[lg policy] Singapore: Lee Kuan Yew was an idealist at heart

[Harold Schiffman]

   He was an idealist at heart: Dhanabalan
    [image: He was an idealist at heart: Dhanabalan]
<http://www.todayonline.com/sites/default/files/styles/photo_gallery_image_lightbox/public/21918704.JPG?itok=B-q_TEzq>
 Former Cabinet Minister S. Dhanabalan giving an eulogy during the state
funeral for the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew at the University Cultural Centre on
March 29, 2015. Photo: The Straits Times


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  By  Lin Yanqin, Deputy News Editor
<http://www.todayonline.com/authors/lin-yanqin-deputy-news-editor>
 yanqinl at mediacorp.com.sg
 Published: 2:02 AM, March 30, 2015
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SINGAPORE — He held a reputation for being a “complete political
pragmatist”, but Mr Lee Kuan Yew was an idealist “in a very deep sense”,
said former Cabinet Minister S Dhanabalan.

Mr Lee, he said, was obsessed with not only what would work in Singapore,
but what the feel and timbre of society should be, as illustrated by his
approach to the language policy.

In a population comprising 75 per cent Chinese, the easiest way to ensure
electoral support would have been to champion Chinese language and Chinese
chauvinism. Instead, Mr Lee was convinced that for Singapore to be
distinct, the Republic had to be multi-lingual with English as the main
language of administration and commerce. At the same time, each racial
group had to maintain its cultural identity with their mother tongues as a
second language,

“To convert Chinese schools into national type schools and to push for
Mandarin against Chinese dialects were the acts of an idealist not the acts
of a pragmatist,” said Mr Dhanabalan, who was one of several former Cabinet
Minister who delivered eulogies at Mr Lee’s state funeral service
yesterday. Mr Dhanabalan, who was elected in 1976, held several portfolios
as a minister including Foreign Affairs and National Development before he
resigned in 1992.

Mr Lee is also sometimes seen as a hardhearted man, but certain decisions
he made did not come easy to him, said Mr Dhanabalan. “On the few occasions
he discussed privately with me the decision to act against someone, I know
that he agonised over the decision,” he said. “He was convinced that a
softhearted approach would undermine the ethos he wanted to embed deeply in
public service.”

Mr Dhanabalan, who had resigned over disagreements with Mr Lee on the use
of Internal Security Act in the 1987 “Marxist conspiracy” arrests, also
said it was a myth that Mr Lee brooked no opposition.

“That was not my experience. He argued tirelessly to get Cabinet to accept
his views not because it was the PM’s view but because of the strength of
his arguments. I think he felt he had failed were he not able to convince
his Cabinet colleagues,” he said.

He pointed out that when Mr Lee spoke as Prime Minister, he repeatedly sent
drafts of his speeches to colleagues for their views. “The idea that he
expected his team to follow him like a herd of sheep without question
completely misrepresents the man and his values,” Mr Dhanabalan said.

Mr Sidek Saniff, a former Senior Minister of State for Education and
environment, noted in his eulogy that when Mr Lee asked him to stand as a
candidate in the 1976 General Election, his decision to accept his offer
caused a stir in the Malay community. “I had expressed differing views from
the Government on education just a few years earlier,” he said.

He also spoke of Mr Lee’s frugality, recounting Mr Lee’s concern about
whether he was prepared for a trip to China in 1979, given the harsh winter
there. When he told Mr Lee he would buy an overcoat, Mr Lee exhorted him
not to “waste money” and instead borrow one from former Cabinet Minister
Ahmad Mattar. He also told him to borrow boots from Mr Goh Chok Tong. “Mr
Lee believed in frugality, both in his personal life as well as nationally.
And he walked the talk. This episode is an example, and also showed his
fatherly character and sharp eye for detail,” said Mr Sidek, who spoke in
Malay.
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