[sam_lynx]

Eh, as they said in the article: "Part of the mythos of Lee Kuan Yew is that he succeeded as an authoritarian where so many others have failed." Singapore is the exception; authoritarian governments are almost always bad for the people otherwise.

[dv_dt]

Benevolent dictatorship is not just a sarcastic phrase, it is sometimes true for some distributions of benevolence in history. The more interesting question is what happens after he passes away, or cannot continue to make decisions.

[kingkawn]

Many Singaporeans will tell you that their experience is quite repressive

[sam_lynx]

True -- after all, it is still authoritarian, the only difference is that this authoritarian government seems to care for the wealth of its citizens (although not much else.)