From Third World to First : The Singapore Story: 1965-2000Lee Kuan Yew
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."
