“One of the twentieth century’s most accomplished practitioners of statecraft” -
Margaret Thatcher
Lee Kuan Yew, as Margaret Thatcher alludes to, was an accomplished statesman. One of the best of his time.
He ranks highly with the likes of Churchill, De Gaulle and Roosevelt as one of the most successful leaders of the twentieth century.
But he achieved this status almost innocuously, within the confines of a small island - Singapore.
What follows are insights from his fascinating philosophy on politics, statesmanship and human nature...
1. On why we should learn:
Why should we learn? Why shouldn’t we just give our mind a break?
Kuan Yew:
We learn “to get fresh ideas, to meet stimulating minds”, to be “enriched” with a “fresh burst of enthusiasm.”
Learning reignites the spirit within us that propels us to grow…
Kuan Yew knew this.
Here he is on problem solving:
“I discovered early in office that there were few problems confronting me in government that other governments had not met and solved. So I made a practice of finding out who else had met the problem we faced, how they tackled it, and how successful they had been.”
2. On developing national self-awareness
Kuan Yew acknowledged that Singapore’s youthful age made the country vulnerable.
Singapore, in his view, was not a “normal country”.
In response, Singapore had to become dangerous.
Kuan Yew:
“If we do not have a government and a people that differentiate themselves from the rest of the neighborhood….Singapore will cease to exist.”
In order for Singapore to survive, it needed to embrace its uniqueness.
3. On personal growth
Kuan Yew - Those who think they are polished are doomed, and this applies for statesman…
“Anybody who thinks he’s a statesman needs to see a psychiatrist.”
For us to grow, we need to aspire to grow.
For Kuan Yew, in a turbulent twentieth century, “the key to survival was improvisation.”
4. On taking advice
Kuan Lew, despite his eventual political prowess, was humble throughout.
He surrounded himself with talent, demonstrating necessary humility as a leader.
During his tenure as leader of Prime Minister of Singapore, his cabinet comprised of formidable individuals like Goh Keng Swee and S. Rajaratnam.
But Kuan Lew, instead of being insecure, was grateful for their presence:
“They were all older than I was and were never inhibited from telling me what they thought, especially when I was wrong. They helped me stay objective and balanced.”
5. On preparing for the future
Kuan Yew had a knack of predicting the future. His tenure in power was characterised by his bold predictions.
Napoleon once said to “let China sleep; for when she wakes, she will shake the world.”
Kuan Yew echoed this sentiment. He knew China would soon become a great power:
“Short of some major unforeseeable disaster which brings chaos or breaks up China once again into so many warlord fiefdoms, it is only a question of time before the Chinese people reorganize, re-educate, and train themselves to take full advantage of modern science and technology.”
China, for Kuan Yew, were not a “benign power”. They wanted to “succeed”.
6. On human nature
Kuan Yew on the “basics of human nature”:
“Certain basics about human nature do not change. Man needs a certain moral sense of right and wrong. There is such a thing called evil, and it is not the result of being a victim of society. You are just an evil man, prone to do evil things, and you have to be stopped from doing them.”
In light of this, he valued character and competence.
Without individuals with “good character, good mind” and “strong convictions”, countries like Singapore wouldn’t survive.
Countries depended on the characters that made them up.