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Lee Kuan Yew ruled Singapore with an iron fist. Photo: AFP
Opinion
Public Eye
by Michael Chugani
Public Eye
by Michael Chugani

Pining for autocracy à la Lee Kuan Yew

Singapore strongman Lee Kuan Yew is dead. Global tributes are flowing in. US President Barack Obama called him a giant of history and a visionary.

Singapore strongman Lee Kuan Yew is dead. Global tributes are flowing in. US President Barack Obama called him a giant of history and a visionary. But wasn't he an authoritarian who ruled with an iron fist? Didn't he mock democracy, saying Singapore needed only a limited dose? The media is anything but free. The election system is skewed to always return the ruling party. People aren't even allowed to chew gum. So why are the leaders of the world's democracies singing his praises? Well, because no honest person can deny he turned a sleepy town into an Asian economic powerhouse - not through democracy but virtual autocracy. We in Hong Kong lament the lack of democracy but envy Singapore's housing, clean air, efficient government and societal contentment. We compete and judge ourselves not with Asian democracies like the Philippines and Taiwan but with authoritarian Singapore. The iron rule there has pulled it ahead of us in innovation, education and lifestyle. It lacks so-called true democracy but most Singaporeans are happy. We demand true democracy but yearn for the things Singapore achieved through autocracy. Where is the logic in that? We are stuck - unable to even extend landfills or create a technology bureau - while Singapore powers ahead. Maybe what Hong Kong needs is a dose of dictatorship Lee Kuan Yew-style.

 

When will the hatred stop? Is it possible for just this once to think of Leung Chun-ying not as the chief executive who so many loathe but as a parent deserving public sympathy? Public Eye makes it a rule not to be personal unless it involves government officials or politicians. They are fair game. But what we read last week in the by columnist Joseph Lian Yi-zheng made us shake our head in disbelief. We are all for press freedom but there is such a thing as an abuse of it. Leung's 23-year-old elder daughter Chai-yan is emotionally unstable. He himself has admitted it. Her Facebook postings of physical abuse by her mother may or may not be true, but her emotional and mental state requires us to think hard before we accept the bizarre postings as fact. Paramedics found no evidence of abuse when called to Government House last week. Were they bribed or pressured to say so? We don't know for sure. But anyone who accepts without proof that Leung can get away with pressuring the police to cover up the matter must be deliberately delusional. Loathe Leung all you want, but Lian has stretched credibility to laughable levels by comparing Leung's treatment of Chai-yan to Beijing's treatment of Hongkongers fighting for freedom from a repressive regime. It's an attempt to use the problems of a young woman to score political points. But that's press freedom, so don't let anyone say it's eroding in Hong Kong. Lian has since apologised, no doubt for political expediency. For the record, Public Eye is not defending Leung the chief executive. We are defending Leung the parent.

 

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