More than just smarts

IT has often been said that Lee Kuan Yew was "too big" a politician, statesman and intellectual for the city state he created, and that his talents could have been better deployed upon a larger stage. Kent Calder's book, Singapore: Smart City, Smart State, implies otherwise however.

A respected authority on Asian affairs, Mr Calder suggests that Mr Lee, along with other members of his founding "old guard", built a model city state that can be copied (if not exactly replicated) by both advanced and emerging nations to their advantage.The small stage becomes a large arena.

To call Singapore simply a "smart" state however - "smart" is a constant leitmotif throughout this book - does not do justice to Mr Lee's achievement, or to Mr Calder's scholarship. There is much more to nation-building than simply being smart, this book makes clear.