By MIKOspace
Obituary
LEE KUAN YEW
[16.9-1923 – 23.3.2015]
First Prime Minister of
Singapore (1965-1990);
Global Statesman, Visionaire
Extraordinaire,
Nation Builder, Community
Integrator,
People’s Leader, Democratic
Socialist,
Ardent Socialist, Pragmatic
Capitalist,
Cautious Democrat, Fearless
Corporatist,
Friendly to all Nations,
Champion of Workers, Friend
of Business,
Advocate of Tripartite
Social Dialogue,
Social Peace-maker with
Justice,
Anti-Corruption, Anti-Communist,
Builder of Racial Harmony;
Unshakeable Multi-racialist
and Multi-culturist,
Builder of Public Housing;
Defender of the Weak, Poor
and Vulnerable,
A Family Man;
Grandfather, Father,
Husband, Lover, Brother, Uncle,
Friend of the Environment;
Garden City Initiator,
Clean and Green Ambassador,
The Father of Singapore;
Without Lee Kuan Yew, there
is No Singapore.
A Decent Human Being.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete>> Without Lee Kuan Yew, there is No Singapore.
ReplyDeleteDisagree. Without LKY there is no Singapore as we know it and rock it out awesomely today. There would still have been a Singapore---the one scared and timid one begging Malaysia to take it back into the UMNO fold. "Tolong tolong Tunku Abdul Rahman...so sorry, please can we come back...baksheesh allah!" Singapore would have been Malaysia' bitch---UMNO's bitch.
50 years on, Singapore is a pluralistic capitalistic powerhouse, soon to eclipse Switzerland in terms of total assets under management.
and Malaysia is a racist cuntree in deep shit socially, politically, economically.
Lee Kuan Yew---the Benign Dictator which did a stellar job, which of course did not please all the people, all of the time. So what? He did it. And many of us got pay day.
Huat ah!
Different people will say different things..your tribute is fiercely imbalanced. History will judge whether your accolades and platitudes are well placed...in the meantime... Lky,rip
ReplyDeleteWonder if Matilah Singapura will agree to;
ReplyDelete'The Defender of the Weak, Poor and Vulnerable'?
I DONT.
The Japanese Imperial Army was supremely armed and barbaric, the Chinese Race was VULNERABLE TO THE EXTREME.
patriot
He's gone, he's gone they panic.
ReplyDeleteNot to worry, just tell him his son is in deep trouble and he will be back.
@ patriot 147:
ReplyDeleteHuman personalities and characters are never monochromatic---i.e. no one is either one thing or the other all of the time. we are all a mixture of traits---even traits which are opposites.
LKY and his early govt did indeed help the poor and contribute to their upward social mobility:
1. HDB public housing---heavily subsidised
2. Development of public education system
3. Heavily subsidised public transport
4. Free local phone calls
5. Cheap utilities---PUB
6.Free medical and dental for schoolchildren
Those were the early days. Now everything must pay.
Fair is fair lah.
Give the Man a break, people.
ReplyDeleteMay He rest in Peace.
History will judge Him one day,
But NOT Today.
Fact is, without Him,
You and and family would not be enjoying whatever standard of living and public housing;
And you would not be enjoying the freedom of speech which you now use to malign Him anonymously.
You can complain about not getting what you want,
Or having less than what you think you deserve;
At the very least, Because of LKY,
You can afford to hope for a better life
BECAUSE you can see others succeeding in life and having more and better stuff ahead of you.
The Man made this possible.
Toast Up the THE Man, people.
LKY deserve the Nobel Peace Award for building a great nation that makes for a better world.
LKY makes Singaporeans and Singapore proud and deserving of friendship, respect, and even admiration.
@Michael Heng: I respect the man, and most of your accolades are perfectly valid, but I think "deserving the Nobel Peace Award" is going one step too far.
ReplyDeleteHe was a great leader, but not in the league of a Nelson Mandela or Ghandi.
I think there is a danger than Singapore will run out of booze over the next few days.
ReplyDeleteMy phone has been running hot since about 6am. My kaki-nangs and Geylang bro's (before ho's) have been calling and most of them have broken out the champagne....on Monday morning, before work.
Whilst I do appreciate that some people grieve when The Grim Reaper swings his scythe, I do not mourn over death. I prefer to CELEBRATE the life and achievements of the departed. To me, it is only LOGICAL to mourn if the dead has WASTED their life.
Singaporeans are often accused of being "dispassionate". This definitely does not apply to Lee Kuan Yew. He never gave a flying fuck about what you think of him or what he had to do.
“I am often accused of interfering in the private lives of citizens. Yes, if I did not, had I not done that, we wouldn't be here today. And I say without the slightest remorse, that we wouldn't be here, we would not have made economic progress, if we had not intervened on very personal matters - who your neighbour is, how you live, the noise you make, how you spit, or what language you use. We decide what is right. Never mind what the people think.”
― Lee Kuan Yew
Nor did he ever "apologise" for being a hardcore, unapologetic, ruthless, formidable and fearsome rival in politics---throwing down the gauntlet to would-be contenders:
"Anybody who decides to take me on needs to put on knuckle dusters. If you think you can hurt me more than I can hurt you, try."
To me, Lee is a man of his word. If he says he's going to do something, he does it. He couldn't care less if you disapprove or dissent or call him names. This is what ACTION means: you do what you say---mostly to other people, against their will if necessary :-)
Singaporeans need strong authority. Otherwise they will play fuck and mess up the whole show.
Rule of law, rule BY law...who gives a fuck...as long as the damn thing works.
And it did. Spectacularly well.
天生我才必有用。
ReplyDeleteEvery being serves a purpoe, nature
supposedly ordains so, however, there are inherent flaws in the Makings.
So, death levels all is the Ultimate Correction to the Inherent Flaws by nature like an afterthought.
patriot
It is natural that those who benefitted would praise him and those who did not would not and those that became his victims would curse him.
ReplyDeleteAnd he is a mixed of good and bad. Take your picks.
The rich would not see eye to eye with those that are not rich. They lived in different worlds and have different views of things, or right and wrong, good and bad.
@ 147:
ReplyDeletePlease lah. Take a fucking position. IMO there is no valid excuse for remaining poverty-stricken in Singapore. You may not be able to make it rich, but you can do OK.
If you kena "harmed" by LKY, you probably were asking for it :-) and thus no one will have any sympathy for you.
Got justice?
"You and and family would not be enjoying whatever standard of living and public housing;
ReplyDeleteAnd you would not be enjoying the freedom of speech which you now use to malign Him anonymously."
Was LKY really that good?
And Singaporeans really that useless and hopeless?
If LKY was really that good.
Then what does he have to fear from his political critics?
Why sue and jail them?
Even if there were no LKY, for sure another leader would had emerged in the history of Singapore. But of course whether for better or for worse will never have a chance to be proven and realised.
ReplyDeleteBut what has been realised and also a fact even until now, is that the current pathetic state of the Sinkie opposition is largely due to the way LKY had governed and treated opponents in the past. And for that his son should be thankful. But for daft Sinkies, surely this is no good, tio bo?
I think LKY is a great man but whether good or not is debatable. Anyway rest in peace and hope his spirit will help to return our cpf to us.
ReplyDeleteI think of all the Singaporean jobs that have been taken over by Aliens.
ReplyDelete"Family is who you fight for and who fights for you".
I don't think LKY ever cared for Singaporeans.
So why should I want to call him Founding Father"?
- Founding Father of PAP - Yes
- Founding Father of Singapore - Never.
This Mickey is not wrong saying that LKY should get a Nobel Prize of Peace, as the price make him stand side by side with peaceful maker (or scumbag) for people like Barrack O-bomb-a, Yasser Arafat..etc.
ReplyDeleteSingapore is a land of dynastic wealth whereby occasionally, a few poor self made man is being taken as poster chlild.
By making property rise faster than wages, the peasants in SG have no chance against lucky sperm club. The harder you work, the harder PAP put in effort to make property rise faster than your wage.
It is up to an academic responsibility to dig up truth. While Kuan yew true colors may not be known until long time later, what we know now is GIC and Temasek has lost 70 billions in aggregate condemning a large portion of population in poverty, as savings is wiping out through runaway inflation, mask as economic growth.
NTU have people like Mickey... lots of talk and no intellectual courage.
Sigh
Miko, LKY was indeed a towering figure in the lives of especially those who were born and brought up in the fifties, sixties and seventies. But there is a danger of making him 'superhuman'. He could not have done so without his brilliant team of equally dedicated ministers. And, just as importantly, he could not have done so without the consensus of the populace who gave him a mandate and trusted him to deliver; which he did for the most part and for large sectors of the population. Nor did he do so demanding that he be handsomely rewarded for his achievements. His was true commitment; some might even say obsession. There have been real painful costs to some people's lives; whether they were warranted remains debatable.
ReplyDeleteOverall for me he did more good than harm given the hand he was 'handed'.
William Shakespeare - Friends, Romans, countrymen (from Julius Caesar 3/2)
ReplyDeleteFriends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones;
So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus
Hath told you Caesar was ambitious:
If it were so, it was a grievous fault,
And grievously hath Caesar answer'd it.
Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest -
For Brutus is an honourable man;
So are they all, all honourable men -
Come I to speak in Caesar's funeral.
He was my friend, faithful and just to me:
But Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man.
He hath brought many captives home to Rome
Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill:
Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?
When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept:
Ambition should be made of sterner stuff:
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man.
You all did see that on the Lupercal
I thrice presented him a kingly crown,
Which he did thrice refuse: was this ambition?
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And, sure, he is an honourable man.
I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke,
But here I am to speak what I do know.
You all did love him once, not without cause:
What cause withholds you then, to mourn for him?
O judgment! thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason. Bear with me;
My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar,
And I must pause till it come back to me