GKS-LKY like Chou En Lai-Mao Tze Tung?

[elephanto]

My office colleague suggested Dr Goh's relationship to LKY like Premier Chou En Lai's relationship to Chairman Mao - both are contented to be the No 2 Man.

Other than that, I cannot agree further.

Chou has an inner 'blind' loyalty to Mao probably due to his aversion to warlord era & preference for 1 strongman leader despite his flaws.

Whereas Goh, I feel, has no interest for the politicking side & properly acknowledged LKY's prowess in that area & let him be the Boss Man. He just wanted to get to the nuts & bolts of problems & seized challenges by the horns.

Goh is no subsevient stooge - even though I remember one TV interview during the long ago 1984 Nation-Building celebration, he was asked by reporters what is the single most important reason for Singapore's success ? He gruffly replied in his abrupt manner: one word - LKY.

Some may point to this as proof of his subsevience, I think in his own shorthand way, he is trying to say POLITICAL WILL as personified by LKY was the singlemost important factor. The same way, Goh appeared to dismiss the importance of 'vision' - equating that to dreams & stating categorically he is not a dreamer. Words are just words. Goh's vision & ability in converting economic dreams to reality are no less impressive.

Of course, Chou's fate is worse than Goh.
On ocassion of being 'sabotaged' by Gang of Four', Chou even had to put forward written admission of his 'mistakes' to appease Mao.
You will never catch Goh doing that.

Of course, the 2 are also similar in being personally thrifty & frugal in lifestyles.

 

[elephanto]

then why the fish he needs billions in Temasek and GICs?

you are simply trying to split hairs, here. how can u tie him to the losses incurred by Temasek/GIC in present times when he has retired for ages? stop your sourpussing, shoo, pussy, shoo !

Stick to the comparison between the 2 pairs which is the subject of this thread !

 

[fivestars]

SINGAPORE : In a tribute to the late Dr Goh Keng Swee, the opposition National Solidarity Party said Singapore has lost a great man who has contributed tremendously to the country's nation building.

Its Secretary-General Goh Meng Seng said: "Although we do not agree totally (with) some of his past policies...his spirit of socialism and public service are the source of inspiration to many of us."

He added: "In mourning his death and the loss of our national icon, we would like to remind PAP (People's Action Party) of their humble democratic socialist root which was fully manifested by the late Dr Goh Keng Swee." - CNA/ms

 

[zeebjii]

Sorry to nitpick but why anglicize mao zedong's and zhou enlai's names? Looks really weird. It's as weird as li guangyao.

Nobody does that anymore.

 

[Papsmearer]

My office colleague suggested Dr Goh's relationship to LKY like Premier Chou En Lai's relationship to Chairman Mao - both are contented to be the No 2 Man.

Other than that, I cannot agree further.

Chou has an inner 'blind' loyalty to Mao probably due to his aversion to warlord era & preference for 1 strongman leader despite his flaws.

Whereas Goh, I feel, has no interest for the politicking side & properly acknowledged LKY's prowess in that area & let him be the Boss Man. He just wanted to get to the nuts & bolts of problems & seized challenges by the horns.

Goh is no subsevient stooge - even though I remember one TV interview during the long ago 1984 Nation-Building celebration, he was asked by reporters what is the single most important reason for Singapore's success ? He gruffly replied in his abrupt manner: one word - LKY.

Some may point to this as proof of his subsevience, I think in his own shorthand way, he is trying to say POLITICAL WILL as personified by LKY was the singlemost important factor. The same way, Goh appeared to dismiss the importance of 'vision' - equating that to dreams & stating categorically he is not a dreamer. Words are just words. Goh's vision & ability in converting economic dreams to reality are no less impressive.

Of course, Chou's fate is worse than Goh.
On ocassion of being 'sabotaged' by Gang of Four', Chou even had to put forward written admission of his 'mistakes' to appease Mao.
You will never catch Goh doing that.

Of course, the 2 are also similar in being personally thrifty & frugal in lifestyles.

Please lah, stop your hero worship of this asshole. Just because he and the bigger asshole LKY ran the country as a 1-2 combo doesn't mean it was a resounding success.

Goh is the most subservient of stooges. Don't come and smoke here. he could see the direction that S'pore has been taking under LKY, does he speak up against it, or does he shut up and live in cushy retirement with his millions? Yes, this guy died a very rich man, make no mistake about it. And if he had truly lived a frugal life, he would be in a HDB flat in his retirement. Don't make him up to be something he wasn't.

 

[moolightaffairs]

saw the documentary on goh yesterday. a female reporter was interviewing him regarding the SSO. goh was saying your stomach is full, its time to fulfill your soul and he added gov cant help on this issue as it is very dangerous. the reporter asked why? goh replied BECAUSE GOV WILL TELL YOU HOW TO THINK!!! that means control your mind and your soul!!! bravo ah goh!!! hope you rest in peace!

 

[fivestars]

Zhou Enlai (5 March 1898 – 8 January 1976) was the first Premier of the People's Republic of China, serving from October 1949 until his death in January 1976. Zhou was instrumental in the Communist Party's rise to power, and subsequently in the development of the Chinese economy and restructuring of Chinese society.
A skilled and able diplomat, Zhou served as the Chinese foreign minister from 1949 to 1958. Advocating peaceful coexistence with the West, he participated in the 1954 Geneva Conference and helped orchestrate Richard Nixon's 1972 visit to China. Due to his expertise, Zhou was largely able to survive the purges of high-level Chinese Communist Party officials during the Cultural Revolution. His attempts at mitigating the Red Guards' damage and his efforts to protect others from their wrath made him immensely popular in the Revolution's later stages.
As Mao Zedong's health began to decline in 1971 and 1972, Zhou and the Gang of Four struggled internally over leadership of China. Zhou's health was also failing however, and he died eight months before Mao on 8 January 1976. The massive public outpouring of grief in Beijing turned to anger towards the Gang of Four, leading to the Tiananmen Incident. Deng Xiaoping, Zhou's ally and successor as Premier, was able to outmaneuver the Gang of Four politically and eventually take Mao's place as Paramount Leader.+

Nankai Midddle School was founded by Yan Xiu, a prominent scholar and philanthropist, and headed by Zhang Boling, one of the most important Chinese educators of the twentieth century. Nankai's teaching methods were unusual in many respects. By the time Zhou began attending, it had adopted the educational model used at Phillips academy in the United States. The school's reputation, with its "highly disciplined" daily routine and "strict moral code" attracted many students who later became prominent in public life, and Zhou's friends and classmates there ranged from Ma Jun (an early communist leader executed in 1927) to K. C. Wu (later mayor of Shanghai and governor of Taiwan under the Nationalist party). Zhou's talents also attracted the attention of Yan Xiu and Zhang Boling. Yan in particular thought highly of Zhou, helping to pay for his studies in Japan and later France.

Zhou did well in his studies at Nankai; he excelled in Chinese, won several awards in the school speech club, and became editor of the school newspaper in his final year. Zhou was also very active in acting and producing dramas and plays at Nankai; many students who were not otherwise acquainted with him knew of him through his acting. Nankai preserves a number of essays and articles written by Zhou at this time, and these reflect the discipline, training, and concern for country that Nankai's founders attempted to instill in their students. At the school's tenth commencement in June 1917, Zhou was one of five graduating students honored at the ceremony, and one of the two valedictorians.

Following many of his classmates, Zhou went to Japan in July 1917 for further studies. During his two years in Japan, Zhou spent most of his time in the East Asian Higher Preparatory School, a language school for Chinese students. Zhou's studies were supported by his uncles, and apparently Nankai founder Yan Xiu as well, but their funds were limited and during this period Japan suffered from severe inflation. Zhou originally planned on winning one of the scholarships offered by the Chinese government; these scholarships, however, required Chinese students to pass entrance examinations in Japanese universities. Zhou took entrance examinations for at least two schools, but failed to gain admission, and financial problems may have been one reason Zhou returned to China in the spring of 1919.
Some of Zhou's diaries and letters from Japan still exist; together with memoirs of his acquaintances, these give a sketch of Zhou's political development at this point. It seems that he devoted most of his time to learning Japanese and reading; his personal relations were mostly limited to classmates from Nankai who had come to Japan; at one point he was deputy secretary of the Nankai alumni association in Japan.

However, his diaries and letters show that Zhou was also deeply interested in politics and current events. In particular, he was fascinated by the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the Bolsheviks' new policies. He probably read some early Japanese works on Marx, and it has been claimed that he even attended Kawakami Hajime's lectures at Kyoto University. Kawakami was an important figure in the early history of Japanese Marxism, and his translations and articles influenced a generation of Chinese communists. However, it now seems very unlikely that Zhou met him or heard any of his lectures. Zhou's diaries also show his concern over Chinese student strikes in Japan in May 1918, when the Chinese government failed to send the students' scholarships, but he apparently was not deeply involved in the protest. His active role in political movements began after his return to China.

In June 1923, the Third Congress of the Chinese Communist Party accepted the Comintern's instructions to ally with the Chinese Nationalist party, led at the time by Sun Yat-sen. These instructions called for individual CCP members to join the Nationalist Party. Zhou not only joined, but actually helped organize the founding of the Nationalist Party European branch in November 1923. Under Zhou's influence, most of the European branch's officers were in fact Communists. Zhou's wide ranging contacts and personal relationships formed during this period were central to his career. Important party leaders, such as Zhu De and Nie Rongzhen, were first admitted to the party by Zhou.
By 1924, the Soviet-Nationalist alliance was expanding rapidly and Zhou was summoned back to China for further work. He left Europe probably in late July 1924, returning to China as one of the most senior Chinese Communist party members in Europe.