Lee Kwan Yew: a ratbag to the end
Saturday, Apr 14, 2007,
It seems the Australian government-academic establishment is
running out of Asian autocrats to fete. Chancellor Allan Hawke and
Vice Chancellor Ian Chubb of the Australian National University
(ANU) are the latest to join the Australian movers and shakers who
laud distasteful people -- in their case, former Singaporean prime
minister Lee Kwan Yew, who now holds an ANU honorary doctorate.
That the ANU could impugn its reputation for excellence in Asian
studies and human rights law to further the ambitions of its top
two officers is surprising enough. That these men should ram
through the award by shelving university processes of review and
then praise Lee's "integrity," "commitment to advancing the causes
of peace and prosperity" and "international statesmanship [sic]" is
downright contemptible. But credit where credit's due: Lee would
applaud their methods.
Hawke and Chubb, no doubt, will be unmoved to hear of Lee's most
recent slur against a head of state -- hardly proper protocol, one
might think, for the recipient of a gong for statesmanship.
Nonetheless, on April 4, Lee trotted out an attack on President
Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), saying that he was duping Taiwanese into
believing that independence from China is possible because war
would result and the US would not intervene.
The problem with this salvo was that it wasn't just personal; it
was a bouquet to China and a put-down directed at millions of
Taiwanese people who believe in democracy and liberty. So a
personal attack on Lee for his cardigan despotism and hubris is
perfectly in order -- because so much of Singapore and its neuroses
are linked to Lee's person.
Lee's record on human rights is poor. He, like other autocrats
in the region, demeans his people by labeling liberties of press
and academic freedom as Western conceits that are not conducive to
"Asian" societies. This mentality -- culturalist bordering on
racist -- set up one of the more enduring intellectual hoaxes of
the 1990s, namely that there exist "Asian values" (as opposed to
Western or Judeo-Christian values, presumably, though his argument
was never coherent). And these values, funnily enough, seem to
absolve people such as Lee for oppressive behavior -- as long as an
economic return is delivered.
Lee's legacy of authoritarianism lives on. This week saw the
banning of a documentary about a long-time political prisoner in
Singapore, Said Zahari. Suffice it to say that Singapore's
credibility is shaky if it can't face up to events of 30 years ago
and cites social order as a pretext for shutting down debate.
And if it wasn't clear before, it should be now: With the latest
pay rise that lawmakers have awarded themselves (justification:
lavishing millions of dollars on the "most talented" legislators
and executive officials beats corruption), the Singaporean state
can now be dubbed the world's most lucrative -- and sanitized --
protection racket. Lee, who these days goes under the risible title
of "minister mentor," will himself pocket another small fortune.
But even by Singaporean standards, this self-aggrandizement is so
brazen that Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has promised to donate
his new riches to charity.
Lee Kwan Yew, his son and
their supporters can keep their city-state kleptocracy and their
largely pliant people. And long may he be courted by foreign
academic powerbrokers and governments dazzled by his
connections.
But Lee Kwan Yew is no friend
of Taiwan. Until Singapore learns to deal with domestic political
opponents other than by intimidating, bankrupting, arresting and
torturing them, there is little to learn from Lee's fiefdom or his
lectures. Taiwan has seen it all before -- and left it
behind.
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/archives/2007/04/14/2003356611