Lee Kuan Yew: Hard Truths to Keep Singapore Going

“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.

Mr Lee Kuan Yew described Hard Truths as his all-time “favourite” book. He stayed in the public eye for 60 years — as the revolutionary leader who steered Singapore into independence, as the Prime Minister who transformed the Republic into a First World country, and as Minister Mentor, the elder statesman. Based on 32 hours of interviews, this book picks up where his memoirs of 1999 and 2000 left off. It deals with what it takes to keep a successful Singapore going.

新加坡现代史离不开李光耀的名字。他是带领新加坡迈向独立， 缔造新加坡经济奇迹的坚毅总理。他审时度势的睿智、面向世界 的视野，创造了小国生存的奇迹。《李光耀：新加坡赖以生存的 硬道理》展现了新加坡建国总理李光耀盎然的斗志和深邃的思， 发人深省。

这是他第三本回忆录，他在书中坦率地针对新加坡在其所处的快 速变化而又充满挑战性的世界环境中应当扮演的角色，分享了他 的智慧与忧虑。本书反映了他坚定不移的观点，即繁荣和可持续 发展的未来，必须借鉴过去的经验与教训。

本书初版于2011年，出版后受到国内外读者关注，多次重刷出。 2023年，为纪念这位建国总理的百岁冥诞，特校正再版。