IN THE PAST, WHEN YOU WERE CHIEF MINISTER, YOUTHS PLAYED A POLITICALLY-ACTIVE ROLE. HOW HAS THE ROLE OF YOUTHS CHANGED AS COMPARED TO THE PAST? The role of youths! Ha! In my time, I tried to educate our people in an understanding of the dignity of human life and their right as fellow human beings, and youth was not only interested but excited about what I consider things that matter. Things of the spirit; the development of a human being to his true potential in accordance with his own personal genius in the context of equal rights of others. Today, youth is interested in getting paper qualification and, as soon as possible, shoveling gold into their bank accounts. It’s a different world, even the law. I am a consultant here [Drew & Napier]. When I left in ’78, there were three partners – it was supposed to be a big firm; two assistants – we were a big firm; 17 staff. This office has four floors. They think that it is a waste of time to use the lift so we have an internal staircase. We have more than 90 lawyers, more than 200 secretaries and I don’t know how many staff. The law is no longer a vocation, it is a business. Everything is geared to business! Of course, there is this pragmatic development of our country. Ah, our rising expectations of a pragmatic character! It is a fantastic and almost a miraculous development in my lifetime. When I was Chief Minister, there were men dying of starvation and because of ‘beri-beri’. I took my PA [personal assistant] and an Inspector of Police for night at midnight. For two hours, we toured Singapore and we estimated there were two ten thousand men sleeping on the pavements. No homes. Today - no unemployment, no homeless. I started this business of building homes for our people. Compare the puny work I achieved and the fantastic HDB homes that are available today for our people. I am deeply impressed and I take off my hat to this very able honest government. Dedicated! But I am seen as a critic and I am a critic. I am frankly terrified by this massive control of the mass media, the press, the radio, television, antennae, [and] public meetings. You can’t write a letter to the Straits Times; if there is a shadow of criticism, it’s not published. And the Chinese press follows suit. It’s a very dangerous position because experience proves that no one group of human beings has got all the wisdom in the world. I mean… well, two of you are Chinese and one Indian [Ed: actually, the interviewers were one Chinese, one Jew and one Indian]. I don’t know much about Indian history but look at China. You had Confucian authoritarianism for more than 2500 years. What happened to China? She was a fossil. She had to reinvigorate herself with the Western ideology of communism. Another authoritarian ideology! And what was the result? There must have been a million decent people who were transformed into vipers, vicious obscene vipers. I’m afraid of this control of the mass media. And are youths the miasma of apathetic subservience to authority? But you say to yourselves, “Well, you know, what do we seek in life? We seek a rice bowl, full!” It is full and overflowing, in fact. They serve you your rice in a jade bowl with golden chopsticks; not that it makes much difference to the taste of the rice. But you’re empty! You’ve got technocratic skills and you are seeking more but internally you are empty. Money is your acid test of success. I’ve got nothing against money. I’d like to have money myself! I’d like to have a house and a garden and dogs and a car and a chauffeur but, look, I’ve got a flat. I’ve got a swimming pool attached to the flat. I’ve not even got a car but I use taxis. I have a dignified way of life without being wealthy. I don’t see the necessity of owning a Mercedes-Benz and a swimming pool and a couple of mistresses. I think we’ve got our values all wrong. You know $96,000 a month for a Prime Minister and $60,000 a month for a minister. What the hell do you do with all that money? You can’t eat it! What do you do with it? Your children don’t need all that money. My children have had the best of education. In fact, I’m very proud of them. One of them is a senior registrar to two major hospitals in Oxford. Another of them is a consultant in European law to the Securities and Investment Board in the United Kingdom. They’ve had their education. There are no complaints. I never earned $60,000 a month or $90,000 a month. When I was Chief Minister, I earned $8,000 a month. Look, what is happening today is we are encouraged to and are becoming worshippers of the Golden Calf. We have lost sight of the joy and excitement of public service, helping our fellow men. The joy and excitement of seeking and understanding of the joy of the miracle of the living the duty and the grandeur. We have lost taste for heroic action in the service of our people. We have become good bourgeois seeking comfort, security. It’s like seeking a crystal coffin and being fed by intravenous injections through pipes in the crystal coffin; crystal coffins stuck with certificates of your pragmatic abilities. What has changed? The self-confidence of our people has grown immensely, and that is good to see. Our pragmatic abilities have grown magnificently, and that is good to see. Very good to see! You are very able. You’re ambitious, and the government has heroic plans for the future. It hasn’t finished. I take off my hat to the pragmatic ability of our government but there is no soul in our conduct. It is a difficult thing to speak of because it is difficult to put in a computer, and the youth of Singapore is accustomed to computer fault. There is no longer the intellectual ferment, the passionate argument for a better civilisation. The emphasis on the rice bowl! Tell me I’m wrong, come on. THE PAP GOVERNMENT HAS INDEED DONE A GREAT DEAL FOR SINGAPORE. HOWEVER, THERE IS AN INCREASING DEGREE OF DISCONTENT GROWING AMONGST OUR YOUTHS AGAINST THEM. WHY DO YOU THINK THIS IS HAPPENING? Our lives are empty. The above is an extract of an interview with David Marshall posted at http://thinkhappiness.blogspot.com/2006/08/meeting-david-marshall-in-1994.html. Have we cheapen public service and the passion to serve our nation and people? Or Singaporeans are all a bunch of money grabbers and nothing else?

Can you leave with a clear conscience?

Those were the words of LKY. He added, 'If we lose our top talent, then we will decline as a nation.' While we are calling for the retention of our talent, we are encouraging many to leave, to work overseas, and in their place, filled with foreign talent. Or did our talent left because they were unwanted, not appreciated in their own home? The prophets are not welcomed in their own towns. The risks and consequences of this craziness is like a blood transfusion for no reasons. Remove our own blood and replaced it by alien blood. How would it affect our system? What if the alien blood contains aids or some other viruses? What if the alien blood is green? If we don't value our own talent at home, we surely will have a new Singapore, more vibrant, but not the Singaporeans that were here before. The talents that left our shore will return to find themselves as aliens. And they may not even be welcomed.

A council of elders

Dharmendra Yadav wrote about the need for a council of elders to act as a check to Parliament amidst the controversial ministerial pay rise. The thought behind this call is simple, there is a need to check Parliament when controversial or untenable bills or issues are raised and passed. The need for a neutral and counterbalancing voice is obviously felt by many except the govt. This is natural as the govt would think that it is the best and, being voted to power by the people, is supreme and has the mandate to do what it thinks is right. And it will not submit to another group to check on its power and actions. Such a call is at best a mental exercise as it will never be implemented by any party in power. Who would want to share power or have their hands tied? Which party will be brave enough, generous enough, to want to do this knowing that it is for the good of the future of the country?

Who is there to stop a rogue govt?

So much have been said about how vulnerable we are as a little island that we cannot afford any mistake. And the worst case scenario is a rogue govt that went about helping itself in state of helping the people. Without good men in leadership we are doomed. This scenario assumes that we have a dud administrative service and a submissive army and police that would allow a rogue govt to go on a rampage, unrestraint. It also assumes that the running of the country is only by the political leaders while the civil servants and uniformed groups will just simply take orders, unthinking and unminding. Would we reach a day when Ah Kow and his gang be elected as the next govt and went about paying themselves $5 mil or $10 mil per head and the civil servants and uniformed services just quietly stood by without lifting a finger? Or would the civil servants and the uniformed groups just join in the party and help themselves as well? Such a scenario is possible when the people are unthinking, or seasoned not to think and rather be sheep and hoping to be led, and hope against hope that good leaders would be picked and chosen. I find this position very dangerous. We need a thinking people in all walks of life to think that the future of the country is theirs to make. And that they must have a say in how the country is being run. And when they think the country is not properly run, they must stand up and step forward to help run the country. This can only come true if we have a system that will facilitate or be conducive for leaders to step forward themselves rather than be chosen. A leader is a leader in his own right, not waiting to be picked. A picked leader is anything but a leader. It is at best an employee, fit the bill of the selection board and put into his proper place. We need to question whether the present formula is the only formula for our continued well being or if there are better formula. One thing is for sure. If we think this is it, this is the only way, I think we are doomed. All empires thought that theirs was the only way. And all failed eventually. Our current system is too dependent on a few good men. And if the next few good men turned out to be rogues, we are in deep trouble when the system is not tuned to react and change for the better but only to take orders.6

Cursing and swearing are in us.

That is perhaps what Janadas Devan was trying to say about how our ancestors acquired this gift from nature. And he has the internet to support his case with plenty of lurid examples, some carved to such refinement that they should be collected in a book and would probably become a best seller. And for those who find it impossible to quit, like smoking, fear not. And also do not despair. Just blame it on nature.