The passing of an Asian political giant

Southeast Asia has lost a great leader in the person of former Senior Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew who died at the age of 91, yesterday dawn. Prime Minister Lee was the Father of Modern Day Singapore. Singapura was under a British Colonial rule when Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles established its port in the name of the United Kingdom, making Singapore an important trading center from India to Southeast Asia.

Then Japan invaded Singapore during World War II and after the war, it reverted back to British Rule… but a new age had dawn and with colonialism on the wane, Singapore was then included in the Malaysian Federation, which was created in July 9, 1963. Hence the “Sia” was included in the Malay name. However because of political differences and the presence of a large ethnic Chinese people, Malaysian Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman booted out Singapore from the Malaysian Federation in 1965 and it became an independent state. Perhaps it was Malaysia’s biggest mistake! 

Twenty years ago, I recall reading an article when Prime Minister Lee gave a talk at the Kennedy School of Government in Harvard sometime in 1967 and he was asked how Singapore was able to become a nation that it had become. Prime Minister Lee told his audience, “One of the first things he did was asked the people of Singapore to move out of their ghettos and become one nation called Singapore.” Apparently in those days, the Tamils and the Malays who were minorities in Singapore lived in walled ghettos and indeed; they all moved out of those ghettos and became Singaporeans.

Next Prime Minister Lee was asked that since they have become a nation, what would be their national language? Mr. Lee told the Singaporeans that if they followed the tenets of democracy and put this question into a referendum, then their national language would be Chinese. But he insisted that Singapore wasn’t a Chinese nation, so he told them that English would be the national language, including Mandarin, Tamil and Malay. Mr. Lee believed that English would be a leveling language and would unify Singapore as one nation and that’s exactly what happened in Singapore. They have become a real nation under one flag and all their languages considered as national languages of Singapore.

When his critics demanded from Mr. Lee, why is Singapore adopting the language of their colonizers? Mr. Lee promised the Singaporeans, “English is the language of business and I assure you that we will create a First world nation in this sea of 3rd world nations.” And this is exactly what happened to Singapore 10 years after he delivered that speech in Harvard. Singapore has truly become a great nation state and the envy of the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

There is no doubt that Mr. Lee was not a believer in Press Freedom. But the Singaporeans embraced this thought in exchange for making Singapore what it is today. Press Freedom at the cost of becoming a first world nation is what the Singaporeans bet on. Way back in 1986, for the first time in Cebu media history, my friends, then The Freeman editor Juanito Jabat, Radio commentator Emmanuel Rabacal, SunStar’s Godofredo Roperos and the late Boy Veloso made our first international trip out of Cebu to visit Philippine Ambassador to Singapore Frank Benedicto who was on his first stint as Ambassador and we were all in awe at what Singapore had become.

Amb. Benedicto then gave us a different tour of Singapore that only few people knew at that time, we dropped by a small shop where the father of Prime Minister Lee… Lee Chin Koon was fixing watches in his unassuming shop. While Mr. Lee’s grandfather was a wealthy Chinese businessman, their family lost their wealth during the Great Depression and they became poor. But despite his being the Prime Minister of Singapore, Mr. Lee’s father lived humbly, which is why he’s son is so loved in Singapore.

In 1990, Prime Minister Lee made history by voluntarily stepping down. Clearly he didn’t want to cling to on to power and he was succeeded by Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong. Today Lee Hsien Loong, the son of Lee Kuan Yew is Singapore’s Prime Minister. Some may say that this is Singapore’s political dynasty. But in truth, the majority of Singaporeans are educated people and know if their politicians are taking them for a ride, unlike Filipino politicians who promise the Sun and the Moon, but then help themselves to the nation’s coffers, which is why the Philippines is so poor!

With the passing of an Asian political giant like PM Lee Kuan Yew, many Filipinos expressed their sympathy and wish via the social media network, that hopefully someday the Philippines would have our own version of PM Lee Kuan Yew. All I can say is…dream on, but that would never happen with our current system of governance, where politicians can manipulate even the mainstream press with impunity. Change our system and who knows, a person like PM Lee Kuan Yew might just appear in our midst.

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