Take a Break : Memorable Quotes from Spore Politicians Over the Years

[elephanto]

On a lighter note, bros recall the following sayings from Spore Politicians ?

The most repeated one (Tops in 2006):

"mee siam mai hum" - PM Lee
in response to Mr Brown's Bak Chor Mee skit playing on James Gomez's Election Dept snafus

"Ai Pung Sai ka chuay JAMBAN !" - Er Lee Bee Wah
MP Lee Bee Wah in Parliament

OK, to be non-partisan, some from Opposition as well:-

" If the Prime Minister say so, then it must be so !" - MP Chiam See Tong

My all time favourite from Chiam See Tong, when he blurted out under pressure from Lee Kuan Yew, during Chiam's debate with late Teh Cheang Wan over HDB subsidies

Ah Chiam, Ah Chiam, you very Lau Kwee Malu one man !

" You ! Don't Talk Cock ! " - Ling How Doong

Another unforgettable from stutteting ex-Bt Batok MP Ling How Doong in Parliament

" Do you hate me, Mr Prime Minister ? "
"No, hate would require a certain emotion ....
I have distaste for you " (or words to that effect)

Another memorable exchange between JBJ & LKY during the Parliament Select Committee Hearings in the 80s

 

[elephanto]

" If the Prime Minister say so, then it must be so !" - MP Chiam See Tong

This was a most telling utterance of the 80s.

Then there was a programme called 'Today in Parliament' created along with the setup of the Feedback Unit & other early green shoots of Goh's more gentle consultative style after the '84 election.

In full video, Sporeans witnessed poor Chiam, harried & flustered.

Under verbal siege & rhetorical intimidation from Lee Kuan Yew, then in his fiery sixties, Chiam raised his arms in exasperation & out came those defeatist words, to hoots of delirious laughter from the PAPPIES MPs.

Chiam, in his Freudian Slip, publicly verbalized what many Sporeans from coffeeshop to boardroom, have all along muttered wryly & sarcastically to one another.

Unfortunately, 'Today In Parliament' was eventually canned, replaced by the lifeless 5-10min highlights following the English Newsreel to this day.

Apparently, Old Man's thinking that the wrong political education would be imparted to peasants who not only see recorded action in Parliament (albeit selected & brief), but may notice the abysmal discussion of public policies, or worse, equate eloquent speech making as political talent.

Except for himself, LKY view any possible polician with articulate oratorical skills with great suspicion, fearing sporeans may be otherwise mesmerised.

 

[elephanto]

Oh, of course also Singaporeans can see from 'Today in Parliament' so many empty seats from absentee MPs, the others who are present - are seen nodding off or sleeping without snoring I must concede.

 

[scroobal]

Chiam's primary draw as candidate for parliament was based on the Govt's ofteh repeated mantra of subsidised housing. Its was his central theme and he was a constant thorn on PAP sides during parliamentary sessions. He provided costing, got opinions but the Govt stuck by its gun of claiming that HDB flats are subsidised without providing any reasonable facts or costings. Eventually Chiam got exasperated. When Teh Cheang Wan killed himself and Singapore identity, Tay Kheng Soon revealed that it was well known within the industry, this quote came up for discussion.

 

[jw5]

"Singaporeans are the weakest link in the fight against dengue".

 

[kingrant]

• "But we either believe in democracy or we not. If we do, then, we must say categorically, without qualification, that no restraint from the any democratic processes, other than by the ordinary law of the land, should be allowed... If you believe in democracy, you must believe in it unconditionally. If you believe that men should be free, then, they should have the right of free association, of free speech, of free publication. Then, no law should permit those democratic processes to be set at nought, and no excuse, whether of security, should allow a government to be deterred from doing what it knows to be right, and what it must know to be right... " - Lee Kuan Yew, Legislative Assembly Debates, April 27, 1955

• "If it is not totalitarian to arrest a man and detain him, when you cannot charge him with any offence against any written law - if that is not what we have always cried out against in Fascist states - then what is it?… If we are to survive as a free democracy, then we must be prepared, in principle, to concede to our enemies - even those who do not subscribe to our views - as much constitutional rights as you concede yourself." - Opposition leader Lee Kuan Yew, Legislative Assembly Debates, Sept 21, 1955
• "Repression, Sir is a habit that grows. I am told it is like making love-it is always easier the second time! The first time there may be pangs of conscience, a sense of guilt. But once embarked on this course with constant repetition you get more and more brazen in the attack. All you have to do is to dissolve organizations and societies and banish and detain the key political workers in these societies. Then miraculously everything is tranquil on the surface. Then an intimidated press and the government-controlled radio together can regularly sing your praises, and slowly and steadily the people are made to forget the evil things that have already been done, or if these things are referred to again they're conveniently distorted and distorted with impunity, because there will be no opposition to contradict." -Lee Kuan Yew as an opposition PAP member speaking to David Marshall, Singapore Legislative Assembly, Debates, 4 October, 1956

• "If we say that we believe in democracy, if we say that the fabric of a democratic society is one which allows for the free play of idea...then, in the name of all the gods, give that free play a chance to work within the constitutional framework." - Opposition leader Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore Legislative Assembly, Oct 4, 1956

• "Repression can only go up to a point. When it becomes too acute, the instruments of repression, namely the army and the police, have been proved time and time again in history to have turned their guns on their masters." - Opposition leader Lee Kuan Yew, Straits Times, May 5, 1959

• "I pointed to an article with bold headlines reporting that the police had refused to allow the PAP to hold a rally at Empress Place, and then to the last paragraph where in small type it added the meeting would take place where we were now. I compared this with a prominent report about an SPA rally. This was flagrant bias." - Complaining about the Straits Times in 1959.

• "Let us get down to fundamentals. Is this an open, or is this a closed society? Is it a society where men can preach ideas - novel, unorthodox, heresies, to established churches and established governments - where there is a constant contest for men's hearts and minds on the basis of what is right, of what is just, of what is in the national interests, or is it a closed society where the mass media - the newspapers, the journals, publications, TV, radio - either bound by sound or by sight, or both sound and sight, men's minds are fed with a constant drone of sycophantic support for a particular orthodox political philosophy? I am talking of the principle of the open society, the open debate, ideas, not intimidation, persuasion not coercion..." - Lee Kuan Yew, Before Singapore's independence, Malaysian Parliamentary Debates, Dec 18, 1964

 

[scroobal]

The one in bold kills me everytime. He should have added, "I make the rules as I go along"

• "But we either believe in democracy or we not. If we do, then, we must say categorically, without qualification, that no restraint from the any democratic processes, other than by the ordinary law of the land, should be allowed... If you believe in democracy, you must believe in it unconditionally. If you believe that men should be free, then, they should have the right of free association, of free speech, of free publication. Then, no law should permit those democratic processes to be set at nought, and no excuse, whether of security, should allow a government to be deterred from doing what it knows to be right, and what it must know to be right... " - Lee Kuan Yew, Legislative Assembly Debates, April 27, 1955

 

[kingrant]

The one in bold kills me everytime. He should have added, "I make the rules as I go along"

Should print it on T-shirts and walk around Orchard Rd. Safer than TBT or Kangaroo Court prints.

How can anybody arrest you for quoting our Dear Leader?

 

[Goh Meng Seng]

"This is the Golden Period for Singapore"

"Oil price will hit US$200 this year end (2008)"

 

[scroobal]

He learnt early that people have a short memory.

Here is another chap that knows Singaporeans have short memory, shorter memory if they are acquainted and complete amnesia when they are in the same boat.

Feb 6, 2008

“This is completely false, and really you have absolutely no credibility hiding behind pseudonyms making these completely incorrect assertions.” - Remy Choo Zheng Xi when allegations were made about being associated with PAP.

A week later .....

Feb 12, 2008

“Zheng Xi is not paid to write articles for or on TOC on behalf of or by any PAP MPs, opposition MPs, or any other organisations or individuals – local or otherwise.

Choo Zheng Xi assists Mdm Ho Geok Choo, MP of Boon Lay Constituency, West Coast GRC, in gathering material for Parliamentary speeches and helps to write for the constituency newsletter, Boon Lay Diary. For his efforts in the past 5 months, he receives an honorarium of $500 monthly.”

"This is the Golden Period for Singapore"

"Oil price will hit US$200 this year end (2008)"

 

[kingrant]

But he said of himself, "People with long histories have long memories. And I happen to have a long memory." when he moved against Lee Eu seng and Nanyang Siang Pau for "using his newspaper to incite the people against the government over issues of Chinese culture."

"I would like to see minds stimulated and debate provoked, and truth refined and crystallised out of the conflict of different evidence and views." - guess who else?



[taken from The Media Enthralled:Singapore Revisited -Francis Seow, loaned from the NLB Singapore]

 

[scroobal]

There was one episode that made the old man particularly mad. His ISD chief called the papers and made the claim that communists detained in changi had split into 2 groups and fighting each other. Lim Hock Siew sued for defamation. The government immediately persuaded all the papers to settle without revealing the source. All the Papers settled including the Tamil daily.

Old man was made to look the fool and revenge was in the air.

But he said of himself, "People with long histories have long memories. And I happen to have a long memory." when he moved against Lee Eu seng and Nanyang Siang Pau for "using his newspaper to incite the people against the government over issues of Chinese culture."

"I would like to see minds stimulated and debate provoked, and truth refined and crystallised out of the conflict of different evidence and views." - guess who else?



[taken from The Media Enthralled:Singapore Revisited -Francis Seow, loaned from the NLB Singapore]

 

[kingrant]

There was one episode that made the old man particularly mad. His ISD chief called the papers and made the claim that communists detained in changi had split into 2 groups and fighting each other. Lim Hock Siew sued for defamation. The government immediately persuaded all the papers to settle without revealing the source. All the Papers settled including the Tamil daily.

Old man was made to look the fool and revenge was in the air.

Was it from the same book?

Ya..it was not the first tiff he had with ISD chiefs. During the Nanyang case, the ISD Director then had told Old Man the 4 nanyang execs were innocent of any conspiracy against S'pore and the OM went ballistic. Not long thereafter, he was replaced. Know who that Dir was?

 

[elephanto]

• "But we either believe in democracy or we not. If we do, then, we must say categorically, without qualification, that no restraint from the any democratic processes, other than by the ordinary law of the land, should be allowed...

• "If it is not totalitarian to arrest a man and detain him, when you cannot charge him with any offence against any written law - if that is not what we have always cried out against in Fascist states - then what is it?…

• "Repression, Sir is a habit that grows. I am told it is like making love-it is always easier the second time!

• "If we say that we believe in democracy, if we say that the fabric of a democratic society is one which allows for the free play of idea...then, in the name of all the gods, give that free play a chance to work within the constitutional framework." - Opposition leader Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore Legislative Assembly, Oct 4, 1956
- Lee Kuan Yew, Before Singapore's independence, Malaysian Parliamentary Debates, Dec 18, 1964

Wonderful collection of quotes from Kingrant !

These eloquent outbusts from LKY as Opposition in The Legislative Assembly are unmatched for their punch & poignancy.

What supreme irony that they are totally applicable to him & his ways since !

But I am sure he would dismiss this irony as ' my speeches are now taken out of context, those were for a certain time, against a certain foe..."

As the classical chinese saying goes : Winner is king, Loser is bandit ! :oIo:

 

[scroobal]

No. Who was the director.?

Was it from the same book?

Ya..it was not the first tiff he had with ISD chiefs. During the Nanyang case, the ISD Director then had told Old Man the 4 nanyang execs were innocent of any conspiracy against S'pore and the OM went ballistic. Not long thereafter, he was replaced. Know who that Dir was?

 

[kingrant]

No. Who was the director.?

Oh, I thot you know. Seow mentioned this in his book but he did not name the Director. So I also dunno.

 

[kingrant]

Wonderful collection of quotes from Kingrant !

These eloquent outbusts from LKY as Opposition in The Legislative Assembly are unmatched for their punch & poignancy.

What supreme irony that they are totally applicable to him & his ways since !

But I am sure he would dismiss this irony as ' my speeches are now taken out of context, those were for a certain time, against a certain foe..."

As the classical chinese saying goes : Winner is king, Loser is bandit ! :oIo:

Despite what he said of his long memory, he actually has selective amnesia, a common affliction of dictators.

 

[scroobal]

It has to be Yoong Siew Wah as the time period concides with his tenure as ISD director. And the fact both Yoong and Seow ended being strange bedfellows over the Seow's attempt to sack some police Officers. Yoong at that time was CPIB head.

Oh, I thot you know. Seow mentioned this in his book but he did not name the Director. So I also dunno.

 

[kingrant]

It has to be Yoong Siew Wah as the time period concides with his tenure as ISD director. And the fact both Yoong and Seow ended being strange bedfellows over the Seow's attempt to sack some police Officers. Yoong at that time was CPIB head.

There! I knew you have to know something! Tks for sharing.

Wasn't Yoong the guy who came out to correct some error of fact in MIW book?

 

[elephanto]

There! I knew you have to know something! Tks for sharing.

Wasn't Yoong the guy who came out to correct some error of fact in MIW book?

Yes, Yoong Siew Wah is the man.
In fact, calls himself the Singapore Sceptic now & maintain his blog, pissed that no way LKY will apologise to him over his unfair/inaccurate remarks on his removal.