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of representative institutions which confined the state's
power to those matters which society could not deal with by
its own arrangements. Political conflicts were moderated by
overriding purposes.

Many post-colonial states have no comparable history.

Tasks, which, in the West, were accomplished over centuries, must be completed in a decade or two and under much more complex circumstances. Where the common national experience is colonial rule, especially when the state comprises diverse ethnic groups, political opposition is often considered an assault on the political validity of the state rather than of a particular government.

Singapore is a case in point. As the main British naval
base in the Far East, it had neither prospect nor aspiration
for nationhood until the collapse of European power in the
aftermath of the Second World War redrew the political map of

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population of slightly over a million (today over 3 million), of which 70 percent was Chinese, 20 percent Malay, and 10 percent Indian. It adjoined in the south with Indonesia, with a population of over 100 million (now nearly double that), and in the north with Malaysia, with a population of 20 million.

By far the smallest country in Southeast Asia, Singapore seemed destined to become a client state of more powerful neighbors, if indeed it could preserve its independence at all.

Lee Kuan Yew thought otherwise. Every great achievement is a dream before it becomes reality, and his vision was of a state that would not simply survive but prevail by excelling. Superior intelligence, discipline, and ingenuity would substitute for resources. Lee Kuan Yew summoned his compatriots to a duty they had never previously perceived: first to clean up their city, then to dedicate it to overcome

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the initial hostility of their neighbors and their own ethnic
divisions by superior performance. The Singapore of today is
his testament. Annual per capita income has grown from $500 at
the time of independence to about $30 a year. It is the high-
tech leader of Southeast Asia, the commercial entrepôt, the
scientific center. Singapore plays a major role in the
politics and economics of Southeast Asia and beyond.

This volume is Lee Kuan Yew's account of his
extraordinary achievement. He navigated this passage by
understanding not only the requirements of his own society but
the needs and motives of his neighbors. A thoughtful
discussion of Indonesia and the fall of its President Suharto
is matched by Lee Kuan Yew's account of his encounters with
China and its leaders. His narrative of Singapore's abortive
venture into creating a satellite city in Sookow is
particularly instructive on the challenge of melding the

* See Robida news at end

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market economics of even so friendly an interlocutor as
Singapore with the political and social realities of a China
midway between Mao and reform.

Lee Kuan Yew would not be true to himself were he less
than frank about his analysis of the difference between the
individualism of the West and the priority for social cohesion
in countries such as his and in much of the rest of Asia. He
does not ask us to change our patterns, only to refrain from
imposing them on societies with different histories and
necessities.

These views have subjected Lee Kuan Yew to considerable
criticism in the West. Those of us who prize our values while
understanding the complexities of a new country in a different
culture are prepared to leave it to history to pass judgment
as to whether there were other options available to him. But,
for a generation, every American leader who has dealt with Lee

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Kuan Yew has benefited from the fact that, on international issues, he has identified the future of his country with the fate of the democracies. And he has done so not passively but by making a seminal contribution to the struggles of our time.

intellectual

published

knows that, on international issues, he has identified the
future of his country with the fate of the democracies. And
he has done so not passively but by making a seminal
contribution to the struggles of our time. There is no
statesman whose geopolitical views deserve more respect and
few to whose advice our country owes more.