Tiffany Chuang -
Yesterday I read the Straits Times reprint of Mr Lee Kuan Yew’s interview with the New York Times. I got a lump in my throat.
What got me was not just the poignant nostalgia of the interview, but just how old Mr Lee is, judging by the recently taken photos of him appended to the article. I don’t mind confessing how sad I will be when he leaves us. Now, at this point, if you are a critic or otherwise not a fan of our Minister Mentor, you are probably rolling your eyes and reaching for the nearest link away from this page. But stay with me. Supporters and detractors alike have an interest in seriously contemplating a Singapore without Lee Kuan Yew.
Lee Kuan Yew is important to Singapore in ways we may not immediately realise. I’m not just talking about his tangible policy contributions, which have enough tomes dedicated to their study. I’m talking about Lee Kuan Yew as an icon. Singapore’s national consciousness and international reputation are so indelibly shaped by him that it is impossible to comment seriously on anything in the country without considering the man and his work. Over the years he has acquired a cult of personality that even horrified criticisms have, perversely, served to affirm. What more his supporters, to whom the man is the party is the state is the nation?
Herein lies the interesting puzzle of a post-Lee Singapore. Try an experiment. Close your eyes and visualise “the PAP”. Chances are, you saw Mr Lee. Now do it again but make an effort to excise him from your mental image. How do you see the party now? And how does that affect your view of the country? Don’t get me wrong. I am not predicting a leadership crisis for the PAP or anything extreme like that. The machinery is probably resilient enough. I am simply making an intuitive observation that the party will not be the same after Lee Kuan Yew. Even more seriously, because so much of the government’s legitimacy rests on a solid PAP brand which is in turn inextricably linked with the man and his story, Mr Lee’s demise might just shatter this illusion of a seamless integration between party, state and nation, with far-reaching consequences.
When Mr Lee stepped down as Prime Minister in 1991, he took pride in the fact that he had established a stable, functioning government that would outlast any individual. Of course, he insisted on leaving it to a team of elite, meritorious leaders (by his own definition) so that he did not have to worry about the wellbeing of the plan he masterminded so painstakingly. But I cannot imagine anyone else in the PAP today possessing the same amount of charisma as Mr Lee. They do not have his nation-building credentials or his terrifying reputation. When Mr Lee “had to do some nasty things, locking fellows up without trial” and the like, any criticism or even revulsion garnered only affirmed his status as defender, if occasionally brutal, of a particular order that he had personally toiled for. But how will Singaporeans feel about fourth, fifth or sixth generation leaders who merely benefit from a generally litigious, repressive political culture, crouching in the wake of a trail Mr Lee blazed?
The PAP prides itself on a brand of pragmatism that, subject to the imperative of economic prosperity, supposedly allows it to adapt fluidly to environmental vicissitudes. However, the PAP government is already showing signs of strain from inevitable ideological and institutional ossification. In its response to Alan Shadrake’s damning expose on the hypocrisy of the mandatory death penalty, the government released trite statements that any modicum of reason or incriminating information could easily demolish. In fact, because Shadrake did just that, the government’s only defence was not to issue any compelling new arguments but rather to feebly attempt to silence him using all the legal brute force it could muster against a 75-year old British man, much to the delight of Malaysian book stores. But how long can the PAP government withstand the onslaught of damning questions and answers that the information age will inexorably bring, itself belabouring vintage party ideologies?
This rigidity reflects the corner the PAP government has, over the years, backed itself into. This ossification is the unavoidable result of being the longest legitimate political monopoly in the modern democratic world. After five decades of single-party dominance, the PAP agenda and ideology have penetrated every facet of life in this country, such that its very legitimacy is locked into a network of mutually reinforcing institutions. Contrary to what the PAP would like to believe, this leaves it very little room for manoeuvre.
It cannot change its stance on matters of principle, such as the mandatory death penalty, without calling into question the same party principles that have legitimised its rule thus far. As long as mandatory death penalty abolitionists continue to shine the spotlight on the government, the latter is in a no-win situation. If the government agrees outright to abolish the mandatory death penalty, or even the death penalty, it will effectively be admitting that it was wrong from the start. This would be a serious blow to its legitimacy, which, more so than many other governments, was premised on the illusion of infallibility. Even if it were to quietly impose a moratorium on hangings, this fact would not escape observers, and it would prove the point that the PAP government is not impervious to societal pressure. Its best recourse for now is vociferous reiteration and repression, like the proverbial oak that is tensest just before it yields to the storm. For even if the PAP government manages to withstand the storm of this particular issue, how many more can it silence?
As such a charismatic icon of the PAP, the government and the nation, Mr Lee’s departure will indeed mark the end of an epoch in Singapore’s development. In trying to imagine a Singapore without Lee Kuan Yew, we have to come to terms with how he is woven into our national consciousness and structures of power right now. Although Mr Lee frequently reminds the public that he is no longer in power, nobody knows for sure exactly how he relates to his party and vice versa, neither do we know what will happen politically after his departure. But right now that is not the priority of this article.
Mr Lee, if you are reading this, I am of the generation that you frequently chide for complacency, materialism, disrespect and a host of other things that young people generally get scolded for. Yet I have nothing but the greatest respect for you, and concern over the future of Singapore. Regardless of who I vote for in the coming and subsequent general elections, in the unlikely event that I get to, I will always hold you, as an individual, in special esteem. I look forward to change, and participating in the next lap of Singapore’s future, but I do not look forward to saying goodbye.
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No one is indispensable. That includes the Lees and the PAP. For decades they have been trying hard to perpetuate the myth that the PAP is indispensable and that Singapore will collapse without them. They have even gone to great extent to drive the message across, even simplifying the message “your mother, sister and wife will become maids”, “your estate will become a slum”, “your HDB flat price will fall”, “Racial riots will start” the indoctrination never stops.
But history as someone else pointed out earlier has always proven otherwise. While I respect Lee for all that he has achieved, can he claim for sure say that someone else could not have done an equal or even better job than him. I believe Toh, Goh & Raja could have achieved this without Lee. Anyway many like me believe that they were the true architects of our success but most credit was claimed by the leader as usual. Can anyone one of us be 100% sure that someone else cannot do a better job in governing Singapore. 33% believe otherwise.
What we hear is the rhetoric of a government which fears than other s can and will do a better job if given the chance. So it tries every possible means to ensure no one can be given a chance to prove themselves. If they did, then it will prove that PAP not as indispensable as they have always claimed. What people, spooked by all the fear mongering by the PAP, do not realize is that the democratic process allows for this. Give the opposition or anyone a chance, if he fails to deliver, kick him out the next round. So the only way is to subvert the democratic process, through gerrymandering, abuse of the public institutions and bribery like many a despotic tyrant does. People must know that the two oppositions have proven without doubt that they can deliver, thus we should have more so that everyone works hard and not collect idle money through claims that they are the best—make them prove it.
I have only these re-qoutes for you to think and re-think over…and ask yourself…are you living for your loved ones and the betterment of mankind…or for others who “continue to con” you slavish thinking fools…
These quotes are from Mr. Samuel Adams, a true independent thinker and a patriot to country & people:-
It is a very great mistake to imagine that the object of loyalty is the authority and interest of one individual man, however dignified by the applause or enriched by the success of popular actions.
If ever a time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in Government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin.
How strangely will the Tools of a Tyrant pervert the plain Meaning of Words!
Shame on the men who can court exemption from present trouble and expense at the price of their own posterity’s liberty!
He who is void of virtuous attachments in private life is, or very soon will be, void of all regard for his country. There is seldom an instance of a man guilty of betraying his country, who had not before lost the feeling of moral obligations in his private connections.
If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or your arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.
Imagine Singapore without Lee Kuan Yew. Wow!!! It would be heaven.
Feel like vommitting too.
After what he did the Fajar generation
This aarogant man does not deserve our respect anymore. Evil
Number 1: Who the heck is ieatbehindtheRESTAURANTkitchen
Number 2:
mice is nice: No offence, mate, but *restaurant and *referring are the correct words. Second, the reason why there’s a service charge imposed is because Singaporeans don’t tip. Period. It’s implemented such that AT LEAST something is being given back to the staff, how the restaurants disseminate it is their own policy, more often than not taking it for their own, I assume.
Understand that the culture is such that there’s a conservative clash with the liberal movement. What we see as standard, the West appreciates as a privilege. In essence, it is the fact that a service is provided, you sleep relatively safe IN a home every night, you wake up the next day with food in the fridge and water in the shower, and you go to work or school EVERYDAY. Simple things we should be grateful for, perhaps.
Wei, 17 September 2010
no. 1: another poster with a long nick?
no. 2: sorry, did you miss my point? you example of dining at a restuarant is flawed because PAP alone has been running the affairs of the state. as for dining choices, people can choose between the number of restaurants, types of food (depending on the person’s religion) or choose to dine at more affordable food establishment.
is the 2nd paragraph related to the 1st (no. 2)?
so before you continue to veer further off topic, pick a better example. thank you.
The question is if the man is supposed to have done so much for this nation, why are so many Singaporeans cursing him and wishing him dead?
He may stand as a figure of respect for foreign and in particular, American leaders to admire but he is an icon of tyranny and oppression for the ordinary Singaporeans.
Why this contradiction? It’s simply because the man we should be grateful to has turned corrupt, corrupted by a sense of entitlement of absolute power. By disallowing the political maturing of Singaporeans for two generations Mr. Lee has condemned future generations to an infantile sense of what politics is about and how it affects every facet of everyone’s life. For those who consider themselves privileged under this regime, the same sense of political immaturity marks them as well. As such they are incapable of understanding, despite their intellectual superiority to grasp the imminent danger that is overshading them. The likes of this writer shows this immaturity clearly and soon their kind would be swallowed up by the chaos that will enguf this tiny nation because the privileged who can do something has become inherently blinded by their comfortable positions.
Lee Kuan Yew is of great intelligence, that we have no doubt. However he is basically a selfish and vicious man incapable of understanding that others too have rights which he has systemically stripped away. History would give him no stature as they would give Chiang Ching Kuo or Deng Siow Ping because these men in their equally commanding positions have the statemanship and courage to give their citizens their freedom.
In this sense LKY is a political coward and a blight to his intelligence as he fears giving Singaporeans their legitimate rights because he felt insecure to do so. He posits that one should not judge him before he dies and his coffin closed. However, he has already been condemned by the sadness of his present existence. The Universe law of cause and effect applies to all that exists and he would who does evil would have evil bestowed on him. It would not be history that will judge him but the terrifying shadow he has created of himself.
@ mice is nice,
Of course it is LKY’s PAP.If it is not,how come there are so many yes-men in the parliament?.How come there are so many in the parliament are and were his childhood friends and colleagues of his youth?.Perhaps you are right about him being an emperor of our time.You know what,he is a darned good one too because in the past he has created a economy for everyone to admire.As a Singaporean and a grateful son of this country,i see more positives than negatives about him.Frankly,when his sunset yrs are over,i have a reservation as to whether to continue to support the PAP.
Wow!!!!Mr/Ms Oracle, you are as though speaking on behalf of many Singaporeans.Or was there a poll done in recent days that tells us that many Singaporeans are cursing and wishing LKY is dead?.Please make that your opinion and not many of us.
He is an icon of tyranny and oppression for ordinary Singaporeans?Give me a break.I heard of only his political adversaries being put in jail and hauled to court.This one too is your opinion and it is not an opinion many of us would like to agree with.
Tell us what kind of chaos it would be like if Singaporeans(you exempted) continued to be politically immature.Let me guess,would a developed Singapore becomes like France, Greece or Ireland or Spain or UK or USA and the rest of the West which have spent their ways to bankruptcies?.To serve your memory well,these societies have a lot of rights and democracies for their people and how come many of those politicians are so corrupt?.Can you name a country in this planet that has a government which is perfect and impeccable in everything it does?.I know not one.
If Lee Kuan Yew is a selfish and vicious man as you say he is,would it be fair to say that we could have been living under the same conditions as in N.Korea or Burma where its citizens have no basic rights,no housing for ordinary people,rationed food for ordinary people,schooling only for children belonging to the elitists in the government and ordinary people are oppressed to a point that it became a closed country?.Deng Siow Ping a nicer,more statemanship,more courageous than that of LKY?What are you?,a history revisionist?.Tell us where was D.S.P during the cultural revolution?.What kind of freedom he has given to those Chinese peasants who sweat like hell to make ends meet and millions had died as the result.
You and i would not be here on TOC discussing about LKY if there is no free speech in Singapore.If restricted freedom is evil,how much more evil it is for a country spending its way to bankruptcy.In a real world,you can’t have everything.In a real world i tend to choose the former.how about you.Instead of writing trashy comments,can you not have some decent,respectful and constructive criticisms about those in leadership.
Less said the better !
LKY have live a long life, it is time for him to step down ASAP hopefully before the next GE so he will have more time for his wife. let his son and his dearest cabinet worry about the daily gripe of Singaporean.
Agreed with francis…. LKY we appreciated what you and your buddies had done for this country & the people till now – immeasurable good thing , so time for you to lay back and enjoy your ‘fruits’ and have a peaceful ‘retirement’ and let the new generations – your son and dearest cabinet worry about the future Singaporean hopefully we will enjoy the same ‘fruits’ and peace like the old times or better. Whoever leads doesn’t matter more importantly this country needs good changes for peace and fairness for their citizens (Singapore born FIRST)….
Above is only an opinion….
Thank you…
…and those like him.
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
Do you have any idea what that even means? Your post above shows exactly the sort of “political immaturity” that was mentioned.
Just cause some countries who respect the rights of their citizens are in debt and Singapore isn’t, you think LKY is fantastic even though he and his PAP are systematically stripping away democracy from this country?
Is there a difference between you and a common prostitute? You’re both willing to just bend over and take it from behind, giving up all liberties, just for a quick buck.
Just a quick FYI for you though, “Singapore” aka, LKY/PAP Inc., may not be in debt, but just ask around you, how many Singaporeans do not have a mountain of debt?
@ to Fred Seang,
Exactly what kind of liberty do you desire Singapore to have?.The right to bear arms like the US?,the right to violent protests
like in Greece?,the right to free speech even to a point a citizen has a liberty to burn a religious book or a country flag?,the right to collect social welfare for any teenage girl who is pregnant like in UK?,the right for people to bear their bodies naked in public?.That quotation made by a US president mentioned in your comment was applied to America when it was under persecution by the British.
Are our rights and freedom really in jeopardy?.On the contrary, we are getting more of it over the years since LKY left the PM office.For example,now Hong Lim park can be used as a spot for voicing your unhappiness about government policies.We have local websites like TOC and others to compete with msm on things that have never allowed before like name callings,spewing out trash about political figures and on people disagreeing with you.You still have a leeway to vote in more opposition candidates to the parliament.Sodomy btw male and female is no longer illegal.We even have rights for certain segment of our society to practice polygamy.Ironically,most so-called freedom loving western countries are not allowed to do so. Anyone in good health can go for paid sex without fear of persecution.Are our freedoms and rights really chipping away or improving as we progress as a nation.Since you are not belonged to that ‘immature’ group,please tell us what freedom and rights which we are enjoying now are taken away from us by the government?.Would be appreciated if you enlighten us and looking forward for a decent and favorable reply.
imagine a singapore with lky gone?
try imaging USA with George Washington gone from white house.
try imaging Britain with Margaret Thatcher gone.
try imaging malaysia with Dr M gone.
The most important take home message here is: the country of singapore is above all its citizen (hope this makes sense). no one citizen is above this country. if so, this country will live a fragile existence. there is ample evidence from history, recent and past, to justify this.
full stop.
I am sorry, you are so, so wrong.
Admitting a mistake (like mandatory death sentence to drug possession, for one) does not make a ruling party lose credibility.
It shows courage in a government’s willingness to discuss change, even if open arguments are difficult.
The possibility and channels for discussion must always be there for any citizen. That is the minimum in democracy.
The MM and PAP wisdom (both almost interchangeable)is disguised dictatorship.
Sure, your close-your-eye test certainly whips up the MM image, but it is not a comforting one, on the contrary.
You have fallen prey to the sentimentalism of patriarchy.
Nobody says we should disrespect our elders. However, we do not have to stomach down-your-throat authority.
To support MM, smacks of supporting elitism; some years ago, MM said openly, only graduate parents can breed superior babies.
Not everyone is born equal. Even
the less fortunate should be able to have decent and dignified living (even if they don’t fit into the economic, productivity equation).
MM lacks compassion for the man in streets. He believes anyone – in their right minds – should be as resourceful and intelligent as himself.
That is, arguably, the pre-requisites of a successful oppressor and oversized egotist.
You’re exactly like your pap masters who always resort to fear tactics and extreme examples.
Do you even know that Singapore has a constitution that allows peaceful assembly and an actual right to vote? Both of which have been stripped away by your PAP; One blatantly and the other slowly but surely through their manipulation.
Having the PAP not use their courts to persecute anyone and everyone who disagrees with them would also be a good step and that does not have to result in Singapore burning to the ground with people running around with machine guns and violent protests as you and your PAP would have us believe.
I forgot you can’t talk calculus to a kindergarten kid.
Due to the political naivete and immaturity of Singaporeans (and we all know why Singaporeans are still at this stage after so many years of independence), maybe the fight right now should be to get people to understand what essential liberties, or civil liberties, are to begin with before fighting for these liberties.
You get people talking about bearing arms, burning and violent protests, etc when they’re asked to think carefully if losing ESSENTIAL liberties is a fair trade for living in a glossy, shiny country that may not be in debt, but all it’s citizens are.
The fact that the mass majority of Singaporeans are this messed up by their government’s constant trampling of their civil rights and how quick this government is to pull extreme examples (that aren’t even examples of people displaying civil rights) whenever questioned on this. The number of Singaporeans who not only do not know their rights, but worse yet do not WANT to know these rights is very alarming.
The very fact that people who are hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt to the HDB on a LEASE can turn around and say yes, Singapore isn’t in debt is alarming enough. It shows such a level or brainwashing that will take generations to undo.
@fred seang
“Or was there a poll done in recent days that tells us that many Singaporeans are cursing and wishing LKY is dead?. Please make that your opinion and not many of us.”
If you choose to be deaf, dumb and blind, that is your prerogative. Simply because you choose to be cocooned in your comfort and ignore the plight of suffering Singaporeans, doesn’t mean it’s not happening! Without even the simplest of polls the deafening noise that is the unhappiness of thousands of Singaporeans in the alternative media would tell any simpleton what problems, thousands are having with this repressive regime. You can choose to ignore it off course, at your peril, like your PAP masters!
“He is an icon of tyranny and oppression for ordinary Singaporeans? Give me a break.I heard of only his political adversaries being put in jail and hauled to court.”
Here again you have shown your ignorance or should I say, indifference. Ignorance of the daily surveillance of ordinary citizens and enemies alike! I should know; I was once part of the ‘team’. What do you call the law deeming a single protestor as a riot punishable by the Act? Freedom?!
“Tell us what kind of chaos it would be like if Singaporeans(you exempted) continued to be politically immature.Let me guess,would a developed Singapore becomes like France, Greece or Ireland or Spain or UK or USA and the rest of the West which have spent their ways to bankruptcies?.”
Don’t believe the propaganda that you are spouting from your masters! The average living standard of a person in these countries is still better than an average Singaporean. More importantly, each is a free man able to determine his own destiny unlike “citizens’(if you can call Singaporeans) of this nanny state that you admire so much. If, as an adult, you still need a nanny, why are calling others immature!
“If Lee Kuan Yew is a selfish and vicious man as you say he is,would it be fair to say that we could have been living under the same conditions as in N.Korea or Burma where its citizens have no basic rights,no housing for ordinary people,rationed food for ordinary people,schooling only for children belonging to the elitists in the government and ordinary people are oppressed to a point that it became a closed country?.”
Again your political immaturity is showing and confirming once more that the propaganda has seeped into you! Why make comparison with these hopeless states and why not compare Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Taiwan and even Malaysia. They get to choose who governs them; can you? They don’t get insulted with idiotic rules arising from the pompous pronouncement that “graduate mothers would beget graduate children” and then imposed edicts punishing non-graduate mothers when they had more than two kids! The result: the crazy influx of less than qualified, non-English speaking Chinese (a million of them or more!); and this coming from a man whose father was a mere watch salesman for a high street Indian! Yes, we can laugh but it’s not funny!
“You and i would not be here on TOC discussing about LKY if there is no free speech in Singapore.If restricted freedom is evil,how much more evil it is for a country spending its way to bankruptcy.”
You can really make a sane laugh or cry with this highly ignorant and stupid statement. TOC and Temasek Review and many, many other alternative internet voices exist not because of the so-called “free speech” you cooked up in your dreams. There is no freedom of speech or association in Singapore, period! They exist because the free western world has invented the internet which the government cannot control, one because they fear their American sponsors would object and two, because it would cripple the economy. If you cannot understand this, you have no qualifications to engage in any decent debate!
By the way, ‘Hong Lim” square, is a farce not a freedom of any sort; it requires that what you want to say has to be approved by low-ranked, generally uneducated policemen whose job is to stop you from speaking in every way!
You like to believe you are living in the real world and people like me are not! The truth is that the dream world in which you are blissfully protected by your ‘nanny’ would soon end. He would not be there for vey much longer! There, thank God, goodness and whatever, is a greater force than a power hungry, megalomaniac; it’s called ‘nature’!
He did right once, no doubt, but not alone but with many honorable men, whose memories he has since betrayed and who had contributed more to Singapore. But he had to claim it all, for his family, his son especially and for his cronies! It’s the ultimate corruption, whatever you pretend it to be!
@ sigh,
Ok,ok,oK!!!!!!!,Most Singaporeans are politically naive and immature,so please educate and define for us what do you mean by Essential liberties and civil liberties that you claimed have been slowly taken away from us.Perhaps your enlightenment on these issues could awake us from slumber.I can’t wait to hear from you.
This demon will meet his dues very soon as the harms and damages he’d done during his term of office is unforgivable.His exploitations of the law to suit his agendas like the making of GRC,too many MPs for this small little state,control of MSM,privatisation of essential services and thus caused exorbitant price hike,Stop at two during the 70s,graduate mother’s scheme,education among others are causing untold miseries and damages to our society at large.Also,his high-handed treatments of his political adversaries like law suits and imprisonments are some of his evil deeds.We’re now at the cross-road and if there’s still no change in our political arena,we’ll have much to regret!!!!
I have never seen Singapore in such a bad shape before since LHL took over.
Everything was a total mess and every minister and MP started to show their dirty side.
I was proud to carry my red passport in the 80s and 90s, but now I feel the shame especially after my trip from Canada recently.
The Canadian government did a much better job in taking care of the people will our government did a very ‘good’ job in taking care of themselves.
There is no denial that what Singapore is today is the culmination of an overly powerful government and ignorance of the people about their rights.
Old man did a very good job in producing ‘sheep’ citizens.
Are you from PAP , Tiffany? or you must be very naive? or may be you don’t really know or able to distinguish what is good or bad? or you may be of the kind who thinks that it is alright to get rid of someone who stand in your way. Are you a human? Humans have conscience. When you loose that conscience you don’t think like a human anymore. You become like an animal. if you get ‘rid off’ someone who disagrees with you or compete with you, what kind of person are you? Well, this was what this so called ‘leaf’ doing right from the beginning. There were so many bright & brilliant singaporeans who were much better than the leaf. But they were hampered or made silent. And dont credit the leaf so much. There were other people who thought up all the ideas of making Singapore a better place. The leaf was just a leader but was it his vision? NO! They were of others. What the leaf did was “Two is enough”. And look @ what is happening to Singapore now. Influx of foreigners. Singaporeans fighting with foreigners for housing, job..Two is enough policy has brought so much problem to Singapore. So do you think this leaf has vision? Locking up people, suing them when they don’t agree with you is not a trait of good, humble leader who want to serve the people. That is the trait of person who is afraid to loose power, who is hungry for power. You can say the leaf made Singapore what it is today. But anybody else could have made Singapore much, much better. Why? Simple. Singapore is a small island. It is easy to rule a small island not like a country with billions of people. There is no need to scare the people or punish them or lock them up. In fact if Singaporeans have been given the freedom to voice out their opinions, & don’t live in fear of PAP, Singapore would have been 50 times better than what it is today. Please wake up! Your mind is very narrow. You are living in a small world or in your own world. Look at the good leaders in the world. Kennedy, Clinton, Nelson Mandela, Merkel, Obama – Do they rule with fear. Such big country with billions of people. Singaporeans could have had a much better life but because of one leaf…..
I am rational Singaporean and appreciate what LKY had done to make a Singapore like what it had be now. But he is the same man that ruined it now.
Yes we are far ahead of Malaysia in terms of progress but in Malaysian TV programs in Mandarin, Cantonese and Hokkien treated fairly, not all Mandarin like here. Non policy that make Cantonese and Hokkien looks like some kind of pariah dialect. Yes there is no illegal immigrant enter point like in Malaysia but we became threatened by ah tiong, ang moh and other FTs (they got scholarships easier than us.
The conclusion is, he succeed and he destroyed his own, our glory since 1965.
I always respect Lee Kuan Yew. I want to say Thank You to Lee Kuan Yew on behalf of all the Singaporeans.
I wish him good health and happiness just like I wish the same for everyone’s grandparents, family and loved ones.