, Singapore has more than survived - it has flourished. And though we now accept no minima for the size of states (how many enjoy full independence anyway?) few of them have done so well as the island republic.

Singapore has one great advantage: its position. But even in the colonial period there was a sense of vulnerability. Britain, it was assumed, could protect it. But would the opening of other ports absorb its entrepot trade?

With extrusion, there remained only an exiguous British defence guarantee, while relations with Malaysia had been poisoned. It is hard to recapture the sense of threat the new republic felt, but Lee does it well. And even if the political threat could be diminished, the economic threat remained.

It was in this context that the Prime Minister and his colleagues determined to make Singapore attractive to foreign investors, by creating infrastructure, eliminating corruption, building up an educated and disciplined workforce, and promoting a "clean and green" image. At the same time they determined to build a "rugged" society at home, giving all Singaporeans a stake in the venture, but seeking to combine meritocracy with "Confucian" values.

Lee alludes to the "deep sense of crisis" that enabled him to turn union attitudes round in a few years. The main criticism of the PAP governments that have remained in power since 1959 was that they came to rely on a sense of crisis even after the crisis was over, in order to consolidate their control and to justify their interventionist policies.

In some sense the book may be an attempt to answer such criticism. Could you risk a political opposition that might once more be penetrated by communists? Would domestic critics discourage foreign investors? How could you be sure that Singapore would be able to elicit and develop the talents of a relatively small population and not be condemned to rely merely on investment that sought cheap labour?

The Senior Minister has divided the first part of this volume by topic. That makes for a persuasive presentation of the problems and the answers. One misses, however, what one also seeks in the life of a political leader, the sense of day-to-day engagement with a range of issues, that simultaneity of challenge that tests a government's ability to sustain its priorities.

The second part of the book covers - country by country - his dealings with other states and other leaders. In the larger world, Lee clearly recognised that a small state needs to be "noticed," without appearing too big for its boots. His trenchant analyses and his long experience clearly prompted leaders of major states to listen to him, if not to follow his advice.

American intervention in Vietnam, he believes, "bought time for the rest of South-east Asia." By 1975, when the US withdrew, other countries were "in better shape to stand up to the communists."

The US has a continuing role, he suggests. A small state does not want to be swamped by its more immediate neighbours. Singapore, it should be remembered, did not support Indonesia at the UN when it absorbed East Timor.

In this book Lee looks to the future as well as to the past. His proposals are not inconsistent with his long-standing attitudes. Singapore must "attract educated and skilled immigrants to enlarge our talent pool and increase both GDP and revenue." Will the PAP continue to dominate Singapore's politics? How big a challenge will a "democratic opposition" present? Here his answer is not perhaps quite what you expect: "Singapore's options are not that numerous that there will be unbridgeable differences between differing political views in working out solutions to our problems."

Many New Zealanders go to Singapore on holiday, and still more pass through the best airport in the world. New Zealand has had a long interest in Singapore and has recently concluded a path-breaking trade treaty with it. About Mr Lee, our views have mingled admiration, even envy, and disapproval. Reading his book will enable you to renew or discard or re-balance those attitudes.

The third section of the book tells us a little of Lee as a family man, but only a little. There are occasional personal touches, including an account that resonates with your reviewer about his struggle with a PC that accused him of having "performed an illegal operation" and threatened to shut down.

One retains the sense of a man of formidable determination, singleness of purpose, and dexterity of mind.

* Nicholas Tarling is a fellow at the New Zealand Asia Institute at the University of Auckland.