The Singapore Story: Afrikareise
Da die sozialistisch-kommunistisch orientierten Staaten gegen den Staat Malaysia hetzten und Malaysia sanktionieren wollten, sollte Lee zusammen mit Kollegen aus Nord-Borneo mit einer Afrikareise bei diesen Staaten den Standpunkt der Beitrittsstaaten erläutern. Damit war das Hauptziel der Reise formuliert, auch wenn die Reise ebenfalls zu nicht-sozialistischen Afrikastaaten führte, deren öffentlichkeitswirksame Zustimmung zu einem Staat Malaysia nützlich sein konnte. Für Lee Kuan Yew eine große Erfahrung.
Die afrikanischen Staaten mit kommunistischer Ausrichtung folgten meistens der Propaganda von Indonesien, welche Malaysia als pro-kolonialistisch brandmarken, was allerdings nicht der Ausrichtung der Politik der malaysischen Regierung entsprach, sondern vielmehr der kommunistischen Ideologie zugerechnet werden kann, welche einen starken militärischen und revolutionären Charakter besaß. Lee schrieb in seinen Memoiren dazu: “There was the problem of the international image of Sukarno who, judged by his rhetoric, seemed a fire-breathing anti-colonial revolutionary while the Tunku, by contrast, was the mild, moderate man of the West. The Indonesians had misrepresented his gentle manners as those of a British stooge.” Soll heißen, dass kommunistische Kräfte immer mit viel Krawall und Gewalt auftreten. Die ruhigere Art musste also der Feind sein.
Von der Afrikareise ist vor allem bemerkenswert, wie treffend Lee das Spannungsfeld zwischen den Ausprägungen kolonialer und unabhängiger Politik in Afrika beschrieb, was meiner Meinung nach deutlich den zivilisatorischen Stand der Menschen widerspiegelt und nicht nur, wie er es im Buch formulierte, das Regierungsmodell, Machtbeteiligung, Wohlstandsverteilung und die Verarmung durch halb-gare sozialistische Theorien.
Hier ein längerer Auszug aus dem Kapitelende als perfektes Beispiel:
“One of my most memorable recollections was of Government House in Lusaka, where I stayed as the guest of the last British governor of Northern Rhodesia, Sir Evelyn Hone. It was well-furnished and well-maintained, but not luxurious. The toiletries, soap, towels, cutlery and china were similar to those I had found in British government houses in Singapore, Sarawak and North Borneo. They were all part of one well-run system. I wondered what sort of life the governor would lead in Britain, once out of office and without a large retinue of uniformed servants. He carried out his duties as host with grace and style. From his drawing room window, I was delighted to see deer, antelope, red bucks, peacocks, cranes and other African animals and birds in the garden. Government House was like an English country mansion sited in the highlands of Africa, with as much of old England as possible brought in to relieve the homesickness of governors.
I was to go back to Lusaka in 1970 for the Non-Aligned Conference, and again in 1979 for the Commonwealth Conference. Each time was a saddening experience. I remembered the flowers, shrubs, trees and greenery at the side of the roads and at the roundabouts when I was driven in from the airport in 1964. Roses grew in abundance. Six years later, the roses had gone and weeds had taken over. Nine years after that, even the weeds had givven up; the roundabouts were covered with tarmac. And there seemed to be fewer animals and birds in the grounds of Government House, now the President’s Lodge. I wondered why.
I had received an unforgettable lesson in decolonisation, on how crucial it was to have social cohesion and capable, effective government to take power from the colonial authority, especially in Africa. When the leader did not preserve the unity of the country by sharing power with the chiefs of the minority tribes, but excluded them, the system soon broke down. Worse, when misguided policies based on half-digested theories of socialism and redistribution of wealth were compounded by less than competent government, societies formerly held together by colonial power splintered, with appalling consequences.”