Singapore’s Founding Father Was a Wise Authoritarian

I first visited Singapore in 1955 and found it to be a vibrant city beginning its climb toward prosperity. This is not to take away from Lee Kuan Yew’s accomplishments, but he didn’t start with a backwater of the British Empire (“The Man Who Remade Asia,” Review, March 28). In 1955, while the British were still in charge, Singapore was one of the few places in Asia where you could drink tap water and sleep without a mosquito net.

I saw the infusion of new ideas and technologies from people who had escaped from Communist…