[Paperback] Lee Kuan Yew: Hard Truths to Keep Singapore Going (English)

“What am I doing this book for?
I want your readers to know the hard truths. If you believe that this superstructure  
is the same as other countries in our range, you are dead wrong.”
- Lee Kuan Yew

Lee Kuan Yew’s name is nearly synonymous with modern Singapore. Prime Minister for 
31 years from 1959 to 1990, he remained in the Cabinet, first as Senior Minister from 
1990 to 2004, and then as Minister Mentor, a post created for him, from 2004 to 2011.

By then, he had been in the public eye for 60 years, as a revolutionary leader who 
steered Singapore to independence, as a determined Prime Minister who transformed 
the country, and finally, as an elder statesman. Younger Singaporeans have all heard 
of him. But to them, he was something of a mythical figure — a Founding Father, 
detached and distant and revered and feared all at once.

This book picked up from his memoirs of 2000 as Lee engaged a group of journalists 
over issues that a younger, more critical population raised in the intervening years. 
Each chapter was presented in a question-and-answer format preceded by an
introduction. From Singapore’s geopolitical realities and the nature of leadership and 
the ruling party, to the contentious issues of race and religion, Lee fielded them all in 
his inimitable style, blunt, often politically incorrect.

Readers would hear from Lee, the unapologetic believer in strong government, in 
genes as destiny, and in the view that economics trumps freedoms.

They would also meet Lee the private man, the devoted caregiver to an ailing wife 
and proud father and grandfather.

*****

“Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew candidly imparts his wisdom,as well as his fears, 
as he contemplates Singapore’s role in a rapidly changing, and profoundly 
challenging, global society. An important addition to Lee Kuan Yew’s legacy, 
Lee Kuan Yew: Hard Truths To Keep Singapore Going illuminates his conviction
that a prosperous, sustainable future must be built upon the lessons of the past.”
- Bill Clinton, United States President, 1993–2001

“Minister Mentor Lee has done a wonderful job for Singapore and, further, his views 
are so respected outside of Singapore that he is a true world leader.”
– George H.W. Bush, United States President, 1989–1993

EDITORS | Han Fook Kwang, Zuraidah Ibrahim, Chua Mui Hoong, Lydia Lim,
                  Ignatius Low, Rachel Lin and Robin Chan