THE great Singaporean leader Lee Kuan Yew is no more. He died at the age 91 after a brave fight with pneumonia. With his departure the world is deprived of the father of modern Singapore and one of the most outstanding leaders of Asia and a role model for leaders of the developing world.

Lee Kuan became the first prime minister of Singapore after it was separated from Malaysia in 1965, soon after the united Malaysia and Singapore gained independence from the British in 1963.

A Cambridge law graduate and a barrister from Inner Temple, in a short time he turned a backwater British colony into an Asian tiger with a thriving economy despite no natural resources.

After making way for Goh Chok Tong he became a senior minister under him and than ‘minister mentor’ under third prime minister, his son, Le Hsien Loong.

Through introduction of an outstanding system of governance of meritocracy, efficiency, and a competent and honest civil service he turned Singapore of today as a role model of economic development for any developing country.

Today his country is an envy of all developing nations where leaders like Imran Khan and Nawaz Sharif keep quoting the achievements of Lee Kuan and making Pakistan an Asian tiger like Singapore, when they want to inspire their audience in public speeches.

In his long innings as prime minister, senior minister and minister mentor, Lee Kuan, though criticised by some for curtailing civil liberties, has made Singapore as one of the most disciplined and hardworking nations on the planet.

His is perhaps the only exception in a democratic set up where hereditary rule of his son (the present prime minister) is merit-based and the son is steadfastly emulating his father’s heritage.

That said, it would be such great achievement and a ‘dream come true’, if our political leaders, who keep boasting of their sincerity and patriotism, could actually and genuinely emulate him rather than give his examples and claim to make Pakistan an ‘Asian tiger’ during their election campaigns and public addresses.

Zaheer Ahmed

Islamabad

Published in Dawn, March 30th, 2015

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