The Thoughts To Construct A Clean Government Of Lee Kuan Yew And Singapore Practice

Singapore, a small garden country located in Southeast Asia, has remarkable achievements in the cultivation of clean government. According to the 2013 Corruption Perceptions Index published by Transparency International, Singapore was in fifth position in 177 countries around the world with 86 points. Its success of anti-corruption is closely connected with its founding father- Lee Kuan Yew.Singapore has gone through from the British colonial rule, the Japanese invasion, the struggle for independence and autonomy to the coalition and later separation of Singapore and Malaya. When it became independent from Malaysia in August 1965, this tiny country was in a disastrous state and the domestic situation is grim. Bureaucratic corruption was a serious problem and there was almost no domestic mineral resources and industrialization level. The island was full of marsh land and even edible water needed to be imported from abroad. There were frequent domestic conflicts between various races and people lived in severe poverty. Under this situation, Lee Kuan Yew resolutely led the Singapore government to implement social reform and develop the economy. He was determined to wipe out the cancer of bureaucracy and built a clean and efficient government. Because of the family environment for his early growth and his study experience, one one hand, this Chinese bright student who graduated from Cambridge law school thought highly of Chinese traditional Confucian thought, adhere to the values of “loyalty, filial piety, righteousness,etiquette and sense of shame”, on the other hand, he made a series of democracy and legal thoughts of capitalism deeply rooted in the heart. Lee Kuan Yew combined western legal thoughts and Chinese Confucianism, cleverly complemented each other and established a democratic development path conforming to the basic national conditions of Singapore under the principle of efficiency priority and practical rationality. He established a set of distinctive and effective framework of the cultivation of clean government by improving laws and regulations to prevent and punish corruption, establishing Corruption Practices Investigation Bureau, using a variety of supervision and education mechanism for constraint and guide, and being supplemented by all kinds of material incentives and guarantees such as the public accumulation fund for housing construction and high salaries. After the effort of three generations of leaders, Singapore has thoroughly got rid of poverty and developed into one of Asia’s “four small tigers”and become the largest seaport in southeast Asia, an international financial center, an entrepot trade center and a famous tourist resort. Singapore’s economy added a miracle to history and “Singapore model” has become a successful case the governments study with each other. Prime minister Lee Kuan Yew is also known as “one of the world’s most prominent politicians in the twentieth century”, whose thoughts and practices of the cultivation of clean government also brings important enlightenment to the development of other countries.