LKY quotes

[Thick Face Black Heart]

On DEMOCRACY


“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.”
- Lee Kuan Yew as an opposition leader, 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

“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

“If I were in authority in Singapore indefinitely without having to ask those who are governed whether they like what is being done, then I would not have the slightest doubt that I could govern much more effectively in their interests.”
- Lee Kuan Yew, 1962

“I make no apologies that the PAP is the Government and the Government is the PAP.”
- Lee Kuan Yew, Petir, 1982

“One-man-one-vote is a most difficult form of government.. Results can be erratic.”
- Lee Kuan Yew, Dec 19 1984

“What are our priorities? First, the welfare, the survival of the people. Then, democratic norms and processes which from time to time we have to suspend.”
- Lee Kuan Yew, 1986 National Day Rally

“If you are a troublemaker…it’s our job to politically destroy you. Put it this way. As long as JB Jeyaretnam stands for what he stands for – a thoroughly destructive force – we will knock him. Everybody knows that in my bag I have a hatchet, and a very sharp one. You take me on, I take my hatchet, we meet in the cul-de-sac.”
- Lee Kuan Yew, The Man And His Ideas, 1997

“I think in Singapore, we stand a chance of making the one-man-one-vote system work. With amendments as we have done, you know, like GRCs.. We need to make it work. And I believe with pragmatic adjustments, given these favourable conditions, we can have more open debate.”
- Lee Kuan Yew, 1990 National Day Rally

“I feel sanguine enough to say that there has never been a better set of conditions for open democratic politics because there is no need for unified front politics.”
- Lee Kuan Yew, 1990 National Day Rally

“I am encouraged also because I see more and more people write letters to the press and sign their real names. That’s a good sign, a good tendency. To run a democratic system, you must have democratic impulses in the people. There must be a cultural basis for that system. It’s not just having a constitution and saying,” Well, there you are, the system is democratic.”
- Lee Kuan Yew, 1990 National Day Rally

“Now if democracy will not work for the Russians, a white Christian people, can we assume that it will naturally work with Asians?”
- Lee Kuan Yew, Asahai Shimbun symposium, May 9, 1991

“With few exceptions, democracy has not brought good government to new developing countries…What Asians value may not necessarily be what Americans or Europeans value. Westerners value the freedoms and liberties of the individual. As an Asian of Chinese cultural backround, my values are for a government which is honest, effective and efficient.”
- Lee Kuan Yew in speech entitled ‘Democracy, Human Rights and the Realities’, Tokyo, Nov 10, 1992

“I’m not intellectually convinced that one-man-one-vote is the best. We practise it because that’s what the British bequeathed us.”
- Lee Kuan Yew, 1994

“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. There is no way you can govern a Chinese society.”
- Lee Kuan Yew, The Man and His Ideas, 1997

“You’re talking about Rwanda or Bangladesh, or Cambodia, or the Philippines. They’ve got democracy, according to Freedom House. But have you got a civilised life to lead? People want economic development first and foremost. The leaders may talk something else. You take a poll of any people. What is it they want? The right to write an editorial as you like? They want homes, medicine, jobs, schools.”
- Lee Kuan Yew, The Man and His Ideas, 1997

“They say people can think for themselves? Do you honestly believe that the chap who can’t pass primary six knows the consequence of his choice when he answers a question viscerally, on language, culture and religion? But we knew the consequences. We would starve, we would have race riots. We would disintegrate.”
- Lee Kuan Yew, The Man & His Ideas, 1997

“If we had considered them serious political figures, we would not have kept them politically alive for so long. We could have bankrupt them earlier.”
- Lee Kuan Yew on political opposition, Straits Times, Sept 14 2003

“Political reform need not go hand in hand with economic liberalisation.. I hold unconventional views about this.. I do not believe if you are a libertarian, full of diverse opinions, full of competing ideas in the market place, full of sound and fury, therefore you will succeed.”
- Lee Kuan Yew, 2005

“There is nothing to prevent you from pushing your propaganda, to push your programme out to the students or with the public at large…and if you can carry the ground, if you are right, you win. That’s democracy.”
- Lee Kuan Yew telling students to form political parties, Straits Times, Feb 1, 2005

“Please do not assume that you can change governments. Young people don’t understand this”
- Lee Kuan Yew on the results of the 2006 election

“They say, oh, let’s have multiparty politics. Let’s have different parties change and be in charge of the Government. Is it that simple? You vote in a Division Three government, not a Division One government, and the whole economy will just subside within three, four years. Finished.”
- Lee Kuan Yew, Today, Aug 15 2008

On JUSTICE

“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

“…you attack only those whom your Special Branch can definitely say are communists. Then you attack those whom your Special Branch says are aiding communists. Then finally, when you have gone that far, you attack all who oppose you.”
-Lee Kuan Yew as an opposition PAP member speaking to David Marshall, Singapore Legislative Assembly, Debates, 4 October, 1956

“These powers will not be allowed to be used against political opponents within the system who compete for the right to work the system. That is fundamental and basic or the powers will have destroyed the purpose for which they were forged.”
- Lee Kuan Yew speaking in Parliament on the Preservation of Public Security Act, a precursor to the ISA, Oct 14, 1959

“I can only express the hope that faith in the judicial system will never be diminished, and I am sure it will not, so long as we allow a review of the judicial processes that takes place here in some other tribunal where obviously undue influence cannot be brought to bear. As long as governments are wise enough to leave alone the rights of appeal to some superior body outside Singapore, then there must be a higher degree of confidence in the integrity of our judicial process. This is most important.”
- Lee Kuan Yew in parliament, March 15, 1967

“We have over a hundred political detainees, men against whom we are unable to prove anything in a court of law. Nearly 50 of them are men who gave us a great deal of anxiety during the years of Confrontation because they were Malay extremists. Your life and this dinner would not be what it is if my colleagues and I had decided to play it according to the rules of the game.”
- Lee Kuan Yew speaking to the Singapore Advocates and Solicitors Society, Mar 18, 1967

“I will make him crawl on his bended knees, and beg for mercy.”
- Lee Kuan Yew on J. B. Jeyaretnam, as reported by Devan Nair, 1981

“We have to lock up people, without trial, whether they are communists, whether they are language chauvinists, whether they are religious extremists. If you don’t do that, the country would be in ruins.”
- Lee Kuan Yew, 1986

“It is not the practice, now will I allow subversives to get away by insisting that I’ve got to prove everything against them in a court of law or [produce] evidence that will stand up to the strict rules of evidence of a court of law.”
- Lee Kuan Yew, 1988

“The same law applies to me. Nobody has sued me for libel because I do not defame my enemies.”
- Lee Kuan Yew, Success Stories, 2002

“Most libels, and I have taken about 30 actions, take place at election time. It has not stuck because I am prepared to go before a court, stand in the witness box and face the most aggressive of lawyers who can cross-examine me on my personal history.”
- Lee Kuan Yew, Straits Times, Sept 30 2002

On FREEDOM

“My colleagues and I are of that generation of young men who went through the Second World War and the Japanese Occupation and emerged determined that no one–neither Japanese nor British–had the right to push and kick us around. We determined that we could govern ourselves and bring up our children in a country where we can be proud to be self-respecting people.”
- Lee Kuan Yew, “The Battle for Merger” (1961)

“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, Malaysian Parliamentary Debates, Dec 18, 1964

“Any time, every time, you can damn the Prime Minister and so long as it is not a lie and a criminal lie, nothing happens to you. You can say a lot of things. You can write books about him, damning him. So long as it is not a libel, go ahead.”
- Lee Kuan Yew, Parliament, February 23, 1977

“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.”
- Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, Straits Times, 20 April 1987

“There is nothing to forbid anybody from nailing his colours to the mast, and indeed it is the safest way to do it. Nail your colours to the mast, defend it and say,”This is my flag, this is what I believe in. I believe in open debate, arguments, persuasion, I hope to win by votes.” But start manipulating innocent professional groups, cultural groups and make them support political causes, whether its freedom of the foreign press or whatever, then I say you are looking for unpleasant linkages with what has happened in the past.”
- Lee Kuan Yew, 1990 National Day Rally

“The ideas of individual supremacy and the right of free expression, when carried to excess, have not worked. They have made it difficult to keep America society cohesive. Asia can see it is not working.. In America itself, there is widespread crime and violence, old people feel forgotten, families are falling apart. And the media attacks the integrity and character of your leaders with impunity, drags down all those in authority and blames everyone but itself.”
- Lee Kuan Yew, Sept 1995


On MEDIA BIAS


“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.”
- Lee Kuan Yew commenting on the Straits Times, 1959.

On EQUALITY

“It is essential to rear a generation at the very top of society that has all the qualities needed to lead and give the people the inspiration and the drive to make it succeed. In short, the elite.. Every society tries to produce this type. The British have special schools for them: the gifted and talented are sent to Eton and Harrow.”
- Lee Kuan Yew, August 1966

“The human being is an unequal creature. That is a fact. And we start off with the proposition. All the great religions, all the great movements, all the great political ideology, say let us make the human being as equal as possible. In fact, he is not equal, never will be.”
- Lee Kuan Yew, from a speech during the 1960s, Success Stories

“We must encourage those who earn less than $200 per month and cannot afford to nurture and educate many children never to have more than two… We will regret the time lost if we do not now take the first tentative steps towards correcting a trend which can leave our society with a large number of the physically, intellectually and culturally anaemic.”
- Lee Kuan Yew, 1967

“If you don’t include your women graduates in your breeding pool and leave them on the shelf, you would end up a more stupid society…So what happens? There will be less bright people to support dumb people in the next generation. That’s a problem.”
-Lee Kuan Yew in 1983 National Day Rally

“The successful, whether you’re a scholar, a Mandarin or a successful businessman or successful farmer, you had more than one wife. In fact you can have as many as your economic status entitles you or can persuade people to give their daughters up to you. In other words, the unsuccessful are like the weak lions or bucks in a herd, they were neutralised. So over the generations you must have the physically and the mentally more vibrant and vital, reproduce. We are doing just the opposite. We introduced monogamy. It seems so manifestly correct. The West was successful, superior. Why? Because they are monogamous. It was wrong. It was stupid.”
- Lee Kuan Yew, Population and Development Review, Vol. 13 No.1, 1987

“There are some flaws in the assumptions made for democracy. It is assumed that all men and women are equal or should be equal. Hence, one-man-one-vote. But is equality realistic? If it is not, to insist on equality must lead to regression.”
- Lee Kuan Yew, Create 21 Asahi Forum Tokyo, Nov 20 1992

“The Bell curve is a fact of life. The blacks on average score 85 per cent on IQ and it is accurate, nothing to do with culture. The whites score on average 100. Asians score more … the Bell curve authors put it at least 10 points higher. These are realities that, if you do not accept, will lead to frustration because you will be spending money on wrong assumptions and the results cannot follow.”
- Lee Kuan Yew, The Man & His Ideas, 1997

“I started off believing all men were equal. I now know that’s the most unlikely thing ever to have been, because millions of years have passed over evolution, people have scattered across the face of this earth, been isolated from each other, developed independently, had different intermixtures between races, peoples, climates, soils… I didn’t start off with that knowledge. But by observation, reading, watching, arguing, asking, that is the conclusion I’ve come to.”
- Lee Kuan Yew, The Man & His Ideas, 1997

“If I tell Singaporeans – we are all equal regardless of race, language, religion, culture. Then they will say,”Look, I’m doing poorly. You are responsible.” But I can show that from British times, certain groups have always done poorly, in mathematics and in science. But I’m not God, I can’t change you. But I can encourage you, give you extra help to make you do, say maybe, 20% better.”
- Lee Kuan Yew, Success Stories, 2002

“China can draw on a talent pool of 1.3 billion people, but the United States can draw on a talent pool of 7 billion and recombine them in a diverse culture that enhances creativity in a way that ethnic Han nationalism cannot.” - Lee Kuan Yew, as quoted by Joseph Nye

On PEACE

“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

“If I have to shoot 200,000 students to save China from another 100 years of disorder, so be it.” - Lee Kuan Yew evoking the ghost of Deng Xiaoping whilst endorsing the Tiananmen Square massacre, Straits Times, Aug 17, 2004
“Without the elected president and if there is a freak result, within two or three years, the army would have to come in and stop it”
- Lee Kuan Yew on what would happen if a profligate opposition government touched Singapore’s vast monetary reserves, Straits Times, Sept 16 2006

On PROGRESS

“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 intervene 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 people think.”
- Lee Kuan Yew, Straits Times, Apr 20 1987

“Every Singaporean who owns a flat can double his value in today’s terms within the next 15 to 20 years. In other words, in the next 20 years, we can make everybody worth twice as much, at least.”
- PM Lee Kuan Yew, National Day Rally, 1990


On COMMUNISM

“If I have to chose communism and anti-communism I will chose [sic] communism … if you hate something because you do not like some aspects of it, you can work yourself into a state where anything said and done by communists must be wrong and evil.”
- Lee Kuan Yew, quoted in “David Marshall’s Political Interlude” by Alex Josey (1982)

On VIRTUE

“Please remember we do not pretend to be virtuous. Hypocrisy is not a feature of Singapore’s leadership.”
- Lee Kuan Yew, closing speech to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, Singapore, January 22, 1971

Others on LEE KUAN YEW

“Lee is like a banana –yellow of skin, white underneath.”
-Zhou Enlai, Premier of the People’s Republic of China, at the Bandung Conference (1955)

“More like a Hitler or Mussolini but with less polish and skill.”
- Socialist Front on Lee Kuan Yew, Malay Mail, March 28, 1964

“A chameleon, a remarkable creature which can adjust its colour to its surroundings.”
- Tan Siew Sin, Malaysian Chinese Association, in Malay Mail, March 29, 1964

“Lee Kuan Yew’s political power has always been built over the dead bodies of his friends and allies.”
– Malaysian Chinese Association, circa 1964

“Harry, you’re the best bloody Englishman east of Suez.”
- George Brown, Foreign Secretary of the United Kingdom (1966-68)

“Kuan Yew, I can never trust you as a politician.”
- Tunku Abdul Rahman, Prime Minister of Malaysia, in 1975

“The fact that a leader of Lee’s breadth of vision was not able to act on a broader stage represents an incalculable loss to the world.”
-Richard Nixon, President of the United States

“Who is this ridiculous man who wastes my time? Running Singapore is like running Marseilles. I am running a whole country!”
-Francois Mitterrand, President of France

“[Lee] is bloody-minded and ruthless with his adversaries. He stomps them into the ground.”
- Dennis Bloodworth, journalist, 1989

“A little Emperor … of a tiny Middle Kingdom.”

“All those who met the great man from the little country were lectured on how Malaysia should be run.”

“Singapore is a tiny country. Don’t talk big.”

- Mahathir Mohamed, Prime Minister of Malaysia


“Why is he still so afraid? I honestly think that through the years he has accumulated enough skeletons in his closet that he knows that when he is gone, his son and the generations after him will have a price to pay. If we had parliamentary debates where the opposition could pry and ask questions, I think he is actually afraid of something like that.”

“Mr Lee Kuan Yew kept on repeating how he built up this country and how much he has stored in the reserves. That is the tragedy of the man. For all his intelligence, he does not possess the wisdom of life. …
Mr Lee Kuan Yew fights all his demons within himself to try to shore up his reputation. In the process, however, he destroys the very legacy that he so desperately desires to establish.”

- Chee Soon Juan, Secretary-General of the Singapore Democratic Party


Sources:

No Man is an Island, James Minchin
Martyn See on the Singapore Rebel blog
Lee Kuan Yew on Wikiquote

 

[Leongsam]

A wise man indeed. All his quotes are spot on.

 

[tanwahtiu]

If you NOT looking for Confucius wisdom then he is probably the right fella for you ...

Is this similar to Hitler "The bigger the lie the more people will believe it" A.Hitler?

On DEMOCRACY


“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

 

[bakkuttay]

who in this world can lie and put on a straight face???

the old fart of course. hahahhahaaaaaaa......................

 

[3_M]

On DEMOCRACY


“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.”
- Lee Kuan Yew as an opposition leader, 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

“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

“If I were in authority in Singapore indefinitely without having to ask those who are governed whether they like what is being done, then I would not have the slightest doubt that I could govern much more effectively in their interests.”
- Lee Kuan Yew, 1962

This goes to prove the age old saying absolute power corrupts. I have absolutely no doubt that LTK and CSJ will go down the same slippery path given absolute power for too long.

 

[kingrant]

We can see over all these years, how he has bent the laws or made new ones as he went along, to suit himself.

When he was in Opposition, he said one thing; in power, the opposite.

The guy who said he climbed to power on the dead bodies of his comrades and allies is spot on.

If we reflect on his political life, one sees that he was an early failure in galvanising the Fabian society, the liberal types English-educated into the political fray. He only managed to secure a toehold when he met Lim Chin Siong and Fong Swee Suan who inducted him into the "teeming masses of vitality" that were the labour unions and the middle school students. From there, he derived his popular electoral support. But, like God, what LCS gave, he could take away.

Notice that the phrase how he "rode the tiger and dismounted without being eaten alive" is seldom used nowadays. That is because we all know that he begged, cajoled, blackmailed, and heckled the British and the Tengku into Operation Coldstore just before Merger and Malaysia under the ISA because he couldnt contain the Lim Chin Siong faction by his own efforts, who we were lied to that they were Communists, when in fact they were just left wing rivals to power within PAP. Once his enemies and rivals were safely put behind bars, his path became smooth. So we can see, he was nothing great. There were also many instances which showed that he lacked resolve, wanted to give up and nearly disintegrated under the constant subversion by Lim Chin Siong's supporters. Without Dr Toh and Raja, he could have been binned.

 

[Thick Face Black Heart]

Lee Kuan Yew quotes from Hard Truths



On his persuasive powers:
“I can speak to the people over the blather of the media. In a way, I’m like a local Ronald Reagan.”

On the unpredictability of the future:


“I’ve lived long enough to know that nobody settles the future of his country beyond more than a decade or so of his life.”


On PAP Leadership:


“Part of the team is in place but you need a leader. You need somebody who can communicate, who can mobilise people, move people. It’s not enough to have good policies. You’ve got to convince people. That’s one reason I am making fewer speeches. I want them to fill the gap.”


On what it takes to be a politician:


“You must have convictions. If you don’t have convictions, you are going in for personal glory or honour or publicity or popularity, forget it.”
“What counts? First, integrity. Second, commitment. Third, ability. And forth, most important, a capacity to expound and carry people with you.”


On excitement:


“Are we as safe as New Zealand and can we dispense with our air force? No. Would I like to be New Zealand? Not really. I think its not an exciting, happening economy. Yes, they grow the world’s best grasses, good for horses and cows and sheep. But a dull life.”


On haste:


“Don’t let the grass grow under your feet.” (To the journalists, re: the Hard Truths project)


On socioeconomic divisiveness:


“It’s a divide between the successful and the less successful which happens in every society. The successful have forgotten that without the peace and stability that made their education, their job or their business opportunities possible, they would never have made it. But having made it, they think they made it on their own. Some students from the top schools like Raffles Institution or Hwa Chong, they go abroad and they think that they had done it on their own. They don’t owe the government or society anything. They are bright chaps, but how did they make it? Because we kept a balance in society. With peace, stability, we built up our education system and enabled the brightest to rise to the top.”


“Will we alwas be able to get the most dedicated and the most capable, with integrity to devote their lives t this? I hope so, but forever, I dont know.


I can see the change in values and attitudes of a different generation who feels that, you know, I’m not going to spend my life in public service like my father or my uncle. I see no reason for that. The place is running, let somebody else do it. Who is that somebody else? Have we got such a plethora of talent, capable, honest, dedicated? We haven’t.”




On Cambridge:


“Cambridge is a snooty place.”


“It changed the course of my life because in London I would have gone bonkers – the noise, the bustle and so on. I was a small town boy landed in this big city. But in Cambridge, there were bicycles all around. The town was there to cater to the students, at that time, 10,000 students. It was a very placid, serene society. It encouraged academic pursuits. Of course you got the drama clubs and debating societies, but on the whole it’s a quiet place. If you want any excitement you go down to London.


And the other thing was the summer when you can go to the Backs, laze around in the sun because you have so little sun in Britain. And you might find a photograph of me and my wife… Those are memories that stick in my mind. But you can’t relive that. Not possible. We went back in 1990-something but it was a different Cambridge and we were different persons, and it was a rainy day. So that’s that.”


On Meditation:


“Still the mind… empty the mind, relax. Look at yourself as a third eye from above and be aware of where you are in this cosmos – that you’re just a little particle. Get a sense of proportion that you’re just a little bit of this huge universe. Ignore your face. Ignore your body, and when you are deep in meditation, forget everything.”


“I believe we should teach meditation in schools because that will save going to the doctors, taking Valium or whatever.”


On his son Hsien Loong, in politics:


“He was old enough to remember the July 1964 riots (he would have been 12 years old, and in Catholic High School). I remember a car was sent out to bring him home (when the riots broke out) but couldn’t contact him because it was such a confused and chaotic situation. He walked home alone.” …


“It made a tremendous impact on him because he realized that this place could just go upside down.”

On Daughters:


“Well, I never took her out, because she’s a girl. How can I be looking after her when she’s running around among many other people? Daughters have to be protected.”


On Fashion:


“Why should I throw something away which I’m comfortable with? I’m not interested in impressing anybody.”


“You may say it’s a virtue, others think, why is this chap that thrifty? I mean, you look at our Prime Minister. He wears a new shirt every year for the National Day Rally.”


On his house:


“I’ve told the Cabinet, when I’m dead, demolish it. I’ve seen other houses, Nehru’s, Shakespeare’s. They become a shambles after a while. People trudge through. Because of my house the neighbouring houses cannot build high. Now demolish my house and change the planning rules, go up, the land value will go up… I don’t think my daughter or my wife or I, who lived in it, or my sons who grew up in it will bemoan its loss. They have old photos to remind them of the past.”


On population density:


“My personal preference is less population density. But I’m not in charge. The government will go the way they believe is necessary for Singapore.”


On clean-and-green Singapore, and social inequality:


“AIf we did not create a society which is clean throughout the island, I believed then and I believe now, we have two classes of people: the upper class, upper middle and even middle class with gracious surroundings; and the lower middle and the working class in poor conditions. No society like that will thrive. No family will want its young men to die for all the people with the big homes and those owning the tall towers. So it was important that the whole island be clean, green and with everyone owning property. It was a fundamental principle on which I crafted all policies, and it’s worked.”


“You don’t live equally, but you are not excluded from the public spaces for everybody.”


On Global Citizenry:


“There is no such thing as a citizen of the world. If you go to China, I don’t think you will belong. Theyl’ll say okay, well’ll accept you… (Lee describes a historical example of the families of Malayan communist cadres being segregated in China). You think you’re Chinese, and that you will blend in, but you will not. You are already different. We are already different… Your major premises are in your mind.”


On China:


“You can go anytime and the more successful they are, the less they will think of you and the more they will treat you with condescension. The romantic idea of going back to the bosom of your motherland is a delusion. We have become different, that’s all. You can go back to China, you’re still different. If your children are born and bred there, then they may be reabsorbed. Their inputs will be Chinese inputs.”


On Parenting (career advice):


“We did not try to shape their careers. We were both lawyers, but we did not think it was good to encourage them to be lawyers. Instead we asked: What are you good at? What are you interested in? What will give you pleasure and satisfaction and you’re good at it?”


On Mortality:


“Every day is a bonus, so let’s carry on.”


“If I don’t carry on with life, I will degrade. If you think you’re going to sit down and read novels and play golf, you’re foolish – you’ll just go downhill. Every day is a challenge. Every day has problems to be solved.”


“You’ve got to make the best of the rest of your life. If you start pitying yourself and say, oh why can’t I go back to what I was, then you’re creating misery for yourself.”


“I don’t waste time.”


On Marriage:


“We have never allowed the other to feel abandoned and alone in any moment of crisis. Quite the contrary, we have faced all major crises in our lives together, sharing our fears and hopes, and our subsequent grief and exultation. These moments of crisis have bonded us closer together. With the years, the number of special ties which we two have shared have increased.” – Advice to his son Lee Hsien Yang, who got married in 1981


On cost-benefit analysis:


“I used to play golf, but found it did not give me vitality because it’s a slothful game… So in between golf shots, I started to walk faster, and I found myself feeling better. And then, in between golf shots I started to run. Eventually I said, why am I wasting time with the golf? Just run! Nine holes of golf will take you one and a half, two hours. I run in 20 minutes, I feel better off. So the cost-benefit made me drop golf.”


On Films:


“I don’t watch films these days. No time. But I can remember the best comedy I watched was when I was a student. And I was in London when I watched Danny Kaye. For a serious film, Pygmalion…


My Fair Lady, one of the best musicals on film, because the speech was perfect and the woman was very good because she could speak like a flower girl and she could speak like a duchess. And she could go back again and it’s code switch switching of a very high order. Those stuck out in my mind. Longest one I ever saw was Gone With The Wind, an American epic. But I don’t watch them any more.”


On Literature:


“If you’re interested, I would read Shakespeare. I think they’re classics. The way he’s able to express himself in iambic pentameter, it’s superb, the words he uses. If you’re interested in economics, I would read Hayek. I think he’s right – if you have a planned economy, you will fail. You’re interested in politics? No such book. You learn the hard way. You can read Kennedy, Profiles in Courage, or Obama and his life story and see how he performs.


I read Don Quixote for relaxation. It’s not relevant to my work but it carried me back to a different century. Cervantes imagined his knight-errant and Sancho Panza. Quite an interesting read. You might mean well but don’t tilt at windmills, it’s a waste of time. But it was a comedy, it’s a story. I don’t tilt at windmills. I got mortal foes to fight against.”


On Statesmanship:


“I do not classify myself as a statesman. I put myself down as determined, consistent, persistent. I set out to do something, I keep on chasing it until it succeeds. That’s all. That’s how I perceive myself. Not a statesman.”


“Roosevelt once said to Harriman (special envoy to Europe), he said, “Churchill makes such rousing speeches. Why can’t my speechwriters do that?” So Harriman told him, “He rolls his own cigarettes.” That’s the difference. He rolles his own cigarettes, like de Gaulle. So when he talks, it’s deep from within, and not written up by a polished scriptwriter.”


“It was circumstances that created me: the defeat of the British, the complete collapse of morale, the Japanese brutality, the reoccupation, the struggle for power between the communists and us as the British were withdrawing. That’s what created what I am. I don’t think I wanted to be a statesman, that’s rubbish. You don’t become a statesman. I wanted to be a lawyer.”


On fengshui and astrology:


“Utter rubbish! Utter rubbish! I’m a pragmatic, practical fellow. I do not believe in horoscopes. I do not believe in fengshui. And I’m not superstitious about numbers. But if you have a house which other people has disadvantaged fengshui and numbers, when you buy it, you must consider that when you resell. So again it’s a practical consideration. Not that I’m interested in it. But if I buy that, I must get a low price because when I sell it I will get a low price.”


On the $1 coin having 8 sides because of Lee thought it was auspicious:
“People spin these yarns! It doesn’t bother me.”


On Cycling:


“For three years I cycled (at Cambridge). Of course it’s cooler there, so you don’t sweat. Kept me fit. I used to have to cycle about five miles uphill to go to Girton to see my girlfriend (Kwa Geok Choo).”


“I think we should really consider special tracks for cyclists. Encourage it, then instead of this LRT (Light Rail Transit) and so on you have bicycle racks at MRT stations. It’s better for everybody’s health, it’s better for the environment and it’s certainly better than having the place or having the roads overcrowded with cars, taxis, buses. Doesn’t make sense to me.


But, you know, the modern generation: even to go to the bus stop, they want shelter. I think girls may not like it, they’ll be sweaty. The boys will say, ‘No, I’m doing my national service later, why you make me do national service now? We are rearing a generation that wants to be in comfort but I think cycling is good for them. It did me good, anyway.”


On regrets:


“I did what I thought was right, given the circumstances, given my knowledge at the time, given the pressures on me at the time. That’s finished, done. I move forward. You keep on harking back, it’s just wasting time.”


“Do I regret going to Malaysia? No. It was the right thing to do. Did it fail? Yes. Do I regret pressing for a Malaysian Malaysia and making it fail? No. It was all part of growing up.”

On his legacy and public image:


“I’m no longer in active politics. It’s irrelevant to me what young Singaporeans think of me. What they think of me after I’m dead and gone in one generation will be determined by reasearchers who do PhDs on me, right? So there will be a lot of revisionism. As people revised Stalin, Brezhnev and one day now Yeltsin, and later on Putin. I’ve lived long enough to know that you may be idealised in life and reviled after you’re dead.”

 

[kingrant]

I wonder what Sam has to say in response to his slime on NZ.

Lee Kuan Yew quotes from Hard Truths



On his persuasive powers:
“I can speak to the people over the blather of the media. In a way, I’m like a local Ronald Reagan.”

On the unpredictability of the future:


“I’ve lived long enough to know that nobody settles the future of his country beyond more than a decade or so of his life.”


On PAP Leadership:


“Part of the team is in place but you need a leader. You need somebody who can communicate, who can mobilise people, move people. It’s not enough to have good policies. You’ve got to convince people. That’s one reason I am making fewer speeches. I want them to fill the gap.”


On what it takes to be a politician:


“You must have convictions. If you don’t have convictions, you are going in for personal glory or honour or publicity or popularity, forget it.”
“What counts? First, integrity. Second, commitment. Third, ability. And forth, most important, a capacity to expound and carry people with you.”


On excitement:


“Are we as safe as New Zealand and can we dispense with our air force? No. Would I like to be New Zealand? Not really. I think its not an exciting, happening economy. Yes, they grow the world’s best grasses, good for horses and cows and sheep. But a dull life.”


On haste:


“Don’t let the grass grow under your feet.” (To the journalists, re: the Hard Truths project)


On socioeconomic divisiveness:


“It’s a divide between the successful and the less successful which happens in every society. The successful have forgotten that without the peace and stability that made their education, their job or their business opportunities possible, they would never have made it. But having made it, they think they made it on their own. Some students from the top schools like Raffles Institution or Hwa Chong, they go abroad and they think that they had done it on their own. They don’t owe the government or society anything. They are bright chaps, but how did they make it? Because we kept a balance in society. With peace, stability, we built up our education system and enabled the brightest to rise to the top.”


“Will we alwas be able to get the most dedicated and the most capable, with integrity to devote their lives t this? I hope so, but forever, I dont know.


I can see the change in values and attitudes of a different generation who feels that, you know, I’m not going to spend my life in public service like my father or my uncle. I see no reason for that. The place is running, let somebody else do it. Who is that somebody else? Have we got such a plethora of talent, capable, honest, dedicated? We haven’t.”




On Cambridge:


“Cambridge is a snooty place.”


“It changed the course of my life because in London I would have gone bonkers – the noise, the bustle and so on. I was a small town boy landed in this big city. But in Cambridge, there were bicycles all around. The town was there to cater to the students, at that time, 10,000 students. It was a very placid, serene society. It encouraged academic pursuits. Of course you got the drama clubs and debating societies, but on the whole it’s a quiet place. If you want any excitement you go down to London.


And the other thing was the summer when you can go to the Backs, laze around in the sun because you have so little sun in Britain. And you might find a photograph of me and my wife… Those are memories that stick in my mind. But you can’t relive that. Not possible. We went back in 1990-something but it was a different Cambridge and we were different persons, and it was a rainy day. So that’s that.”


On Meditation:


“Still the mind… empty the mind, relax. Look at yourself as a third eye from above and be aware of where you are in this cosmos – that you’re just a little particle. Get a sense of proportion that you’re just a little bit of this huge universe. Ignore your face. Ignore your body, and when you are deep in meditation, forget everything.”


“I believe we should teach meditation in schools because that will save going to the doctors, taking Valium or whatever.”


On his son Hsien Loong, in politics:


“He was old enough to remember the July 1964 riots (he would have been 12 years old, and in Catholic High School). I remember a car was sent out to bring him home (when the riots broke out) but couldn’t contact him because it was such a confused and chaotic situation. He walked home alone.” …


“It made a tremendous impact on him because he realized that this place could just go upside down.”

On Daughters:


“Well, I never took her out, because she’s a girl. How can I be looking after her when she’s running around among many other people? Daughters have to be protected.”


On Fashion:


“Why should I throw something away which I’m comfortable with? I’m not interested in impressing anybody.”


“You may say it’s a virtue, others think, why is this chap that thrifty? I mean, you look at our Prime Minister. He wears a new shirt every year for the National Day Rally.”


On his house:


“I’ve told the Cabinet, when I’m dead, demolish it. I’ve seen other houses, Nehru’s, Shakespeare’s. They become a shambles after a while. People trudge through. Because of my house the neighbouring houses cannot build high. Now demolish my house and change the planning rules, go up, the land value will go up… I don’t think my daughter or my wife or I, who lived in it, or my sons who grew up in it will bemoan its loss. They have old photos to remind them of the past.”


On population density:


“My personal preference is less population density. But I’m not in charge. The government will go the way they believe is necessary for Singapore.”


On clean-and-green Singapore, and social inequality:


“AIf we did not create a society which is clean throughout the island, I believed then and I believe now, we have two classes of people: the upper class, upper middle and even middle class with gracious surroundings; and the lower middle and the working class in poor conditions. No society like that will thrive. No family will want its young men to die for all the people with the big homes and those owning the tall towers. So it was important that the whole island be clean, green and with everyone owning property. It was a fundamental principle on which I crafted all policies, and it’s worked.”


“You don’t live equally, but you are not excluded from the public spaces for everybody.”


On Global Citizenry:


“There is no such thing as a citizen of the world. If you go to China, I don’t think you will belong. Theyl’ll say okay, well’ll accept you… (Lee describes a historical example of the families of Malayan communist cadres being segregated in China). You think you’re Chinese, and that you will blend in, but you will not. You are already different. We are already different… Your major premises are in your mind.”


On China:


“You can go anytime and the more successful they are, the less they will think of you and the more they will treat you with condescension. The romantic idea of going back to the bosom of your motherland is a delusion. We have become different, that’s all. You can go back to China, you’re still different. If your children are born and bred there, then they may be reabsorbed. Their inputs will be Chinese inputs.”


On Parenting (career advice):


“We did not try to shape their careers. We were both lawyers, but we did not think it was good to encourage them to be lawyers. Instead we asked: What are you good at? What are you interested in? What will give you pleasure and satisfaction and you’re good at it?”


On Mortality:


“Every day is a bonus, so let’s carry on.”


“If I don’t carry on with life, I will degrade. If you think you’re going to sit down and read novels and play golf, you’re foolish – you’ll just go downhill. Every day is a challenge. Every day has problems to be solved.”


“You’ve got to make the best of the rest of your life. If you start pitying yourself and say, oh why can’t I go back to what I was, then you’re creating misery for yourself.”


“I don’t waste time.”


On Marriage:


“We have never allowed the other to feel abandoned and alone in any moment of crisis. Quite the contrary, we have faced all major crises in our lives together, sharing our fears and hopes, and our subsequent grief and exultation. These moments of crisis have bonded us closer together. With the years, the number of special ties which we two have shared have increased.” – Advice to his son Lee Hsien Yang, who got married in 1981


On cost-benefit analysis:


“I used to play golf, but found it did not give me vitality because it’s a slothful game… So in between golf shots, I started to walk faster, and I found myself feeling better. And then, in between golf shots I started to run. Eventually I said, why am I wasting time with the golf? Just run! Nine holes of golf will take you one and a half, two hours. I run in 20 minutes, I feel better off. So the cost-benefit made me drop golf.”


On Films:


“I don’t watch films these days. No time. But I can remember the best comedy I watched was when I was a student. And I was in London when I watched Danny Kaye. For a serious film, Pygmalion…


My Fair Lady, one of the best musicals on film, because the speech was perfect and the woman was very good because she could speak like a flower girl and she could speak like a duchess. And she could go back again and it’s code switch switching of a very high order. Those stuck out in my mind. Longest one I ever saw was Gone With The Wind, an American epic. But I don’t watch them any more.”


On Literature:


“If you’re interested, I would read Shakespeare. I think they’re classics. The way he’s able to express himself in iambic pentameter, it’s superb, the words he uses. If you’re interested in economics, I would read Hayek. I think he’s right – if you have a planned economy, you will fail. You’re interested in politics? No such book. You learn the hard way. You can read Kennedy, Profiles in Courage, or Obama and his life story and see how he performs.


I read Don Quixote for relaxation. It’s not relevant to my work but it carried me back to a different century. Cervantes imagined his knight-errant and Sancho Panza. Quite an interesting read. You might mean well but don’t tilt at windmills, it’s a waste of time. But it was a comedy, it’s a story. I don’t tilt at windmills. I got mortal foes to fight against.”


On Statesmanship:


“I do not classify myself as a statesman. I put myself down as determined, consistent, persistent. I set out to do something, I keep on chasing it until it succeeds. That’s all. That’s how I perceive myself. Not a statesman.”


“Roosevelt once said to Harriman (special envoy to Europe), he said, “Churchill makes such rousing speeches. Why can’t my speechwriters do that?” So Harriman told him, “He rolls his own cigarettes.” That’s the difference. He rolles his own cigarettes, like de Gaulle. So when he talks, it’s deep from within, and not written up by a polished scriptwriter.”


“It was circumstances that created me: the defeat of the British, the complete collapse of morale, the Japanese brutality, the reoccupation, the struggle for power between the communists and us as the British were withdrawing. That’s what created what I am. I don’t think I wanted to be a statesman, that’s rubbish. You don’t become a statesman. I wanted to be a lawyer.”


On fengshui and astrology:


“Utter rubbish! Utter rubbish! I’m a pragmatic, practical fellow. I do not believe in horoscopes. I do not believe in fengshui. And I’m not superstitious about numbers. But if you have a house which other people has disadvantaged fengshui and numbers, when you buy it, you must consider that when you resell. So again it’s a practical consideration. Not that I’m interested in it. But if I buy that, I must get a low price because when I sell it I will get a low price.”


On the $1 coin having 8 sides because of Lee thought it was auspicious:
“People spin these yarns! It doesn’t bother me.”


On Cycling:


“For three years I cycled (at Cambridge). Of course it’s cooler there, so you don’t sweat. Kept me fit. I used to have to cycle about five miles uphill to go to Girton to see my girlfriend (Kwa Geok Choo).”


“I think we should really consider special tracks for cyclists. Encourage it, then instead of this LRT (Light Rail Transit) and so on you have bicycle racks at MRT stations. It’s better for everybody’s health, it’s better for the environment and it’s certainly better than having the place or having the roads overcrowded with cars, taxis, buses. Doesn’t make sense to me.


But, you know, the modern generation: even to go to the bus stop, they want shelter. I think girls may not like it, they’ll be sweaty. The boys will say, ‘No, I’m doing my national service later, why you make me do national service now? We are rearing a generation that wants to be in comfort but I think cycling is good for them. It did me good, anyway.”


On regrets:


“I did what I thought was right, given the circumstances, given my knowledge at the time, given the pressures on me at the time. That’s finished, done. I move forward. You keep on harking back, it’s just wasting time.”


“Do I regret going to Malaysia? No. It was the right thing to do. Did it fail? Yes. Do I regret pressing for a Malaysian Malaysia and making it fail? No. It was all part of growing up.”

On his legacy and public image:


“I’m no longer in active politics. It’s irrelevant to me what young Singaporeans think of me. What they think of me after I’m dead and gone in one generation will be determined by reasearchers who do PhDs on me, right? So there will be a lot of revisionism. As people revised Stalin, Brezhnev and one day now Yeltsin, and later on Putin. I’ve lived long enough to know that you may be idealised in life and reviled after you’re dead.”

 

[kingrant]

However, I shall always love him for saying and believing in this:

On population density:



“My personal preference is less population density. ......”

But he should have scolded his son more..and that wooden one.

 

[Thick Face Black Heart]

• “I see no reason why I should impress people by having a big car or changing my suits every now and again to keep up with the latest styles.” (2011)

• “I’m very determined. If I decide what something is worth doing, then I’ll put my heart and soul to it. The whole ground can be against me, but if I know it is right, I’ll do it. That’s the business of a leader.” -From Lee Kuan Yew: The Man and His Ideas, 1998

• ‘I am probably the highest paid in the Commonwealth if you go by official salary. But I am probably one of the poorest in the Commonwealth… I am one of the best paid and probably one of the poorest of the Third World prime ministers.’

~~Lee Kuan Yew responding to Workers’ Party (WP) MP J.B.
Jeyaretnam’s charge that ministers here were paid much more than their
counterparts in Malaysia, Australia and Britain. (1985)

• “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.” ~~ Straits Times, 20 April 1987

• “Even from my sick bed, even if you are going to lower me into the grave and I feel something is going wrong, I will get up.”
  ~~ Lee Kuan Yew - 1988 National Day Rally

• ‘A faint hearted people would have given up long ago. We never gave in, never mind giving up. For that alone, we deserve to succeed. If we press on, in twenty years we shall build a great metropolis, worthy of a hardy, resilient and stout-hearted people.’ ~~ (National Day Speech, August 8 1972)

• ‘For me, it is a moment of anguish. All my life, my whole adult life, I believed in merger and unity of the two territories. ~~‘(Press Conference, then PM Lee announcing the separation of Singapore from the Federation of Malaysia, August 9 1965)

• ‘Many are too young to remember how bad things were. They take for granted Singapore’s orderly progress and continuing prosperity as the natural order of things. Those who do remember know that our present stability and prosperity have been built upon the cohesion, the determination and the planning of a small band of men. ~~‘(Speech at a seminar on communism and democracy, April 28 1971)

• ‘I make no apologies for collecting the most talented team I could find. Without them, none of you would be enjoying life today in Singapore, including the reporters up there. I say this without any compunction. Who pays for all this? A Singapore economy which has been so finely tuned that it is able to take advantage of every opportunity that comes our way.~~‘(Debate on the White Paper on ministerial salaries, November 1 1994)

• ‘My generation of political leaders have become dinosaurs, an extinct breed of men who went into politics because of the passion of their convictions.’~~(Debate on the White Paper on ministerial salaries, November 1 1994)

• ‘It is the same society, the same old guards who sacrificed. Some of them literally took their lives into their hands when they decided to stay with the PAP and not move over to Barisan in this House in 1961. But for several of them, the history of Singapore would be different and I would not be meeting and talking to you here. We may be in a completely different age and a different world.’~~(Debate on the White Paper on ministerial salaries, November 1 1994)

WHAT THEY SAID ABOUT LEE KUAN YEW

• ‘In office, I read and analysed every speech of Harry’s. He had a way of penetrating the fog of propoganda and expressing with unique clarity the issues of our times and the way to tackle them. He was never wrong. ~~(Margaret Thatcher, former British Prime Minister, 1998)

• ‘Mr. Lee Kuan Yew has gathered around himself the most brilliant minds, transforming the most exacting standards into a system of government. Under his leadership, the primacy of the general interest, the cult of education, work and saving, the capacity to foresee the needs of the city have enabled Singapore to take what I call ‘shortcuts to progress’.‘(Jacques Chirac, former President of France, 1998)

• ‘Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew is one of the brightest, ablest men I have ever met.’)(George Bush (Senior), former President of USA, 1998

• ‘He always commands an attentive audience amongst Western leaders.’(James Callaghan, former British Prime Minister, 1998)

• ‘Combining what is best in the Chinese and British traditions, his penetrating intellect gives political pragmatism a unique edge which has made the city state of Singapore a model far beyond Asia.’(Denis Healey, former British Chancellor of the Exchequer, 1998)

• ‘He and Dr Kissinger are probably the only two world statesmen who, after leaving office, find an open door to every head of state and government anywhere in the world.‘(Lord Carrington, former British Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, 1998)

• ‘Whenever I met Mr Lee Kuan Yew, I was deeply impressed by his intellect, his vision and the depth of his understanding on history and society.‘(Kim Dae Jung, former President of the Republic of Korea, 2000)

• ‘Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew is one of the pivotal figures in the modern history of Southeast Asia. His actions have shaped the course of events in this region.’(Prem Tinsulanonda, former Thai Prime Minister, 2000)

 

[Thick Face Black Heart]

The Separation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41ND3U_9HgQ


<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/41ND3U_9HgQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>

 

[Leongsam]

I wonder what Sam has to say in response to his slime on NZ.

He's absolutely right from the point of view of someone who wants to build a career on an international stage. NZ is a backwater.

At 25, I would have gone nuts living in NZ but I didn't think much of Singapore either. That's why I went Silicon valley so I could be in the heart of the part of the world that was changing the universe.

20 years later my outlook towards life was different. All I wanted was peace and quiet and wide open spaces for my leisurely pursuits. I had checked out of the rat race. I now wanted to enjoy the spoils.

There is no one place on earth which will suit all phases of a person's life. That is why it is important to be mobile and adaptable.

 

[zhihau]

There is no one place on earth which will suit all phases of a person's life. That is why it is important to be mobile and adaptable.

boss, you have a family?

 

[zhihau]

However, I shall always love him for saying and believing in this:

such a glib tongue... :p:p:p
nope, am not getting swoon over that
as long as the MIWs wants a 6.9mil in SG, vote the MIWs out!

 

[Leongsam]

boss, you have a family?

Yes and I brought them up to be mobile and adaptable. If you ask the family of any career diplomat, they'll tell you that moving is part and parcel of their lives.

I was never a diplomat. However, I imparted a spirit of adventure and hammered home the fact that new experiences are to be sought after rather than shunned.

There is nothing more exciting than moving to a new environment. You get to see new places, meet new people, enjoy new environments.. different weather... different aromas...different food.

Living in the same place all your life is like watching the same movie over and over again. You may have enjoyed the movie but after watching it a countless number of times, you know exactly how each scene is going to end.

If you move somewhere and decide you don't like it, just move on to the next phase but never go backwards. It's a waste of your life.

 

[zhihau]

Yes and I brought them up to be mobile and adaptable. If you ask the family of any career diplomat, they'll tell you that moving is part and parcel of their lives.

our nomadic culture lives on
thank you, boss. it's an eye opener, me make this resolve to bring up my family to be mobile and adaptable!

 

[tanwahtiu]

I want to join me live in South Pole antartic? With 24hr sunlight, cold weather, plenty of free space, no polar bears, live like in heaven scenery white all day.

Yes and I brought them up to be mobile and adaptable. If you ask the family of any career diplomat, they'll tell you that moving is part and parcel of their lives.

I was never a diplomat. However, I imparted a spirit of adventure and hammered home the fact that new experiences are to be sought after rather than shunned.

There is nothing more exciting than moving to a new environment. You get to see new places, meet new people, enjoy new environments.. different weather... different aromas...different food.

Living in the same place all your life is like watching the same movie over and over again. You may have enjoyed the movie but after watching it a countless number of times, you know exactly how each scene is going to end.

If you move somewhere and decide you don't like it, just move on to the next phase but never go backwards. It's a waste of your life.