Tan Jee Say’s mocking piece titled “The world’s ultimate political prize still eludes LKY” made me to look back and ponder and here are some of my thoughts.
Lee Kuan Yew was great and brilliant in building Singapore to its prosperity and world recognition as a model City State.
The era preceding Operation Cold Store arrests and followed up with Singapore’s separation from Malaysia was a tumultuous period filled with uncertainty and fear for the future. Adding to the mix were left-front led industrial strife and social unrest with union strikes, student protests and agitations from farmers, clan associations, cultural groups etc in the first phase with racial tensions and riots following up in the second phase.
LKY came hard on them – locking up many, neutralising many and banishing many. A more congenial state returned and he concentrated in conceiving and implementing hard-headed policies to reboot and exhilarate Singapore’s economy and he succeeded in his endeavour far beyond his expectations. That was all at economic and social levels.
At the political level he was poles apart. In some respect he was no different from Suharto and Marcos in wanting unlimited political power. Whilst Suharto and Marcos were seen as corrupt and amassing wealth for themselves and their family members and had to be toppled through students protests and people’s power, LKY was untainted unlike the above two. He hands were clean (incorruptible) and he continued to get overwhelming mandate from the people election after election.
Another factor to his credit is that – surprisingly though – he stepped down as PM at the height of his power and on his own accord, making way for Goh Chok Tong to become the PM and remain so for the next 15 years. He has done (giving up a secure long lasting power when he need not have to) what no other leader in the non-communist world has ever done in modern history.
However there seems to be a strident large anti-LKY vocal group amongst the populace comprising anti-PAP electorate, his critics, elements within the intelligentsia, and a large body of those having been incarcerated for extended period of time and their families and others who suffered at his hands for no other reason than being brave enough to oppose him. For these people, LKY is a cruel dictator never to be forgiven.
Given the above context how would Singaporeans rate him now?
I think he did all he did probably in good faith for the love of Singapore and Singaporeans. He wanted to build a strong Singapore and did not want anyone to bring down an edifice he had built, at least not in his life time.
By mid 1970′s Singapore had already hit the road to success and there was absolutely no local political threat then to hinder the nation’s trajectory to onward march. It could have been the right time to release his political foes (Ops Cold Store) incarcerated unduly long but LKY did not. If only he had done that and matched that by having been more tolerant of his latter-day political opponents, history would have been kinder to him.
With such a wished-for situation having materialised, there would certainly be overwhelming endorsement from the people now for him to be named as the “Father of the Nation” – an initiative now being touted. Equally there is no telling that he will not be considered for a Noble Prize for transforming Singapore “from Third World to First World in one generation”.
We have our failings and so does he. He has done tremendous lot for the nation. Can’t we be forgiving and a little more magnanimous towards him?
Hawking Eye