The True Story of Lee Kuan Yew’s Singapore

There is no authoritarian in modern history as well regarded as Lee Kuan Yew among the Western elite. Henry Kissinger called Lee “one of the asymmetries of history.” Margaret Thatcher once remarked that Lee was “never wrong.” Out west, Netflix executives study Lee’s life in their leadership course. On the East Coast, Harvard Kennedy School pores over the “Grand Master’s insights.”

The Western student of international politics knows to nod approvingly when Lee’s name is mentioned. Frustrated by the sludge of partisan politics in his own country, he sees in Lee’s legacy a kind of exotic escape. If asked, he remarks sagely: Singapore is proof of what enlightened authoritarianism can achieve.

Click here to keep reading. Haonan Li and Victor Yaw write for Palladium.