Lee Kuan Yew and Eugenomics: Lessons for Jamaica

The principle that a nation's prosperity depends on its intellectual caliber cannot be disputed.

Written by Lipton Matthews.

Singapore’s transition from tropical backwater to economic powerhouse is often portrayed as a triumph of planning, pragmatism and incorruptible leadership. But beneath this technocratic narrative lies a more controversial substratum of ideas—concerning genes and IQ.

Lee Kuan Yew, the founding father of Singapore, held deep convictions about the importance of cognitive ability in national development. His views were shaped by thinkers like Richard Lynn and Charles Murray, whose research on genes and intelligence remain lightning rods for debate to this day. Lee believed that the intellectual caliber of a population was central to national success. As such, he designed policies to encourage the cognitively gifted to reproduce, while discouraging the less gifted from having large families.

In a 1969 parliamentary speech on the Abortion Bill, Lee directly cited Richard Lynn, noting that “geneticists have come to the conclusion that intelligence is principally determined by heredity”​. He cited studies of identical twins raised apart to bolster his point. And he warned of a dysgenic trend: more intelligent, well-educated citizens were having fewer children, while less-educated individuals with fewer economic prospects were reproducing at higher rates. The consequence, he predicted, was a decline in the “total quality” of the population.

Lee’s government proceeded to introduce voluntary sterilization laws and legalized abortion, with the aim of reducing fertility, particularly among low-income families. (In 1966, when the voluntary sterilization laws were introduced, Singapore had a TFR of 4.5) Incentives were introduced for women with less education to undergo sterilization after the birth of their first or second child. The underlying goal was not merely population control—it was population quality control. In Lee’s own words, “One of the crucial yardsticks ... will be whether [the law] tends to raise or lower the total quality of our population”​.

In parallel to these social engineering measures, Lee crafted a meritocratic bureaucracy that harnessed some of Singapore’s best minds. The Singapore Civil Service and its associated institutions were designed to attract top talent from local universities. Salaries for bureaucrats and politicians were pegged to those in the private sector to ensure that the brightest citizens found public service appealing. In Lee's mind, competent leadership and national IQ were intimately linked. As he once remarked in reference to the famous book by Charles Murray and Richard Herrnstein:

The Bell Curve is a fact of life. The blacks on average score 85 per cent on IQ and it is accurate, nothing to do with culture. The whites score on average 100. Asians score more … These are realities that, if you do not accept, will lead to frustration because you will be spending money on wrong assumptions.¹

Lee also encouraged what might be termed “positive eugenics” by promoting marriage between smart men and women. For example, the Social Development Unit was established in 1984 as a matchmaking platform for educated people. Lee understood the importance of encouraging such people to procreate. While his views may unsettle modern liberal sensibilities, they laid the foundations for Singapore’s high-performance society. Today, the country ranks at or near the top in terms of PISA scores, GDP per capita and bureaucratic efficiency. Lee’s controversial policies were part of a broader philosophy that could be called “eugenomics”—the use of economic and social policies to shape the cognitive traits of a population.

Impressed by Singapore’s success, Jamaica’s current Prime Minister Andrew Holness has embarked on a similar program to boost the country’s human capital.

His administration has launched initiatives such as the Jamaica House Fellowship, a program that places bright young professionals in senior public sector roles to improve governance. This mirrors Singapore’s technocratic model, where smart youth are incentivised to enter public service. Holness introduced the Marcus Garvey Public Sector Graduate Scholarship, which sponsors public servants to complete advanced degrees. This initiative not only rewards merit but also seeks to transform the state apparatus—a cornerstone of the Singaporean model. During his recent budget presentation, Holness proposed several other initiatives that echo Lee’s vision of a merit-based and future-oriented society, including a trust fund for low-income children.

However, to make a true cognitive leap forward, Jamaica must adopt an explicit strategy of eugenomics—one centered on developing and rewarding excellence while curbing the intergenerational transmission of disadvantage. My future, and every other Jamaican’s, depends on it.

The first step to achieve this goal should be prioritizing intelligence in the education system. Jamaica must build dedicated primary and secondary schools for gifted students—facilities that offer accelerated learning environments with specialized curricula in science and mathematics. At the primary level, a national giftedness exam should be introduced to assess verbal, spatial, and numerical reasoning. Students who pass should be funneled into these gifted schools, which will aim at preparing them to become the nation’s elite scientists, policymakers and innovators.

Jamaica is already moving in the right direction with plans to construct STEM academies. These should not be ordinary institutions. The government must implement rigorous exams designed to assess scientific aptitude, reasoning ability and problem-solving potential, as these are the traits most closely tied to technical innovation and scientific productivity. Emphasizing aptitude over access ensures that the academies will become training grounds for the country’s future intellectual class.

Equally important is the transformation of Jamaica’s bureaucratic structures. A truly modern bureaucracy must reflect the complexity of the problems it is meant to solve. Rather than relying on academic qualifications or political loyalty, civil servants and public sector professionals should be selected using intricate cognitive tests and psychometric assessments tailored to their specific roles. For example, analysts in the Ministry of Finance should be tested for quantitative reasoning and statistical comprehension, while education policymakers should be evaluated for verbal intelligence and systems thinking. Such a regime would not only raise the level of public decision-making but also enhance the prestige of public service, as it did in Singapore.

In addition, cognitive excellence should be paired with demographic prudence. Jamaica’s Programme of Advancement Through Health and Education (PATH), a conditional cash transfer for low-income families, has laudable goals. Yet it is unintentionally subsidizing large families among those least likely to escape the poverty trap. A more rational approach would offer monetary incentives for women on PATH to voluntarily stop having children after a certain number—for example, two. This policy, framed around choice and responsibility, would align people’s behavior with the long-term interests of the child, the family and the nation.

A trust fund for low-income children—as envisioned by Prime Minister Holness—is a promising idea. But the proceeds should not be distributed indiscriminately. Eligibility must be tied to intellectual or creative ability. Children from poor families who show exceptional promise in mathematics, science, engineering, or the arts should be the primary beneficiaries. The fund should serve not merely as a form of welfare but as a launchpad for the country's top talent.

Lee Kuan Yew believed that successful nations required smart people. While the methods he employed are not always replicable or acceptable in every context, the principle that a nation's prosperity depends on its intellectual caliber cannot be disputed. Under its present forward-looking government, Jamaica has the opportunity to create a society based not on equalising outcomes but on optimising inputs.

In a world increasingly shaped by AI and biotech, nations that ignore human capital will fall behind. Those that embrace a non-coercive form of eugenomics may yet chart a path to greater economic development—just as Singapore has done.

Lipton Matthews is a research professional and YouTuber. His work has been featured by the Mises Institute, The Epoch Times, Chronicles, Intellectual Takeout and American Thinker. His email address is: lo_matthews@yahoo.com

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1. Lee should not have said "85 per cent”, since IQ scores are not percentages.