Lee Kuan Yew Singapore’s,
Southeast Asia’s true leader
Sabam Siagian
; A senior
editor of The Jakarta Post;
He interviewed the late Lee Kuan Yew several times
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JAKARTA
POST, 24 Maret 2015
Lee Kuan Yew was sworn in as prime minister of
Singapore on June 5, 1959, when Singapore then was a self-governing state
within the British Commonwealth.
When the Federation of Malaysia was
established in 1963, Lee ushered Singapore into the newly created Federation.
His party, the People’s Action Party (PAP), was his strong political base
after it overcame some internal problems.
In 1964, PAP (with 75 percent Chinese
membership) took part in Malaysian national elections based on Lee’s
decision. Lee’s belief in multiracialism apparently was viewed differently by
the Malay politicians.
In August 1965, Lee was told by his Malaysian
colleagues in the federal government that Singapore had to leave the
federation.
An Australian journalist friend who covered
the event remembered that Lee with tears on his face softly said to the few
reporters present: “We are on our own now.” My friend also noted the
determination in Lee’s voice. It is helpful to remember the context of that
event, which made the situation faced by Lee and his colleagues challenging
indeed.
Former president Sukarno who at that stage
showed clear indications of megalomania considered the formation of the
Federation of Malaysia as Great Britain’s imperialist stratagem to encircle
the Republic of Indonesia because of his anti-Western attitude.
Sukarno declared what he referred to as
Konfrontasi, or confrontation, which in reality was launching a series of
military operations against Malaysia and the recently independent Singapore.
Lee was indeed very much relieved to see the
gradual changes happening in Jakarta after the failed communist party coup on
Oct. 1, 1965. Perhaps it took the same time for Lee to comprehend the actions
of the newly emerging leader in Jakarta, gen. Soeharto, because of his
unmilitaristic decisions.
He abolished the Indonesian Communist Party
(PKI), called for an end to all military operations against Malaysia and
Singapore and reactivated Indonesia’s membership at the United Nations.
And as acting president since 1967, Soeharto
made approaches to Western countries that were willing to provide economic
aid to Indonesia, which slowly recovered from a chaotic economic mess with
600 percent inflation thanks to Sukarno’s revolutionary outbursts.
In other words, unintentionally, there was a
parallel of action and purpose between Singapore’s Lee and Indonesia’s
Soeharto. Lee was determined to transform Singapore as a modern state with a
sophisticated economy. The end of Konfrontasi made his job easier. And
Soeharto quietly made repairing Indonesia’s broken economy his top priority,
along with providing basic necessities to the ordinary people that had
suffered for so long.
Books have been written to describe the
Singapore miracle that became the modern hub of Southeast Asia under the
leadership of Lee. Indonesia and Singapore’s other neighbors benefit from the
modern services that Singapore is able to provide so efficiently.
On the other hand, Singapore’s rapid
modernization would have been difficult to achieve without political
stability in Southeast Asia.
That’s why the establishment of the ASEAN on
Aug. 8, 1967, in Bangkok was such an impressive political achievement.
The situation in 1967 was hardly conducive to
promote regional cooperation. True, Konfrontasi was terminated. But there was
still lingering suspicion among Indonesia’s neighbors. They were perhaps
puzzled to see a military leader with so much combat experience pushing for
regional cooperation.
It was Lee that from the outset, perhaps based
on his fine political instinct, perceived Soeharto as a potential regional
leader that would opt for regional cooperation and social economic
development.
In August 1967, five foreign ministers
gathered in Bangkok to discuss the need for regional cooperation. They were
Adam Malik (Indonesia), Tun Abdul Razak (Malaysia), Narciso Ramos (the
Philippines), S. Rajaratnam (Singapore) and Thanat Khoman (Thailand).
They were personalities with differing
backgrounds and political views. Nevertheless, they were convinced that only
a stable Southeast Asia, free from external interference, with their
countries linked with each other in a regional organization would ensure the
future of their respective countries.
Indonesian diplomats who were members of the
Indonesian delegation told me about the hardworking Singapore delegation
whose drafting skills in English was instrumental to produce the 1967 Bangkok
declaration on the establishment of ASEAN.
It is not that difficult to speculate that
prime minister Lee instructed his delegation that for the sake of Singapore’s
future and the stability of Southeast Asia, the meeting must be successful.
Only a stable and cooperating Southeast Asia would create a secure
geopolitical environment to ensure Singapore’s progress.
Lee became convinced that Indonesia, under
Soeharto’s leadership, would act constructively. After all, as the largest
archipelago state, Indonesia too requires a stable Southeast Asia.
Considering the fluid situation in 1967 (it
was the beginning of the third Vietnam War), one has to marvel reading the
following paragraph as part of the Preamble of the ASEAN declaration in
Bangkok, Aug. 8, 1967:
“Considering that the countries of Southeast
Asia share a primary responsibility for strengthening the economic and social
stability of the region and ensuring their peaceful and progressive
development, and that they are determined to ensure their stability and
security from external interference in any form or manifestation in order to
preserve their national identities in accordance with the ideals and
aspirations of their peoples.”
This paragraph encapsulates the ASEAN spirit.
Lee’s farsightedness was instrumental that despite of all sorts of problems
affecting the countries of Southeast Asia regional cooperation under the
umbrella of ASEAN is still functioning.
Singaporeans should be proud to have a great
statesman and a true leader such as the late Lee. We in Indonesia too
acknowledge Bapak Lee Kuan Yew’s achievement as a true regional leader. ●
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