Singapore

Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew. Photo Credit: USGov-Military, Wikipedia Commons.

By Eurasia Review

Lee Kuan Yew adopted a “poisonous shrimp” policy to national defense and blazed a trail for small

1, ANALYSIS, BUSINESS, CHINA, SINGAPORE, SOCIAL ISSUES

LEE KUAN YEW AND THE SURVIVAL OF MICRO STATES – ANALYSIS MARCH 31, 2015 | EURASIA REVIEW | LEAVE A COMMENT

Wednesday, April 1st, 2015

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countries in international stage.

By Dr. Chunjuan Nancy Wei*

A Chinese proverb vividly captures the Darwinist

world described by realists, where great powers

have an advantage in surviving fierce in-

ternational competition. It goes: “the big fish eat

small fish and the small fish eat shrimps.” For micro

states that fear being overrun by larger nations,

Singapore’s founding father may have blazed a

survival trail.

Lee Kuan Yew was a pathfinder statesman. He ruled one of the smallest countries in the world, a na-

tion with a population of 5 million ensconced in a small territory just three times larger than Wash-

ington, DC. The former British outpost lacked almost all meaningful resources—not even water. It

was not Lee’s decision to go independent; however, being poor and racially divided, his city-state was

turfed out by Malaya in 1965 after a bitter ethnic riot.

Yet, despite such ominous challenges, Lee’s visionary leadership transformed his Southeast Asian

country in a rags-to-riches legend. There, national income and a life expectancy are higher than in the

United States. Singapore’s GDP per capita (measured in purchasing power parity) now stands twice

larger than its colonial master, the Great Britain—despite Singapore’s myriad of adversities. In the in-

terest of self-preservation, Lee not only cured racial divisions, but he also helped unite his region. He

proved instrumental in founding a vital regional institution, the Association of Southeast Asian Na-

tions (ASEAN), by mending fences with Malaysia and Indonesia. He played a constructive role, at the

1983 Commonwealth Summit, in saving Caribbean leadership from recrimination and humiliation

over their support of the U.S. invading Grenada. The former prime minister walked an unusual

tightrope between Taiwan and Mainland China by hosting, in the 1990s, the two side’s first face-to-

face meetings in nearly half a century. Upon retirement, Lee continued to serve as senior minister and

eventually minister mentor, shuttling between global giants to provide insights and advice. At his

death, prominent world leaders from Barack Obama to Xi Jinping paid their tribute. Two-dozen

states sent representatives to attend his funeral, with tens of thousands of citizens lining the streets,

despite torrential rain.

What did Singapore do right that other countries might emulate? Micro nations around the world

might consider seven philosophical points derived from the example provided by the Lion City’s suc-

cessful leap from the Third World to the First.

No. 1: Thou shouldst be a realist. Since time immemorial small countries have always been vulnera-

ble in an anarchic world. As Lee said, inequality is a fact of life. Understand one’s own vulnerability,

such as Singapore’s lack of water. Make long-term plans. Singapore signed a 100-year water agree-

ment with Malaysia, but it does not rely solely on that arrangement. Instead, it invested heavily in

achieving water independence.

No. 2: Study thee changes therein of power dynamics, but makest not enemies. In a confrontational

bi-polar world (that is, during the Cold War), Lee and his ministers determined that Singapore could

little afford to make enemies with either the Americans or the Soviets. In 1966, barely a year after in-

dependence, Lee analyzed global realpolitik in his speech “Big and Small Fishes in Asian Waters.”

When the British troops were withdrawn, Singapore adopted a pro-Western non-alignment policy. A

key theme of anti-communism indirectly cemented his nation’s strategic relationship with Washing-

ton through ASEAN, where American treaty allies, the Philippines and Thailand, are also members.

In a post-Soviet unipolar world where the U.S. enjoys unmatched power in security and economy, Sin-

gapore permits U.S. ships to use its naval base for a fee of millions, and separately pursues economic

growth worth billions. Both measures bring revenue—large, and much larger. Money brings power.

Pragmatism affirms that commerce trumps ideology. While Singapore does enjoy business relations

with China, it urges the United States to remain in the region. In 2011, Lee advised that smaller coun-

tries ought constantly to “be alert to whichever forces are at work.” He added, “When the forces are

in your favor, use it, take the wind and sail with it. And if it is against you, bring your sails down, and

wait for the wind to pass.”

No. 3: Rely on thyself. Singapore has world-class armed forces. The twin pillars of Singapore’s de-

fense policy remain deterrence and diplomacy. As leader of a Chinese enclave in a Muslim-concen-

trated Malay peninsula, Lee felt persistent insecurity for his country. He initially advocated a “poiso-

nous shrimp” strategy in case bigger fish, be they regional or global, might attempt to devour his

nascent city-state. In the 1980s, he upgraded this strategy to porcupine-style deterrence. Singapore

tends to invest heavily on defense, which continues even after Lee’s 2011 retirement. The Lion City,

ever cautious of big fish, did not sign a formal alliance treaty with the United States for fear of losing

strategic autonomy.

No. 4: Grow thy economy. Democratic or authoritarian, Lee believed a government serves best by

forging consensus on key economic policies and by creating jobs. Speaking in 2005 at the Jawaharlal

Nehru Memorial lecture in New Delhi, Lee shared his evolved growth strategy: “I had been influenced

by the ideas of the British Fabian society. But I soon realized that before distributing the pie I had first

to bake it. So I departed from welfarism because it sapped a people’s self-reliance and their desire to

excel and succeed. I also abandoned the model of industrialization through import substitution.

When most of the Third World was deeply suspicious of exploitation by western MNCs (multination-

al corporations), Singapore invited them in. They helped us grow, brought in technology and know-

how, and raised productivity levels faster than any alternative strategy could.” Since the 1980s, even

China has sent batches of officials to learn from the city-state.

No. 5: Deviseth a political system based on thine own circumstance. Democracy, while best for the

United States and Great Britain, may not be viable for Singapore, at least initially. In a 2010 interview,

Lee articulated a self-evident but much-ignored phenomenon related to developing countries that

have adopted western-style democracy. That is, in order to win elections, politicians have every in-

centive to play up racial politics. That would be true in Singapore where Chinese represent three

quarters of the population. He said “the easiest way to get majority vote is vote for me, we’re Chi-

nese, they’re Indians, (and) they’re Malays.” The result of that approach would be abundantly clear:

“Our society will be ripped apart. If you do not have a cohesive society, you cannot make progress.”

Worse, neighboring powers could have taken this division as pretext for invasion, citing that their mi-

nority groups were unfairly treated. Should that have occurred (as in Ukraine), Singapore would have

been wiped off the map. This represents one reason why Singapore changed its “poisonous shrimp”

thinking to a more aggressive “porcupine” strategy. As a long time friend to Mr. Lee, Henry Kissinger

agreed: “Had Singapore chosen the road of its critics, it might well have collapsed among its ethnic

groups, as the example of Syria teaches today.”

No. 6: Thou shalt craft wise social policies and implement them with ruthlessness. Aiming toward

developing a non-communist social democracy, but with few resources, Lee focused on science and

education to allure multinationals to Singapore. To prevent communism from infesting his society, he

imposed heavy penalties for racial discrimination, and improved health and public housing. Kishore

Mahbubani, former Singaporean diplomat and a noted academic, pointed out that of the five decolo-

nized multi-racial states by the British, Singapore is the only one that managed to avoid racial discord.

Lee’s dual language policy encouraged citizens to be bilingual—with English for all and one of the

three ethnic languages remaining to choose from. This achieved great efficiency in communication.

The bilingualism also provided an advantage for his population in doing business: commerce with

neighbors (Malaysia) and commerce with the world’s largest markets—the United States, China, and

India. Further example of Lee’s far-sightedness: Adoption of simplified Chinese script as standard for

his dialect-speaking Chinese population, a move still ahead of Taiwan and others.

No. 7 and last: Be ye honest in all things. Singaporeans view Lee’s unassuming Oxley Road home as a

testament to his integrity, and a symbol of his resolve to achieve a corruption-free nation. Ethical and

efficient governance represents one of the most difficult challenges for all nations. Singapore’s expe-

rience provides rich lessons for all states—big and small. Perhaps a phrase from the Confucian

Analects could well summarize the Singaporean model: “Virtue never dwells in solitude, it will always

attract neighbors.”

So, you are a Micro State and you wish to know more? For a Singaporean take on Lee Kuan Yew’s

legacy, it is worth consulting Kishore Mahbubani’s recent speech in Dili, East Timor, where he distills

ten lessons based on his own not inconsiderable experience.

*Dr. Chunjuan Nancy Wei, currently a Fulbright Scholar in Taiwan, teaches in the M.A. East Asian & Pacific

Rim Studies and the B.A. International Political Economy & Diplomacy programs at the University of Bridge-

port in Connecticut. She has published on the South China Sea disputes, U.S.-China relations, East Asian po-

litical economy, and cross-Taiwan Strait politics in such journals as the Harvard Asia Quarterly, Yale Journal

of International Affairs, the Southeast Review of Asian Studies, and The Diplomat.

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