HONG KONG -- A rare and remarkable Asian leader passed a milestone on Sept. 16. Former Singapore Prime Minister, now Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew celebrated his 80th birthday. He has been running Singapore, in substance if not in title, since his People's Action Party swept the polls in 1959.
The one former minister best able to get on with the often irascible Lee, former Minister for National Development Lim Kim San, best described Lee's hard-driving approach to politics and government: "One characteristic that sets him apart from most men is that he is 24 hours on the job. . . . His job is Singapore, and how to ensure the security and stability it needs. . . . He thinks, talks and, no doubt dreams about this. He is a workaholic, working sometimes till dawn."
Lee himself used the main celebration to deliver a vintage performance. Most leaders tell their people what they think they want to hear, placing the future as much as possible in a rosy or optimistic glow. That has never been Lee's style. He has always preferred to tell Singaporeans the way it is -- to use realism mixed with pessimism as a spur to greater achievement.
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