From littlespeck.com:
After saying that one-third of men and women in Singapore were single “and quite comfortable with their lives”, the Minister Mentor said: “My daughter is one of them. What can I do?”
Then in an unusually emotional mood, Lee told the young audience: “When she was in her early 30s, I told her, never mind all this.
“My wife and I used to tell her, what you want is a “Mrs” (to her name). She didn’t think it was funny. Now, she is 50-plus.
“I’m getting old. I’ve got a pacemaker. We’ve got this big house, everything is looked after now, but what happens when we are no longer there?
“Who’s going to run this place? Who’s going to make sure that the maids are doing the right thing and so on and so forth? That’s the price she (Dr Lee) will have to pay.
“She says, I’ll look after myself, but she has not been looking after herself all these years.
“She went abroad for her studies. And her cooking was just to take the salmon and put it in the microwave and heat it up. You can do it and then go to the canteen, but when you do that day after day …
“It’s a choice she has made and a choice that 35% of our women are making.”
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All he cares about is his own aged children., their well beings and make sure they have no lack in lives and the lesser mortals ( his maid) know who they are serving and better do a proper job. Frankly, that is parental loves he showed only to his familEE.
As a Singapore leader, is he equally concerned about the poverty faced by many Singaporean and some young childrens could be living on instant noodles everyday. The exorbitant medical costs and other living expenses are forced into our stomach and he skillfully brushed them away on the pretext that it has nothing to do with his govt but global influence. His specialty in sueing others is quite telling too and who knows, our hard earned CPF may not even get to see the daylight because it was made legally so by him.
“quite comfortable with their lives….My daughter is one of them. What can I do?”
Answer : Simple. Dont do anything and screw up her life…..
Having lots of $ will definitely help if one choose to remain single. With $, at least all daily issues will be taken care of; cuisine, fully paid houses, medical costs (private doctors & nurses) , cuisine etc.
However, there is one thing that $ cannot buy! The love & care your loved one showered on you when you are old & sick. That is something that most affluence single don’t seem to understand.
unfortunately , the only time they probably will realise this is when they are too old and sick.
MM Lee is just experiencing what most parents’ worries. Nothing special in my point of view
no woly lah. ladies in their 80′s also can still get married leh.
correct or not?
The oracle speaks and he expects us to listen.He knows that Singapore is a failing state and he cannot accept that more Singaporeans are migrating, not having kids, not getting married and not buying his public housing.This is called ‘wising up’.
So he brings in ’2nd Tier Foreign Talent’ to shore up the economy but even these people will ‘wise up’ after 5 years and will not let their children become full fledged citizens.How many of these ’2nd Tier Foreign Talent’ use us as a ‘Stepping Stone’ to get to the ‘First World Countries’
With ’2nd Tier Foreign Talents’ we will become a ‘Second World’ .Would he and his party the PAP be around to see Singapore become a ‘Third World’?
He would have to revise his books now as they should be called From Third World to First to Second’, The 2009 Edition.
His social engineering probably works in the short term (3 years) artificially boosting his favorite economic indices but has detrimental effects in the long term.
I wish the TOC concentrate on articles looking at solutions.Singapore needs new leadership.New mavericks.And a New Vibrant Party.The PAP has outlived its usefulness.It is a relic and weed that needs to be expunged.
let’s put it this way. She will get married. but he may not be around to see it.
I think there was an obstacle or else she got married long time ago, only she knows best.
I am pretty clueless with LWL, never really seen how she looks like then
my friend shot a pic of her using his hp when she wrote in zaobao and ST and her picture is printed there.
http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/9431/2e5ldet.jpg
I hope she gets married soon, all the best to her. ;)
Sad lady “I think there was an obstacle or else she got married long time ago…”
No kidding.
If LKY finds his daughter’s singlehood perturbing, he should realize something first. He might be part of the problem, and not part of the solution.
hey insider 65,
u seem to write my thoughts and views too. keep it up bro! be a member here often if can maybe on board the toc or wp. we need guys like u.
thanks.
Jia Jia you ben nan niang de jing (evry family has its own problem). Apparently the infallible Lee family is not spared. :-)
aiyoyo
very luan leh
last time commoners have more babies, put a FINE on commoners
now ask commoners to have more babies
and now talk about marriage
simply – very luan; dont understand the logic…
not sure what’s next topic?
aiyoyo
why care about him?
There’s really nothing much that LKY or our govt can do. It’s a typical problem that all 1st world countries experience, i.e. high single & low birth rates and an ageing society.
Welcome to the captalist world, where the ability to generate more wealth thrives over family values. Thus, LKY shoudn’t be bemoaning the 35% group and worst, pick on his daughter as an exemplication of this so called ill syndrome.
IMO, other than her frequent philosphical rantings on papers, LWL should leverage on her status and be an activist for the voice of the women singletons.
With lots of money, living in a big house and lots of maids….it is little wonder that his daughter can talk about life in the national newspaper. What does she know about life. Strip her of all she currently enjoys (or take granted), she would be cursing life!!
I understand where the old man is coming from – yes, it is perfectly understandable as Salmon should be grilled rather than microwaved. I agree. And this was even written extensively on:
http://dotseng.wordpress.com/2009/03/29/why-lky-should-play-simcity-to-find-out-about-our-baby-blues/
oh ya, i saw her daughter wrote in MSM about how is it good to have laws based on her experience in usa when she talked to by enforcement. something like that.
The part about his daughter is a sidetrack. The message MM is trying to get across to that Singapore as a nation may no longer be viable. We are too samll and have no natural resources. We are wholly dependant upon others.
Citizens are not reproducing and replacing.
Immigration policies in not working. As he said we just end up getting 2nd tier FT’s. The good ones are only using Sgp as a stepping stone.
We are loosing our edge as financial centre, logisatic hub, etc. to China and India. Our neighbours are emerging in strength and will also one day bettter us.
We may just have to tutup and become another SAR of China.
It is natural to be concern about our children. However as all of us have a limited time on this earth, there is a time to let go.
would sg or has sg become a ‘hotel’ for international transient workers as people follow the world trend of less birth if not no birth?
how strong can such a country be in future?
I would say very super strong. what else u expect I would say?
“big house” = our country?
“the maids” = the people
“everything is looked after” = being in power?
Can’t help but analsye the comments for a deeper meaning. Perhaps he is talking about the fact that there are not enough family members from which the next generation of leaders can be cultivated?
I guess LKY knows that he is not God. We cannot control everything but there is One who does. That is a level of faith that a traditional Confucianist will find it difficult to understand. Losing control is the most difficult thing for someone like Mr. Lee. When we come to the end of everything, may Mr. Lee discovers that there is still a God who loves him immensely but will require him to humble himself.
well…get your house in order before u preach to us on th virtue of marriage…in addition…is she going to starve to death being single in old age? u reap what u sow…so learn to live with it !
[ Apart from his daughter, Lee had earlier said that Li Hongyi, his grandson (the son of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong) had succumbed to the emigration trend. He has said he may remain in the United States after graduation. ]
Planning to break his SAF Overseas Merit Scholarship bond? This the one who went to S’pore American School, which is closed to other red dotters (except Khoo Teck Puat’s grandchilden)?
24) cat
“Has anyone take a look at his daughter? I thought it was a guy.”
That’s not a nice thing to say about LWL or anyone for that matter.
She definitely has got substance inside and that’s what matter most, not transient external features that will deteriorate with time.
two reasons:
1) with such a father, who dare to touch her?
2) she got 2 millionaire brothers to rely on, won’t need to collect $330
“…She definitely has got substance inside…”
=====================
Her only “substance” is she is the daughter of LKY, nothing else.
I don’t understand. Aren’t the baby bonus and extended maternity leave schemes and jazz like that supposed to deal with women like that? Why are these fine schemes failing so close to the centre of power?????? This is seriously disturbing. If she is not, to borrow an ugly word, “incentivised” to marry and have children, could there be something wrong with the very idea of “incentivising marriage and child-birth”?
Cmon, just lay down the rule that she will not have a roof over her head unless she marries. Do not allow her to buy any property unless she does so as a Mrs. Many married women are in much more dire need of shelter for the fruits of their productive wombs. Take away her Women’s Charter rights, on the logic that she is not fulfilling the full responsibilities of being a woman. Let’s see if these measures will not get her to come round to the idea of marital bliss.
jia lat, this means that mm is telling us to accept a lot of foreigners.
To #25 Ah Hock on March 30th, 2009 7.07 pm:
I read some weeks ago of an email by LWL that chided Singaporeans for upgrading their “wants” to “needs” instead of helping the poor, citing her family as an example of a simple lifestyle.
I ROFL! Wrong family lor! Her papa refused to bow gracefully out of politics, her frequently missing-in-action brother whose leadership demands 5 times above USA president’s pay, her sister-in-law willing to blow $58 billion wooing foreign banks but not spare some billions for improving healthcare and social welfare.
Her nephew took the scholarship not for the money (given his family’s background), but for the prestige that comes with the money. Do the Lee’s consider this “prestige, a need”? Is that “need” so great that it warrens depriving another eligible Singapore citizen, who otherwise would not be able to afford a university education, of this same opportunity? Come on, let’s call a spade-a-spade, if LWL’s nephew (LHL’s son) is that good, he could compete with the world’s best students and apply for international scholarships (often without bonds) from the prestigious universities overseas. Others have made it.
An old adage: People living in glass houses should not throw stones.
To me, so what if Dr. Lee W L is still not married at 50 ++ !
MM should worry more about daughter-in-law, $58B loss is not small change.
MM should stop meddling in people’s lives, has he forgotten he was responsible for the stop at 2 policy ?
I am pretty sure combined wealth of MM and wife exceeds $100M.
Just put it in a ‘will’ for Dr. Lee W L and she can have one nursing home all to herself. So actually MM worrying about daughter is misplaced. He has totally lost touch because there are plenty of needy folks out there neglected by his govt.
think look is one of the factors most guy go for beside characters and others, think grooming by wearing dress or others are important too for all ladies.
and no worries for food too, as singapore is a food and shopping paradise with restaurants, eateries and hawkers centres around the island.
To Not_Nice:
But it is a fact.
I also don’t think she has the substance.
Have you read her commentaries?
Superficial and pretentious.
And MM still wants to lecture the US on what to do?
Agree with #33 on most of her stuff.
Maid(s) and Salmon
Well it pays to rule..
LWL should stop writing in the Straits Times about life and the newspaper should stop giving her special treatment.
What does she know about life in S’pore. She has been sheltered from the harsh life here since birth. She lives in a good class bungalow, has many madis waiting on her, has tonnes of money, has a good job, enjoys special privileges becos of his father and brother, etc.
To ha ha ha and mr lego,
I read wat u both wrote, and u know what, when one’s stomach is full, one will often wonder why the others are still hungry and they are not tolerable towards hunger like her.
I would love to live a simple lifestyle LWL way and live in her shambles in oxley rise not in chin swee road or chinatown shambles. ha ha
Wow. I can’t believe would talk about their own daughter that way in the newspaper.
I forsee that in 50 yr’s time, the ruling cabal will collapse with the rise of an eminent opposition party taking over the govt.
Those officials who claimed superpower and rewarded themselves milliion dollar salaries will be charged with nepotism and corruption, thus leading to bankruptcies and jail terms not unlike the political saga we see in taiwan or thailand.
Thus LWL will loose her bungalow along with her entourage of maids, her high flying job and probably escape to the states to avoid interrogation on family connections on mountain of debts.
I wonder high and
I wonder low.
I wonder :
Who will be the next LKY after the passsss……..
‘the next’ means double digit growths and huge transformations.
Let me see…… among the great talent pool of highest….., I see that …..maybe…… many can fit the shoe.
our future and your children future will be ……so nice.
I realise at this point, I am too tired for the day. So, I am turning on my radio to hear only the good stuff from that fm station that u also know.
dont be silly oracle, she lives in a shamble with a simple lifestyle according to her articles from ST or zaobao.
I thought MM Lee’s daughter- Dr Lee Wei Ling is GAY??? ie – a lesbian.
I think its the Hsien Yang’s ex-SingTel CEO son who is at Brown University in USA who wants to settle permanently in USA not the one on scholarship PM’s son.
MM has now 2 grandsons in USA, scholar one in MIT, the other one at Brown.
Why does most of the comments sounds so offensive/emotional/confrontational and anti-lee?
I am a infrequent viewer of the online citizen, and i do think that their articles are fine and well written, but the direction of the comments from the audience appear to be slightly skewed.
or is it just a general angst that i feel exist within the online community?
just my two cents worth .
can money and power buy: love, joy, peace and health?
maybe.
maybe not.
this life if you have just 1 out the 4 is very lucky already.
but if you only have 1 out of the 2 and that’s all then better luck next life.
MM Lee should probably respect her daughter’s wish to remain single. as there are many in Singapore who also want to do so. Given that LWL is an educated thinking person, does it not mean that singlehood is not an inferior choice? The government should give the same rights and benefits to singles as they are given to the marrieds.
parents should guide their children to be able to take good care of themselves when they are young instead of over reliance on maids, so that they do not worry over them when they have grown up or age, be single or married. I believe that many singles in singapore can take good care of themselves, provided they know what kind of singlehood they want for themselves,
LKY sounds so incoherent and unlucid. Why is he worrying about his 50+ daughter with a PHD? There are so many 60+ women without an education lugging cardboard boxes in the heartlands and he is not worried about them. How can a 50+ PHD doctor be unable to take care of herself when her dad is gone? How can she take care of her patients if she is not able to take care of her meals? Or has LKY gone cuckoo?
There are so many 60+ women without an education lugging cardboard boxes in the heartlands.
good observation
Is this KARMA ?
For all the sufferings LKY has brought to us singaporean over the last 40 years, we started to see the results of it – people is losing their very instinctive nature – to reproduce – a results of profit-driven policy and stressful workplace, and it has hit his own dear daughter. Even his son and granson emigrated and abadoned Singapore. His wife is half dead. His PM son is probably sick. And LKY himself is old, fragile, and live on borrowed time.