Lee Kuan Yew’s success in transforming Singapore from a plural immigrant society into a multicultural nation rested on the core values that shaped him and the power systems that he chose to serve his political cause.

It is not too early to think about Lee Kuan Yew’s place in history. The sense of loss that Singaporeans demonstrated when he lay in state was genuine and deep. The eulogies from all over the world testify to the impact of his achievements in the city-state that he led.

To many leaders in Asia, what he did was to provide remarkable answers to the problems of decolonisation and nation-building that the region experienced after the end of World War II. Some might focus on his doing this with so small a country; others wonder what more he could have done if he had more land and people under his care.

… Wang Gungwu is Professor of the National University of Singapore and chairman of the East Asian Institute and former member of the Board of Governors of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. An earlier version of this article appeared in The Round Table, London (2015).