MM Lee Kuan Yew

MM Lee Kuan Yew was the key to Singapore's remarkable development and success, transforming Singapore from a fishing village to a thriving metropolis. He made wise choices in developing the economy of Singapore, which is very crucial to a country with little or no natural resources. With expert advice from Dr Albert Winsemius, MM Lee set Singapore on the path of industrialization, similar to that of Switzerland. With forsight, he set up the Economic Development Board in 1961 to attract foreign investment to boost Singapore's economy. This was accompanied by a well-trained, disciplined and low paid workforce. This is something which many neighbouring countries then fail to realise, instead, they were more interested in protecting the interests of their domestic investment. In addition, he also set up the Singapore Tourist Promotion Board to attract visitors to the country, creating employment and increasing country's revenue.

MM Lee was also aware of the downsides of a corrupt government, he set up the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) to monitor and single out any officer or minister suspected of corruption, this was prove to be effective as several ministers were charged. A clean and effective government, Singapore has today, is due to the weeding out of corrupt officials in the very beginning.

His contributions in transforming Singapore from a third world nation to a first world nation has made him influential, many other leaders in developing countries would like to emulate his qualities and style of governing to enable their countries to be comparable to Singapore. He laid the path to victory for Singapore and managed to convince our forefathers to aid him in his efforts.