Almost 50 years ago, the head of Singapore rejected democracy and what came of it

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

The island state of Singapore, located in Southeast Asia, for many of our fellow citizens is something distant and unreal, like a ghostly phantom. Meanwhile, according to authoritative politicians and economists, Singapore is an exemplary state already living in the XXII century. And almost all of his achievements are associated with the name of one person - the father of reforms, the former Prime Minister of the country Lee Kuan Yew.

Since the 19th century, Singapore has been a British colony, so the influence of Britain, its language and traditions is still felt here. Located on 63 islands, this state has almost no natural resources of its own - even drinking water and building sand have to be bought from Malaysia and Indonesia. So the famous chansonnier Alexander Vertinsky, who sang about "banana-lemon Singapore", was wrong: there were no bananas or lemons here. In any case, for doing normal business, like Ecuador or Mexico, they do not.

But there are banks, skyscrapers, beautiful roads and the world's best taxation, education, and health care systems. And the father of all this is Lee Kuan Yew - one of the creators of the Singaporean "economic miracle".

Diligent student

It is said that in his youth, Lee Kuan Yew's father liked to visit gambling dens. At the beginning of the 20th century, in the port city of Singapore, they were located on every corner, so that the gambling Chinese lost everything he could, and once even lost the family rubber plantation (rubber for these places was the same as rye for Russia). Having lost to smithereens, he came home and took out all his failures on his wife, beating the unfortunate woman.

Born in 1923, Lee Kuan Yew promised himself that he would never be like his father. The diligent boy kept his word - he graduated with honors from high school and Raffles College (today it is the National University of Singapore), after which he went to study in Cambridge.

After graduating from university, Lee Kuan Yew returned to his homeland and began to work in a law office, comprehending legal wisdom. The diligent, kind-hearted and stubborn young man did not resemble his father in any way: rather, he was the embodiment of strong will, pragmatism and adherence to national traditions. Upon his return, Lee Kuan Yew joined the People's Action Party, five years later became its general secretary, and five years later - the country's prime minister.

It seemed to many that the young lawyer would build a welfare state, which is quite natural for Asian countries. And at first, apparently, he himself did not know which way to move. But history made the choice for him - in 1965, Singapore, which at that time was part of the Federation of Malaysia, gained independence. The head of government had to deal with many issues at the same time - from water supply to the choice of a political system.

And Lee Kuan Yew coped with the difficulties: it was not without reason that he served as the country's prime minister for thirty years, and then for another seven years as a minister-mentor (something like a consultant). Even now, the country is run by his son, Li Hsien Loong, and his ninety-year-old father is a government consultant.

How, then, did this native of the lower strata of society manage to bring the country out of the “third world to the first” (this is the title of the book of memoirs of a famous politician)?

Plant three friends

We can say that Lee Kuan Yew learned parenting lessons well. Having come to power and mindful of his father's problems, he banned gambling in his country (although, after his departure, this business appeared in Singapore) and greatly raised the price of alcohol. In Singapore, alcohol is sold only at unrealistically high prices in specialty stores.

But Lee Kuan Yew began his reforms by inviting foreign companies to his country. Singapore needed investments, and for this the prime minister did everything possible and impossible.

There is a legend about how the Singaporean authorities invited the financial tycoons. They allegedly explained to English financiers, pointing to the globe: “The beginning of the financial world falls on Zurich, where banks open at 9:00 am. Later, banks in Frankfurt were opened, and even later, banks were opened in London. After lunch, banks in Zurich are already closing, after which banks in Frankfurt and London stop working. At this time, banks in New York are still working. Under this scheme, London redirects financial flows to New York. New York banks will close in the afternoon, but by then they will have transferred financial flows to San Francisco. And then the banks in San Francisco will stop working. Thus, until 9:00 am Swiss time, when local banks open, nothing happens in the financial world at all!

If we place Singapore in the center, it will be able to take over from the banks in San Francisco. With the closure of banks in Singapore, financial flows will go to Zurich. This scheme will create a global round-the-clock banking service”.

It is difficult to say whether this is true, but the most powerful financial corporations opened their offices in Singapore back in the sixties of the last century.

After receiving an influx of money, Lee Kuan Yew took up the fight against corruption and crime. He explained this by the fact that Singapore does not have any natural resources, so their wealth will be income transparency and a high level of life security. It was a life-and-death war: Lee Kuan Yew did everything to make the rule of law prevail. For this, he put even his closest friend behind bars when he was convicted of corruption. Once, when the prime minister was asked where to start the reforms, he replied: “Start by putting your three friends in prison. You know exactly why, and they know why."

These unique measures led to the rapid decline of corruption in Singapore. Those who did not want to live honestly were treated the same way as with the Minister of Social Development, caught on a bribe in the amount of 315 thousand dollars. Before handing it over to the prosecutor's office, the prime minister spoke with him face to face. After that, the stealing minister came home and killed himself. There is no doubt that in our country this method of combating corruption will not work - after all, then the government will completely destroy itself.

Fascist dictator?

In fairness, it must be said that not everyone welcomes the methods by which Lee Kuan Yew drove his country into a kingdom of abundance and order. What was he not accused of! The Singaporean politician was accused of neglecting democratic values. Indeed, in Singapore there is no trace of freedom of speech - any journalist, writer or publication who dares to criticize the government or its policy is subject to arrest or closure. Foreign journalists are no exception: for example, when one of the British living in Singapore wrote a book with accusations against Lee Kuan Yew, he was immediately awaited by a trial and imprisonment.

In Singapore, respect for the law is a real mania. A lot is prohibited in the country, which in other countries does not even pay attention to. This applies to chewing gum (it, they say, pollutes the city) and even to such a harmless thing as graffiti. Once an American teenager who came to the country, thoughtlessly painted something. He was immediately arrested, punished with ten blows on the heels with a stick, and immediately deported. On a stretcher, because the poor man could not walk because of the pain. When international organizations became indignant, the Singaporean authorities replied: "The law is the same for everyone, including visitors." One can imagine what would have happened in Russia if our police officers did this to a foreign citizen! But Singapore respects itself and behaves as it sees fit.

Once Lee Kuan Yew in a newspaper interview, when asked about his attitude to democracy, said: “You need stability, certainty and security above all else. Democracy is ineffective in chaos. Have you heard the English expression - "law and order"? The law will not work if there is no order."

Of course, this can be reproached for politics. But remembering that Singapore today ranks the lowest in terms of unemployment and the highest in terms of income, education and medical standards, I do not want to reproach.

The country chose its own path, found a national leader who brought it out of the impasse. So why blame her?