From Mahathir to Lee Kuan Yew, late scholar Ezra Vogel’s work on Japan and China inspired a continent

Vogel’s book, Japan as Number One, helped shape the Malaysian and Singaporean leaders’ domestic and foreign policies and changed Japan’s view of itself on the world stage

The late professor’s legacy also includes a political biography of Deng Xiaoping and a historical study of China-Japan ties

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Ezra Vogel, speaks in an interview at Harvard University on October 8, 2019. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 9:00am, 23 Dec 2020Updated: 11:37am, 23 Dec 2020

As tributes across Asia continue to pour in for renowned East Asia expert and Harvard emeritus professor Ezra Vogel, observers have highlighted the impact of his research on Japan’s success, which leaders such as Lee Kuan Yew and Mahathir Mohamad not only learned from but adapted to form their own policies.

Vogel’s book Japan as Number One, published in 1979, detailed the path to Japan’s growth and was written mainly as a guide for the United States. But his observations were also keenly noted in Southeast Asia.

In October 1994, Singapore’s then prime minister Lee cited Vogel’s book during a speech in parliament arguing for competitive salaries for ministers and senior public officers.

Lee said even though civil service jobs were viewed as prestigious in Japan, with graduates from top universities competing for places, senior bureaucrats earned less than their counterparts in the private sector.

While the city state’s government could learn from Japan’s emphasis on recruiting the best candidates and the grooming of promising officers for senior positions, Lee said, its model was not entirely applicable for Singapore, being a small and young nation.

“[Singapore] cannot rely on the prestige of public service to make up for lower pay,” the late prime minister said then. “Singapore is a young society, not an established Japan with set traditions. Singaporeans, especially the young, talented and ambitious, gauge their status by material success and visible rewards. Our system must recognise this reality.”

Ezra Vogel proposed Japan as a model for world economies to emulate in his book, Japan as Number One. Photo: Getty Images

A MODEL TO EMULATE

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