Singapore’s Lee Harnessed the Free Market to Make His Country Prosperous

Henry Kissinger is often quoted lamenting what a pity it was that Lee Kuan Yew, founder of modern Singapore and long-serving leader, did not rule a larger country. Singapore may, indeed, have been a smaller stage than Lee deserved. But it was his first love, and he saw it grow beyond even his own wildest dreams. Today, as his family, nation and international community mourn his passing, Singapore is a world class city, in company with the likes of Hong Kong, London, New York, Paris and Tokyo.

Lee’s Singapore set a standard for the developing world that few have been able to replicate. If Singapore’s stature as a city is a tribute to the leadership of Lee, so is its remarkable free-market path to development, forged at a time when many intellectuals and leaders were offering much different models. It has been among the freest in the world for more than 20 years.

Yet, Lee Kuan Yew was no mere mayor. In the process of developing Singapore and tending its national interests, he carved out an outsized international role for the city state, largely on the power of his own will and intellect. He was a fierce anti-communist, America’s stalwart ally during the Cold War and sage to American presidents on the transition to the post-Cold War world.

He was valuable to other world leaders as well. Lady Thatcher once said during her time in office, she “read and analyzed” every one of Lee’s speeches and found him “never wrong.”

The world has lost an iconic visionary and indefatigable man of action. It will miss his wisdom and guidance. But his legacy lives on in the nation he and his compatriots founded 50 years ago this year and the prosperous world he helped establish.