Lee Kuan Yew
Roots for democratic India
Compared to China, it instils less fear of aggression, reports Sify, Indian news portal.
Dec 9, 2007

New York - Democracy may obstruct India's development, but it also makes the world look at this billion-strong nation differently, with no fear of aggression vis-à-vis China, says Singapore's Minister-Mentor Lee Kuan Yew.

Lee also calls the efforts by India to forge a civilian nuclear deal with the US in the nation's interest, but adds that political opposition to it reflects the internal checks and balances in place because of the democratic set up.

"There is no fear that India has aggressive intentions," Lee writes, soon after his recent return from New Delhi, which he visited twice over the past month to address top executives of J P Morgan and Citigroup.

"Two of the largest US banks consider India to be a growth story and are eager to service American and Indian companies. I did not detect any anxiety over India becoming a problem to the present world order," says Lee.

"Why has China's peaceful rise, however, raised apprehensions? Is it because India is a democracy in which numerous political forces are constantly at work, making for an internal system of checks and balances?"

In many ways, Lee's remarks signal a transformation of his rather critical views on India earlier, when he found it lacking in good governance, especially in the area of hastening the pace of economic reforms and inclusive growth.

He says the world's upbeat attitude towards India is despite its having a strong air force with the latest Sukhois and MiGs, the best-trained army in Asia and the ability to project its power across its borders farther than China.

He wonders if this is due to India being surrounded by "states in turmoil" and says a "bad outcome" in crisis-ridden Pakistan would increase the terrorist threat to India and that troubled Nepal was in a state of deep division.

"As Pervez Musharraf is now an elected civilian president, he won't have the same command over the army he has had as army chief. And any other elected president will have even less sway over the military," he says.

"Sri Lanka is embroiled in an unending civil war, with the Tamil Tigers carrying out endless suicide bombings. India obviously has preoccupations enough to keep its focus fixed on its border regions."

Lee also queries if the world will respond in a similar fashion to China were it to be a democracy as well, with multiple parties and political power bases. He also questions if such a China can grow at 9-12 percent per annum.

Such a China may make big strides on economic, social and military fronts, with more sophisticated capabilities on the ground, sea and air. At the same time, it may also become a peer competitor, if not an adversary, of the US, he warns.

"Indeed, the US, the European Union and Japan root for India because they want a better-balanced world, in which India approximates China's weight," says Lee who is also referred to as the father of modern-day Singapore.

Lee says Indians hold such wide and divergent views that Nobel laureate Amartya Sen entitled one of his books "The Argumentative Indian" and adds that the little that is published by the Chinese does not always disclose the innermost thoughts.

He says the West still has the phobia of "yellow peril" for China, and refers to the "outrages of the Cultural Revolution and the massacres in Tiananmen Square, not to mention their strong feelings against Chinese government censorship."

"China will have to live with these hang-ups," he says.

"What if India were well ahead of China? Would the Americans and the Europeans be rooting for China? I doubt it," says Lee, even as he speaks his mind on how he would like his country and the region as a whole to view the scenario.

"Singapore and Southeast Asia, sandwiched between the two behemoths, need China and India to achieve a balanced relationship, one that allows both to grow and prosper, pulling up the rest of Asia - East, Southeast and South - with them."

http://sify.com/news/fullstory.php?id=14573077