CHAPTER 1 : GOING IT ALONE

LKY in this chapter re-echoed the basic facts and events that shaped his course of actions most of which happened during the formative years of Singapore as a nation. LKY was deluded to the fact that while “there are books to teach you how to build a house, how to repair engines , how to write a book, he had not seen a book on how to build a nation out of a desperate collection of immigrants from China, British India and the Dutch East Indies, or how to make a living for its people when the former economic role as the entrepôt of the region is becoming defunct.”   Entrepôt also referred to as a transshipment port is a port, city, or trading post where merchandise may be imported, stored or traded, usually to be exported again without incurring liability for duty. (Wikipedia)

Those course of events and facts as enumerated by LKY are as follows:

1963. LKY unexpectedly became the Prime Minister of Singapore in 1965 at the age of 42 a position he least prepared for after the sudden separation of Singapore from the Federation of Malaysia which it had joined in 1963.
1964. The position of Prime Minster of Singapore thus conferred on him the enormous responsibility for the lives of Singapore’s 2 million people.

iii. Singapore which was literally expelled from Malaysia and in LKY’s words “we were  asked to go its own way with no signpost to the next destination”.  

1. LKY realized the peculiarities or rather limitations of Singapore “not being a natural country but man-made, a trading post developed by the British into a nodal post in their Worldwide maritime empire.” These limitations posed tremendous odds to Singapore and gave it an improbable chance of survival. This glaring situation was echoed by foreign press and predicted doom which in his (LKY) words “added to my gloom” of the task to steer the affairs of the new nation. Simply put the foreign press did not perceive Singapore as a viable independent country.
2. LKY admitted that while “he shared these fears did not express them : My duty was to give the people hope, not demoralize them”

LKY identified and analyzed the major areas of concern for Singapore to survive and be viable

1. Security of the future of Singapore. – The British government led by the Labour Party was contemplating withdrawal of its military bases in Singapore because it needed money for welfare and other vote wining program in Britain. This would have made Singapore vulnerable to attack from its hostile neighbours. The United States which could be approached as alternative was deeply mired in the guerilla war in Vietnam, which made America to be unpopular with African and Asian governments and even their European allies. This situation made America politically unsuitable to have the Americans take over the role of the British. LKY also considered Australia and New Zealand and concluded that the two on their own would not be credible guarantors. Singapore had no army. The two battalions were under the command of a Malaysian brigadier whose loyalty could be not be ascertained. The question was “how were we going to build up some defense forces quickly however rudimentary?”
2. Personal Security of Lee Kuan Yew.- LKY had “become a number one hate object in the Malaysian Malay-language newspapers and radio and television broadcast circulating and receivable in Singapore”. His personal security was re-evaluated and reinforced including that of his family.
3. Getting international recognition for Singapore- Singapore urgently needed international recognition of its independence including the membership of the United Nations.
4. Keeping law and order– It was expedient that law and order (internal security) was a “pressing need” among the nationalities that made up Singapore. Specifically, LKY wrote that the “pro-UMNO Malays would run amok when they realized that they had been abandoned by the Malaysian government and were once again a minority”. The police and the two battalions were mostly Malays from Malay who are the majority nationalities in Malaysia.
5. LKY third and biggest headache besides security and international recognition was the economy. In his words “how to make a living for the people.” Malaysia wanted Singapore port bypassed so that it can deal directly with all their trading partners, a role that was played by Singapore entrepôt. Unemployment was alarming at 14 percent and rising. The warehouses that were once filled with imports from Malaysia and Indonesia for processing and grading would no longer be there. In order to confront this situation, LKY wrote “We had to create a new kind of economy, try new methods and schemes never tried before anywhere else in the world, because there was no other country like Singapore“

LKY pondered on these problems, the limited options available and resolved that ” we had to make extraordinary efforts to become tightly knit, rugged and adaptable people who could do things better and cheaper than our neighbours, because they wanted to bypass us and render obsolete our role as entrepôt and middleman for the trade of the region. We had to be different.”

Having identified these teething problems, LKY set about solving them in a very unique manner.

• LKY carefully appointed selected individuals with track records as Foreign Minister and Defense Minister taking into consideration their natural flair for those positions. He wrote “I chose Raja as Foreign Minister…. no rabid radical. Friendly, urbane, sincere and had the right balance between standing up for principles and the need for diplomatic compromise”. Similar considerations were made to appoint the Defense Minister/ Home  Affairs and Finance Minister.
• He believed in winning the trust and confidence of the people which he identified as their greatest asset to confront the problem. LKY and his team demonstrated this by standing up for the people and defend their interest when the central government in Malaysia ruled.
• Careful and prudent management of the few assets the country had.
• Ensuring fair and even-handed policy to get the divided races to live peacefully together.
• The need to quickly build an army to defend the country with the imminent withdrawal of British forces in Singapore. (To be discussed in next chapter.)

It is worthy of mention that while racing against time to address these “daunting” problems, a coup was reported in Indonesia the night of 30 September, 1965. Pro-communist officers who had killed six Indonesian generals.  Bloodbath ensued as General Suharto moved to quell the  coup. LKY wrote that the uncertainties that followed  “deepened my concern”, as he concluded the chapter.

LESSONS TO BE LEARNT FROM THIS CHAPTER 1

LESSONS TO BE LEARNT FROM THIS CHAPTER 1

LESSONS TO BE LEARNT FROM THIS CHAPTER 1

1. Leadership comes with great responsibilities.
2. Leaders in governing the nation, state,  local government or even community must identify the peculiarities of the nation, state as the case maybe  and come up with the  weaknesses, strength, opportunities and threats facing it. It is only then they can come up with people’s and development oriented policies.
3. Trust and confidence of the people are assets to the leaders and should not be toyed with
4. Leaders must be diligent in appointing aides- Ministers, ambassadors, heads of agencies to deliver the goods.
5.  Believing in yourself as leaders and believe also in the people.  When leaders believe in foreigners , the country and its people will be subjugated foreigners. Total dependence on foreigners will distract the vision and pursuit of the leadership.
6. Operate even-handed policy as a panacea to making the people live peacefully together and from there build a nation.
7. Pursue the economic independence of your people as a panacea to making them prosperous and happy.

Notes to be taken

i. Many words and sentences were taken from the book in order to clearly communicate what authors are saying. As much possible most of the borrowed words and sentences are in italics and quotes.

Comments and contributions are welcomed.  Chapter 2- Building an Army from Scratch is next in our discussion.