Good government requires leaders to put public good above personal interests

The late Lee Kuan Yew told a group of civil servants in 1965 “Don’t change “No” to “Yes”. Don’t be a fool. 

If there is a good reason why it is “No” it must remain No”, but tell the public politely. 

In 2011, I listened To Lee Kuan Yew officially launch his book titled ‘Lee Kuan Yew: Hard Truths to Keep Singapore Going’ at the St. Regis Singapore. He spoke passionately of the need to promote meritocracy. Undoubtedly, his uncompromising stand for discipline, consistency, meritocracy, efficiency and education during his tenure as Prime Minister transformed Singapore into one of the most prosperous nations in the world. He is unquestionably, one of the outstanding world leaders of the last hundred years.  Few leaders have so far matched Lee’s achievement in propelling Singapore from Third World to First World. Moreover, he managed it against far worse odds: no space, no water, beyond a crowded little island; no natural resources; and, as an island of polyglot immigrants and not much shared history. Some people have dismissed the relevance and transferability of the Singapore experience with the off-hand remark that Singapore is too small to offer any lessons of value to larger countries.  Tell that to the world’s two most populous countries that Singapore doesn’t matter – that its mindset and psyche of governance is not scalable, for example India declared a day of mourning at the passing of Lee Kuan Yew and the reiteration by the Chinese leaders that China emulated many of Singapore’s policies after Deng Xiaoping’s visit to Singapore in November 1978.Unlike Lee’s friend Deng Xiaoping , Lee worked on a small canvas and demonstrated that an impoverished country can turn into a flourishing one with strong and engaged leadership. Singapore’s per capita income in 1959 was about $400, today it is in excess of $56,000 and has reserves of over $ 343 billion. Therefore what Lee achieved in tiny Singapore not only transformed the lives of his own people profoundly, but had an immense impact beyond Singapore in shaping the Asia of today. 

The leader
Lee Kuan Yew, was perhaps the last of that generation of leaders who guided their countries through the challenges and turmoil of decolonization to independence. It is hard now to recall how difficult and challenging those times were in Singapore. He brought Singapore into being a sovereign independent state against the background of the fight against communism in the Malayan Emergency, the contest with Sukarno’s Indonesia in Confrontation, the bitter split from the union with Malaysia, and Britain’s strategic withdrawal from Asia. He found himself leading a country deeply divided on religious and ethnic lines, surrounded by powerful potential enemies, with a weak economy and no natural resources at all. Those who criticize the authoritarian style of government he developed to deal with all these issues need to consider the scale of the challenges Singapore faced. Lee’s PAP offered the people of Singapore an implicit deal: in return for accepting his system of politics, he offered them stability, security, clean government and prosperity. And he delivered on that deal way beyond anyone’s wildest dreams — including perhaps his own. 

Meaning of good governance
Lee demonstrated that superior performance requires superior leadership.

Lee demanded of leaders both intellectual and moral superiority. Contrary to modern Western democratic theory that emphasizes citizens’ participation in governance, his views were closer to Plato’s conception of the “guardians,” or China’s historical Mandarins. Through all this he demonstrated that good government is only possible when leaders put the public good unquestionably above their own personal interests.

The legacy of Lee Kuan Yew
Singapore today has the third highest per capita GDP of US$ in the world, measured in PPP terms, behind only Qatar and Luxembourg. It is 50 percent higher than Switzerland’s, and  double of Australia’s. That is the scale of his achievement. There can be few examples in history of such an outstandingly successful nation created so completely by the vision, will and leadership of a single individual. Lee was a firm believer in meritocracy. He would often say, “We decide what is right. Never mind what the people think,” as he put it bluntly in 1987. His government’s ministers were the world’s best-paid, to attract talent from the private sector and curb corruption. Corruption did indeed become rare in Singapore. Like other crime, it was deterred in part by harsh punishments ranging from brutal caning for vandalism to hanging for murder or drug-smuggling. Singapore’s objective of attracting foreign investment was in tune with its education policy and its manpower policy. As Lee also said: “Between being loved and feared, I have always believed Machiavelli was right. If nobody is afraid of me, I’m meaningless.”

Lee Kuan Yew, the man behind modern Singapore died at the age of 91, and while many Singaporeans are still mourning the loss of a respected politician, many people all over the world still continue to join them at many international forums to recognize a great leader and his impact on the political and economic spheres. He clearly left a political legacy behind that demonstrated beyond doubt that superior and moral leadership can turn an impoverished country into an economic powerhouse and the ultimate test of the value of political leadership is whether it helps a society to establish conditions which improve the standard of living for the majority of its people,
(The writer is a HR thought leader)