From Third World to First: The Singapore Story, 1965-2000

Amazon.com
In this memoir, the man most responsible for Singapore's astonishing transformation from colonial backwater to economic powerhouse describes how he did it over the last four decades. It's a dramatic story, and Lee Kuan Yew has much to brag about. To take a single example: Singapore had a per-capita GDP of just $400 when he became prime minister in 1959. When he left office in 1990, it was $12,200 and rising. (At the time of this book's writing, it was $22,000.) Much of this was accomplished through a unique mix of economic freedom and social control. Lee encouraged entrepreneurship, but also cracked down on liberties that most people in the West take for granted--chewing gum, for instance. It's banned in Singapore because of "the problems caused by spent chewing gum inserted into keyholes and mailboxes and on elevator buttons." If American politicians were to propose such a thing, they'd undoubtedly be run out of office. Lee, however, defends this and similar moves, such as strong antismoking laws and antispitting campaigns: "We would have been a grosser, ruder, cruder society had we not made these efforts to persuade people to change their ways.... It has made Singapore a more pleasant place to live in. If this is a 'nanny state,' I am proud to have fostered one."

Lee also describes one of his most controversial proposals: tax breaks and schooling incentives to encourage educated men and women to marry each other and have children. "Our best women were not reproducing themselves because men who were their educational equals did not want to marry them.... This lopsided marriage and procreation pattern could not be allowed to remain unmentioned and unchecked," writes Lee. Most of the book, however, is a chronicle of how Lee helped create so much material prosperity. Anticommunism is a strong theme throughout, and Lee comments broadly on international politics. He is cautiously friendly toward the United States, chastising it for a "dogmatic and evangelical" foreign policy that scolds other countries for human-rights violations, except when they interfere with American interests, "as in the oil-rich Arabian peninsula." Even so, he writes, "the United States is still the most benign of all the great powers.... [and] all noncommunist countries in East Asia prefer America to be the dominant weight in the power balance of the region." From Third World to First is not the most gripping book imaginable, but it is a vital document about a fascinating place in a time of profound transition. --John J. Miller


From Booklist
Yew is not an endearing figure. He is arrogant, self-righteous, and seems unduly sensitive to criticism by "outsiders" of Singapore's record on human rights. Despite occasional efforts to hide his less-than-pleasant characteristics, they often burst through in his long and often fascinating account of the dramatic transformation of this island nation into a stable and prosperous society. As prime minister for more than three decades, Yew certainly merits credit for Singapore's emergence, and there is much to be learned from his version of his stewardship. This is a detailed and sometimes difficult read, particularly if one lacks a strong grounding in macroeconomics. Still, his description of the difficulties of nation building in a multiethnic society has great value; his efforts to mesh Western concepts of free enterprise with Third World traditions of a "guided economy" may not have universal applicability, but they deserve close scrutiny. This is an essential contribution in efforts to understand why some societies seem so successful in becoming important players in the global economy. Jay Freeman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Book Description
Lee Kuan Yew is one of the most influential leaders in Asia. In this illuminating account, Lee writes frankly about his disapproving approach to political opponents and his often unorthodox views on human rights, democracy, and inherited intelligence, aiming always “to be correct, not politically correct.”Since it’s independence in 1965, tiny Singapore – once a poor and decrepit colony – has risen to become a rich and thriving Asian metropolis.From Third World to First is a fascinating and insightful account of Singapore’s survival from a history of oppressive colonialism, the Second World War and major poverty and disorder.Lee also uses previously unpublished official government reports and papers to explain how he led a tiny country into becoming a prosperous and secure modern society, amid the constant hostility of world politics.Today Singapore boasts not only to have the busiest port of trade, best airport with the world’s number one airline, but also the world’s fourth-highest per capita real income? An Island hailed as the city of the future, Singapore’s miraculous history is dramatically recounted by the man who not only lived through it all but fearlessly forged ahead and brought about most of the changes.Lee highlights is relationships with his political peers from Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan to George Bush and poetry-spouting Jiang Zemin. Also a father of three Lee writes warmly of his family life.From Third World to First offers readers a compelling glimpse not only into the heart but also the mind of an incredibly influential man who is impossible to ignore in Asian and international politics.


Book Info
A history of the economics of Singapore from the 1960s to the present, written from the perspective of a leader. Lee Kuan Yew reveals insights about international relations, politics, and the revitalization and changes that have occurred in Singapore, making the country what it is today.


About the Author
Lee Kuan Yew was born in Singapore on September 16, 1923, a third-generation descendant of immigrants from China's Guangdong Province. He read law at Cambridge University, England. In 1954 he formed the People's Action Party, which won the first Singapore general election five years later. Lee became the country's first prime minister in 1959, at the age of thirty-five. In November 1990 he resigned the office to assume the post of senior minister in the Singapore cabinet.


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