Rating: 
Summary: Fascinating insights to other world leaders
Review: I truly enjoyed this book, but gave it four stars rather than five because it just doesn't quite stand up to "The Singapore Story." Lee's first book details the chronological development of Singapore from a backwater port to a thriving city-state. In this book, much of the focus is on Lee's thoughts and perceptions of other countries and leaders, particularly on how Singapore related to them. His passages on China are indeed excellent, and his insight into the Chinese mind and culture are wonderfully presented. And his cautions as to how America should deal with Taiwan are indeed interesting given how the present Bush administration has been acting. His thoughts on America's involvement in Vietnam provide a perspective that I had not realized while growing up in the 60s and 70s, and his explanation of what happened in Indonesia with Suharto's fall is enlightening as well. I would have liked more information on specific developments in Singapore during the last quarter of the past century, but Lee's insights on other world leaders was very interesting nonetheless.
Rating: 
Summary: His way or the highway
Review: If this was supposed to be a biography, then it will probabily be one of the poorer ones in the market. I say this because while it tells you a bit about Mr Lee the successful politician, it tells you even less about Mr Lee the man. As a leader I guess he was quite good. Each chapter highlights his reason for certain decisions and the excution process. Mr Lee had explained that the reason for him writing this book was to educate the younger Singaporeans. I think the book would have been a lot better had he included his mistakes. It would appear that there were none on his part. It was always due to someone else or beyond his control. Other than one chapter about his family, the author comes across as cold and unapologetic. An ok book for understanding the motivations of Mr Lee. Most readers will find themselves agreeing with his actions. There were no unique revelations here on how to run a country. First, create a strong internal organisation to curb dissent. Second, make citizens feel like they owe government everything, thereby getting re-elected every year. Third, increase size of government by creating a boys club for the elite, while justifying high pay checks. Finally, run the country like a sweatshop promoting yes men and opportunistic foreigners. I know many politicians will wish they could run a country like Singapore.
Rating:
Summary: This is Part Two of Two Volumes
Review: If you are interested in Singapore's success story, this is the volume you need. I suspect that this volume sells more copies than Part One.
Rating: 
Summary: GREAT!
Review: Inspite of loud criticism from Western journalists in particular and Liberal minded Americans in general, Lee Kuan Yew, the former Prime Minister and "father" of Singapore, has done a phenomenal job of bringing several races, language and religious groups into a coherent thriving successful and rich country. My congratulations to Mr. Yew (I guess that would be his last name? Lee Kuan Yew)! He started with a hodge podge of nothing in 1965 and within 35 years had one of the richest and successful countries on earth!Mr. Yew's great strength is his ability to appreciate and know the nuances of cultures of Singapore and how to respond to the positive as well as the negative parts of each. We in America would do well to take advice from him about relations and the aspirations of our various ethnic and racial groups. The most outstanding of Mr. Yew's accomplishments is how he and his cadre of competent ministers have blended Western (in particular British) commercial laws with Confucist tenants to form a multi-cultral rich society that puts the rule of law as an absolute. Mr. Yew, who is of Chinese decent, readily admits the shortcomings and strengths of Chinese culture. In particular, he refers to corruption, nepotism, among others as negative aspects, somehow though he has managed to create a society that comes down very hard on the corrupt, making a level playing field for all in the Singaporan society. He has provided home ownership for the citizens of Singapore, solid medical and retirement benefits as well as educational opportunities for all of its citizens. Having done some business in Japan and having many Asian including Chinese clients, I am struck by Mr. Yew's ability to adhere to the Rule of Law in Singapore rather than the rule by individual which is very prevelent in many Asian (Chinese in particular) societies. Mr. Yew's assessment is right on regarding the Australians and the Japanese. The book is interesting reading, most of the spelling is British way of spelling so for some who are accustomed to the American spelling it is discomforting to read some words "mispelled." If you want to know a success story when multiple races, languages, religions, cultral and ethnic differences are present look to Singapore. It has done it all and in a short time. I don't know how he did it, but the world is a better place for it. We could all learn a lesson or two from Mr. Yew! Joe Seckelman
Rating:
Summary: Lee- An Old Man with his thoughts
Review: Lee was the Prime Minister of Singapore, an island and a city-state. He uses this book to keep us remember that his focus is mainly on economics, but not democracy. We can see that he is trying to describe Singapore as a heaven, in terms of its green environment, economic development and social stability. If you want democracy,you'd better go to the US. He also argued that he was doing the best for Singapore, at least he think he was. But please remember that Asians have a different value from the West, and it often makes people hard to accept it. Lee had worked as the Prime Minister in Singapore for about 40 years, and he has all the rights to talk about his experience when he worked in his office as well as diplomacy. You shall not expect he talk much about Singapore internal affairs, because he does not want to! You can see although it is called 'The Singapore Story', about two thirds of its content is about his dimlomatic relations with other countries. Do not need to take this book so seriously, as Lee is using it to 'educate' the new generation of Singapore as well as defending himself. Read it as a novel and you may find it more interesting, at least I do.
Rating:
Summary: Good, if self-serving
Review: Lee, Singapore's Prime Minister from the 50s to 1991, continues where he left off in his previous book of memoirs. After expulsion from Malaysia in 1965, Lee's government took the island nation from the Third World to its current First World status. "From Third World to First" is organized by themes. In one chapter, he recounts four decades of progress in (say) building an armed forces. Then, at the beginning of the next, the timer is reset to the 1960s and a new narrative begins about attracting investors to Singapore. This format better allows Lee to explain his motivations in each area, but readers who are unfamiliar with Singapore's history will likely be disconcerted. The impression one gets is of a government that meticulously addresses each problem area, working with a cool efficiency: a sharp contrast with the tumultous events of the first book. While Lee is generous with praise, especially for his colleagues, the narrative is often self-serving. It's not exactly boasting - the man's achivements are very real - but it left a sour taste in my mouth. His trademark scathing criticisms, often directed at political enemies, are also less than graceful. His often ruthless treatment of the opposition is glossed over. Still, the book is a good read, particularly for its gripping subject matter: the journey of a tiny, resource-poor island into affluence, set in the midst of the Cold War. Non-Singaporean readers will be particularly interested with the second half of the book, which is entirely devoted to Lee's personal dealings with assorted international leaders. A minor annoyance: the editing is sloppy. Grammatical quirks are scattered throughout the text, which is surprising considering Lee's usually excellent grasp of the language.
Rating:
Summary: Understanding Ourselves
Review: Like him or not..even the most critical Singaporean would agreed that without Lee Kuan Yew, we would not be as successful as we are today. Reading his memoirs, let me appreciate why we are not plagued by the problems found in other asian countries, such as, corruption, poverty, high crime rates, high unemployment and instable governments. And mind you..we are not unique. We HAVE most of these problems in the 60s and the 70s! Without his 'politically incorrect' methods. I would like to see someone suggest an alternative and workable way ! Of course, taking into consideration Singapore's limitations that would not allow us too many chances in making mistakes. And although, Singapore workers are rated 'most productive in the world' year after year, my encounters with workers while working overseas do not convince me this. As an individual, other workers are as good as us, if not better. The difference ? Our government stand out.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting gossip passing as political analysis
Review: Memoirs by old politicians are typically self-serving affairs--larded with relentless name-dropping, irrelevant details, and the sorts of personal observations guaranteed to bore silly even the most devoted follower or grandchild.
By this standard, Lee Kuan Yew's "From Third World to First" is a remarkably good book. There is actually a sense of adventure as Yew describes how he and his political comrades struggled to build a nation-state out of an old British coaling stop populated by folks the Brits had imported to do their menial work. Set against this backdrop of grinding poverty, underdevelopment, and imperial racism, Singapore's fortunate geographical location and world-class harbor do not seem like much with which to build.
So the reader is drawn in by the voluminous details Yew devotes to the early struggles following Singapore's independence--building political structures, organizing housing, reforming education, as well as tackling the serious cultural problems of urbanizing dirt-poor peasants from rural China, Ceylon, and elsewhere. Yew's passionate attacks on corruption--which he correctly identifies as the Achilles heel of Asian economic development--are heartfelt and courageous. By the time he writes about his program to "green up" Singapore, the readers wants to cheer for trees and flowers.
This is NOT your typical political memoir! At first.
Somewhere along the way, Yew ceases to be the enthusiastic young nation builder who usefully turns the routine travel of a Prime Minister into relentless fact-finding missions where no idea or practice that could improve life in Singapore was ignored. It might have been about the time Singapore's annual income per capita passed $10,000, or the first Commonwealth gathering where Yew realized he had passed not only Ghana but Mother England itself in any meaningful measure of national well-being, or the moment he realized he liked Margaret Thatcher more than any of her predecessors, but Yew in life and book mutates from this charming and brilliant young leader who is guiding his people out of poverty into a life that Asia--if not the world--can envy, into this arrogant old fool.
So we find Yew, a man who hails from a nation with no agriculture, lecturing the French on agricultural policy. One wonders what snaps in the head of a person that enables him to tell people who practically worship eating how they should grow their food. We find him lecturing President Kim of Korea--who not only has a Nobel Peace Prize but is probably the closest man Asia has had to a saint since the death of Ghandi--on ethics!!! A victim of true racism in his youth, Yew in his old age is this funky racist spouting nonsense about the superiority of Confucian values over western humanism and hectoring the educated young men of Singapore to be certain to marry educated women.
But the ultimate failing of Yew's book is the assumption embedded into the title "From Third World to First." His claims to Singapore's first-world status are not borne out by the facts on the ground.
Yew takes excessive comfort in the wealth his slavish devotion to reactionary "free-trade" concepts have generated for Singapore. Of course, trade is good for a country that is essentially a harbor. But by elevating the interests of trade over industrial creation, Yew's industrial thinking has left Singapore as simply an intermediate step on "free-trade's" race to the bottom. There is nothing made by Singapore's now highly paid work-force that cannot be made for less in China. Yew's strategies for getting run-away jobs from more highly industrialized countries to settle in Singapore will be perfectly irrelevant when those jobs want to move on to Shanghai.
There are clear differences between "screwdriver" industrialization and the real thing. The status of "first-world" should be reserved for those places where the jobs that can move to places like Singapore are invented in the first place. Yew's analytic failing in his life and book is summed up by his failure to appreciate this distinction. So in the end, he comes across as an eccentric mayor of a mid-sized American city trying to fill up an industrial park. Of course, that is probably part of his political appeal.
The fact that Yew has mutated into a crusty old geezer should not stop anyone from reading this book. Just the gossipy Oxbridge / Chinese parlor evaluations of the major political leaders of the late 20th century made this book worth the read.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Book
Review: Mr. Lee Kuan Yew is a controversial person. Those who like him regard him as a saviour whilst those who hate him label him as a dictator. I believe the achievements of Singapore in the past 40 years have already provided an answer to his critics. The American style democracy or the western standard of human rights and freedom are not universally applicable. It is particularly not applicable in a multi-cultural, multi-racial and multi-lingual country with a history of deeply rooted communal conflicts. After all, Mr. Lee was elected by the Singaporeans and had the mandate of his own people to rule. As an outsider, what can we say? Unfortunately, many so-called pro-democracy political figures or intelligentsia in Hong Kong simply parrot the cliché of Mr. Lee's critics. They are either ignorant of the history of Singapore or biased as a result of the rivalry between the two cities. It will be helpful if they spare some time to read the book. The geopolitical skills and determination of Mr. Lee as revealed in the book undoubtedly contributed to the survival and prosperity of his country. It is very impressive for such a small country to produce a world class statesman. Nonetheless, the polarization of the world's political and economic powers as well as the internal racial balance pose a great threat to the continuous survival of Singapore. Whether Singapore can cope with the problems after Mr. Lee's complete departure remains to be seen. The book is not flawless. At p.442, the Battle of Stalingrad was said to be in 1943-44 while it should be in 1942-43. In the chapter on Indonesia, he highly valued Mr. Abdurrahman Wahid, the incumbent Indonesian President. The chaos in Indonesia and the rows between Mr. Abdurrahman Wahid and he himself in November 2000 prove that he was wrong. In the chapter on his family, there are excessive praises on his children. He should have left the judgment to other people. It is a great book on the whole. It is indispensable for those who are interested in East Asian history and politics. 15/3/01
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Summary: a blueprint for world development
Review: Mr. Yew has been critisized for arrogance, for violating civil liberties and for creating a society that borders closely on a 'Brave New World'. During his tenure Singapore severed its ties with Malaysia. He locked heads with Indonesia. He also exported Singapores expertise to other countries like Pakistan and Sti Lanka. This book chronocles this journey. From 1965-2000. Most interesting is Yews insights into the countries around his. His meetings with asian leaders and the discriptions enclosed are indespensible. Mr. Yew talks with candor and directness about the role of democracy and capitalism in the world. He critisizes his neighboors, like India, who persued state-planning. FOr those the critisize Mr. Yew one has only to look at the standard of living in Singapore and the standard of living in the neighbooring countries to see the disasters of communism and socialism. SIngapore is one of the cleanest and richest countries in Asia. Why? Because its leader spent time helping the people build themselves up then waisting his time making polemical speeches about development and non-aligned status.
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