Wanted - a Lee Kuan Yew
Published: September 4, 2011
S. Tariq
There comes a time in the life of nations that one yearns to see a
leader who can, through personal example and ruthless enforcement of
law and justice, lead the country out of the morass of corruption,
ineptitude and poverty. Great misfortune befell us when Muhammad Ali
Jinnah - the one person, who could do this - left this world just a
year after our independence.
Professors and pundits of political science bear the view that
autocracy and not democracy is an ideal form of good government. They,
however, hasten to qualify this statement with the words, "…but where
does one find a benign autocrat?" There are, however, examples in
history where such autocrats did emerge and lead their countries to
greatness and prosperity. Singapore and its first Prime Minister Dr
Lee Kuan Yew is one such case.
Born on September 16, 1923, Lee remained Prime Minister for three
decades before he voluntarily stepped down to enable a stable
leadership renewal. He led his People's Action Party (PAP) to eight
victories from 1959 to 1990, oversaw the separation of Singapore from
Malaysia in 1965, and its subsequent transformation from a relatively
underdeveloped colony with no natural resources into an Asian Tiger.
Such was the respect commanded by Dr Lee that the country's second
Prime Minister, Goh Chok Tong, appointed him as Senior Minister in
1990. In 2004, Singapore's founding father was given the advisory
portfolio of Minister Mentor by his son, Lee Hsien Loong, when the
latter became the nation's third Prime Minister in August 2004. On May
14, 2011, Lee announced his retirement from the Cabinet to make way
for new leadership.
On assuming his first office, Lee realised that Singapore did not have
a national culture that could be assimilated by immigrants. He,
therefore, embarked on creating a Singaporean Identity that heavily
recognised racial individuality within the ambit of multiculturalism.
He stressed the importance of maintaining religious tolerance and
racial harmony, and used the law to counter any threat leading to
ethnic and religious violence.
Like Pakistan, Lee Kuan Yew had three issues confronting him -
national security, economy and social degradation. He came to grips
with the first one by quickly declaring a policy of non-alignment,
while building up his armed forces. He took on political corruption by
empowering the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (something what
our own NAB should have been) to arrest, search, summon witnesses,
investigate bank accounts and income tax returns of suspected persons
and their families.
Dr Lee believed that if the ministers were well paid, they would stay
away from corrupt practices. To that end, he brought the salaries of
ministers, judges and senior civil servants at par with top
professionals in the private sector. He argued that by doing this he
would be able to recruit and retain talent to serve in the public
sector.
Concerned about Singapore's growing population and the resultant
overburdening of economy, Lee implemented a 'stop at two' family
planning campaign, which encouraged couples to undergo sterilisation
after two offspring. Children born after the first two were given
lower priorities in education and their parents fewer economic
rebates. The result was a sharp fall in birth rate and a rise in per
capita income to the extent that by the late 1990s, the scheme was
discontinued.
In another revolutionary move, Lee promulgated a law that encouraged
Singapore males to choose highly educated wives. He introduced a
Graduate Mother's Scheme that offered incentives such as tax rebates,
schooling and housing priorities for graduate mothers.
One of Dr Lee's abiding beliefs had been the effectiveness of corporal
punishment in the form of caning. Singapore had inherited judicial
corporal punishment for personal violence from the days of colonial
rule, but the country's founding father expanded its scope to a wide
range of crimes, including vandalism.
This then is the story of what is now a leading, happy and prosperous
nation in the world. It is so because an autocrat, with a dream, ruled
it without fear of domestic and international criticism with only one
aim in mind - to root out corruption, inculcate discipline and put
into place a system of good government that could deliver to the
people.
What Pakistan needs is just such a person. Perhaps, he is hidden away
somewhere in the obscure ranks of some political party - if he is
there then let him come forward and lead this nation to glory.
The writer is a freelance columnist.
