আধুনিক সিঙ্গাপুরের রূপকার লি কুয়ান ইউয়ের মনোজগৎ বুঝতে বইটা দরকারি। তার চিন্তাভাবনা উপলব্ধি করতে পারলে সিঙ্গাপুরের অসামান্য ও চোখধাঁধানো সাফল্যের পটভূমি জানা যাবে। জনাব ইউয়ের বাণী সংকলন বলা যেতে পারে বইটিকে। যা যে কোনো পাঠককে ভাবনার খোরাক দেবে।
আমার ভালো লেগেছে, এমন বাণী সেখানে কমসেকম এক শ। এর মধ্য থেকে মাত্র দশটি উল্লেখ করছি:
1. We cannot measure our happiness just by our GDP growth. It is how our families and friends care for each other, how we look after our old and nurture our young, they are what make for a closely knit society, one we can be proud to belong to.
2. A nation is great not by its size alone. It is the will, the cohesion, the stamina, the discipline of its people and the quality of their leaders which ensure it an honourable place in history.
3. As a nation, we must have other goals. Economic growth is not the end itself. After the success of the economy, you want to translate it into high standards of living, high quality of life, with recreation, the arts, spiritual fulfilment, and intellectual fulfilment. So, we are also spending considerable sums for the arts, which will create a more gracious society.
4.If you want to be popular, do not try to be popular all the time. Popular government does not mean that you do popular things all the time. We do not want to be unpopular or to do unpopular things. But when they are necessary, they will be done.
5. Just honour your promises, do not corrupt and debauch your party and you will find that the people believe you, when you go back to ask them to renew the mandate.
6. From 23 years of experience in government, I have learned that one high-calibre mind in charge of a ministry, or a statutory board, makes the difference between success and failure of a major project. A top mind, given a task, brings together a group of other able men, organises them into a cohesive team, and away the project goes.
7.Great leaders mirror the qualities of the nations they lead.
8. A good administration is essential but in a developing country, let me add, a good political leadership is critical. It is life and death. In a developed society, you can have mediocre, indifferent ministers and the country will get by.
9. No army, however brave, can win when its generals are weak.
10. I have never believed those who advocate a soft approach to crime and punishment, claiming that punishment does not reduce crime. That was not my experience in Singapore before the war, during the Japanese occupation or subsequently.