Leaders
must inspire fear: Lee Kuan Yew
South China Morning Post. Oct 6, 1997.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE in Singapore
IT is better for a leader to be feared than loved, and it is not
necessary to tell people all the facts all of the time, Lee Kuan Yew says
in a biography published at the weekend.
"I have never been over-concerned or obsessed with opinion polls or popularity polls. I think a leader who is, is a weak leader," he says in Lee Kuan Yew: The Man and His Ideas.
The book has been selling briskly since it went on sale on Saturday. Two hundred autographed copies were pre-sold for charity at S$10,000.
Mr Lee, 74, ruled with an iron hand from 1959. He stepped down in 1990 but is still Senior Minister.
He cites a famous dictum from Machiavelli, the 16th-century Italian theorist.
"Between being loved and being feared, I have always believed Machiavelli was right. If nobody is afraid of me, I'm meaningless."
Published in the South China Morning Post. Oct 6 1997