Former Singaporean prime minister Lee Kuan Yew (李光耀) is one of the best-known foreign leaders in Taiwan. He visited the nation 25 times, and he met with every president since Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國). He was never afraid of saying what he thought of the four different presidents, and this is also why Taiwanese’s opinions of him differ widely.
The passing of this globally known politician marks the end of an era. However, Lee’s 91-year-long journey can offer Taiwanese politicians many things to learn from.
Each generation has a different mask, representing its contemporary environment and mainstream values. Within the Chinese political world in Asia, Lee established a good friendship with late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping (鄧小平) and Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石), and what has been called “enlightened authoritarianism” was reflected in the governing style of all three, which explains a certain level of ethnic affinity between them.
Today, having followed different paths of national development and democratization, China’s elite and a large part of the Chinese population are still looking to, and want to emulate, Singapore’s enlightened authoritarianism. However, in Taiwan, the elite and the public’s wishes differ, which is reflected in public debate.
Lee’s Singapore was seen as an Asian economic miracle by the international community. Singapore, governed by the Lee clan and the People’s Action Party since independence in 1965, has remained an authoritarian one-party state. When Reporters Without Borders published its annual press freedom report last month, Singapore had dropped to 153rd place of the 180 countries.
Despite that, we can still make a few comparisons between Singapore and Taiwan. Singapore covers an area of more than 700km2 and has a population of over 5 million, compared with Taiwan’s 36,000km2 and 23 million people. That such a small country with a severe lack of resources has become one of Asia’s wealthiest countries might be the result of differing fundamental conditions.
The Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics recently announced that Taiwan’s unemployment rate stands at 3.69 percent. Not only is this the highest of all neighboring countries, it is almost twice as high as Singapore’s rate of 1.9 percent.
People from the government and opposition in Taiwan have flocked to Singapore to see what to copy and what not to copy, and this is where the difference lies. Formally speaking, Singapore employs a Cabinet system, which is different from Taiwan’s political system. It is clear that strong leadership of political elites is a crucial element.
Leadership is made up of vision, ability and perseverance, and the sum of these traits amounts to the quality of national governance.
Vision implies an ability to take the long-term view and have a clear understanding of which direction the country should move in; while at the same time being able to communicate this direction to promote internationalization and integration with more advanced nations.
Ability implies execution: to establish goals and then realize these goals. The overall implementation of English to create the conditions to attract the international community to invest in Singapore is a great example.
Perseverance implies determination and an ability to persist in the face of difficulty in order to overcome any problems. A leader’s personality and policy achievements are normally very persuasive tools.
Leadership built on these three skills is what differentiates a politician from a statesman.
Politicians lacking comprehensive leadership skills are always short-sighted and unable to look further than the next election. They always lack the ability to grasp any negative consequences that might be lying ahead and stubbornly insist on pushing through their own agenda, even if it endangers the nation.
If leaders have vision and perseverance, but lack ability and strength, they will disappoint both their supporters and their critics; while leaders with a mediocre grasp of all three skills will be unable to hold on to a central idea, be addicted to opinion polls and habitually follow public opinion. This makes for an ineffective, wavering leader that lacks purpose. A great deal of people in Taiwan pursuing powerful positions might well recognize themselves.
The Lee Kuan Yew era is over, but his influence over Singapore will remain, although Singaporeans will continue to debate his merits. In Taiwan, as politician after politician mourns his passing, perhaps we should ask the next generation if they want to be hardworking statesmen or if they would be happy to enjoy the glory of being mere politicians, and what aspect they think Lee represented.
Translated by Perry Svensson
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