[Global News] In China and West, contrasting views on legacy of Singapore

[lioneatszebra]

In China and West, contrasting views on legacy of Singapore's patriarch
From The Washington Post

Tributes poured in Monday for the late founder of modern Singapore and the enormous influence he had on Asia and the world. But the debate over Lee Kuan Yew's legacy, and the lessons from his paternalistic model of governance, also continued to simmer.

Lee, Singapore's first prime minister and its ruler for 31 years, built his city-state into a global financial and trade center — and one of the world's richest nations — with little corruption, safe streets, good schools and low tax rates.

But he did so while crushing dissent and muzzling the press, while jailing some political rivals without trial for decades.

Such was Singapore success that Lee's influence was felt far beyond his tiny island state. His autocratic, technocratic and development-focused approach was emulated across South East Asia. And the idea of an economically free and prosperous nation under an authoritarian rule also helped inspire China's Communist Party and its opening to the world under Deng Xiaoping.

But his legacy of micromanagement — imposing both his vision and whims — now could leave Singapore struggling for new political footing at a time when China is casting a wider shadow over the region and rights issues increasingly become intertwined with Western foreign policy.

In China, President Xi Jinping called Lee "an old friend of the Chinese people" and said he was "widely respected by the international community as a strategist and a statesman." As of Monday afternoon, four of China's seven standing committee members — its highest-ranked party officials — had sent condolences.

Lee visited China 33 times since his first trip in 1976, meeting all five generations of Chinese leaders from Mao Zedong to current President Xi.

He described Deng as one of the most impressive leaders he had met; defended the bloody suppression of pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square in 1989 as necessary to maintain stability, and he also compared Xi Jinping to South African President Nelson Mandela.

Chinese state media chose to celebrate his refusal to bow to Western democratic ideals, arguing this provided an alternative, Asian model of governance.

"Neither slander from the foreign media, nor criticism from the West, has ever shaken Lee Kuan Yew's governing ideals and values," state news agency Xinhua wrote. "He thought the U.S. and Europe would not succeed in imposing their so-called human rights and democratic standards onto the world. It is exactly thanks to his firm belief and long implementation of Asian values, that he could establish an Asian 'micro power' with good order, a prosperous economy and a rich culture."

But China's reading of Lee's legacy has always been selective, and the former Singaporean leader's personal attitude towards China were always more complicated than Xi and Xinhua wanted to admit.

On the one hand, Lee foretold the rise of modern Chinese might and praised China for staying away from Western influence and seeking its own path. On the other hand, Lee also warned against the threat a powerful China could pose to its neighbors and stressed the necessity of U.S involvement in Asia as a counterweight of sorts.

Singapore under Lee cooperated militarily with Taiwan, to Beijing's intense annoyance, and was the last South East Asia nation to establish diplomatic relations with China in 1990. Lee, who was sometimes known by his initials LKY, also carved out a Singaporean identity distinct from the Chinese heritage of most of its citizens, with English the main language of instruction in primary and middle schools.

Just as fundamentally, Lee established a very different version of authoritarian rule than China. Singapore's model stresses an independent judiciary, a corruption-free government and genuine rule of law under a British-influenced system. In China, the Communist Party remains fully in control of the judiciary, and corruption is extremely widespread, despite a campaign to stamp it out under Xi.

"China has been learning from the economic and social policies of Singapore, but they will not learn Singapore's political system," said Willy Wo-lap Lam, an adjunct professor of history at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. "The difference between China and Singapore is still huge in terms of rule of law."

Several commentators said the challenge for Singapore now was to continue to move away from dependence on a single ruler who called all the shots, toward a more consensus-based and democratic model of governance — a process that has already begun.

Ernest Bower at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said Lee was one of Asia's "great men" — including Indonesia's Suharto and Malaysia's Mahathir Mohamad — who centralized power and drove economic development, spawning a large, fast growing and increasingly confident middle class.

But the very rise of that middle class, Bower wrote, "will challenge the paternalistic, top-down and centrally controlled governance models" Lee and his contemporaries championed.

That could force their successors to move away from dependence on a single vision and towards a consensus-based system "where competing parties and leaders argue to convince a nation their ideas are best."

But the very rise of that middle class, Bower wrote, "will challenge the paternalistic, top-down and centrally controlled governance models" Lee and his contemporaries championed.

That could force their successors to move away from dependence on a single vision and towards a consensus-based system "where competing parties and leaders argue to convince a nation their ideas are best."