The Singapore Story: The Remarkable Transformation from Third World to First World 1965-2000

Anand Ramchandani: The first half of the book helped solidify and add colour to a lot that I already knew or was familiar with...its when we get to the second half that this book truly soars.

He takes us on a whirlwind tour of countries close and far from Singapore, able to deftly surmise intricate historical, cultural and political dynamics not to mention the character of world leaders all while linking it to Singapore's interests. What a singular man with such a fascinating eye for international relations, he recounts meeting Nehru, Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, Margaret Thatcher, Jaques Chirac, Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, Henry Kissinger, Marcos, Sukarno, Suharto to name a few and provides indelible insights into their character and governance

I think if you're curious at all about history, international relations and the world order that has burgeoned in the 20th Century this book is indispensable

Singapore on Nov 06, 2023

Amazon Customer: Well recived

United Kingdom on Aug 25, 2023

M' Elle: Recipient liked the book and is passing it on to friends to read

United States on Aug 08, 2023

Thelma Johnson: Reading

United States on Jul 20, 2023

npatnaik: This is an amazing book with insights on building systems that last. The book talks of various undertakings by the Govt led by LKY to make Singapore industrialized, a global financial hub and a preferred choice for reasearch and innovation.

India on May 14, 2023

Stanley P.: I bought this book after I came from a trip to Singapore. I was stunned by the level of development in such a piece of land. The country streets were immaculate and beautiful. I wanted to know who was responsible for such miraculous change within such a short time.

United States on Mar 18, 2023

Mister Zee: It's not often that you get to hear the story of how a country was constructed, told by the man who did the constructing. I had high hopes for the book when I bought it, and it's certainly a good read overall, but there are certain things in it which are very disturbing. First off, I have to say that I understand almost nothing about economics, as a result of which certain chunks of the book went completely over my head. Secondly, the history of S E Asia is a mystery to me, I can't say that I was taught it in school or anything, and that, I think it goes without saying, would be a SERIOUS handicap in reading this book (actually I learnt a lot about it by reading this book itself - a fun way to do it, if you're contemplating such a thing) . Thirdly, Asian names are hard to follow, and you'll have to put in the effort to remember who it is being talked about as you read.
One of the main problems I had with the book was how he talks about marriage which is completely based on the ACADEMIC capabilities of the would-be parties. For Mr. Yew, love doesn't exist, thus making his many other achievements pale by comparison. Secondly, Mr. Yew states openly, I think twice in the book, that...

India on Feb 04, 2023

Clay Garner: “There are books to teach you how to build a house, how to repair engines, how to write a book. But I have not seen a book on how to build a nation out of disparate collection of immigrants from China, British India, and the Dutch East Indies.’’ (3)

This unique story, building a nation from scratch, makes Lee’s experience so interesting. Who else?

How to crate an economy? Where to find jobs? Well . . . many believed that multinational corporations. . .

“. . . were exploiters of cheap land, labor and raw materials. This ‘dependency school’ of economists argued that they continued the colonial pattern of exploitation that left the developing countries selling raw materials and buying consumer goods from the advanced countries. The corporations controlled technology and consumer preferences and formed alliances with their host governments to exploit the people and keep them down.’’ (58)

Lee agree?

“Third world leaders believed this theory of neocolonialist exploitation, but Keng Swee and I were not impressed.’’ (58)

His skepticism proved correct. Singapore now wealthy. Mainly from the boost from multinational...

United States on Mar 28, 2018

Mr. M. Sinclair: This is absolutely fascinating and more people from the Western liberal tradition should read it. We spend a lot of time debating liberalism's merits relative to socialism, or Islamism, but those movements have far fewer adherents and are a far less persuasive alternative to our own choices than the soft, managerial authoritarianism (if that's a fair description) practiced by Lee Kuan Yew.

At times, reading the book you can see the limits of his arguments. He points out that alternative centres of power besides the Government (e.g. the press) are self-interested and will often make things hard for a reformist government, without giving proper credit to their genuine ability to check a corrupt or simply tired and incompetent government. The defence is that the Singaporean Government wasn't tired or corrupt but, of course, you cannot establish a society on the basis that your leaders will be (and continue to be) the right people, you plan for the wrong people being in and avoiding them being in too long. But still, the idea that a press that sees corruption everywhere might remove the political rewards for not being corrupt is powerful.

In other cases, he makes an...

United Kingdom on Dec 09, 2015

R. M. Piyadasa: The importance of the book is greater because it is written none other than the man who elevated the puny island-state of Singapore from the Third World to First. If it was written by someone else, one could have argued that it is only yet another book on Singapore, of course there are so many, so what is so special about it? This not a yet another book on Singapore. This book is as unique as the country - SINGAPORE - the author together with his "team" developed into a First World Country out of a shockingly tiny Third World island-state in the Southeast Asia. The entire world is proud of Singapore and Lee Kuan Yew today and everybody is dreaming of visiting Singapore at least on a two-hour city-tour from the Changi Airport while on transit if the transit time exceeds two hours at least once in her/his lifetime during the life-time of this living hero, if, of course, one is lucky enough, in tribute to this great visionary leader who did all he could in his fullest capacity to the benefit of his people without considering it to be a trouble but as a great responsibility cast upon him by the humanity. Such leaders are the rarest on this earth. I have visited Singapore twice. There...

United States on Oct 25, 2010