The Singapore Story: Memoirs of Lee Kuan Yew

Rating:
Summary: The Man
Review: Candor. Mr. Lee simply speaks with cruel candor on what he thinks and what he sees.

I just can't stop reading it. As a foreign student who had stayed in Singapore for four years, I complaint about everything on this island. However, after I read it, I finally learn the political conditions (law, government, authoritarianism) of Singapore are logically necessary; every decision and policy is based on social relativism. And Mr. Lee also teaches me that politics, virtue and justice can exist in one man at the same time. It is a happy thing to see the story of a Man who struggles for his ideal and still keeps the integrity of his personality consistently for the rest of his life.

This book and the story of the Man tell me so much that I might have to spend a long time to think about it.

Rating:
Summary: Theme from Harry's Game
Review: Harry Lee Kuan Yue is the ruler of Singapore, where I lived in the late nineties. I found this book to be virtually propoganda.

This book uses highly elliptical and Aesopian language (to put it mildly) to deal with the repression of free speech in the country and other acts (such as his turning of the country's Malay and Indian community into second-class citizens). When I lived in Singapore, ALL local people were afraid to even discuss politics, let alone mention any criticism of this intolerant megolomaniac. You cannot buy books critical of Singapore or Lee in Singapore, only hagiographical junk like this, which is then praised by flunkies at home and may mislead foreigners unaware that no response is allowed.

Anyone interested in this book should buy (here at Amazon) its "twin" - banned in Singapore - by Christopher Lingle, entitled Singapore's Authoritarian Capitalism. Ian Buruma's God's Dust has a very perceptive and critical section on S'pore and Lee. Buruma's Missionary and the Libertine includes another essay on Singapore, "The Nanny State of Asia." Paul Theroux's Singapore novel, Saint Jack, though set in the 1970's, has a surprisingly recognizable and modern feel to it - many of the attitudes of the characters were still recognizable a few years ago in the streets of today's Singapore.

Rating:
Summary: One side of "The Singapore Story"
Review: He will go down in history as one of Asia's most famous (or infamous) statesmen. "The Singapore Story" tells one side of the story - Lee's. Former Singaporean prime minister Lee Kuan Yew has long been acclaimed for his outspoken persona and alert and thorough intellect. However, it is not certain that he is fully aware of his impact (or maybe he is) on other people - specially on Tunku Abdul Rahman. With this, the inaugural volume of his autobiography, he also proves himself as an charming and pleasant narrator - and therein lies the problem. The tone of the book is almost benign - but was her really. His tale begins as an distinguished student from a non pretentious bourgeois, English speaking home (this proves problematic in the future as Lee makes his way around the Chinese speaking communities).

Lee's deftly moves to recount how his education was discontinued by the Japanese occupation in World War II - of which he also elaborates how it taught him the many life lessons and impressions he would take into the future political and personal trials he would undergo. After a brief experiment as a black-market entrepreneur during the war (for which he was able to support his family as well as other interests), he decided to make his way to England after the Japanese defeat - to become a practitioner of the Law. He recounts as well how he managed to convinced Cambridge University to admit - not just himself - but his future wife Choo as well - they were both eventually called to the Bar in England. Upon passing the British rendition of the bar examination, Lee decides to return home - to Singapore. Lee is quickly embroiled in the complex labyrinth of Singaporean politics of independence while both fighting and using - the Communist Party. If you read between the lines, it is clear that Lee was anxious to be rid of this red menace while playing "The Prince" and playing sides against each other.

Convinced that the red threat from Singapore could only be controlled by assimilation into the federation of Malaysia, the Tunku entertains the call by Lee to form Malaysia. Lee's story, told in extended and obviously well documented detail really zeroes in on his dream of uniting Singapore with Malaysia - only for it to come apart in the seams - of which he is not completely blameless. Lee bitterly relates his disappointment over Malaysian Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman's decision to ungraciously expel Singapore from the recently formed Malaysian federation. Lee wishes to play the victim. If you treat each side as a discourse - with its own set of truth creating mechanisms (ontology) and societal formulas - it will be quickly evident the Lee's formula is not welcome in the Tunku's Malaysia. No matter which side of the argument the reader places him/herself, Lee posed a threat to everything that the Tunku and his cadre held dear. As much as Lee viewed (or perceived) the ills or threat that the Tunku's cadre (if not the Tunku himself) represented, Lee had to admit that he was not in his "zone" - he was out of his element. He did, in effect, break a trust not to engage in federal politics (as originally agreed) - predictably causing the ire of the Tunku. It is the chickens coming home to roost.

While gracious towards the Tunku, Lee turns his harshest appraisals of other politicians in Kuala Lumpur - zeroing in on the close cadre of the Tunku - the book goes into very informative detail in this regard. Lee's wonderfully in-depth character analyses and impressions only foreshadows volume two (Lee, Kuan Yew From Third World to First - The Singapore Story: 1965 - 2000 Singapore and the Asian Economic Boom New York: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc., 2000 - also available on Amazon.com) describes an entire generation of world class leaders. It seems that most leaders were mindful of this as several former presidents, secretaries of state, prime ministers, and foreign ministers have sang the praises to Mr. Lee. There is no argument from this reviewer that the praise is well deserved and the reader of this and the subsequent book will come to know Lee as crafty but exceptionally brilliant political animal - but there are always more sides to a story.

Miguel Llora

Rating:
Summary: ONE MAN, ONE NATION, ONE FUTURE
Review: How could one man build one nation in hopes for one future? How could an island surrounded by belligerant neighbors survive to become one of the richest, the cleanest, the most crime-free and the most efficient nations in the world? The Singapore of today is the result of a strict and efficient government that have provided housing for all its 4.1 million people, a prosperous free market economy, strong defense, religious and racial cohesion, a sound educational system and an incorruptible government. The Singapore of today, 100 years ago, would have been unimaginable; the success of one man, in a matter of 40 years has transformed a tiny island that many world leaders thought would never survive into a first world country.

Rating:
Summary: Singapore's success
Review: I always thought Singapore was successful because of the British (just like Hong Kong). I know better now. Singapore is blessed to have Mr Lee Kuan Yew.

Rating:
Summary: excellent view of the birth of modern Singapore
Review: I borrowed this book from a Chinese friend from Singapore. She commented "Perhaps you will understand me better after you read this." I thought that was strange at the time but she was right. My knowledge of Singapore is limited at best and I loved this book. I enjoyed reading about events from Lee Kuan-Yew's perspective. I was wishing for comments from the opposition just to be able to compare their realities. I admire his vision and determination. No matter how you feel about his views, you have to admire him for actions and commitments to his people. A good read.

Rating:
Summary: Unstinting praise from 36 world leaders
Review: I cam across this review in the respected magazine Foreign Affairs by Professor Lucian Pye of the Massachussets Institute of Technology (MIT). He said: "His remarkably in-depth character analyses means that Volume Two -- which will describe a whole generation of world leaders -- will command great interest. Possibly mindful of this, 36 former presidents, secretaries of state, prime ministers, and foreign ministers have already provided blurbs of unstinting praise. The praise is well deserved for Lee; the readers will come away feeling that they have come to know an exceptionally brilliant political man."

Rating:
Summary: Enthralling and informative
Review: I have not lived in Singapore, nor have I visited this city-state, so my comments may lack some of the perspective others have expressed in their reviews. But it also means I may not have any of their bias either.

I found Lee's memoirs fascinating and very enlightening. Throughout his political career, Lee and his People's Action Party were in constant battle with the communists and other political forces that either sought to oppress Singapore and Malaya, or to promote a racist government that gave benefit to the Malays while leaving the indiginous Chinese and Indians voiceless. It is true that Lee's PAP government used authoritarian measures at times, but given the struggles Singapore faced, it is a good thing that it did.

The issue of racism in the central Malaya government was most interesting, and Lee shows how this racism, or bias in favor of the native Malays, led ultimately to Singapore being expelled from the Malaysian nation. That turning point was when Lee spoke in parliment in Malay without a prepared speech and critisized the government for wasting its time on deciding what would be the national language and who would control schools while all Malaysians were suffering economic troubles in the country.

While it is true this is an autobiography, and naturally would present Lee's perspective on his life and the issues he faced, Lee does so in my view rather even-handedly, including excerpts of what his critics were saying about him and not responding to these criticisms directly. Rather, he would portray what the events were and what he believed needed to be done. It is my conclusion that contrary to Lee's critics, his vision of Singapore was egalitarian and while socialist in practice, he always had all the races' needs in mind.

Of particular interest to me was Lee's observations of the various African leaders he met with during the early sixties, as well as how he saw in the way the Vatican selected a pope a political method to keep the PAP free of communist infiltration. And Lee's vision of how law and order is meted out gains interesting perspective from his rememberances of the Japanese occupation of the territory during WWII.

An excellent and easy to ready book.

Rating:
Summary: Surprisingly candid revelations!
Review: I loved SM Lee's book. When my father passed me the book, I was apathetic and did not really bother to read it as thoroughly as I should have (partly because of the O Levels). After the exams, I picked up the book, and boy, was I swept into a detailed narrative of Singapore's history and how SM Lee's government helped to bring Singapore to the heights of prosperity.

The book is highly insightful and gives us a clearer look into the psyche of the man himself and why he had to institute the many policies that underscored Singapore's functioning (even today). I recommend it as a textbook for any world leader or politician. Read it and you'll be left in awe and wonder.

Rating:
Summary: Good understanding of political strength
Review: I often wondered why Singapore bucked the trend in Asia (even now enjoying a higher per capita GNP than the UK) till I read this book. Lee's book provides real insights in the political roots of Singapore's success. I recommend this book strongly. For an understanding of the business roots of Singapore's success, I recommend Haley's "New Asian Emperors: the Overseas Chinese, their Strategies and Competitive Advantages".