On August 28, our prime min­ister proudly declared in parliament that he could not and cannot be as strict as Lee Kuan Yew. He was implying that unlike Lee, he cannot give up his democratic ideals for national development, and that makes him a better leader than Lee. Had our democracy or, more precise­ly, had PM Oli been able to at least made us feel that things are changing for the better, then, yes, that comparison and that pride on being democratic would have made sense. But since the system and the leaders, including the cur­rent PM, have repeatedly failed us, such comments only make him appear weak, visionless and with no knowledge of what Lee was actually like as a leader. The only meaningful difference between Lee’s Singapore and Oli’s Nepal is that we can criticize the government here. But what good are constructive criticisms when the leaders don’t listen? Our democratic rights are nothing to be proud of because those have come in exchange of perpetu­al poverty, bad governance and rigged elections.

 

To compensate for the lack of freedom of expression and cer­tain rights, Lee gave Singaporeans the right to good life. Its per capita income, which was one of the lowest in the world when Lee took charge, is now one of the high­est. Its universities consistently rank as among the best in the world. You don’t need to buy bottled water in Singapore; you can drink the tap water and eat street food without fear. You don’t need to bribe bureaucrats and political leaders to get your work done. It’s a safe, clean and cosmopolitan city-state. Many countries have either waived or made their visa requirements lax for Singaporean citizens.

 

We have exactly the opposite sit­uation. Singapore is praised and envied, while we are mocked and loathed by the world. Just see the reaction on the face of the immi­gration officer when you present your green passport anywhere abroad. That suspicion-laced reaction with a mocking smile is the accurate representation of our international standing and how the world perceives us.

 

PM Oli, you are not Lee, and you can’t be Lee. Unlike you, who takes a chartered flight with a jumbo team abroad, Lee flew in scheduled flights, and with only those who he needed. Unlike you, who tries to shield his party cad­res and near ones against charges of corruption and what not, Lee went after his party members and even his good friends, including Singapore’s first president, for poor conduct and corruption.

 

Unlike you, who shows help­lessness against all that’s ailing us, Lee was strong to weed out most of what bedeviled the Sin­gaporean society and institution­alize rule of law. Unlike you, who had the street potholes filled on the eve of the BIMSTEC summit, Lee began a campaign for clean and green Singapore immediately after he took office.

 

He was a hands-on prime minis­ter, and you are a hands-off every­thing, mouthful on everything prime minister. Yes, Lee was strict authoritarian and you are a liber­al democrat and that’s why you shoot down people asking for justice.

 

Unlike you, Lee understood what was in his country’s inter­ests during the Cold War. Despite being an ethnic Chinese, he dis­tanced himself from China politi­cally but continued to trade with it. He joined the Western camp, just so he could attract their investment. And he managed the economy and foreign affairs of his country so well that he was invit­ed to China, and the great Chi­nese leader Deng Xiaoping visited Singapore, even before the two countries had established diplo­matic relations. Deng remarked that China had a lot to learn from Singapore, and China really did relearn ancient Chinese values of meritocracy, rule of law, good gov­ernance, and effective utilization of foreign capital, from Singapore. So much for the “Singapore was small, Nepal is big and we can’t emulate that here” argument of textbook democrats.

 

Sadly, Mr Oli, you try to cover your weaknesses by comparing yourself with great world leaders who eschewed populist policies for fair ones to lift their countries. You are no Lee, Ataturk, Chiang, Mahathir or Mahendra. You are no better than these “dictators” just because you once fought for democracy. You actually have a lot to learn from them.

 

Since I am a Nepali of no signif­icance and no communist I know this will fall on deaf ears and blind eyes. Maybe the following lines by a renowned author on cur­rent affairs, Robert Kaplan, will help you see the world and assess yourself and others you consider “dictators” differently.

 

“Dividing the world in black and white terms between dicta­tors and democrats completely misses the political and moral complexity of the situation on the ground... The twin categories of democrats and dictators are simply too broad for an adequate understanding of many places and their rulers”