Pol. Sci 1o7: The Miracle: The epic story of Asia’s quest for wealth (Schuman, M )

The miracle: The epic story of Asia’s quest for wealth
(Schuman, M
. [2010]. New York: HarperCollins)


MINISTER MENTOR'S ASIAN VALUES

By nature and experience, we were not enamored 
of theories. What we were interested in were 
 real solutions to our problems. 
— LEE KUAN YEW

Lee Kuan Yew was exhausted, but he still could not sleep. He tossed and turned, unable to calm his mind. Lee had good reason to worry. The next day—August 9, 1965—he would become the first prime minister of a brand-new country, the city-state of Singapore.

Lee took on this task with trepidation. Unlike Nehru, Park, or most other post-colonial leaders, who saw their freedom as an op¬portunity to achieve national greatness, Lee doubted the viability of tiny Singapore as an independent state. For the previous two years, Singapore, once a British colony, had been part of a federa¬tion with neighboring Malaysia. The partnership, Lee believed, was crucial to Singapore's survival. But the match proved ill-fated. His relations with the federal government in Kuala Lumpur grew so acrimonious that it became impossible for the union to continue. Furious last-ditch negotiations over the separation wore Lee down, and the weight of the responsibilities that lay ahead overwhelmed him. Throughout that night, he woke every hour or so, reached for his notepad, and added more entries onto his lengthy to-do list.

At 10 a.m., Singapore declared independence. Lee was too busy to read the proclamation before it was released to the world. Two hours later, Lee appeared at a press conference at Singapore's television station. He took a few questions and then recounted the dramatic events of the previous days. The end of the federation with Malaysia would be regarded as "a moment of anguish," Lee told the journalists. "All of my life I have believed in merger and the unity of these two territories," Lee continued. "It's a people connected by geography, economics, and ties of kinship." Then he paused. Tears welled in his eyes. "Would you mind if we stop for a while?" he plaintively asked. It took him twenty minutes to regain enough composure to continue the conference. "Among Chinese it is unbecoming to exhibit such a lack of manliness," Lee later wrote. "But I could not help myself."