Lee Kuan Yew eyes Indonesia with unease

A generation later, Lee Kuan Yew once again finds himself looking with unease over the southern approaches to his island nation as over the water, riots again flare up bringing death, most recently, to Ambon and Aceh.

The problems in 1965 were political, first as president Sukarno vowed to "smash Malaysia", and then as the Indonesian army and mobs extracted a bloody revenge as they put down a communist coup. That left 600,000 dead, many of them were ethnic Chinese.

This time, as Indonesia wrestles with the fall of the House of Suharto and disputed results of the recent elections, many problems stem from corruption.

That is an evil the former Singaporean prime minister combatted even before his first election victory in 1959 when the island was still ruled from London. Mr Lee made the fight against corruption a major hallmark. Ever since, he says, it has not been tolerated. Wherever graft was suspected, it was investigated and, where proven, severely punished. Clean government is one of the strongest pillars of Singapore.

Not so in Indonesia, where ingrained graft caused the country to "blow up", Singapore's Senior Minister contends.

"Benefits were unfairly distributed and hardships were borne by those who did not have access to power," he says.

"So it went 'woof'," he says, making the sound of a sudden conflagration.

"And it will go 'woof' again. That is the problem. The situation has not been put right. They are just firefighting."

During his 31 years as prime minister, Mr Lee spent much of his formidable energy combatting corruption.

Clean government in Singapore is now regarded as a natural right. It was not always that easy, he says. "To get rid of it, you have to change the whole system, the way you pay public servants and the way you pass laws, so there is transparency and very little discretion given where the public go for licences or services. There's just a yes or a no."

Looking fit for his 76 years, Mr Lee proclaims he is now in "half-retirement". He does no administrative work but puts in a full day in the gracious old British-era Istana (Ruler's House).

The office of Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong is upstairs and the president's office is in the former Government House next door.

"I do mostly reflective work," says the man whose policies transformed modern Singapore from an underdeveloped tropical country into a nation boasting quality education, high personal wealth and a law-and-order structure that is the envy of much of the world.

"I look ahead, see what problems may come up, think about how some of them can be avoided."

He adds: "If a person sits back and does nothing, he starts to degenerate."

Nobody expects this to happen anytime soon to the former prime minister who for the past nine years has been Senior Minister. He sits in Cabinet with no designated portfolio. His advice is invariably followed, Singaporeans believe.

Those future problems he ponders are not confined to politics. He turns repeatedly to the theme of technology coupled with hard work by a well-educated younger generation. Information technology and the Internet are changing the way the world works, communicates and conducts business, he notes.

That hi-tech era will bring fresh social challenges, new stresses in society about which he worries - how best to bring up children and maintain traditional values of family, hard work, scholarship, mutual support and a certain altruism when dealing with friends and neighbours in a society where developments like the Internet mean fewer face-to-face contacts?

Singapore must cannily use the tools of the future.

"It is important not to lose our sense of balance," he adds. "We can't just concentrate on our material needs and allow our spiritual and aesthetic side to atrophy."

The republic must also stick to the policies on which it has built its economic strength. Among these is a determination that corruption must be eliminated.

"Having a clean society is a major asset," Mr Lee says.

"It's more valuable than goodwill. There's minimum wastage and maximum confidence of all those who work within the system, not just investors, but all involved. There is no unfair advantage taken by those in power.

"You have the average person more willing to endure inconvenience and hardships, because they know the rules are made for everyone and everybody has to abide by them."

The contemplative role he sees himself playing gives Mr Lee the chance to step back from the daily fray of politics. He has been at the forefront of many global developments since the first People's Action Party victory in the 1959 elections; he points out he won eight successive elections before he stepped down in 1990 as prime minister.

The wave of nationalism that drove out colonialism and sought to bring peace and plenty has run into the sands of uneven development. It is still a force, especially in China, which is trying to establish its place in the world.

What people in Asia want, however, are the high standards of living, technology and management capabilities to match a developed country.

Still in that reflective mood, Mr Lee looks back on the short but turbulent history of the nation he has done so much to create.

"I'm satisfied with what Singapore has become," he says, looking out of the trimmed palms of the Istana grounds to the skyscrapers of the financial district.

"With hindsight, it might have been possible to have done some things better. Given the difficulties, I believe we did the best we could."

And what of the criticisms that Singapore has developed a society too repressive, too schoolmasterly?

"The system I evolved brought maximum benefits to the people," he answers. "Whether I have been too strict, too repressive, too schoolmasterly is a matter for Singaporeans to judge. I doubt whether Singapore could have done better doing it the Western liberal way."

Those policies have left a living legacy, he argues. Singapore's young people are highly motivated, keen to study, work hard and do well in life.

"Our young men take national service seriously," he adds. "They have seen what happens in countries which have weak systems and loose or corrupt practices. They understand better the importance of maintaining high standards of integrity in public life, of having a clean system of government run by honest and well-paid ministers and public servants."

The next step in nation-building is up to the young people and their younger leaders, he says.

In September, he will be addressing a conference in Shanghai, which will be looking at China's development into the first half of the 21st century.

Mr Lee has some general forecasts. If the country is not thrown off course or sidetracked by emotive issues like Taiwan, and not deflected from its main aim of economic growth, then in 20 years coastal provinces will have a standard of living to rival Taiwan or South Korea. Inland regions will lag behind.

"Quality of life in the cities may improve if they have a green movement," he adds.

"There will be more personal freedom, but not to organise to change or overthrow the government."