http://iht.com/articles/2007/08/29/asia/lee.php
SINGAPORE: Lee Kuan Yew, who turned a malarial island into a modern
financial center with a first world skyline, is peering ahead again
into this city-state's future, this time with plans to seal it off
with dikes against the rising tides of global warming.
"Let's start thinking about it now," he said during an interview
last week, in what could be the motto for a lifetime of nation
building. Ever since its difficult birth in 1965, when it was
expelled from Malaysia, he said, Singapore has struggled to stay
alive in a sea of economic and political forces beyond its
control.
"If the water goes up by three, four, five meters," he said,
laughing, "what will happen to us? Half of Singapore will
disappear."
For all his success, Lee remains on the alert for perils that may
exist only on the distant horizon: the rising role of China in the
region as the United States looks the other way, the buffeting of
the world economy, even climate change.
Vigorous and strong-minded and on the verge of his 84th birthday,
Lee talked at length about his country's vulnerabilities, its slow
movement toward a more open, worldly society and the influence of
China, India and the United States in world affairs.
A British-educated lawyer, Lee is one of Asia's remarkable
personalities, a world figure whose guest book is filled with the
names of international political and financial leaders.
His creation, modern Singapore, is an economic powerhouse with one
of the world's highest per capita incomes, high-quality schools,
health care and public services that have made it a magnet for
global labor. Foreigners make up roughly a fifth of its 4.5 million
residents.
In his office in the former headquarters of the island's British
colonial rulers, Lee sat back in a zippered blue jacket, sipping
small cups of hot water and laughing often, as different as could
be from the bare-knuckled political infighter he has described
himself as.
"I've done my bit," said Lee, who stepped down as prime minister in
1990 and now watches over the country - and occasionally takes part
in political disputes - with a seat in the cabinet and the title of
minister mentor. His eldest son, Lee Hsien Loong, is prime
minister.
"To understand Singapore," he said, "you've got to start off with
an improbable story: It should not exist." It is a nation with
almost no natural resources, without a common culture, a fractured
mix of Chinese, Malays and Indians, relying on its wits to stay
afloat and prosper.
"We have survived so far, 42 years," he said. "Will we survive for
another 42? It depends upon world conditions. It doesn't depend on
us alone."
This sense of vulnerability is Lee's answer to all his critics, to
those who say his country is too tightly controlled, that it
leashes the press, suppresses free speech, curtails democracy,
tramples on dissidents and stunts entrepreneurship and creativity
in its citizens.
"The answer lies in our genesis," he said. "To survive, we have to
do these things. And although what you see today - the
superstructure of a modern city - the base is a very narrow one and
could easily disintegrate."
Asked whether, looking back, he felt he might have gone too far in
crushing his opponents, sometimes with ruinous lawsuits, sometimes
with long jail terms, he answered, "No, I don't think so. I never
killed them. I never destroyed them. Politically, they destroyed
themselves."
One of his concerns now, Lee said, is that the United States has
become so preoccupied with the Middle East that it is failing to
look ahead and plan in this part of the world.
"I think it's a real drag slowing down adjusting to the new
situation," he said, a lapse that worries Southeast Asian countries
that count on Washington to balance the rising economic and
diplomatic power of China.
"Without this draining of energy, attention and resources for Iraq,
Iran, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, there would have been deep
thinking about the long-term trends - working out possible options
that the U.S. could exercise to change the direction of long-term
trends more in its favor," Lee said.
American diplomats in the region insist that the United States has
not turned its back on Southeast Asia, noting that high-level
visits continue, from President George W. Bush, from cabinet
secretaries and from the military.
That may be true on a day-to-day basis, Lee said, "because of the
machine."
"Your ambassadors are here," he said. "Your chambers of commerce
are here. Your State Department, trade and Treasury and so on, they
are on the ball in keeping the shop going."
The continued U.S. dominance in the region can be seen in the
weight of its economy. Lee said that if its current market problems
lead to a slowdown in domestic consumption, all Asian economies
will shrink.
Even China's vigorous quest for raw materials in the region, he
said, is driven in large part by the United States, which along
with Europe is the main market for Chinese products.
As the United States focuses on the Middle East, Lee said, the
Chinese are busy refining their policies and building the
foundations of more cooperative long-term relationships in Asia.
"They are making strategic decisions on their relations with the
region," he said.
And this is where tiny Singapore sees itself as a model for the
world's most-populous country. "They've got to be like us," Lee
said, "with a very keen sense of what is possible, and what is
not."
Every year, he said, Chinese ministers meet twice with Singaporean
ministers to learn from their experience. Fifty mayors of Chinese
cities visit every three months for courses in city
management.
Singapore's secret, Lee said, is that it is "ideology free," an
unsentimental pragmatism that infuses the workings of the country
as if it were in itself an ideology.
"Does it work?" Lee said. "Let's try it and if it does work, fine,
let's continue it. If it doesn't work, toss it out, try another
one."
The yardstick, he said, is, "is this necessary for survival and
progress? If it is, let's do it."
Hoping to attract more tourists, for example, Singapore is building
two huge casinos, despite Lee's expressed distaste for them.
"I don't like casinos," he said. "but the world has changed and if
we don't have an integrated resort like the ones in Las Vegas - Las
Vegas Sands - we'll lose.
"So, let's go," he said. "Let's try and still keep it safe and
mafia-free and prostitution-free and money-laundering-free. Can we
do it? I'm not sure, but we're going to give it a good try."
Even on social issues, themes he habitually argues with an
aggressiveness that can seem inflexible, Lee sounded almost
mellow.
"I think we have to go in whatever direction world conditions
dictate if we are to survive and to be part of this modern world,"
he said. "If we are not connected to this modern world, we are
dead. We'll go back to the fishing village we once were."
For example, on the issue of homosexuality, he said, "we take an
ambiguous position. We say, O.K., leave them alone, but let's leave
the law as it is for the time being and let's have no gay
parades."
Although gay sex remains technically illegal in Singapore, the
government has indicated it will not actively enforce the
law.
