Democracy

"History teaches us that liberal democracy needs economic development, literacy, a growing middle class and political institutions that support free speech and human rights. It needs a civic society resting on shared values that make people with differnt and conflicting views willing to cooperate with each other. In a civic society, between the family and state, there are whole series of institutions to which citizens belong, voluntary associations to promote specific common interests, religious institutions, trade unions, professional organisations and other self-help bodies.

Democracy works where the people have that culture of accomodation and tolerance which makes a minority accept the majority's right to have its way until the next election, and wait patiently and peacefully for its turn to become the government by persuading more voters to support its views. Where democracy was implanted in a people whose tradition had been to fight to the bitter end, as in South Korea, it has not worked well. South Koreans battle it out on the streets regardless of whether they have a military dictator or a democratically elected president in charge. Brawls in the Legislative Yuan of Taiwan, plus physical clashes in the streets, are reflections of their different cultures. People will evolve their own more or less representative forms of government, suited to their customs and culture."

Taken from Lee Kuan Yew's From Third World to First: The Singapore Story: 1965-2000