|
Singapore Toward New Leadership
Singapore successfully pursued its foreign policy goal
of
improved relations with Malaysia and Indonesia in the
early 1980s
as Lee Kuan Yew established cordial and productive
personal
relations with both Soeharto and Malaysian prime minister
Mahathir
Mohamad. Cooperation agreements were reached between
Singapore and
Malaysia on joint civil service and military training
programs. The
economic interdependence of the two countries was
reaffirmed as
Singapore continued its role as the reexport center for
the tin,
rubber, lumber and other resources of the Malaysian
hinterland, as
well as becoming a major investor in that country's
economy.
Throughout the early 1980s, Singapore headed the ASEAN
drive to
find a solution to the Cambodia problem. Beginning in
1979, the
ASEAN countries sponsored an annual resolution in the UN
calling
for a withdrawal of Vietnamese troops and a political
settlement on
Cambodia. In 1981 Singapore hosted a successful meeting of
the
leaders of the three Khmer liberation factions, which led
to the
formation of the Coalition Government of Democratic
Kampuchea the
following year.
During the first half of the 1980s, the Singapore
economy
continued to grow steadily, despite a worldwide recession.
The
economic growth rate of about 10 percent in 1980 and 1981
dipped to
6.3 percent in 1982 but rebounded to 8.5 percent with only
2.7
percent inflation in 1984. In his 1984 New Year's message
to the
nation, Lee Kuan Yew attributed Singapore's high economic
growth
rate, low inflation, and full employment during the period
to its
hardworking work force, political stability and efficient
administration, regional peace, and solidarity in ASEAN.
Singapore's successful economic strategy included phasing
out
labor-intensive industries in favor of high-technology
industries,
which would enhance the skills of its labor force and
thereby
attract more international investment.
Although Lee Kuan Yew retained a firm grip on the reins
of
government during the second decade of the country's
independence,the shift in leadership had been irrevocably
set in
motion. By the early 1980s, a second generation of leaders
were
beginning to occupy the important decision-making posts.
The stars
of the new team included Goh Chok Tong, Tony Tan, S.
Dhanabalan,
and Ong Teng Cheong, who were all full ministers in the
government
by 1980. In that year, the PAP won its fourth consecutive
general
election, capturing all the seats. Its 75.6 percent vote
margin was
five points higher than that of the 1976 election. The PAP
leadership was shaken out of its complacency the following
year,
however, when Workers' Party candidate J. B. Jeyaretnam
won with 52
percent of the votes the by-election to fill a vacancy in
Anson
District. In the general election held in December 1984,
Jeyaretnam
retained his seat and was joined on the opposition benches
by Chiam
See Tong, the leader of the Singapore Democratic Party,
which was
founded in 1980.
In September 1984, power in the PAP Central Executive
Committee
was transferred to the second-generation leaders, with
only Lee
Kuan Yew, as secretary general, remaining of the original
committee
members. When Lee hinted in 1985 that he was considering
retirement, his most likely successor appeared to be Goh
Chok Tong,
serving then as first deputy prime minister and defence
minister.
Speculation also centered on the prime minister's son, Lee
Hsien
Loong, who had resigned his military career to win a seat
in
Parliament in the 1984 election. After two decades of the
highly
successful, but tightly controlled, administration of Lee
Kuan Yew,
it was difficult to say whether the future would bring a
more open
and participatory government, yet one with the same knack
for
success exhibited by the old guard. The answer to that
question
would only come with the final passing of Lee Kuan Yew
from the
political scene.
* * *
The early history of Singapore is treated most
extensively in
works on the Malay peninsula, particularly in the various
issues of
the Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic
Society.
Of special interest is a commemorative volume, 150th
Anniversary
of the Founding of Singapore, which includes reprints
of
articles on Singapore from previous issues of the journal.
Three
monographs that treat Singapore within the Malayan context
from
prehistory to the modern period are Tan Ding Eing's A
Portrait
of Malaysia and Singapore, N.J. Ryan's The Making
of Modern
Malaysia and Singapore, and K.G. Tregonning's A
History of
Modern Malaysia and Singapore. Prince of
Pirates, by
Carl A. Trocki, gives an interesting glimpse into the
world of the
early nineteenth-century Malay rulers of Singapore. The
forty years
during which Singapore was ruled from India as one of the
Straits
Settlements is well covered in The Straits Settlements,
1826-
67 by Coustance M. Turnbull.
Turnbull is also the author of the standard work
focusing
solely on Singapore, A History of Singapore,
1819-1975.
Another useful work covering the same period is F.J.
George's,
The Singapore Saga. Two interesting works, both
written in
the early twentieth century, view nineteenth-century
Singapore from
different perspectives. One Hundred Years of
Singapore,
edited by Walter Makepeace, et al., deals with the history
of the
colonial government, whereas Song Ong Siang's One
Hundred Years'
History of the Chinese in Singapore covers the life
and times
of prominent Chinese Singaporeans.
For works focused on postwar Singapore, see Conflict
and
Violence in Singapore and Malaysia, 1945-1983 by
Richard L.
Clutterbuck and Singapore: Struggle for Success by
John
Drysdale. An interesting pictorial history is
Singapore: An
Illustrated History, 1941-1984, published by the
Singapore
Ministry of Culture. (For further information and complete
citations,
see
Bibliography.)
Data as of December 1989
|
