Lee's cross-strait opinions remain a contentious issue

Singapore senior minister Lee Kuan Yew is perhaps one of the few world statesmen who, after leaving office, can find an open door to every head-of-state and government.

In June, he met Chinese President Jiang Zemin (江澤民) in Beijing. In August, he made his first official trip in 10 years to Kuala Lumpur in the role of what he termed "a facilitator" to mend frosty ties between Singapore and Malaysia. Yesterday, Lee made his way to Taipei where he would meet President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) as well as other political heavyweights -- six years after he halted his regular visits to the nation.

Born in Singapore in 1923, the 77-year-old founding father of Singapore was a third-generation descendant of immigrants from China's Guangdong Province. He read law at Cambridge University and in 1954, formed the People's Action Party (PAP). Five years later, the PAP won Singapore's general election, catapulting the 35-year-old Lee to the post of prime minister until 1990. In 1965, he oversaw Singapore's separation from Malaysia and subsequent independence. Despite his assumption of the post of senior minister in 1990, he still wields considerable power as a Cabinet member. "Without Lee, Singapore would not have become what it is today," a civil servant from Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong's office told the Taipei Times.

Transforming Singapore from a dependent colonial port into a prosperous and advanced city-state, Lee has established a towering position in the Lion City. The fact that Lee's photo has become perhaps the most frequent book cover one may see in major bookstores in Singapore is indicative of his unshakable omnipresence in the country.

But despite the respect Lee has received in Singapore -- as well as the magic he has to open the gate to each head-of-state and government -- Lee has led a controversial life as a political figure.

Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, when commenting on Lee and the first volume of his memoirs, The Singapore Story, wrote: "Describing the motivations and concepts that have animated his conduct and explaining specific actions, he will undoubtedly raise many controversies. But whether one agrees or not, one will learn a great deal."

Singapore's iron-fisted rule on opposition movements as well as its shoddy human rights record are what Western countries often cite as the reasons behind their reservations about the country's founding father, said Chen Hurng-yu (陳鴻瑜), a Southeast Asia analyst from National Chengchi University.

Lee Lai-to, head of the department of political science at National University of Singapore, said that it was Lee's candid personality that made him controversial.

"Our senior minister speaks his mind all the time ... But I think, on the whole, he is a man of principle, and of course his straightforward remarks may create controversy," Lee told the Taipei Times.

Lee's recent remarks on cross-strait relations, for instance, have raised a lot of eyebrows in Taiwan. In an interview with the Far Eastern Economic Review in June, Lee urged Western powers not to encourage Taiwan to think of itself as a separate state because "no Chinese leader can survive if Taiwan is seen to be drifting away under his watch."

To avoid any prospect of war across the Taiwan Strait, which would destroy the stability of the Asia-Pacific region, the Taiwanese should be convinced that unification with China is inevitable, Lee said.