Wednesday, October 29, 2003
Monday, October 20, 2003
Something to share with you guys from the book, which I bought yesterday, Lee Kuan Yew at 80.
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I am one of the best paid and probably one of the poorest of the Third World Prime Ministers.
-Parliament 22.3.1985
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A man who knows how to say "No" and keep his constituents happy and have them voting for him at the next elections should quietly congratulate himself £either at his innate good nature that God has endowed him with, or for his cultivated sense of self-discipline that keeps the face in relaxed and happy countenance, while he is really fed up to the teeth with troublesome constituents.
-Parliament 16.3.1976
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I don't want to do you in, but I won't allow anyone to do Singapore in.
-Meeting with SIA Pilots Association (Siapa) 1.12.1980
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So my invitation to those who feel that all this is stifling£look, stand up and be counted. I have no sympathy for people who say, "Look, oh, they will poke fun at me". Are you so fragile that you can't stand a little criticism?
-National Day Rally 14.9.1988
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Let us be friends with all our neighbours. But in order that friendship can be meaningful and worth anything, let it be clearly understood that in our own home, we order our own furniture and we arrange it the way we like.
-29.3.1965
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We are very accustomed to the rough talk; the rougher they talk, the politer we become. You know, people talk of losing their patience; he who loses his patience, loses his temper, loses the argument, and loses the case.
-13.6.1965
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Well, gentlemen, I can give you this assurance that in Singapore you will get equal misery or equal prosperity as the case may be, regardless of whether you are black, or brown, or yellow, or any of the shades in between.
-15.10.1965
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Some people think that just because we are a small place, they can put screws on us. It is not so easy. If they could have just squeezed us like an orange, I think the juice would have been squeezed out of us. But it was more like the durian. You try and squeeze it, your hand gets hurt. And so they say, "Right, throw away the durian.?" But inside the durian is a very useful ingredient, high protein? and we will progress.
-12.9.1965
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
He has an inexpressive face but an intense gaze.
-Fareed Zakaria, Foreign Affairs, 1994
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If we want to continue to be angry with Kuan Yew and use various arrogant definitions in the dictionary or thesaurus in Kuan Yew, I am convinced that it will not disturb Kuan Yew at all? he will continue to sleep well.
-Malaysian Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, Berita Harian, 20.10.2000
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
An Eastern leader who dares say no to Western leaders and Western media.
-Wang Lixing, Yuanjian Magazine, 5.3.1997
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is a man whom my grandpa, Mr Tan Bah Chee (PPA, PBM, BBM) had once worked with in the Pasir Panjang constituency. Upon my grandpa passing away, Mr Lee Kuan Yew had sent a letter remembering him as a stalwart supporter from the early days of the People Action Party, and was a tower of strength in the constituency. One of his sentences in the letter touches me deep even till today. He said, "With his passing, another strand in my life has been broken."
Some may be unhappy with him. Because to them, he has been bugging the position of the government for too long, and now his family are inheriting his position. It makes the whole situation seems like the government is a place for this Lee family. Or maybe it is of other reasons that they are unhappy. All could be maybe unhappy with the taxes, the expensive housing prices or the rules and regulations for various causes.
But to me, he is like a grandpa. He had been governing our home for so long, eighty long years, or rather lesser, minus off his teenage years. This country to him is just like a baby that he had watched from young till now, a young and capable adult with high potential. I know the feeling, for I had experiences on setting up little projects of my own. Projects, which are babies of mine, are the artwork pieces that I made and all the stage productions that I had carefully planned out. So think about it, would you hand over your baby to someone else? I wouldn't. The moment I started on something that I call my own, I wouldn't hand it over to anyone else to even help me in just sprinkling on stardust. If I would, I would choose that person with the maximum carefulness and watch that person like a hawk to make sure that nothing would go wrong. For I wouldn't allow a mistake done on my baby, for which I had fostered with care in the growing process.
You talk about the fastest transportations, the securities and safeties, the cleanliness, the education and all the advancements. Without taxes, the expensive housing prices or the rules and regulations for various causes, where do you get all the above? Our education system is one that is being recognized world wide, there is no need for you to travel out of Singapore to get a degree if you can do well in your studies to get you step successfully on each stepping stones. We are an international hub that foreigners flock to and a set of governing people whom we are proud to have. There are no corruptions, no strikes and the lowest crime rate. We, Singaporean particularly work hand in hand as one. What more do we want? I am, proud to be a Singaporean.
Mr Lee Kuan Yew, for all I know is a very calm and composed man. He keeps himself cool and ready for any arguments, but he never start any arguments. He is a very capable man, one with foresight, that a nation should be proud to have and ashamed to lose. There is no leader that has in within them so much experience as compared to him. I like his speeches, especially those that speak of being someone that is able to maintain his posture when others are poking fingers at him and an Asian who is well respected by even the westerners. Without him, would we be able to attain racial harmony? Or would you rather you be in such a situation like Malaysia, which is a country solely of Muslim, regardless of the other races in the community, that Non-Muslims would be treated so differently from the Muslims? A place where there is no equity and harmony, would you want to be living in that kind of environment?
I agree so much with him, that Singapore may be small, but we are not someone to meddle with. We are like durians, protected in within against any pampering of our very own ground, prospering and we arrange the seeds inside our own shell. Just like the movie "Home Run" by Jack Neo. I am so amazed by his ideas in this movie and he made me change my impression of him from a useless crap man to someone with deep thoughts. He talks about the water, land, and the case that Malaysia tried to sue us for damaging their marine life, airplane and the threat on war issues towards Singapore, indirectly. There is one line that I like especially from the movie, "We are not to declare fight at the heat of the moment". This line speaks about how Singapore has maintain her cool and has handle all problems with gracefulness.
He, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, is someone, whom we should place our eyes and footsteps on learning. Learn your gracefulness, your firmness, and your abilities to look forward in long-term from this wonderful man. For we are the lucky generation, the next generation might not be able to see him in action anymore, they would only be able to learn from history, and that would be a lot more bland.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I am one of the best paid and probably one of the poorest of the Third World Prime Ministers.
-Parliament 22.3.1985
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A man who knows how to say "No" and keep his constituents happy and have them voting for him at the next elections should quietly congratulate himself £either at his innate good nature that God has endowed him with, or for his cultivated sense of self-discipline that keeps the face in relaxed and happy countenance, while he is really fed up to the teeth with troublesome constituents.
-Parliament 16.3.1976
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I don't want to do you in, but I won't allow anyone to do Singapore in.
-Meeting with SIA Pilots Association (Siapa) 1.12.1980
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So my invitation to those who feel that all this is stifling£look, stand up and be counted. I have no sympathy for people who say, "Look, oh, they will poke fun at me". Are you so fragile that you can't stand a little criticism?
-National Day Rally 14.9.1988
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Let us be friends with all our neighbours. But in order that friendship can be meaningful and worth anything, let it be clearly understood that in our own home, we order our own furniture and we arrange it the way we like.
-29.3.1965
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We are very accustomed to the rough talk; the rougher they talk, the politer we become. You know, people talk of losing their patience; he who loses his patience, loses his temper, loses the argument, and loses the case.
-13.6.1965
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well, gentlemen, I can give you this assurance that in Singapore you will get equal misery or equal prosperity as the case may be, regardless of whether you are black, or brown, or yellow, or any of the shades in between.
-15.10.1965
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Some people think that just because we are a small place, they can put screws on us. It is not so easy. If they could have just squeezed us like an orange, I think the juice would have been squeezed out of us. But it was more like the durian. You try and squeeze it, your hand gets hurt. And so they say, "Right, throw away the durian.?" But inside the durian is a very useful ingredient, high protein? and we will progress.
-12.9.1965
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
He has an inexpressive face but an intense gaze.
-Fareed Zakaria, Foreign Affairs, 1994
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If we want to continue to be angry with Kuan Yew and use various arrogant definitions in the dictionary or thesaurus in Kuan Yew, I am convinced that it will not disturb Kuan Yew at all? he will continue to sleep well.
-Malaysian Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, Berita Harian, 20.10.2000
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
An Eastern leader who dares say no to Western leaders and Western media.
-Wang Lixing, Yuanjian Magazine, 5.3.1997
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is a man whom my grandpa, Mr Tan Bah Chee (PPA, PBM, BBM) had once worked with in the Pasir Panjang constituency. Upon my grandpa passing away, Mr Lee Kuan Yew had sent a letter remembering him as a stalwart supporter from the early days of the People Action Party, and was a tower of strength in the constituency. One of his sentences in the letter touches me deep even till today. He said, "With his passing, another strand in my life has been broken."
Some may be unhappy with him. Because to them, he has been bugging the position of the government for too long, and now his family are inheriting his position. It makes the whole situation seems like the government is a place for this Lee family. Or maybe it is of other reasons that they are unhappy. All could be maybe unhappy with the taxes, the expensive housing prices or the rules and regulations for various causes.
But to me, he is like a grandpa. He had been governing our home for so long, eighty long years, or rather lesser, minus off his teenage years. This country to him is just like a baby that he had watched from young till now, a young and capable adult with high potential. I know the feeling, for I had experiences on setting up little projects of my own. Projects, which are babies of mine, are the artwork pieces that I made and all the stage productions that I had carefully planned out. So think about it, would you hand over your baby to someone else? I wouldn't. The moment I started on something that I call my own, I wouldn't hand it over to anyone else to even help me in just sprinkling on stardust. If I would, I would choose that person with the maximum carefulness and watch that person like a hawk to make sure that nothing would go wrong. For I wouldn't allow a mistake done on my baby, for which I had fostered with care in the growing process.
You talk about the fastest transportations, the securities and safeties, the cleanliness, the education and all the advancements. Without taxes, the expensive housing prices or the rules and regulations for various causes, where do you get all the above? Our education system is one that is being recognized world wide, there is no need for you to travel out of Singapore to get a degree if you can do well in your studies to get you step successfully on each stepping stones. We are an international hub that foreigners flock to and a set of governing people whom we are proud to have. There are no corruptions, no strikes and the lowest crime rate. We, Singaporean particularly work hand in hand as one. What more do we want? I am, proud to be a Singaporean.
Mr Lee Kuan Yew, for all I know is a very calm and composed man. He keeps himself cool and ready for any arguments, but he never start any arguments. He is a very capable man, one with foresight, that a nation should be proud to have and ashamed to lose. There is no leader that has in within them so much experience as compared to him. I like his speeches, especially those that speak of being someone that is able to maintain his posture when others are poking fingers at him and an Asian who is well respected by even the westerners. Without him, would we be able to attain racial harmony? Or would you rather you be in such a situation like Malaysia, which is a country solely of Muslim, regardless of the other races in the community, that Non-Muslims would be treated so differently from the Muslims? A place where there is no equity and harmony, would you want to be living in that kind of environment?
I agree so much with him, that Singapore may be small, but we are not someone to meddle with. We are like durians, protected in within against any pampering of our very own ground, prospering and we arrange the seeds inside our own shell. Just like the movie "Home Run" by Jack Neo. I am so amazed by his ideas in this movie and he made me change my impression of him from a useless crap man to someone with deep thoughts. He talks about the water, land, and the case that Malaysia tried to sue us for damaging their marine life, airplane and the threat on war issues towards Singapore, indirectly. There is one line that I like especially from the movie, "We are not to declare fight at the heat of the moment". This line speaks about how Singapore has maintain her cool and has handle all problems with gracefulness.
He, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, is someone, whom we should place our eyes and footsteps on learning. Learn your gracefulness, your firmness, and your abilities to look forward in long-term from this wonderful man. For we are the lucky generation, the next generation might not be able to see him in action anymore, they would only be able to learn from history, and that would be a lot more bland.