Few politicians have garnered as many effusive public tributes after their death as Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s founder and former prime minister. But Lee was hardly alone in advocating capitalism with an iron fist, so why has he – rather than, say, Augusto Pinochet – been praised by everyone from Barack Obama to Vladimir Putin?
NEW YORK – Few politicians have garnered as many effusive public tributes after their death as Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s founder and long-serving former prime minister. A man who was treated as a sage by Henry Kissinger, regarded as a political role model by Russian President Vladimir Putin, and described as “a true giant of history” by President Barack Obama must have done something right.
NEW YORK – Few politicians have garnered as many effusive public tributes after their death as Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s founder and long-serving former prime minister. A man who was treated as a sage by Henry Kissinger, regarded as a political role model by Russian President Vladimir Putin, and described as “a true giant of history” by President Barack Obama must have done something right.