In 1962, LKY, in a speech to the University of Singapore Law Society, suggested that the phrase ‘law and order’ was more appropriately rendered ‘order and law’: “In a settled and established society, law appears to be a precursor of order. Good laws lead to good order”, he said.

“But the hard realities of keeping the peace between man and man, and between authority and the individual, can be more accurately described if the phrase were inverted to “order and law”, for without order the operation of law is impossible.” | LKY

’Singapore had to create the societal conditions in which the Rule of Law would prevail. People needed to live in a society that respected the authority of the law, instead of being subject to arbitrary decisions by officials. A key step to this was the elimination of corruption’

“The moment key leaders are less than incorruptible, less than stern in demanding high standards, from that moment on the structure of administrative integrity will weaken, and will eventually crumble."| Lee Kuan Yew