“WE’VE got to make old people productive and I don’t think there should be a retirement age. You work as long as you can work and you’ll be healthier and happier for it.
‘You ask me to stop working all of a sudden, I think I’d just shrivel up, face the wall and that’s that. But I’m still functioning, if not at the rate at which I was functioning, say, 20 years ago … I have aches and pains, but nothing terminal and I can keep going.
‘I think the Japanese solve it by giving the old people robots and gadgets to work with. So they are still productive. They take less pay.
‘Now this is where, in Singapore, it becomes very painful. You are (a) superior, suddenly your junior overtakes your position and you have less pay and he is the boss. So they find the psychological switch unpleasant.
‘I think we have to develop that approach to life: You’ve reached the maximum you can do at your age in that position, you move sideways and you take less pay and you move gradually to less and less pay because you are moving slower and slower, especially if you are doing physical work.
‘But that’s very hard to get across and many of our workers have preferred retirement and then they die early. If you keep doing what you were doing for almost the whole of your life, the chances are you will stay interested and engaged.
‘There’s something to do tomorrow and you keep going. If you start saying ‘Oh, I’m old’ and you start reading novels or playing golf or playing chess or Scrabble, you’re on your way down.”
-MM Lee, who is 86, when asked for his comments on how an ageing population might affect the push for higher productivity
Cartoon from My Sketchbook
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Nation Builders by Martyn See:
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we don’t mind working for life if we get $millions, and do some hocus pocus prediction and show face now and then. I want i want to start this job now.
Are we saying that if someone doesn’t retire, he doesn’t shrivel and face the wall ? This was what happened to policy makers who didn’t retire and gave the perception they shrivel, isn’t it ? In the first place, even though we accept the argument that Singapore has limited space, and we either go for commercial developments/ roads, or canals, I do not think that the concsequences of the path taken was ever discussed in any parliament setting, meaning they implemented something, and the consequences of flooding were not even publicly addressed. What does shrivel mean if this isn’t ?
We’re keeping him alive…. time to “retire” him.
The definition of retirements differs from individuals. Some rich people retire to enjoy life because they have passed the baton to their kids. Some people retire under the doctor advice – due to certain ailments not appropriate to work. Other people who truly enjoy their work will not retire because they have passion to continue – such as artist, singer….etc. Poor peasants cannot retire because of high cost of livngs and PAP kept squeezing them for money. As for Lee Kuan Yew, he did not retire not because he is hardworking but he is AFRAID OF LOSING POWER.
to t.o.c and readers 29 July 2010 please i need some advice from T.O.C and also readers here.
can i do so? is this an offense chargeable and likely to face any defamation suit?
sincerely i need some advice.thank you
………….
you think you are a smart arsh ere PRETENDIN to be stupid? you are indeed the worst pap’s dog i ever met…
1st you simpLEE hav no brain..you think our fellow peasants is blind or as stupido as you? looked @ your statement?
you cant even think out of your owned you need to PLAGARISE the COMMON thinkin of the COMMON citizens..when you tried to be a smartAS s..by utterin the word ^DEFAMATION^..defamed what may 1 inquired? why don’t you asked your #1 MASTER to poll the citizens of truebred singapoor includin those who worked for the government..how many of them believed leekingYOU should be aroun to run tanjong pagar just as an MP…
Again the chicken backside LKY opens his chicken backside mouth again only foul air comes out with little that can be heard or listened to.
Depending on what job you are holding. If you have a job that draw salary close or similar to MM, obviously you would want to work until you kick the bucket.
What about if your salary is less than $1K a month. Let be realistic.
Give me a break. Work until you die?
LKY is more interested in the intellectual class than the underclass in our midst.I doubt he even knows such poor Third World “peasants” exist in our “First World” state
The title is a bit too misleading. It sounds as though he is telling those who want to retire to shrivel and face the wall which is not what the article is about.
In his own uniquely frank way of telling us retiring means he will not get his mega$ pay and this will then certainly shrivel and bonker him – die die he will cling on perpetually hor …
Or is he desperately trying to immortalize himself or what leh ???
You know what he is saying. In the future, all your employers will personally deliver your last paycheck to your nearest kin, while you lie motionlessly at the HDB void deck.
How bout your CPF?
Totally wipe out by the government you chose.
That’s the fate of you and me if this old fart and his A-Team remains in power.
I used to have high respect for LKY; even bought his memoir. But his past comments and remarks, particularly in the last few years have really disappointed me and many Singaporeans. I am not sure whether he is being senile or trying to defend his poor performing government but he should step down immediately to retain his last bit of reputation before it is totally offset by his unpopular comments.
Clear as the absent soul in his existence, he is INHUMAN-period!
Dear Mr.Lee,
I did be readily to be in your shoes and follow your foot-steps if you and i are under the similar conditions.Why would i be foolish enough to retire and face a wall when i have yearly ‘old-age pension’ after 65yrs of age is a million dollar.My body may be in a physical challenged stage but i am most willingly to render my service for free in a form of non-physical duties like working holidays with my family,doing some forecasting for my country and others.With that kind of money,I do not have to worry about how i am going to pay my medical bills for my aches and pains.Thus, i will have a betterer, happierer life and pass on gracefully.
IT IS A TACIT ACKNOWLEDGEMENT that the govt didn’t plan for the retirement of its citizens.
an acknowledge of a prof assessment of the cpf system
So he is asking us to work till we drop dead ? In fact this is the sad reality of the underclass. What they need is rest and not force to work till the very end due to such inhuman govt police towards helping the poor just because they don’t want the country to become ‘welfare state’. There are a balance to everything. We are skew towards the extreme of avoidance in taking care of our own citizens.
LKY spoke the truth, it goes to show that all our policies are designed to fail with no end in sight… so whats the actual root of the problem ??
EXERCISE your vote!
he should keep his own opinion only to himself,these words should just be coffee talk with his own people. this is so superficial of him.
he should not tell the people of singapore what to do wth their lives, its our life.
I have a few friends who are very happily retired. They lead active lives involved in church / social work, engrossed in their hobbies, playing with and taking care of grandchildren, meeting up with friends, etc etc…
People who shrivel up and face the wall upon retirement – because they do not know how to do and enjoy such things – are ultimately one-dimensional and imbalanced.
Unwittingly, by his remarks LKY has revealed himself to be one such person who is “all work and no play…”
Yawn! Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!
I am wondering why Mrs LKY retired when she should, according to LKY, be working.
LKY: you singaporeans like it or not this is my decision this is my singapore my country.
you don’t like and want to retire so much you get out of singapore!
LKY: i build singapore with all my life!!
and still building and building
walamak,
Q1 – what’s the purpose of LIFE?
Q2 – after building & building…..
what happen to sg citizen? FT are
imported to share sg citizens’
fruits?
Q3 – how many youngsters out of job now?
(pls take a look)
even before retire age, already out
of the game liao…
so many foreign ppl in the public transport, did they perform military?
like the saying – enjoy 1st, never know what will happen the next minute…
walamak
My goodness! Talk about hypocrisy.
Here you are in your old age, still taking in an enormous amount of salary, still holding the control over all things in Singapore (even flooding), and telling singaporeans that when they grow old, they should expect to get lower pay and move sideways for others to take over the top positions.
Apply this to yourself first. You are not doing that at all and you wonder what you are scoffed at by your own Singaporeans
Stop all these and ask how many here were together when Speakers Corner was first up and running. How many of you did stand up and speak your mind? Don’t hide behind curtains and speak as though you have done your best. You are just screwed up Singaporeans who when had the opportunity to come together and speak as Singaporeans for Singapore turn your back and screwed up those who spoke up for Singaporeans on Basic issues. Housing, Health, Education and foreigners taking away Singaporeans jobs. Now once again you are doing the same. If you ask me I will surely answer you without hestitation You know what I mean. Don’t hide behind some shallow covers and make some noise. Only at rock concerts it is ok.As the saying goes empty vessels makes the most noise and the moment of truth many here will say I never said that. Keep your craps. Peace N Love
Voting has no retirement age. Better to be kept busy than to be a social problem. The young cannot maintain the parents, neither are there enough of them to go around, for the workforce either. One way is close the tap on foreign workers and still can get the oldies to work. For employers, the problem is passed to them, wages, CPF, medical bills etc. A retirement village is politically unacceptable.
When I am in the toilet,I shrivel and face the wall……..Come On,
Life is Short and everyone will expire one day but NOT on Retirement?….BTW Life is a cycle and what goes up must come down!
We cannot cling to our jobs/properties, wealth and possessions forever!
Learn to Retire gracefully and smell the flowers, when enough is enough and let go slowly but surely as we own shelf- life also will expire
Much has been written and talked about in forums….as to what happens..when MM goes.
But someone..once close to the heart of the matter..tells it like it is.
I pass it along as a community service announcement and for a wider read.
Here it is in full.
Make of it what you will.
You will not find this in the Straits Times.But no doubt it will be read by many there.
Some even will quietly agree.
===============================
There are some who think things will get worse if MM goes,
and eventually when he is no longer there. Then,
there will be no one to crack the whip.
One can be sure, despite all his Act of God claims, he’s kicking ass over the floods. and
the rising prices of public housing. According to reports, Yaacob
sat behind him looking like a whipped puppy when he made the cryptic
statement that ” not enough had been done” on the flood issue.
One certainly wonders if there will be anyone to come up with the
ambitious ideas that LKY had/has. And if they do, is there anyone serious enough and tough enough
to realise them.
Things like the cleaning up of kallang river, and the
building of marina barrage, whether or not it works, could never be
carried out by a “namby pamby” lot now.
He has caused the problems now and is also part of the problem.
He has stamped out potential leaders, in all areas; insisted on total
obedience and promoted materialism.
If he had retired, he could have been there to really advice those who took charge, instead of
having to go in to bat for them. It’s ridiculous that these guys are hiding
behind him and being so dependent on an 86-yr-old man.
But their poor calibre is the result of his policies.
There is also no one (brave enough) to rein him in, like
his old colleagues would have done in the early days.
They would have shot down this latest mad plan to have an intellectual
class, and talked him out of allowing so many foreigners into the country in such a short time.
He’s had an intellectual class all along. It’s not working. This lot go by the
rules and the numbers, completely forgetting they’ are not dealing with
robots. The social aspects of things are not factored in. And they dont know
what to do when things dont work out. Their minds are not flexible and
he wants still more of such crap?!
One can foresee bigger problems — Indonesia will cut back on gas sales.
There IS going to be a screwup on water. How much does it cost to
produce now next to mahathir’s 40 cents dd? Has anyone even asked?
Were there re-negotiations after mahathir left? One johor contract ends
in 2012. It does not look it will be renewed.
And how do you build homes underground in the future if there is already not
enough space for drains now? And for sure all his little new citizens are not
gonna just accept things like (us) the scared sheep do now….in 10 yrs time.
They’ll be screaming about having more foreigners.
Why is nothing being done about using our many islands — for homes, to grow food? They could
have food factories e.g highrise vegetable, rice growing units, on them.
Basically, some could even say he’s been a damned bad parent. He has not let his child go and
learn on its own, make its own mistakes.
One can sometimes feel quite sorry for him.
MM, that is.
For sure, he’s disappointed with how things are turning out, but no one
dares tell him it’s his fault, and being a stubborn egoist, he’s not going
admit it.
Not even to himself!
For all that he has achieved and done..and to be fair..he has achieved a lot… some might also believe ,despite his years, he still hasn’t learnt……….
I have a fundamental question for MM Lee:
Why is He getting paid such an obscene salary when He should be getting paid less and less?
Who is LKY to order people when or when not to retire? Hands and legs are mine, not his.
There is beginning and an end for everything in life. People work so as to enjoy the fruits of their labour, simple logic. But working forever and forever is stupid logic. Is he saying working forever means people won’t die earlier? What nonsense is this!?
LKY bullshits again. He should practice what he preaches: step aside, take on a lower pay. Instead he “promotes” himself to senior minister then minister mentor. what happens in the end? Let the government create another position for him so that he can continue earning millions a year??
@Bobby Tan:
You ask..Why is He getting paid such an obscene salary when He should be getting paid less and less?”
WHO IS GOING TO DARE ASK HIM..WHY?
Forgive me..but will You..or your mother in law ask him the question. And forget about asking your MP.
The ST..will pee in their pants first… .just to dream up asking MM a question..let alone ask a question.
Bobby…Tthe only way to answer that question………is at the ballot box at the next election.
You know what you have to do.
So..DO IT.
Ai ya ! “Old fark” is jus “dropping a hint lah! –he is asking us to continue n burn Hell Bank notes to him lor !
why we need hospitals and clinics?only work can make you healthy and avoid illness and unscrew your tight bones?ask the patience those ill,on life support equipment and vegetables to get up and go out of hospital and work as it can make them healthier and happier ever after.
You ask me to stop working all of a sudden, I think I’d just shrivel up, face the wall and that’s that. But I’m still functioning, if not at the rate at which I was functioning, say, 20 years ago … I have aches and pains, but nothing terminal and I can keep going.
look at your pay and your health care. if we singaporeans will be earning like you. the hospitals and clinics will be empty like a ghost town with doctors and nurse walking around taking a stroll daily side seeing
old man please we singapreans feel like want to spit on your bloody face
even he get vote out he still can retire, he has many assets and business that he run in private oversea without one of it being broadcast and publish in singapore.this are the lee foundation that he secure for the familees……..
ponder, ponder…
1) MM can’t retire cos the ALTernative parties are gaining strength?
2) is CPF monies all but gone?
is he hinting at something really bad that will happen about CPF monies, if not already?
MM is someone who will say what he thinks is good for Spore. Frankly, what Sporeans expect? Birth rate hits all time low, people delay getting married, couples refused to produce, population gets old quicker than ever. What do you expect him to say? Nice to see he is leading by eg and not retiring at this old age. Sporeans will appreciate what he is doing.
Lets face it. Do you think people want to continue to work beyond their retirement age when they can enjoy the fruits of their labour? Simply because they need the money to keep them going because of your bloody high cost of living from education, transport, helathcare and other basic necessities.
Pay me $3m and I will continue to work in my coffin.
So, singaporeans just have to wait for the coast to be clear right? thats all they do right?
legally speaking, does singaporeans know who owns the cpf money?
We should look at emulating the government in paying more for the experienced. MM is our model of why the more experienced should be paid higher for wisdom and higher productivity because they do not cause reworks, they can solve problems in double quick time. Indeed, the young still need guidance and we should value correctly our aging population, and being old does not equate to becoming lesser useful nor relevance to the society or businesses. For Singapore to survive in the new world order, we need the value and experience of the aging and the energy and creativity to create new space for our future, a common destiny.
When over the 70s, Angel of Death is waiting for his/her soul…..I Retired gracefully and waiting to be called home to be with the LORD.
I hear alot old experience senior peoples feeling sad nowday. Young generations people nowday no more respecting their old experience grandfather. Mentor minister is like our grandfather, how come he say no more retiring? because he want all companys take care you all & give you all jobs mah! Simple as that! You all never appreciating still never mind, you all somemore go say so many bad thing & disrespect thing of him! Be carefull har young generations, wait the sky punishing you all then you know!
if CPF money really all lost in some lofty projects or toxic investments, retired liao also have to return to work for the little money employers give.
no choice le mah… its a freak result… we’re caught off-guard… it can’t be helped… you’re very lucky to be born in S’pore!..
lol, lol….
Work Till Death
Dead Liao Still Need To Pay.
Welcom tto Sillypore!
senior experience old guard 1 August 2010
I hear alot old experience senior peoples feeling sad nowday. Young generations people nowday no more respecting their old experience grandfather. Mentor minister is like our grandfather,
……………
harlor..even my ahkong is still collectin cardboard & cans..now what time? still havn’t come home…
“When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.”
— Abraham Lincoln
Old man Lee wants all the oldies to continue working and not to retire, otherwise no one left to clean the tables and look after the toilets at our hawker centres, pick up tin cans and card board boxes from the trash and do other menial labour.
The big question for him is, why no pay cut for the MM, since he so old and doing less work compared to previous role of SM and PM?