"Will the political system that my colleagues and I developed work more or less unchanged for another generation? I doubt it," he wrote in the newly published second volume of his memoirs*.

Technology and globalisation were changing the way people work and live and Singapore would be ever more exposed to outside influences as the international hub of a knowledge-based economy, he explained.

Whether the People's Action party, which has governed Singapore since independence, will continue to dominate politics will depend on how its leaders respond to the changes in the needs and aspirations of a better educated people, and to their desire for greater participation in the decisions that shape their lives, he said.

But the options facing Singapore were not so numerous that the challenge of a democratic opposition and different political views were likely to prevent the nation working out solutions to its problems.

In the book, Mr Lee makes a robust defence of the system he created, arguing that it was necessary at the time to build up a nation with no economic hinterland that had to make its way in a turbulent region. That required discipline, strong and competent government institutions and the introduction of first world standards in economic and business management.

He remains entirely unapologetic for the strong line he took both in imposing limits to press freedom and in suing for libel the critics whom he regarded as particularly offensive.

A free press is supposed to put the spotlight on corruption and malpractice, but this has not been the case in Asian democracies such as India and the Philippines. Another problem is newspapers that simply relay the views of their owners who are not democratically accountable.

But though Mr Lee now looks back on his experience of government with a degree of mellowness, he retains vituperative contempt for J.B. Jeyaratnam, who in 1971 became the first opposition politician to win a parliamentary seat. Mr Jeyaratnam in parliament was "all sound and fury", he says. "He filled up space on the opposition side of the arena and probably kept better men out."

*From Third World to First, the Singapore story: 1965-2000, by Lee Kuan Yew. .