Some western people who knows nothing about history of Singapore
and Lee Kuan Yew are easily fooled by his propaganda:
LKY, S'pore blockbuster director 
By Rachel Chan
FOR veteran American journalist Tom Plate, Minister Mentor Lee
Kuan Yew is "the director of the blockbuster that is
Singapore".
Mr Plate gives his take on "this iconic and fashionably
authoritarian director" in his new book, Conversations With Lee
Kuan Yew - Citizen Singapore: How To Build A Nation.
The 211-page book is
based mainly on a four-hour exclusive interview that took place
over two days last July.
As the approach to writing the book was based on a dialogue, the
interview subject had to be interesting for there to be content,
explained Mr Plate, who is well-known for his syndicated columns
about Asia in the Los Angeles Times.
"Now, is LKY interesting? No problem. He's the easiest (person
to interview) in the history of the world," Mr Plate, 66, told my
paper yesterday. "You don't need small talk, you don't have to
butter him up, you don't have to bring flowers and perfume and
(things) like that. You go in and boom, let's go."
Mr Plate, who has interviewed Mr Lee on more than three
occasions between the 1990s and now, is said to be the only
American journalist that Mr Lee has granted so much interview time
to.
While he has written a number of weighty articles quoting Mr
Lee's views on policy and issues at large, Mr Plate wanted to write
an accessible book "that would potentially appeal to a reader of
Time and Newsweek, or The Economist or Financial Times, whether
they be Singaporean or not".
The book is written in Mr Plate's trademark humorous, witty and
candid style.
"You (the reader) get to be the fly on the wall and, in the
course of this conversation, you trace through a lot of his
thinking," he said.
The conversations in the book cover a wide range of topics.
There are serious discussions on philosophy, international
relations and governance.
But a more personal side of the MM is revealed towards the end,
when the men touch on more intimate issues: age, Mr Lee's wife, his
son, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, and his daughter, Dr Lee Wei
Ling, director of the National Neuroscience Institute.
During a break, author and interviewee even banter about what Mr
Lee would do if he were to take on the post of United Nations
secretary-general.
"I try to get a bit more of (Mr Lee) as a man, as well as a
brainiac and as a leader," said Mr Plate, who also described the
politician as warm, trusting and open.
When asked what he uncovered about Mr Lee this time, Mr Plate
said: "Because I've had more time with him, I began to see him in a
slightly different light. So, I felt more educated. Not that there
were departures in his views - he's very consistent - but I began
to understand certain nuances and subtleties."
Conversations With Lee Kuan Yew is the first book in a series
called Giants Of Asia, which will subsequently feature Malaysia's
former prime minister, Tun Dr Mahathir
Mohamad, and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon.
