Big man, little country

Press, 13 December 1982, Page 24

Big man, little country

From ‘The Economist,’ London

The quality of leadership in Singapore is a problem that continually exercises the mind of the Prime Minister, Mr Lee Kuan Yew. Not his own leadership, of course; but he has no obvious successor and, even more important, there is a dearth of able people who have the determination to push this phenomenally successful country to further achievements. Mr Lee, an English-educated Chinese lawyer, came to power by ruthlessly deploying whatever political weapons were to hand during Singapore’s transition to independence in the late 19505. His People’s Action party was able to call on union muscle, student toughs and the support of communists whom he outwitted and later jailed for not renouncing their faith. An apprentice to power in Singapore today would find that such sources of help no longer exist. The unions are a branch' of government, the students battle only for better grades, and party opposition in Parliament is confined to one man. Mr Lee has no wish to return to adversary party politics, which he regards as a waste of energy, but he still believes that the ruling party can be a good training ground for national leadership. The annual meeting of the People’s Action party on November 15 approved a number of changes in the party constitution, the most important being a declaration that the party is a “national movement." Some observers see this as a move to a one-party State, but this has been denied by the party and it seems unlikely that Mr Lee proposes to destroy Singapore's electoral system, which allows non-com-munists to stand as opposition candidates. Rather, he wants to increase the prestige of his party. Some prestige is already attached to being a rank-and-file member, and the party is choosy about whom it admits to its officer ranks. Mr Lee expects the constitutional change tO’ enhance the status of the party and to lure in promising young talent: an official who performs brilliantly can expect government office. So far. however, the party

has produced few brilliant graduates. Mr Lee makes Ministerial changes with confusing rapidity in pursuance of his policy of “self-renewal” in government. The newcomers are largely technocrats with little political experience, and it is difficult to see how they will develop the person of old guards like Mr Rajaratnam, a deputy Prime Minister, who helped Mr Lee to found the party in 1954. Certainly nobody is elbowing Mr Lee himself at the moment, and at 58 he shows no sign of wanting to retire. But, after 23 years in power, there are times when he may be bored with his little country.

Singapore is sometimes compared to the ' city state of Athens, or to Britain in its expansionist days. But Athens and Britain had empires to play with. Being clever with computer chips is not the same. Mr Lee was an unusually enthusiastic supporter of Britain's Falklands campaign. He called it "a great feat of arms." and the British "a great people" with "ancient memories.” Mr Lee has the presence to run a super-Power, but he would probably -happily settle for a job like Mrs Thatcher’s.