I gotta say that I don't know if I trust or admire him, but I sure as fuck respect
Senior Minister (former Prime Minister) Lee Kuan Yew
For those that don't know, Lee Kuan Yew is the man who led Singapore to independence and was its prime minister from 1959 until 1990 and remains a dominant political force here.
Basically he's your textbook benign dictator. Political dissent was utterly squashed and the country was run according utterly to what he thought was right for the people. Human rights and democracy were negligible considerations.
But what he achieved is to turn a small island of 3 million people with no natural resources (not even fresh water) and take it from undeveloped colonial status to one of the richest countries in Asia. And not only that but to create a state where violent crime (or crime of any sort) is virtually non-existent as is poverty and homelessness. A state where despite having Asia's worst climate and highest energy consumption, air quality is among the best in the world and where the healthcare is amazingly high quality and available to all. Where anyone can own their own house through the government CPF system, and where all pensioners get a decent level of support due to the same program. A state where three separate races coexist relatively (but not completely) harmoniously.
Singapore is not utopia, but it has to give you pause for thought to think what can be achieved, firstly if you only have to govern a small city-state. And secondly what one man can do with a vision if he's not hampered by the mechanisms of bureaucracy.
So I reckon, if you believe in any shape or form in leadership and responsibility and paternalism in politicians (and I dunno if I do or should, but we are saying "if" here) then you have to respect LKY...