Singapore Faces Challenges Near and Far in Post-Lee Kuan Yew Era

Singapore Faces Challenges Near and Far in Post-Lee Kuan Yew Era
Visitors take pictures of themselves in an area set aside for tributes to former Singapore Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew at the hospital where he passed away, Singapore, March 23, 2015 (AP photo by Joseph Nair).

Singapore’s founding prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew, transformed the island from a tiny third-world country in 1965 into a first-world city-state that is now one of the world’s most prosperous, least corrupt and best-educated societies. Yet after Lee’s death earlier this month on the 50th anniversary of the republic’s founding, questions remain about the durability of his legacy. While changes have been afoot in Singapore, particularly since Lee retired from politics in 2011, they are likely to develop into larger challenges as the city-state’s economic constraints become clearer and its politics more competitive amid growing regional and global uncertainties.

Domestically, Singapore in the post-Lee era must confront the economic problems of managing a small city-state. There is already more discontent about issues such as rising property prices, a widening wealth gap and the increasing influx of immigrants. The future presents tough questions with few easy answers. Take Singapore’s demographic challenge. The government realizes that it needs to find a way to get around the country’s stubbornly low fertility rate—in part caused by Lee’s earlier population control attempts—if it wants to avoid becoming an aging society in the next few decades. But welcoming young immigrants is proving unpopular, while it is still unclear whether marriage incentives will work as well and as quickly as they need to.

Politically, Singapore should move gradually to a more open political system and society and away from the darker side of Lee’s legacy. His People’s Action Party (PAP) stayed in power with an iron grip, from the infamous ban on chewing gum and hefty fines for littering and not flushing toilets to bankrupting political opponents in court or imprisoning them without trial. Singaporeans have signaled that they want a more responsive and inclusive government, with the PAP garnering just 60.1 percent of the popular vote in the country’s last general elections in 2011, an embarrassment given that the odds are stacked so much in its favor. Many expect the PAP’s vote share to decline even further in the next election, which must be held before January 2017.

Keep reading for free!

Get instant access to the rest of this article by submitting your email address below. You'll also get access to three articles of your choice each month and our free newsletter:

Or, Subscribe now to get full access.

Already a subscriber? Log in here .

What you’ll get with an All-Access subscription to World Politics Review:

A WPR subscription is like no other resource — it’s like having a personal curator and expert analyst of global affairs news. Subscribe now, and you’ll get:

  • Immediate and instant access to the full searchable library of tens of thousands of articles.
  • Daily articles with original analysis, written by leading topic experts, delivered to you every weekday.
  • Regular in-depth articles with deep dives into important issues and countries.
  • The Daily Review email, with our take on the day’s most important news, the latest WPR analysis, what’s on our radar, and more.
  • The Weekly Review email, with quick summaries of the week’s most important coverage, and what’s to come.
  • Completely ad-free reading.

And all of this is available to you when you subscribe today.

More World Politics Review