Lee Kuan Yew was born in 16 September 1923. He lived a relatively comfortable family with inherited from a generation of businessmen. However, his family wealth crumbled during the Great Depression. Having survived the Japanese Occupation, he went to Cambridge to study law. After graduation, he came back to Singapore to practice law, eventually set his own law firm with his younger brother and wife, Choo – also a lawyer.
The younger years in life molded his beliefs, character and attitudes that later serve him well in his days in politics. Witnessing the brutality of the Japanese Occupation exposed him to a society that has no justice and reason. It was wartime, and war doesn’t discriminate against the guilty over the innocent – it starve and kill them all. When the Japanese military took over Singapore, shear violence and intimidation was the law of the land. Lee found that those who live under the erratic law makers and enforcers, being moral, fair, loyal were last things that keep them alive. During the Occupation, he worked for the vicious Japanese government, steeped into the volatile black market, and started a glue business using the staple of the time, tapioca. Not only that he survived, he thrived. He learnt that in times of chaos and absurdity, rather than lamenting on the change and irrationality of things, one must be flexible, innovative and calculating. Those who fail to take advantage of crises, and longed the return of order and peace, will perish – taking their fantasy with them.
After the Occupation, Britain was in tatters after the war. The empire was humiliated by the swift defeat by Japan. And as stated, many of the colonies rebelled for independence. In Singapore, the mighty British empire has hollowed into a forgettable minority group in the island. Union workers and communist revolutionaries raised from the underground. They led a series of strikes and threats to speed up the colonial decline. The communist belief of political revolution through disruption and violence caught the imagination of the Singapore majority. Therefore, western principles of democracy and civil negotiation was treated like garbage. The conservative groups who insisted in legal protocols, civilized discourse and understanding were duly cowed and overwhelmed by communists juggernaut. No one stopped them, because no one can. Ideology is useless without the protection of arms. The sword is mightier than the pen.
Lee Kuan Yew was a person who honors codes and laws – he ended up becoming a lawyer, was sincere in his political beliefs, and fulfills his promises during his premiership. But living through turbulent times, he understood that at the base of human society, violence, fear, deception and stealth were potent sources of power that can override negotiation, customs and agreement. Further, these seemingly dark things can do good to society. During the Japanese Occupation, he saw how the tortures, killings and genocide in Singapore paradoxically created a crimeless city. Lee has come to appreciate power in its stark immorality. He understood those who insist in being soft, agreeable and law abiding don’t go far in life. To succeed, one should know how to be strict, fearsome, mean, ruthless, cunning. It doesn’t make you can evil person, it just makes you an effective one.
Secondly, when he travelled to England for studies, he was caught up with the a new political thinking that swept all of advanced Western countries. They call it democratic socialism, and the basic idea is that a country should have a big government to take care the basic welfare of the people which is determined by the people in the country. Moreover, democratic socialism advocates equal treatment of citizens irrespective of race and religion, and they are entitled with the right to elect the government. When Lee Kuan Yew was in London, he was how the newly socially democratic Britain began to provide public health services. Everyone can visit a doctor and get medication in an affordable price. It made a strong impression on him.
These are the two core beliefs: Machiavellianism and (an adjusted version of) social democracy forged his personality and beliefs that we recognize him today. Social democracy made him believed an equal, meritocratic Singapore necessary to maintain harmony between the ethnic groups. He believed in hard work, discipline and adaptability as the core of Singapore’s survival. He also believed that it is the government’s responsibility to cultivate these qualities in people, and engage in wise interventions to protect the well-being of Singaporean citizens, even though it might be unpopular at first.
Machiavellianism made him a fearful and effective leader. Read his autobiography, and you can sense that he a very cunning, observant, political person, who can see through the tricks and maneuvers of his political opponents, sense the mood of the public. He learns lessons from the mistake and success of his opponents, and had the knack of taking everything to his advantage. His masterful skill in politics allowed him to win the election in 1959, and push for a merger with Malaysia in 1963, against all odds.
However, the hardest obstacle is yet to come. It came in 1965 when the Separation occurred. This is the moment that really tested Lee’s powers.
You are currently in page 4 of this blogpost. Please click on 5 below to continue reading
Randolph Yew 
Leave a comment