First, it is quite staggering to see so many politicians across the world are lawyers by profession. The list includes Barrack Obama in USA to Jyoti Basu in India. How can we forget Gandhi's name? His political career started when he was fighting civil cases in South Africa. In last two hundred years, especially after flourish of democracy lawyers shaped our life more than ever before.
What is so special with lawyers?
Today I went to Istana to give Mr. Lee his last farewell.
Remembering LYK - 28th March 2015
Lee Kuan Yew's brilliant career gives us enough clues behind this extraordinary success of lawyers across continents. Mr. Lee is Singapore's first prime minister. He was exceptional leader and possibly only political leader worth studying in Asia within last 60 years. He changed face of Singapore in 4 decades. Also his pragmatic diplomacy made South Asia a much more peaceful country in last 30 years.
If you see list of modern city states almost each one is good economic success story. Malta, San Marino, Liechtenstein, Andorra, Luxembourg,Qatar; Brunei, Kuwait, and Bahrain. Singapore's name as economic success may not sound such an exception. However, underneath Singapore is absolutely different. Unlike Luxembourg it is not surrounded by rich neighbors. Unlike Qatar, it has no natural resource. Now, .... who remembers leaders of these city states .... but Mr. Lee continuously captures mind share.
Mr. Lee became first prime minister of independent Singapore in 1965 under bizarre circumstances. Singapore was thrown out of Malay federation. So Singapore became independent country by force of events. We need to go back to history to understand 1960 and 1970s. Lot of things were happening across South Asia. Malay and Chinese racial tensions, mistrust on communists, continuous political instability across south Asia countries made Mr. Lee's task extraordinarily difficult. Mr. Lee's success with this backdrop has no parallel in this region even if we look back 200 years of history.
It is not easy to understand from outside of Singapore, importance of racial harmony as backbone of every other success.
Harmony
I am living in Singapore for around 2 years. First thing I, or possibly any other careful observer notice is amazing racial harmony. It is hard to imagine how did Singapore manage to overcome more than 300-400 years of Malay-Chinese divisions, Hindu-Muslim divisions.
Singapore's growth was achieved on the backbone of meritocracy. Meritocracy can not be achieved unless you know how to work around racial or cultural differences.
Could you have done India
One Journalist asked Mr. Lee, "Could you have done India". Mr Lee's answer was candid "No" and he went on to add more "It's an established ancient civilization. Nehru and Gandhi had a chance ... but .. they could not break the habits." It is absolutely amazing to see his deep insight considering he was not in Indian. It is also fascinating to watch similarities between two lawyers turned politicians - Mohandas Gandhi and Lee Kuan Lee. Gandhi made removal of 'untouchable' as his key political agenda. Gandhi did not fail but he was also not successful to remove caste system from Indian fabric. Mr. Lee brilliantly connected back this failure with more than 5000 years of Indian heritage.
Analytic View
Mr. Lee went on to give his pragmatic view on India. Lee shrugs as we review all this geopolitical landscape. Without exchanging a word, we accept that China will probably hold to ‘peaceful rising’, in Beijing’s stilted mantra. Or that view could prove naïve and it might wake up one day and follow in the footsteps of any number of giants in history and start eating up tiny neighbors. This is where India might come in handy. It’s not hard to follow Lee’s crisp logic. “Who is the counterweight?
Japan cannot be the counterweight. It has not got enough bodies. Together Japan and America, yes, can be a counterweight, economically and physically, and militarily, but who is the X counterweight within Asia. Exactly here India comes into equation. In last two thousand years India and China continued to balance each other. It also kind of complement each other. History of Malacca can not be discussed without a discussion of India-China trade route.
Singapore's advance has no parallel in entire Asia and possibly only handful across globe in last fifty years. Economic development of this once port city was unparalleled. Singapore's GDP
However, it is not only about money. Singapore's progress in Health, Safety, Education again has no parallel in entire globe. Indians should feel shame and our sense of urgency should increase many fold after seeing the Singapore's improved life expectancy over fifty years. Life Expectancy In Singapore
It is hard to disagree with Mr. Lee. Chewing gum usage has incredible and often disproportionately high cost. Considering the difficulty it takes to remove chewing gum by hand it is actually an insult to the cleaners. Narendra Modi needs to learn from Mr. Lee if Swatch Bharat campaign has any realistic chance of success.
Foreign Policy
In 1950-60 there were two predominant themes in entire South-East and South Asia, communist and anti-communist. Malay, Indonesia domestic policies were heavily dominated by anti communist themes. Mr. Lee had strong anti-communist views. So Singapore went anti communist way. India under Nehru went for communist economy. That dragged back Indian economy at least 40 years. The price is enormous and every ordinary Indian is paying the price. LKY (Lee Kuan Yew known with his short form) was pragmatic, Machiavellian leader.
First 15 years of Singapore's independence was dominated by exceptionally pragmatic foreign policy. Once again we see dominance of lawyers in foreign policy.
Fundamental believe is to economic prosperity brings peace. This simple policy every one possibly understands and knows. However, time and time again political leaders in India ignored this simplicity. This discussion will take us to democracy. I do not think, any human being should pay democracy tax. Whole of west developed the economic base while they were democratic within their own country but at the same time sustainable economic growth was funded from colonies.
Before it gets lost into internet archiving, read Henry Kissinger's article Kissinger on Lee Kuan Yew.
"A visit by Lee to Washington was a kind of national event. A presidential conversation was nearly automatic; eminent members of the Cabinet and Congress would seek meetings. They did so not to hear of Singapore’s national problems; Lee rarely, if ever, lobbied policymakers for assistance. His theme was the indispensable U.S. contribution to the defense and growth of a peaceful world. His interlocutors attended not to be petitioned but to learn from one of the truly profound global thinkers of our time."
Kissinger's article has one more important sentence.
Had Singapore chosen the road of its critics, it might well have collapsed among its ethnic groups, as the example of Syria teaches today.
What is so special with lawyers?
Today I went to Istana to give Mr. Lee his last farewell.
Remembering LYK - 28th March 2015
Lee Kuan Yew's brilliant career gives us enough clues behind this extraordinary success of lawyers across continents. Mr. Lee is Singapore's first prime minister. He was exceptional leader and possibly only political leader worth studying in Asia within last 60 years. He changed face of Singapore in 4 decades. Also his pragmatic diplomacy made South Asia a much more peaceful country in last 30 years.
If you see list of modern city states almost each one is good economic success story. Malta, San Marino, Liechtenstein, Andorra, Luxembourg,Qatar; Brunei, Kuwait, and Bahrain. Singapore's name as economic success may not sound such an exception. However, underneath Singapore is absolutely different. Unlike Luxembourg it is not surrounded by rich neighbors. Unlike Qatar, it has no natural resource. Now, .... who remembers leaders of these city states .... but Mr. Lee continuously captures mind share.
Mr. Lee became first prime minister of independent Singapore in 1965 under bizarre circumstances. Singapore was thrown out of Malay federation. So Singapore became independent country by force of events. We need to go back to history to understand 1960 and 1970s. Lot of things were happening across South Asia. Malay and Chinese racial tensions, mistrust on communists, continuous political instability across south Asia countries made Mr. Lee's task extraordinarily difficult. Mr. Lee's success with this backdrop has no parallel in this region even if we look back 200 years of history.
It is not easy to understand from outside of Singapore, importance of racial harmony as backbone of every other success.
I am living in Singapore for around 2 years. First thing I, or possibly any other careful observer notice is amazing racial harmony. It is hard to imagine how did Singapore manage to overcome more than 300-400 years of Malay-Chinese divisions, Hindu-Muslim divisions.
Singapore's growth was achieved on the backbone of meritocracy. Meritocracy can not be achieved unless you know how to work around racial or cultural differences.
Could you have done India
One Journalist asked Mr. Lee, "Could you have done India". Mr Lee's answer was candid "No" and he went on to add more "It's an established ancient civilization. Nehru and Gandhi had a chance ... but .. they could not break the habits." It is absolutely amazing to see his deep insight considering he was not in Indian. It is also fascinating to watch similarities between two lawyers turned politicians - Mohandas Gandhi and Lee Kuan Lee. Gandhi made removal of 'untouchable' as his key political agenda. Gandhi did not fail but he was also not successful to remove caste system from Indian fabric. Mr. Lee brilliantly connected back this failure with more than 5000 years of Indian heritage.
Analytic View
Mr. Lee went on to give his pragmatic view on India. Lee shrugs as we review all this geopolitical landscape. Without exchanging a word, we accept that China will probably hold to ‘peaceful rising’, in Beijing’s stilted mantra. Or that view could prove naïve and it might wake up one day and follow in the footsteps of any number of giants in history and start eating up tiny neighbors. This is where India might come in handy. It’s not hard to follow Lee’s crisp logic. “Who is the counterweight?
Japan cannot be the counterweight. It has not got enough bodies. Together Japan and America, yes, can be a counterweight, economically and physically, and militarily, but who is the X counterweight within Asia. Exactly here India comes into equation. In last two thousand years India and China continued to balance each other. It also kind of complement each other. History of Malacca can not be discussed without a discussion of India-China trade route.
Singapore's advance has no parallel in entire Asia and possibly only handful across globe in last fifty years. Economic development of this once port city was unparalleled. Singapore's GDP
However, it is not only about money. Singapore's progress in Health, Safety, Education again has no parallel in entire globe. Indians should feel shame and our sense of urgency should increase many fold after seeing the Singapore's improved life expectancy over fifty years. Life Expectancy In Singapore
Lee created an efficient system of bureaucracy. Once you live in Singapore, you realize the beauty of this uncomplicated system. Best part of Singapore's system is simplicity. One of the most criticized Lee's move was ban of chewing gum. Whenever I traveled in Europe, I got remarks on chewing gum ban. Admittedly these remarks were all friendly humor rather than anything more sinister. What did Mr. Lee say about chewing gum ban? "We were called a nanny state," he told the BBC's Peter Day in 2000. "But the result is that we are today better behaved and we live in a more agreeable place than 30 years ago."
It is hard to disagree with Mr. Lee. Chewing gum usage has incredible and often disproportionately high cost. Considering the difficulty it takes to remove chewing gum by hand it is actually an insult to the cleaners. Narendra Modi needs to learn from Mr. Lee if Swatch Bharat campaign has any realistic chance of success.
Foreign Policy
In 1950-60 there were two predominant themes in entire South-East and South Asia, communist and anti-communist. Malay, Indonesia domestic policies were heavily dominated by anti communist themes. Mr. Lee had strong anti-communist views. So Singapore went anti communist way. India under Nehru went for communist economy. That dragged back Indian economy at least 40 years. The price is enormous and every ordinary Indian is paying the price. LKY (Lee Kuan Yew known with his short form) was pragmatic, Machiavellian leader.
First 15 years of Singapore's independence was dominated by exceptionally pragmatic foreign policy. Once again we see dominance of lawyers in foreign policy.
| S Rajaratnam, Lawyer | 9 August 1965 – 30 May 1980 |
| Suppiah Dhanabalan, Ecomonist | 1 June 1980 – 12 September 1988 |
| Wong Kan Seng | 13 September 1988 – 1 January 1994 |
| Shunmugam Jayakumar, Lawyer | 2 January 1994 – 12 August 2004 |
| George Yeo, Engineer | 13 August 2004 – 17 May 2011 |
| K. Shanmugam, Lawyer | 18 May 2011 – Present |
Before it gets lost into internet archiving, read Henry Kissinger's article Kissinger on Lee Kuan Yew.
Kissinger's article has one more important sentence.
Had Singapore chosen the road of its critics, it might well have collapsed among its ethnic groups, as the example of Syria teaches today.
I found this video in youtube. This video can be used for coaching in corporate environments.
Imagine the pressure on this young prime minister. His country is surrounded by much larger neighbors. Foreign affair environment is filled with only mis-trust. Malaysia, Indonesia had mistrust on Singapore - racial divisions used to rule foreign and domestic policies. USA attacked communist Vietnam, allowed USSR and China to play a role in Singapore's regions. Moving out of USA will immediately bring them into Lee's own backyard. Barrage of questions from NBC journalists on Lee's views of American bombing - it is hard to imagine today the "what if" Lee succumbed to pressure of journalists. Watch his conviction on China.
As a pragmatic man, Mr. Lee would not care whether he would be remembered fondly or not. It is our best interest to remember him for a long long time. He is most important political character in last 60 years. In stead of Mr. Nehru, if Indians had Mr.Lee after 1947 it would be different story. However, those nation look back into past stay in past. Hope Asian countries will follow Mr. Lee. Beyond the politicians, ordinary civilians across world will learn pragmatic, hard working, great analytic mind.
Imagine the pressure on this young prime minister. His country is surrounded by much larger neighbors. Foreign affair environment is filled with only mis-trust. Malaysia, Indonesia had mistrust on Singapore - racial divisions used to rule foreign and domestic policies. USA attacked communist Vietnam, allowed USSR and China to play a role in Singapore's regions. Moving out of USA will immediately bring them into Lee's own backyard. Barrage of questions from NBC journalists on Lee's views of American bombing - it is hard to imagine today the "what if" Lee succumbed to pressure of journalists. Watch his conviction on China.
Remembering Mr. Lee
As a pragmatic man, Mr. Lee would not care whether he would be remembered fondly or not. It is our best interest to remember him for a long long time. He is most important political character in last 60 years. In stead of Mr. Nehru, if Indians had Mr.Lee after 1947 it would be different story. However, those nation look back into past stay in past. Hope Asian countries will follow Mr. Lee. Beyond the politicians, ordinary civilians across world will learn pragmatic, hard working, great analytic mind.
No comments:
Post a Comment