Nov
23
From Third World to First : The Singapore Story: 1965-2000
ByFrom Third World to First : The Singapore Story: 1965-2000
- ISBN13: 9780060197766
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Product DescriptionLee Kuan Yew is one of the most influential leaders in Asia. In this illuminating account, Lee writes frankly about his disapproving approach to political opponents and his often unorthodox views on human rights, democracy, and inherited intelligence, aiming always “to be correct, not politically correct. ” Since it’s independence in 1965, tiny Singapore – once a poor and decrepit colony – has risen to become a rich and thriving Asian metropolis. From Thi. . . More >>
From Third World to First : The Singapore Story: 1965-2000
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Here is the second enormous volume (900 plus pages!) of Harry Lee Kuan Yew’s memoirs of how he created Singapore, written in a relaxed, confident style by a dictator who says he cares not whether anyone disagrees with him. According to this book, Harry built Singapore out of “a few pineapple plantations. ” But I recommend the following titles to anyone planning to visit or live in Singapore to get a more balance account of this squeaky clean, sinister place. Stan Sesser’s *Lands of Charm and Cruelty* has a wonderful essay on S’pore describing *”the fear that even the best educated Singaporeans feel towards their government”* and much info on the way Malayan and Indian S’pore citizens feel second class. Ian Buruma’s essays in *God’s Dust* and *The Missionary and the Libertine*, including the famous *”The Nanny State of Asia”* fill in more of the gaps left out by old Harry. Christopher Lingle’s two books, especially *Singapore’s Authoritarian Capitalism* are merciless, dead-accurate critics of what Lee’s done to S’pore during his tenure. Francis Seow’s *To Catch a Tartar: A Prisoner in Lee Kuan Yew’s Singapore* tells you all you need to know about Harry’s supposed indifference to dissent. One of the most unpleasant of Lee’s omissions is his leaving out how many skilled and talented Singaporeans emigrate from Singapore to the First World to start new lives in freer surroundings. All of these books tell you something about Harry’s manipulation of history – his claim of building S’pore out of a few pineapple plantations is laughable – Singapore was in fact handed the number one port in Asia by the departing British. A less grotesquely insecure leader would take pride in Singapore’s successfull development of that port, especially in a region where dictatorships are usually inept as well as frightening. But Harry does not possess that security, as his two autobio volumes – 900 pages each! – clearly show. Singapore is a lot like an Arab gulf state floating on oil, it has successfully exploited its inheritance from elsewhere to some material good for its physically very small self. But 1800 pages of insecure bragging is not the only story. I was reminded by this book of Singapore’s poor, sad History Museum, once the famous Raffles Museum of British days, now almost entirely restricted to the history of Harry’s time. There’s just so much more to know. A good book for the family/business person moving to Singapore is Bo Yang’s * The Ugly Chinaman and the Crisis of Chinese Culture* a book that deals frankly with the underbelly of Chinese culture and is very helpful to understanding personality’s like Lee’s (and little Lee’s elsewhere). It will help you end up with greater understanding of things Chinese, and leave your mind clear to enjoy the great side of Chinese culture: the poetry of Li Po and Tu Fu, Confucius, the classic Chinese novel The Story of the Stone, Wallace’s Malay Archipelago, Paul Theroux’s Singapore novel Saint Jack (and his Singapore short stories), etc. Good luck in Singapore. Order these books here, you can’t get them all in Harry’s country.
Rating: 1 / 5
Memoirs by old politicians are typically self-serving affairs–larded with relentless name-dropping, irrelevant details, and the sorts of personal observations guaranteed to bore silly even the most devoted follower or grandchild. By this standard, Lee Kuan Yew’s “From Third World to First” is a remarkably good book. There is actually a sense of adventure as Yew describes how he and his political comrades struggled to build a nation-state out of an old British coaling stop populated by folks the Brits had imported to do their menial work. Set against this backdrop of grinding poverty, underdevelopment, and imperial racism, Singapore’s fortunate geographical location and world-class harbor do not seem like much with which to build. So the reader is drawn in by the voluminous details Yew devotes to the early struggles following Singapore’s independence–building political structures, organizing housing, reforming education, as well as tackling the serious cultural problems of urbanizing dirt-poor peasants from rural China, Ceylon, and elsewhere. Yew’s passionate attacks on corruption–which he correctly identifies as the Achilles heel of Asian economic development–are heartfelt and courageous. By the time he writes about his program to “green up” Singapore, the readers wants to cheer for trees and flowers. This is NOT your typical political memoir! At first. Somewhere along the way, Yew ceases to be the enthusiastic young nation builder who usefully turns the routine travel of a Prime Minister into relentless fact-finding missions where no idea or practice that could improve life in Singapore was ignored. It might have been about the time Singapore’s annual income per capita passed $10,000, or the first Commonwealth gathering where Yew realized he had passed not only Ghana but Mother England itself in any meaningful measure of national well-being, or the moment he realized he liked Margaret Thatcher more than any of her predecessors, but Yew in life and book mutates from this charming and brilliant young leader who is guiding his people out of poverty into a life that Asia–if not the world–can envy, into this arrogant old fool. So we find Yew, a man who hails from a nation with no agriculture, lecturing the French on agricultural policy. One wonders what snaps in the head of a person that enables him to tell people who practically worship eating how they should grow their food. We find him lecturing President Kim of Korea–who not only has a Nobel Peace Prize but is probably the closest man Asia has had to a saint since the death of Ghandi–on ethics!!! A victim of true racism in his youth, Yew in his old age is this funky racist spouting nonsense about the superiority of Confucian values over western humanism and hectoring the educated young men of Singapore to be certain to marry educated women. But the ultimate failing of Yew’s book is the assumption embedded into the title “From Third World to First. ” His claims to Singapore’s first-world status are not borne out by the facts on the ground. Yew takes excessive comfort in the wealth his slavish devotion to reactionary “free-trade” concepts have generated for Singapore. Of course, trade is good for a country that is essentially a harbor. But by elevating the interests of trade over industrial creation, Yew’s industrial thinking has left Singapore as simply an intermediate step on “free-trade’s” race to the bottom. There is nothing made by Singapore’s now highly paid work-force that cannot be made for less in China. Yew’s strategies for getting run-away jobs from more highly industrialized countries to settle in Singapore will be perfectly irrelevant when those jobs want to move on to Shanghai. There are clear differences between “screwdriver” industrialization and the real thing. The status of “first-world” should be reserved for those places where the jobs that can move to places like Singapore are invented in the first place. Yew’s analytic failing in his life and book is summed up by his failure to appreciate this distinction. So in the end, he comes across as an eccentric mayor of a mid-sized American city trying to fill up an industrial park. Of course, that is probably part of his political appeal. The fact that Yew has mutated into a crusty old geezer should not stop anyone from reading this book. Just the gossipy Oxbridge / Chinese parlor evaluations of the major political leaders of the late 20th century made this book worth the read.
Rating: 3 / 5
This is a very interesting book that can be read on and off. Obviously it says a lot about how Singapore developed over the past 30-odd years. Indeed, just go to Kuala Lumpur or Jakarta and you can see Singapore’s achievement – much of it due to Lee Kuan Yew. In a way, it would be nice to applaud LKY, but his conceit is so great that’s just not possible. He has a ludicrously inflated view of himself, not least as a world statesman sought after by other leaders for advice. He doesn’t have a solitary ounce of humility. He dwells on trivialities too much, while his response to criticism – including that from the media and opponents – shows he’s incapable of dealing with it, except through twisted legal or authoritarian means. One achievement he forgets to mention is that Singapore has achieved the seemingly impossible: it’s made Chinese people lose their entrepreneurial spirit. I haven’t got there yet, but the gist of last page will be something like:”And when the final curtain comes down and I depart from the Garden City up into the even greater Garden City in the neverworld above – the one with an even taller hotel, bigger fountain of wealth and busier container port – I hope I’m remembered as a humble man who knew his strengths – many – and recognised his weaknesses – none whatsoever. I’ve had a happy life, apart from the last ten years with that imposter Mr Goh in charge. Who does he think he is? He is but a caretaker manager, to use that old British footballing term (ah, England. . . that green and pleasant land, where name-dropping meant something and I was regular and welcome guest at the highest tables [Top Table: "Lee Kwan who?"]), keeping the hot seat hot for my son. And when I say “hot,” I mean “warm. ” If I hear a word about those good-looking bodyguards who go jogging in the dewy dawn with my boy, I’ll be onto my lawyers immediately. And by strange coincidence, just as my son is clearly the most able and uniquely qualified candidate to be PM, so the judge at court will have not doubt worked at my law firm. Aaargh. . . I already feel more damages on the way. I leave as my legacy a few words of compassion for my foes – “rot in hell” – and a new shopping mall for my friends – one that’s close to where they’re building an MRT station and some property I own. Farewell. ”
Rating: 4 / 5
Like him or not. . even the most critical Singaporean would agreed that without Lee Kuan Yew, we would not be as successful as we are today. Reading his memoirs, let me appreciate why we are not plagued by the problems found in other asian countries, such as, corruption, poverty, high crime rates, high unemployment and instable governments. And mind you. . we are not unique. We HAVE most of these problems in the 60s and the 70s! Without his ‘politically incorrect’ methods. I would like to see someone suggest an alternative and workable way ! Of course, taking into consideration Singapore’s limitations that would not allow us too many chances in making mistakes. Although, Singapore workers are rated ‘most productive in the world’ year after year, my encounters with workers while working overseas do not convince me this. As individuals, other workers are as good as us, if not better. The difference ? Our leaders stand out. Thank you LKY
Rating: 5 / 5
I truly enjoyed this book, but gave it four stars rather than five because it just doesn’t quite stand up to “The Singapore Story. ” Lee’s first book details the chronological development of Singapore from a backwater port to a thriving city-state. In this book, much of the focus is on Lee’s thoughts and perceptions of other countries and leaders, particularly on how Singapore related to them. His passages on China are indeed excellent, and his insight into the Chinese mind and culture are wonderfully presented. And his cautions as to how America should deal with Taiwan are indeed interesting given how the present Bush administration has been acting. His thoughts on America’s involvement in Vietnam provide a perspective that I had not realized while growing up in the 60s and 70s, and his explanation of what happened in Indonesia with Suharto’s fall is enlightening as well. I would have liked more information on specific developments in Singapore during the last quarter of the past century, but Lee’s insights on other world leaders was very interesting nonetheless.
Rating: 4 / 5