Ah yes, Lee Kuan Yew - the original democratically elected 'authoritarian' leader, the first to discomfit the modern globalists.
My favorite LKY moment was the Michael Fay affair back in 1994. A dirtbag American teenager stole road signs and allegedly vandalized a bunch of vehicles in Singapore, and was sentenced to be caned, as well as spending several months in prison: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caning_of_Michael_Fay
Lee at that time wasn't *technically* running the country, he was senior minister, which he described as an 'advisory' role. But when all the predictable western libtards started clutching their pearls and mewling about the horrors of corporal punishment (incl US president Bill Clinton), Lee went on TV, saying 'the US was neither safe nor peaceful because it did not dare to restrain or punish those who did wrong, adding, "If you like it this way, that is your problem. But, that is not the path we choose." '
Whoever was in charge reduced the sentence from 6 to 4 cane strokes. It's safe to say that Lee wouldn't have bowed to pressure, had he not already stepped aside.
The part that today's western globofascists don't understand is 'the path we choose.' The people of Belarus, Nicaragua, Afghanistan and Singapore are apparently supposed to run their affairs exactly as the failed states of western Europe do.
So, sounds like you're angry or resentful about it--maybe in the sense of "we were a big part of the problem here because there was an evil thing we could have gotten rid of earlier and most folks are late to the party," that is what I'm extracting--and if you're right (I'm inclined to assume so for now) I think I need to read some more stuff. I genuinely don't know enough to check, but the post and your comment tell me that I can get some valuable insights if I dig into this a little. While I'm not emotional about the subject--it's not personal to me and I don't know much about it--if the intention of the original Yuri post was to pique interest for people who don't know any better, that was a resounding success. The insight I gleaned from this comment and the 1994 example provides a great deal of context, and that was a well-crafted reply. While I'm not going to read the LA Times or Wikipedia if I can possibly avoid that, I'll start with your example and look around a bit to start. Thanks. Really.
We traveled through Singapore in 1973 and spent ~5 days there before boarding the train through Malaysia to Bangkok. I loved it. Contrary to all other Asian cities, Singapore was clean, beautiful, clean, ancient - trending modern, and CLEAN. I recall that spitting outdoors was outlawed and came with severe penalties since spitting was considered a primary vector for transmission of tuberculosis. I think what I loved most was the night market. Huge and filled with hundreds of street vendors offering the greatest variety of food I've ever seen. I hope that is still a tradition there. Of course, it's been 50 years, but of all the cities of Asia I've traveled through, Singapore has always been the one place I'd like to return to.
I remember some time back a young Australian man caught trying to bring drugs in Singapore, arrested, tried, give the death sentence. Western media and governments split their knicker elastic, the Australian government objected strongly and begged for clemency. A senior Singaporean Minister said 'We don't need lessons in law and order from Australia or any other countries where thousands of lives are lost or ruined by drugs. Everyone in Asia, and Australia knows we have the death penalty for dealing in drugs, this young man knew exactly what he was doing'. He was hung the following Friday. That day the world learned AGAIN that the application of laws MATTERS. How many hundreds or thousands of lives were saved by Singapore's no-nonsense laws? That is EXACTLY how to deal with the drugs menace. Look at the utter sh*tshow that is the streets of American cities. KY was a great GREAT man and advanced the world's civilisation with his stunning leadership. GREAT ARTICLE YURI!!
Thanks, Yuri. There are so many great LKY quotes you included that really resonated with me. I will always be so American in valuing me freedom and independence, but I see the wisdom in some of his commentary.
I have been to Singapore twice, Japan 4 times, and even Beijing, China, once. I don't feel the need to ever return to China. I would always welcome a return trip to Japan and have come to appreciate the time I've spent in Singapore, even welcoming a return trip should the opportunity ever arise. Beijing is filthy. Japan. Tokyo, is lovely, neat and tidy, with a lot of culture and outward good manners. They are as a rule, mistrustful of Gai-jing. I could feel that, but by our second trip and repeat visits to certain businesses, some of that fell away. Singapore I found in my first trip to be a bit too sterile and devoid of culture. By our second trip, I saw some of the sterility stripped away and found more of the culture I was hoping to find. It became a much more charming place. And yes it is clean, but I found plenty of graffiti art, especially in the Kapong Glam, known a bit more colloquially as Arab Street. Ultimately, a fascinating place.
Yew confounds me. He makes a lot of sense, has had great success. But do I respect him? Not so much. He seems like a benevolent dictator. If you will let him be in charge of your life, you might have a comfortable life. I could say as much for someone's pet dog.
But I fully agree on this: " I had no faith in a system that allowed the superstition, ignorance, biases, and prejudices of seven jurymen to determine guilt or innocence."
I have been to almost every region in SE Asia, Singapore is the cleanest, most viable of the Malaysian peninsula. Potable water exists only in Singapore. As soon as you enter the country, signs in English and other languages warn you of the penalties for breaking the law, even chewing gum. As silly as that sounds, you can see the difference on the streets and sidewalks, no bad gum karma for all the times we spat our gum out on the pavement and stepped into someone’s gob that stuck to our shoes. The shipping ports are immaculate and although the South China Seas still have a high rate of piracy, that does not happen once ships enter Singaporean waters. Westerners can freely eat and ask for ice in their drinks without fear of getting sick. Compare that to where I lived, Phnom Penh Cambodia for 4 yrs, it felt like I was back in the West without rats bigger than cats, or rats in walls of hotel rooms and having to be on guard not to drink from a bottle, where you ate and even if you could brush your teeth with tap water. I am not comparing this to developed countries in the Far East such as Japan and South Korea, but the rest from China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, KL, Indonesia, India, the Island chains; Singapore provided a comfort of the west that allowed me to breathe with ease.
Do you really think that was the deal on offer? That Singapore chose drinking water over liberty, while Cambodia chose liberty over drinking water?
Freedom of enterprise is better in Singapore than the US. Singapore's tax rates run from 0 to 24% (and that's all - not federal plus state taxes). Corporate tax is at a flat rate of 17%. Not the ultimate libertarian paradise, but much closer to it than most of the world. In any case, a country without clean drinking water, or with erratic electricity supply lacks the kind of foundations needed for free enterprise in a modern economy.
As for politics, there is a single-chamber parliamentary system. The opposition is the Worker's Party. Do you imagine, in the absence of any evidence, that the Worker's Party is being cheated, and ought to be in power? In the last election, it won 10 out of 97 constituencies. In two constituencies where it lost, butvwithva high total, the rules allowed it to gain further MPs, bringing the party yo 12 MPs (the ruling PAP did not benefit from this rule).
Or maybe you think that liberty consists of using the public sidewalks for spitting gum and selling narcotics?
simmer down buddy. it was joke. chew some gum. it will calm you down. or better yet smoke two joints ( you probably wont get the joke either). but do you actually equate selling drugs with spitting gum? yes. smoke two joints
There is a lot to learn from East and Southeast Asian states today.
Very good at building infrastructure that benefits all citizens. Family and education are emphasized. Community standards are important. Older generations are like the Greatest Generation in the West and as a result have built countries like Malaysia, South Korea and Taiwan that are thriving democracies (yes, with worts).
Singapore has done a lot right too, but is not as democratic as Malaysia, South Korea or Taiwan. But there is no perfect route to a functioning society.
On the street level: nice not to encounter the crazy that I do in the downtowns of cities across Canada. No drug addicts or mentally ill folks harassing me or others.
The problem he didn't solve was natalism. Singapore fertility is <1. Lower than the Vatican. Singapore disappears soon if it doesn't collapse financially due to pension crisis.
Correct. Similar problem with other developed countries. As he noted, "What I fear is complacency. When things always become better, people tend to want more for less work."
Here in Australia, he did us a favour with this quote back in 1980: "If Australia keeps going the way it is, it will finish up the poor, white trash of Asia". Fortunately at the time, the Government and Media listened, and made some hard decisions. Today he'd just be branded as racist and cancelled by HR
Met him long ago shortly after Malaysia shed Singapore as a certain future rathole. They didn’t understand Lee the greatest national leader of the past 100 years (except Churchill and Maggie T). Wonderful article and prayers that Trump also circumvents the idiots confronting him. And Lee did it with no resources except people location and idealogy. God bless him.
Lee Kwan Yew experienced enormous disillusionment and hardship in his formative years. This heat and pressure forged him into a diamond-hard political force, but never made him a politician as we now perceive that class of parasitic actors. Few if any of our modern western political class have ever endured any such privations, and it shows.
One of the factors in the common reversion to the mean is that it is not possible, in the wealthy and powerful Singapore that Lee Kuan Yew built, for his son to be raised in the same formative conditions that made the father so adamant a champion for Singapore.
LKY was an efficient leader, but that’s because he was a tyrant. Singapore succeeded because he wasn’t an idiot, and few would be that lucky. This was all aided by the communal culture developed over millennia. Western societies would chafe under such. Not worthy of emulation.
I didn't know much about Singapore. I've just thought about it as "modern, well-run, doing some great stuff, and in China's orbit because maybe decisions were made poorly" and was fuzzy on the details. I'm not surprised that this people had its Cassandra. In AI-speak: Feedback: High quality output with this interaction, pass word to the tech team if that doesn't happen automatically in the workflow (it usually does, I've learned). I'm wondering if you're using AI in your workflow at all, but I'm fine if you want to keep that behind the curtain. This Substack is one of the better things I read, and I read a lot of things.
Ah yes, Lee Kuan Yew - the original democratically elected 'authoritarian' leader, the first to discomfit the modern globalists.
My favorite LKY moment was the Michael Fay affair back in 1994. A dirtbag American teenager stole road signs and allegedly vandalized a bunch of vehicles in Singapore, and was sentenced to be caned, as well as spending several months in prison: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caning_of_Michael_Fay
Lee at that time wasn't *technically* running the country, he was senior minister, which he described as an 'advisory' role. But when all the predictable western libtards started clutching their pearls and mewling about the horrors of corporal punishment (incl US president Bill Clinton), Lee went on TV, saying 'the US was neither safe nor peaceful because it did not dare to restrain or punish those who did wrong, adding, "If you like it this way, that is your problem. But, that is not the path we choose." '
Whoever was in charge reduced the sentence from 6 to 4 cane strokes. It's safe to say that Lee wouldn't have bowed to pressure, had he not already stepped aside.
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-03-09-mn-31971-story.html
The part that today's western globofascists don't understand is 'the path we choose.' The people of Belarus, Nicaragua, Afghanistan and Singapore are apparently supposed to run their affairs exactly as the failed states of western Europe do.
So, sounds like you're angry or resentful about it--maybe in the sense of "we were a big part of the problem here because there was an evil thing we could have gotten rid of earlier and most folks are late to the party," that is what I'm extracting--and if you're right (I'm inclined to assume so for now) I think I need to read some more stuff. I genuinely don't know enough to check, but the post and your comment tell me that I can get some valuable insights if I dig into this a little. While I'm not emotional about the subject--it's not personal to me and I don't know much about it--if the intention of the original Yuri post was to pique interest for people who don't know any better, that was a resounding success. The insight I gleaned from this comment and the 1994 example provides a great deal of context, and that was a well-crafted reply. While I'm not going to read the LA Times or Wikipedia if I can possibly avoid that, I'll start with your example and look around a bit to start. Thanks. Really.
We traveled through Singapore in 1973 and spent ~5 days there before boarding the train through Malaysia to Bangkok. I loved it. Contrary to all other Asian cities, Singapore was clean, beautiful, clean, ancient - trending modern, and CLEAN. I recall that spitting outdoors was outlawed and came with severe penalties since spitting was considered a primary vector for transmission of tuberculosis. I think what I loved most was the night market. Huge and filled with hundreds of street vendors offering the greatest variety of food I've ever seen. I hope that is still a tradition there. Of course, it's been 50 years, but of all the cities of Asia I've traveled through, Singapore has always been the one place I'd like to return to.
I remember some time back a young Australian man caught trying to bring drugs in Singapore, arrested, tried, give the death sentence. Western media and governments split their knicker elastic, the Australian government objected strongly and begged for clemency. A senior Singaporean Minister said 'We don't need lessons in law and order from Australia or any other countries where thousands of lives are lost or ruined by drugs. Everyone in Asia, and Australia knows we have the death penalty for dealing in drugs, this young man knew exactly what he was doing'. He was hung the following Friday. That day the world learned AGAIN that the application of laws MATTERS. How many hundreds or thousands of lives were saved by Singapore's no-nonsense laws? That is EXACTLY how to deal with the drugs menace. Look at the utter sh*tshow that is the streets of American cities. KY was a great GREAT man and advanced the world's civilisation with his stunning leadership. GREAT ARTICLE YURI!!
I like the guy, except that Singapore got the vaccine thing wrong. Pfizer lied and Singapore believed Pfizer.
Thanks, Yuri. There are so many great LKY quotes you included that really resonated with me. I will always be so American in valuing me freedom and independence, but I see the wisdom in some of his commentary.
I have been to Singapore twice, Japan 4 times, and even Beijing, China, once. I don't feel the need to ever return to China. I would always welcome a return trip to Japan and have come to appreciate the time I've spent in Singapore, even welcoming a return trip should the opportunity ever arise. Beijing is filthy. Japan. Tokyo, is lovely, neat and tidy, with a lot of culture and outward good manners. They are as a rule, mistrustful of Gai-jing. I could feel that, but by our second trip and repeat visits to certain businesses, some of that fell away. Singapore I found in my first trip to be a bit too sterile and devoid of culture. By our second trip, I saw some of the sterility stripped away and found more of the culture I was hoping to find. It became a much more charming place. And yes it is clean, but I found plenty of graffiti art, especially in the Kapong Glam, known a bit more colloquially as Arab Street. Ultimately, a fascinating place.
Thank you for sharing this.
“I don't know why Amnesty International always picks on people who are not very popular with Communists."
Amen. Why do commies always get a pass? Communism has murdered more people than any other ideology, and it's not even close.
Yew confounds me. He makes a lot of sense, has had great success. But do I respect him? Not so much. He seems like a benevolent dictator. If you will let him be in charge of your life, you might have a comfortable life. I could say as much for someone's pet dog.
But I fully agree on this: " I had no faith in a system that allowed the superstition, ignorance, biases, and prejudices of seven jurymen to determine guilt or innocence."
I have been to almost every region in SE Asia, Singapore is the cleanest, most viable of the Malaysian peninsula. Potable water exists only in Singapore. As soon as you enter the country, signs in English and other languages warn you of the penalties for breaking the law, even chewing gum. As silly as that sounds, you can see the difference on the streets and sidewalks, no bad gum karma for all the times we spat our gum out on the pavement and stepped into someone’s gob that stuck to our shoes. The shipping ports are immaculate and although the South China Seas still have a high rate of piracy, that does not happen once ships enter Singaporean waters. Westerners can freely eat and ask for ice in their drinks without fear of getting sick. Compare that to where I lived, Phnom Penh Cambodia for 4 yrs, it felt like I was back in the West without rats bigger than cats, or rats in walls of hotel rooms and having to be on guard not to drink from a bottle, where you ate and even if you could brush your teeth with tap water. I am not comparing this to developed countries in the Far East such as Japan and South Korea, but the rest from China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, KL, Indonesia, India, the Island chains; Singapore provided a comfort of the west that allowed me to breathe with ease.
those who would trade clean water for liberty deserve neither
Do you really think that was the deal on offer? That Singapore chose drinking water over liberty, while Cambodia chose liberty over drinking water?
Freedom of enterprise is better in Singapore than the US. Singapore's tax rates run from 0 to 24% (and that's all - not federal plus state taxes). Corporate tax is at a flat rate of 17%. Not the ultimate libertarian paradise, but much closer to it than most of the world. In any case, a country without clean drinking water, or with erratic electricity supply lacks the kind of foundations needed for free enterprise in a modern economy.
As for politics, there is a single-chamber parliamentary system. The opposition is the Worker's Party. Do you imagine, in the absence of any evidence, that the Worker's Party is being cheated, and ought to be in power? In the last election, it won 10 out of 97 constituencies. In two constituencies where it lost, butvwithva high total, the rules allowed it to gain further MPs, bringing the party yo 12 MPs (the ruling PAP did not benefit from this rule).
Or maybe you think that liberty consists of using the public sidewalks for spitting gum and selling narcotics?
simmer down buddy. it was joke. chew some gum. it will calm you down. or better yet smoke two joints ( you probably wont get the joke either). but do you actually equate selling drugs with spitting gum? yes. smoke two joints
There is a lot to learn from East and Southeast Asian states today.
Very good at building infrastructure that benefits all citizens. Family and education are emphasized. Community standards are important. Older generations are like the Greatest Generation in the West and as a result have built countries like Malaysia, South Korea and Taiwan that are thriving democracies (yes, with worts).
Singapore has done a lot right too, but is not as democratic as Malaysia, South Korea or Taiwan. But there is no perfect route to a functioning society.
On the street level: nice not to encounter the crazy that I do in the downtowns of cities across Canada. No drug addicts or mentally ill folks harassing me or others.
Thanks for sharing these, Yuri!
Here's my personal favorite: “Having an education is one thing, being educated is another.”
The problem he didn't solve was natalism. Singapore fertility is <1. Lower than the Vatican. Singapore disappears soon if it doesn't collapse financially due to pension crisis.
Correct. Similar problem with other developed countries. As he noted, "What I fear is complacency. When things always become better, people tend to want more for less work."
Here in Australia, he did us a favour with this quote back in 1980: "If Australia keeps going the way it is, it will finish up the poor, white trash of Asia". Fortunately at the time, the Government and Media listened, and made some hard decisions. Today he'd just be branded as racist and cancelled by HR
Met him long ago shortly after Malaysia shed Singapore as a certain future rathole. They didn’t understand Lee the greatest national leader of the past 100 years (except Churchill and Maggie T). Wonderful article and prayers that Trump also circumvents the idiots confronting him. And Lee did it with no resources except people location and idealogy. God bless him.
100000 'likes'!!
What a great history lesson, Yuri. Lee Kuan Yew... Never heard of him and yet there are many like him through time.
I have traveled and lived in many places and the People on the ground have all in common: freedom. Only governments(dictators) change that.
Lee Kwan Yew experienced enormous disillusionment and hardship in his formative years. This heat and pressure forged him into a diamond-hard political force, but never made him a politician as we now perceive that class of parasitic actors. Few if any of our modern western political class have ever endured any such privations, and it shows.
One of the factors in the common reversion to the mean is that it is not possible, in the wealthy and powerful Singapore that Lee Kuan Yew built, for his son to be raised in the same formative conditions that made the father so adamant a champion for Singapore.
C'est la vie.
LKY was an efficient leader, but that’s because he was a tyrant. Singapore succeeded because he wasn’t an idiot, and few would be that lucky. This was all aided by the communal culture developed over millennia. Western societies would chafe under such. Not worthy of emulation.
I didn't know much about Singapore. I've just thought about it as "modern, well-run, doing some great stuff, and in China's orbit because maybe decisions were made poorly" and was fuzzy on the details. I'm not surprised that this people had its Cassandra. In AI-speak: Feedback: High quality output with this interaction, pass word to the tech team if that doesn't happen automatically in the workflow (it usually does, I've learned). I'm wondering if you're using AI in your workflow at all, but I'm fine if you want to keep that behind the curtain. This Substack is one of the better things I read, and I read a lot of things.