Even though the man had some authoritarian tendencies helped create one of the miracles of the 20th Century by creating a successful country with a strong economy out of a post colonial back water that Britain and Malaysia didn't want. He was affectionately / paternalistically known as "Uncle Harry" and combined UK pragmatism with Confucianism to create a unique society. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/23/w...rst-premier-of-singapore-dies-at-91.html?_r=0 Lee Kuan Yew, Founding Father and First Premier of SingapSINGAPORE — Lee Kuan Yew, the founding father and first prime minister of Singapore who transformed that tiny island outpost into one of the wealthiest and least corrupt countries in Asia, died on Monday morning. He was 91. “The prime minister is deeply grieved to announce the passing of Mr. Lee Kuan Yew, the founding prime minister of Singapore,” a statement posted on the prime minister’s official website said. “Mr. Lee passed away peacefully at the Singapore General Hospital today at 3:18 am.” Mr. Lee was prime minister from 1959, when Singapore gained full self-government from the British, until 1990, when he stepped down. Late into his life he remained the dominant personality and driving force in what he called a First World oasis in a Third World region. The nation, reflected the man: efficient, unsentimental, incorrupt, inventive, forward-looking and pragmatic. “We are ideology-free,” Mr. Lee said in an interview with The New York Times in 2007, stating what had become, in effect, Singapore’s ideology. “Does it work? If it works, let’s try it. If it’s fine, let’s continue it. If it doesn’t work, toss it out, try another one.” His leadership was sometimes criticized for suppressing freedom, but the formula succeeded. Singapore became an international business and financial center admired for its efficiency and low level of corruption. More at link. spoilered for size. Spoiler
He's as close to a benevolent dictator as you are going to get. Singapore is the hub of SE Asia without any natural advantage. He created it.
Benevolent dictator is a good way I describing him. Singapore's success is without a doubt but at the same time he hasn't shied away from soon things like using the judiciary to punish political opponents and also installing his family into power. Lee's Singapore also hasn't shied away from manipulating and controlling the lives if Singaporeans in many ways. Paternalistic might be a better term.
One thing I find funny is about how many people complain about how many people Think that Obama is a paternalistic dictator when anything that Obama has done doesn't come close to what Lee did in Singapore. Lee Kuan Yew would and has argued to his critiques that the result has been taking a third world country and in a generation turning into a place with one of the highest standards of living and advanced infrastructures.
i think places like dubai and singapore and hong kong and qatar show you dont need freedom and democracy to succeed and kick ass economically. i seen pictures and movies in these places and it makes my hood look like somalia. i have a lot of family back in kentucky and missouri and man that area looks 3rd world for sure.
That's grounds for libel, yo. Seriously, though. The present PM, his son, was the Senior Wrangler at Cambridge, ie the top math undergrad at Cambridge. His grandson by his other son, the CEO of the state telco, was the top Econs student at Oxford and Best Speaker at the World Universities Debating Championships. Those aren't things that can be simply bestowed by fiat.