I picked up this book Lee Kuan Yew: The Grand Master’s Insights on China, the United States, and the World from the giveaway pile at work one day knowing who Lee Kuan Yew was and admiring what he had done for Singapore. This book is a collection of interviews, writings, and other clips from his active years compiled by Graham Allison and Robert D. Blackwill. The book’s main audience is the United States, but I particularly was interested on his take on China since Singapore has a large Chinese population (along with Indian and Malay) but the state opted for Chinese and English as major languages. This is the first book I’ve read about Lee.
Overall, I was surprised by some of the things he said (notably that India’s democracy wasn’t working in its current form) and that China has its own internal problems that don’t seem to be understood by Western countries. However, in all his talk concerning Singapore’s growth into the city-state that it is today and his thoughts on other countries’ developments, Singapore is not a major military power nor is it an economic heavy weight like other developed nations.
By many standards Singapore is considered to be a “Westernized” country, yet it sits at a very integral shipping lane for the Asian continent, but I was left to wonder how much of an example Singapore can be to others. By that I mean, other countries and cities have other considerations that would prohibit them from replicating the success of Singapore, though some cities could be encouraged to make a go of it on their own, given Singapore’s historical example. And that then leaves open the question: what is the future of Singapore itself?
Anyway, below you’ll find some of the notes I took from the book and I’ve paraphrased a lot of it. I haven’t properly cited the passages them because that would’ve been repeating exactly what can be found at the end of the book itself. Instead, I suggest you internet search for some of the words paraphrased below.
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“When someone says something is inevitable, is it?”
“Economics sets underlying trends.” >> This is something I can agree with. And with the current geopolitical and economic climate, if you were given a choice between a US passport (the current global, economic heavy weight, and China, the supposed up-and-coming global, economic heavyweight, which would you rather have?
Experience… the hard knocks of life. Without it, Lee says he wouldn’t have become the person he is and that he never wanted to get into politics, but necessity drove him into it.
“Services don’t make you an industrial power, manufacturing does.”
“Equality of incomes gives no incentive to the resourceful and the industrious to outperform and be competitive.” >> The popular analogy is “if you came from rags to riches, would you give all of your money to the poor” but that’s a bad analogy. The question would be better phrased as “if you were ambitious to become rich, would you continue to give away all of your money along the way to the poor?” Phrasing it this ways puts a wrench into the equation of idea and result.
“Societies that will succeed are those which easily assimilate foreigners.” >> In reference to how the US became a great nation and powerhouse: English as a language isn’t overly difficult to learn (it has an alphabet that can be learned) and, moreover, in its early years as an ex-British colony, it welcomed everybody in regardless of where they came from. Meanwhile, there are other countries that have remained closed off to immigrants from other places. One example Lee comes up with is China itself, that it doesn’t allow immigration so it’s difficult to attract people to come and put down roots.
>> Further along the point of assimilating (the more politically correct term would be “welcoming”) foreigners is language. Language remains a barrier of entry in any part of the world despite what people say about other major languages and the potential of others to take over as the “next global language”. Lee talks about how language is a integral part of domination, in whatever form it comes, and mentions, in particular, Chinese. The Chinese language, to put it simply, is difficult for most people to grasp, not just native English speakers. I’ve written about my thoughts on whether or not Chinese could become a global language and echo Lee’s doubt on the future possibility. Though, that article was written several years ago and may need to be updated to reflect recent changes, notably China’s push on the “One Belt, One Road” initiative.
“Government is to ensure certainty and stability for the people.” >> Lee talks quite a bit about what makes someone a leader, be them good, great or not at all. “First, one must be born with the ability to lead, to empathize and persuade people. Leading a nation or society is different from leading an army or a corporation, a leader must be able to put up with abuse from the governed people.”
“A democratic system will not run automatically. It needs people to think and voice their opinion.” >> An apt point for today’s geopolitical climate, but also support for the current apparent “turmoil” in opinion of who should be governing the US. Simply put: a democratic system allows all voices to be heard, no matter how disparaging they can be at times.
“First, (is) to mobilize opinion… Second, (is to) have honest and able political parties to give it a choice of alternative leaderships. >> In what makes a successful democracy.”
“Deng Xiaoping said: if 200,000 students have to be shot, shoot them, because the alternative is China in chaos for another 100 years…” >> Which can be taken together with the idea that the Tiananmen protestors are nowhere to be found now. For that matter, in any revolution, where are the protestors now? Where will they be in thirty years? But Lee’s sentiment should be taken with some skepticism since governments that come out on top don’t always like to talk about what got them to where they are now. These are often labelled “sensitive topics” and are often avoided in public discourse.
“To be successful, society must maintain a balance between nurturing excellence and encouraging the average to improve. There must be both cooperation and competition between people in the same society.”
“Communism has failed. The welfare state of Western democracies has also failed.” >> Sounds like both sides have some work to do.
Lee started off believing all men and women are equal, “but after reading and my own experience, I concluded that: yes, there is a difference.”
“No single power, no single religion, no single ideology can conquer the world, or remake it in its own image. The world is too diverse… What social system works best meets the needs of a people at a particular stage in their development will be settled by social Darwinism.”
“Mao ZeDong wrote that power came from the barrel of a gun.” >> You don’t hear this quote repeated in China.
“At 60, more so than at 50, someone is able to see the transient nature of all the earthly glories and successes, and the ephemeral quality of sensory joys and pleasures, when compared to intellectual, moral, or spiritual satisfactions. “
The British are trying to copy the Americans… because American officials release secrets, which is supposed to be the ‘in’ thing. As if it proves that a free society is only truly free by leaking information to the opposition should a minister or the courts suppresses the truth. ‘That is something new, not proven.’ >> Are we not witnesses to this right now? That “leaking” or “breaking a story” based on sources that wish to remain anonymous benefits at least one person’s career under the guise that it’s good for the people and that the people need to know. So what’s ended up happening is that it’s the crowd against the one and every time the targeted individual refutes the argument, the crowd refuses to believe. The current social media landscape is proof of this!
“No society has existed in history where all people were equal and obtained equal rewards… it is possible to create a society in which everybody is given not equal rewards, but equal opportunities, and where rewards vary not in accordance with the ownership of property, but with the worth of a person’s contribution to that society.”
“…we needed to create the wealth before we can share it. And to create wealth, high motivation and incentives are crucial to drive people to achieve, to take risks for profit, or there will be nothing to share.” >> This is probably one of the more defining features of Singapore’s rise over the last few decades, the willingness to try and to do business in line with how global trends were and are moving.
The four salient features of America’s entrepreneurial culture: 1) a national emphasis on personal independence and self-reliance, 2) respect for those starting new businesses, 3) acceptance of failure in entrepreneurial and innovation efforts, and 4) tolerance for a high degree of income disparity. >> It is apparent that Lee admires the business culture of the United States and took what he could and tried it in Singapore.
“I decided that Shell had the best system of them all, and the government switched from 40 attributes to three, which they called ‘helicopter qualities’… [They include the] powers of analysis; logical grasp of facts; concentration on the basic points, extracting the principles.”
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There is lots more in the book but the above were the passages that stood out for me while I read. After reading this, I will be tracking down a copy of Lee’s own book, From Third World to First: The Singapore Story, 1965-2000.