Fatimah realized this was his core philosophy in miniature: the belief that discipline—physical, mental, and societal—was the only antidote to chaos. He spoke of the fragility of post-colonial Singapore in 1965: a trading post with no army, no water, and a volatile mix of Chinese, Malay, and Indian communities. "We looked around us," the PDF quoted, "and saw countries torn apart by communalism. We decided survival was not a right. It was a problem to be solved."
: Lee famously abandoned early socialist leanings after observing that welfare states often eroded the incentive to work. "Whatever Works" lee kuan yew the man and his ideas pdf