Lee Kuan Yew has left the world but he is and will remain in this world for time immemorial. In the present era we have had the privilege of having at least three leaders who left an indelible mark on history for their services to their countrymen and to the world in general. They are Nelson Mandela, Mahatir Mohammad and Lee Kuan Yew. All had different styles, all had different views but all had a common goal of going beyond themselves and making other people aspire for and acquire a better future. Such leaders are not transactional leaders but transformational leaders. Such leaders are not there just for power annexation but for national reformation. Such leaders are not there for a personal story but for human glory. Of the three leaders, Lee Kuan Yew’s ability to change a tiny country with no natural resources into an economic powerhouse in the world is a case study incomparable.
Gaining independence from the British in 1959, Lee Kuan Yew became the prime minister of Singapore and made this almost overlooked piece of land become a powerhouse in South East Asia and then in the world. There are leaders and then there are great leaders. Lee belonged to this very exclusive club where such leaders will keep on leading without being present. Leadership of this calibre is rare because what they do most cannot. Such leaders have vision, the ability to see what others cannot see and do what others cannot do. Who would have thought that this geographical dot called Singapore would one day become a giant in terms of its GDP, its per capita GDP, its literacy and its systems and also become a role model for many nations to follow and many generations to study? Lee’s ability to free Singapore, first from the clutches of the British and then from Malaysia, and later beating both these countries on many global fronts was what made him outstanding in his pursuit of dreams and designs. Singapore, which had a per capita income of $ 500 at the time of its independence, went on to become one of the highest per capita income countries, reaching a per capita income of $ 55,000 and became a benchmark that very few countries have been able to beat.
Another attribute of great leaders is their ability to sacrifice many personal opportunities for a national cause. Quaid-e-Azam, with a British education, a law degree and a bar-at-law from Lincoln’s Inn could have led a comfortable life of luxury. Similarly, Lee was born in Singapore in 1923 to a wealthy Chinese family that had established itself on the island in the 1860s. He had the privileged upbringing of British colonial standard, speaking English, going to top schools, playing cricket and tennis. He studied law at Cambridge University, which could have set him up in a profitable law practice in the UK. Admitted to the English bar in 1950, while studying, he was impressed by the UK’s Labour government and its social service initiatives, such as the National Health Scheme. It turned him into a moderate socialist and he returned to Singapore hoping to raise living standards.
He used his legal training to fight for fairer wages and working conditions for workers. As the British began reforms to turn Singapore from a colony to a self-governing nation, Lee became involved in politics. He formed the Peoples Action Party (PAP) that became a representation of the impoverished Chinese. As a great leader you exercise not formal or positional authority but moral authority. Lee could have gone on to form the government as he had won the elections with a majority but he chose to reject position for standing by the people who had been fighting for the national cause with him. In 1959, free elections were held according to a new constitution. Lee’s PAP won 43 of the 51 seats but Lee refused to form a government until he had secured the release of the left-wing PAP members who had been arrested for their alleged part in the riots of 1956.
Like all legendary leaders, Lee was a dreamer and a doer, a man of both vision and action, a man of aspirations but also a man of relentless pursuit of goals. He envisioned a clean government and set up mechanisms of discipline to ensure them. Like many countries, Singapore had problems with political corruption. Lee introduced legislation giving the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) greater power to conduct arrests, searches, call up witnesses and investigate bank accounts and income tax returns of suspected persons and their families, including all in the ruling seat as well. However, Lee also believed that ministers should be well paid in order to maintain a clean and honest government. In 1994, he proposed to link the salaries of ministers, judges and top civil servants to the salaries of top professionals in the private sector, arguing that this would help recruit and retain talent to serve in the public sector. He made it very clear that despite all these luxuries, if they misused their authority, the CPIB would ensure severe penalties that would become lessons for any transgressors.
Secondly, he focused on transforming Singapore from a third world country into a first world economy. His vision was, that even if Singapore had no natural resources, they would convert the available human resource into a competitive advantage. Thus he implemented a five-year plan to modernise the country, clearing slums, building public housing, improving education and industrialising the country. This aspect of a clean government and a disciplined and developing economy made billions of dollars of foreign investment pour into this island.
A leader knows how to satisfy the basic requirements for a people to live, survive and then thrive. To survive, people need housing and, to thrive, people need attractive job opportunities. For these two main objectives he developed a Housing Development Board and an Economic Development Board. The Housing Development Board did superb town planning to turn ghettos into simple living apartments in this space-constrained country. The Economic Development Board created job opportunities by focusing on attracting investment and then creating skills in human resource to match those opportunities created by pouring investments, creating a spiral of more and more prosperity. His ability to satisfy the people of Singapore for such a long period is reinforced by the fact that his party, PAP, won elections again and again, and is still in government
Such leaders are immortal in many ways because what they have achieved for millions inspires many to be like them in future. When asked what he thought about the incredible transformation of something so small into something so huge, he replied with his typical philosophical pragmatism, “We took the world as we found it, and then we built on our dreams. We wanted to build a prosperous nation in a sea of poverty.”
The writer is secretary information PTI Punjab, an analyst and a columnist, and can be reached at [email protected]