Shanghaiist: Opinionist: Lee Kuan Yew on China

sonyactivision

Tue, 20 May 2008 00:57:37 +0800

It's not fascism, which was always embedded with a strange, modernizing anonymity that eschewed cultural and interpersonal relations. But it is control. And it's easy to proclaim Singapore's great success at business via this model of control. But Singapore is under pressure because China is pushing its economy aside. Now Singaporeans have to look inside for new ways to exist in a world where their model is failing. Now their buzzword is "creativity". China is progressing so quickly that this old control-freak's ideas are basically roadkill. What China becomes is still a bit unclear but it will not be Singapore.

Andy Best

Sun, 11 May 2008 22:58:15 +0800

Bamboos Lee Kuan Yew's comments in the article are condoning facism. His opinions are ugly and my comment is about his comment. I assume there is a language problem on your part as it's very clear. I dislike all countries because I dislike the whole country system that we have in the world at the moment. I'm going to get it whereever I go. I am anti-nationalism and anti-patriotism. And, judging by your comments on the site in general, anti-you ;)

richardlee

Sun, 11 May 2008 11:07:41 +0800

no. Beijing Olypic games will be remembered like 1964 Tokyo games, whether people here like it or not. @Stinky mutton: I am glad to here what you said. I feel sorry for those migrant workers. They deserve better treatment from our society. it is a heavy topic

nanheyangrouchuan

Sun, 11 May 2008 02:26:09 +0800

Beijing doesn't get nearly the traffic that any one London area airport does. A notable difference when comparing the problems with Heathrow's new terminal with Beijing's "wonder". And the speed of construction is not due to some miracle of Chinese engineering, the Chinese didn't design crap, at best the Chinese "engineers" are nothing more than shift managers and schedulers on these large projects. We all know who made speedy construction possible, that faceless, nameless army of underpaid (if paid at all), 15 hour a day laborers who won't even receive a dinner with real meat in it as a bonus. As the site is cleaned up, they are probably being ferried out of Beijing so as not to give the impression of "backwardness" in front of foreign eyes. bad, lying China.

bamboos

Sat, 10 May 2008 21:54:31 +0800

Dear Andy Best, Are you horrified of your staying in China? if not, pls do NOT make IRRESPONSIBLE comparison.THANKS.

Andy Best

Sat, 10 May 2008 20:20:28 +0800

They will have rehearsals and rehearsals, soft openings and when the great day comes, it will breeze through and they will come back and say `God, what discipline, organization, mobilization of the population can do.' Yes! Let's all big up facism. And allegedly it's ok because 'The West' have done it too, we just need to see through the media presentation of events. Viva 1936!

Joon

Sat, 10 May 2008 20:15:11 +0800

I normally wouldn't quibble, but since Lee corrects the interviewer several times (in the interest of accuracy, presumably), he gets something wrong here about Terminal 3. He says Chinese engineers were involved, but it was engineered by Arup. Chinese contractors indeed built it. Here's an interview with Arup on the engineering process: http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/feb2008/id20080227_097781.htm

yu888

Sat, 10 May 2008 18:07:52 +0800

Regardless of whether one LIKES the means Lee has brought Singapore from a cast-off trouble making former colonial state from Malaysia to one of the Asian Tigers, his methodology, a blend of Asian and Western cultural understanding, truly is likely the closest thing China can learn from to bring this nation of 1.3 billion into the first world and into the international arena on a more level playing field. Given the current maturity of this society, regardless of how good western styled democracy and freedoms are to developed countries with western culture, it may be that it will need to endure many more years of an iron grip leadership to take China to the next level. Probably by then, the democracy-lead first world and developed countries will have their hands full with widening gaps of the haves and have-nots as well, or at best, slumping economies due to slower productivity and shifts to service based industries. China will undoubtedly continue to make many mistakes many developed countries have made in history, but they will also skip many of those steps by leapfrogging certain technologies and taking advantage of newer hi-tech solutions, to continue their growth. I just hope the speedbumps along the way do not derail them like a bad traintrack over the frozen tundra on the way to Lhasa. But ultimately, I believe China will continue to grow until her people can catch up to adjust to the new world.

vladivostok

Sat, 10 May 2008 17:44:26 +0800

He is Lee, not "Yew". Gosh.

Alec

Sat, 10 May 2008 15:58:42 +0800

I always find it funny that Singapore is held up as a model China should and can emulate. You cannot run a nation of 1.3 billion people, hundreds of millions of which are desperately poor, the same way as you run a tiny, extremely rich city-state that is gifted by perhaps the most strategic location on Earth. Yew is the old Asian model, just like China, but I would not use adjectives like 'order, consistency' to describe it. Tens of thousands of protests occur in China every year and are growing very quickly, over serious issues like worker rights, pollution, and local corruption. The model China (and Yew) promulgate is: deliver to the elites in their country, and maintain an iron grip on security, and reap the benefits of ruling a culture that has for thousands of years prized obedience and hard work. The difference between this modern incarnation of Asian governance and the imperial model of a hundred years ago isn't philosophically very far. Both regimes have an aversion to truth. (I believe Yew called these 'poisonous barbs'). I don't think any great nation can succeed when information and truth is curtailed to the degree it has been in China. Churning out tens of thousands of scientists and engineers a year but still all major innovations come from the West and similar countries. China will never be a first-rate power with the present government and their imposed culture, always a copier and a follower and a low-end maker of goods for other richer societies. Sure, they can have some success with their current model, but they will never reach their full potential. And the more I read about what goes on here the more I feel like the whole house of cards will come down before China can have its own Enlightenment. Pollution, disease, income disparity, the pressures of ruling the world's last colonial empire, etc etc.

vladivostok

Sat, 10 May 2008 13:56:14 +0800

and what Confucian culture was he trying to explain here?

richardlee

Sat, 10 May 2008 13:26:58 +0800

He is a very insightful observer. Many years ago he said:Don't underestimate Chinese. China will achieve whatever the four Asian little dragons have achieved. But it is kind of weird to see him explaining Confucius culture in English, not in Chinese.