Time for Lee Kuan Yew to learn from Deng Xiaoping's Legacy

Singapore has been touted around the world as an economic miracle. Lee Kuan Yew, the CEO and Chief Marketing Officer of the country, has been held up high as a model statesman of the island state and Asian Economic Tiger. The PAP government likes to boast about how Chinese officials come to Singapore to learn from the ruling party about how to run a nation. Lee Kuan Yew was not afraid to boast about Chinese officials wanting to run their country the way Singapore does [link].

Yet, Lee knew that China would soon rise to the world stage and surpass what little Singapore could ever accomplish. Instead of China learning from Singapore, Singapore would be learning from China. The elder Lee once said to Deng Xiaoping [link],

‘Whatever we can do, you will do better. We are the descendants of the landless peasants of South China, you have the literati, you have the top brains, you have the poets, the artists.’

Indeed, the time has come for Singapore's political elite to take a page out of China's economic leadership.