today • Wednesday 23 March 2016 hot news mr lee, one year on · 13 hot news | mr lee, one year on...

12 hot news | mr lee, one year on

today • Wednesday 23 March 2016

The Singapore spirit, renewed

There was a time when it would have been simply impossible to imagine a Singapore without Mr Lee Kuan Yew. Even in his later years, the Republic’s first Prime Minister was a larger-

than-life presence, with lawmakers, businessmen and leaders both here and abroad hanging on to his every word. Such was the influence of the man who had been synonymous with the transformation of Singapore from backwater to Asian Tiger in just a single generation.

Yet, his death on March 23 last year did not shake the very foundations of what Mr Lee spent his life building, contrary to what some had feared. As People’s Action Party chairman Khaw Boon Wan put it last week, Mr Lee’s death “did not cause any jitters among investors or (a loss of) confidence among the people. There was widespread sadness, but there was no despair or helplessness”.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 13

LOH CHEE KONG

Associate Editor [email protected]

Bouquets placed at Istana Park last night. Today marks the first anniversary of founding Prime Minister Mr Lee Kuan Yew’s death. PHOTO: WONG PEI TING

hot news | mr lee, one year on today • Wednesday 23 March 201613

seemingly endless series of obsta-cles, applying ingenuity, attention to detail, foresight and sheer force of will in equal measure.

In death, he has continued to do so. Acting Minister for Education

(Schools) Ng Chee Meng, who head-ed the organising committee for Mr Lee’s State Funeral, saw irst-hand Singaporeans’ outpouring of grief during the seven days of na-tional mourning. That experience will stay with him for a long time, he said as he begins his own politi-cal journey as part of Singapore’s fourth-generation leadership core. “This airmation of Singaporeans’ unity... gave me great optimism about Singapore’s way forward,” he told TODAY in an interview to mark Mr Lee’s death anniversary.

While he is no longer around, Mr Lee’s values, such as multira-cialism, meritocracy and incor-ruptibility, which have become en-trenched in public institutions and society at large, will continue to live on, political observers and MPs said. National University of Singa-pore political scientist Bilveer Singh noted that basic principles, such as meritocracy, are evergreen. “The day certain people are given more privilege than others, we will see a serious decline in Singapore’s pros-perity and peace,” he said. Still, Sin-gapore Management University law don Eugene Tan noted the country is transitioning towards a more broad-based measure of merit, be-yond academic excellence.

On Mr Lee’s legacy, political analyst Felix Tan from SIM Glob-al Education reiterated the need to see the found-ing Prime Minis-ter’s accomplish-ments in context. Mr Lee had to do what he did in an era that was very diferent from the present, he said.

P r o f S i n g h added: “Today, Singapore’s suc-cess will be meas-ured not just eco-nomica l ly, but also via other indices such as de-mocracy, human rights… (Beyond) economic growth, we may not al-ways look good.”

Not all of Mr Lee’s values and principles are universally em-braced. He had his critics, who de-cried his authoritative style and the ruthless approach he used to deal with political opponents. But the plusses far outweigh the criti-cisms. About three-quarters of the respondents in the TODAY survey cited Mr Lee’s integrity, intelligence and wisdom, his zero-tolerance for corruption as the top qualities that Singapore’s leaders “must deinite-ly” emulate. Propping up the list were Mr Lee’s ruthlessness in deal-ing with political opponents, his dis-taste for Western-style democracy

and his handpicking of top Govern-ment oicials.

NUS sociologist Tan Ern Ser felt the indings showed that Singapo-reans “appreciate his wise, decisive

and pragmatic leadership, but not what they would consider his authoritari-an, paternalistic style of ruling the country”.

Still, observ-ers were quick to point out that the G over n ment ’s leadership style had evolved long before Mr Lee’s

death — and he had a big part to play in laying the groundwork for these changes.

“Today, the Government (is) a lot more lax in that regard — a lot more willing to engage in discourse, ar-gue in the public sphere, rather than find a way to correct unjustified statements or allegations through lawsuits,” Nanyang Technological University Assistant Professor Woo Jun Jie said.

During his interview with this newspaper, Mr Ng stressed that it is up to the next generation of Singaporeans to decide whether they want to hold on to the values and principles that Mr Lee stood for. “They will be able to judge for themselves what would be the best way forward for Singapore,” he said.

And he was conident that they will be able to make the right call.

Indeed, for a country that re-cently lost a monumental igure in its short history, Singaporeans and their leaders alike now exude a level of conidence — not just about its fu-ture but also in its place in the world — that some might say is dispropor-tionate to its size.

In an interview with TODAY, Ambassador-at-Large Bilaha-ri Kausikan revealed that since Mr Lee died, some countries have tried their luck to put Singapore in its place: “... All I will say is that if they persist, they will be in for a rude surprise,” he said.

He added: “They think our abili-ty to stand irm only depends on Lee Kuan Yew — that’s rubbish. Or if they think that now he’s not around you can re-do things, no, sorry…”

In many ways, the conidence that Singapore oozes as it heads into the next phase of development is testa-ment to the work of Mr Lee and his team, and stems from their lifelong eforts to prepare the country and its people for challenges well into the future. That Singaporeans have re-newed conidence and a new unity of purpose just 366 days after the na-tion awoke to a statement informing them that they had lost their found-ing Prime Minister is testament to how well the Founding Fathers laid the groundwork for success.

Now, as the saying goes, Singa-poreans have to take the ball and run with it.

Six-year-old Beldon Tan looking at a panel at a remembrance event for Mr Lee Kuan Yew at the Marine Parade Community Club last weekend. PHOTO: JASON QUAH

Mr Khaw hit the nail on the head.But he left unsaid something

more important than the fact that no jitters were felt in the days after March 23, 2015: Those fateful days of a year ago have had a profound efect on Singaporeans. Confronted by the loss of a giant of a man, Sin-gaporeans had a chance to relect on the spirit of exceptionalism that had driven the creation of a nation, be reminded of the extraordinary sense of purpose that Mr Lee em-bodied, and absorb anew the prin-ciples that form the bedrock values of the Republic.

Bouyed by this, Singaporeans young and old now have high levels of confidence in the country’s fu-ture, even as murky economic wa-ters cloud the outlook, showed a sur-vey commissioned by TODAY that took the pulse of 500 respondents aged 15 to 70.

There is no doubt that Mr Lee is missed. The more than 100 ground-up initiatives that have sprung up all over the island in the days lead-ing up to the first anniversary of his death are a reminder of that. In Tanjong Pagar, in particular, where Mr Lee was Member of Parliament for six decades, thousands of resi-dents as well as people who used to live there gathered to pay their trib-utes over the weekend, and remind themselves from whence they came, and where the country is headed.

One of them was Mr Chew Kok Leong, 76, who was grateful to Mr Lee for touching his life and transforming the country, whose streets were once illed with gang-sters and people who were jobless. “The country was in a state of cha-os, and inding a job was diicult. He managed to govern Singapore very well — turning it into what it is today,” said the retiree, who made the short hop from his Tiong Bahru home to Duxton Plain Park, where a remembrance event to honour Mr Lee was held on Saturday. The next day, Mr Chew returned with a bouquet of white lowers.

Over at Marine Parade, Mr Mu-hammad Nur Hakimin, 26, chanced upon an exhibition on Mr Lee at the Marine Parade Community Club when he and his wife were out and about with their four children. The SMRT technician saw it as a per-fect opportunity to teach his chil-dren —aged between one and six years old — about the values and work of Mr Lee. “He was like family to everyone in Singapore. He (dedi-cated) his life to us… he turned noth-ing into something. Without his ef-forts, there would be no home,” Mr Hakimin said, as he recounted how Mr Lee’s values inspired him to work harder when he was strug-gling to make ends meet for the fam-ily as a young father.

Over his lifetime, Mr Lee in-spired many and cobbled a people of disparate backgrounds togeth-er into a nation, while navigating a

They Think our abiliTy To

sTand firm only depends

on lee kuan yew — ThaT’s

rubbish. or if They

Think ThaT now he’s noT

around you can re-do

Things, no, sorry …

Bilahari KausikanAMBASSADOR-AT-LARGE

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 12

20 pages of coverage

16A nation’s ‘where wereyou when ...’ moment

23From abroad,tests for a nationas otherstry their luck

31A precious reminderfor today’s generation

InsIde


What will endure, one year on

TODAYSource: Blackbox

Impact of Mr Lee’s deathWhich qualities and values that Mr Lee possessed should S’pore’s leaders follow?

Top 3 things Singapore

has lost with Mr Lee’s death

Remembering Mr Lee: How best?

Sample size: 500 respondents. Margin of error +/- 4.4 %. Target audience: General population, 15-70 years (Citizens/PR). Type: Quantitative, face to face. Methodology: Door-to-door representative sampling across entire island (by district)

Research specifications:

Made Singaporeans reflect on Singapore’s

achievements over the past 50 years

TODAY commissioned a face-to-face survey of 500 Singaporeans and permanent residents aged 15 to 70 to mark the first anniversary of Mr Lee Kuan Yew’s death.

The survey, which was conducted between Feb 24 and March 10 by research consultancy Blackbox, aimed to find out Singaporeans’ views on Mr Lee’s legacy, the

impact of his death, and the values and qualities that Mr Lee stood for that could be useful for current and future leaders.

Ensuring Singapore can protect

itself through strong defence

and national security

Wanting affordable home

ownership for all Singaporeans

through the HDB scheme

Helping to bring Singapore from a Third

World country to a First World country

National

holiday

Memorial

park

Dedicated

Lee Kuan

Yew library

National

education

curriculum

Permanent

exhibition

gallery

Major

national

prize in

his name

Nothing

Others

43% 17% 12% 10% 10% 7% 2% 1%

His overall wisdom

and foresight

His strength

and decisiveness

His leadership abilities, which

helped to steer the nation forward

High

confidence

Score

10

(Score

8-10)

(6-7)

(Below 5)

5

4

3

2

1

8

7

6

9

0

Low

confidence

His style of handpicking

who should be in top

Government positions

His distaste and opposition

to Western style democracy

His ruthlessness in dealing

with political opponents

His intelligence

and wisdom

100%

50%

0%

His integrity

His efforts to make

Singapore free from

corruption

76%

Top 3

Bottom 3

75%

34%50%

40%

10%

30%

23%

41%

34%

31%

36%

33%

29%

27%

25%

18%

Made Singaporeans think

more about the future

Helped younger Singaporeans better

understand how Singapore started

What were Mr Lee’s greatest achievements? How confident are you about Singapore’s future post-Lee Kuan Yew?

Enduring legacies: A shield, and a place to call home

Siau Ming En

[email protected]

M500 Singaporeans and permanent residents aged 15 to 70 commis-sioned by TODAY to mark the irst anniversary of Mr Lee’s death.

The survey, which was conduct-ed between Feb 24 and March 10 by research consultancy Black-box, aimed to ind out, among oth-er things, Singaporeans’ views on Mr Lee’s legacy, the impact of his death, and the values and qualities that Mr Lee stood for that could be useful for current and future lead-ers as they steer the country in its next phase of development.

Mr Lee, who was Singapore’s longest-serving Prime Minister, died on March 23 last year, several weeks after being hospitalised for

severe pneumonia. Asked to pick from a list of

wide-ranging accomplishments by Mr Lee during his lifetime that beneited Singaporeans, the high-est proportions of respondents chose what Mr Lee did to ensure the Republic was able to defend it-self against external threats (27 per cent) and the home ownership poli-cy (25 per cent). Next on the list was Mr Lee’s eforts in taking Singapore from Third World to First (18 per cent), closely followed by the trans-formation of the Republic’s econo-my into what it is today (17 per cent).

About three-quarters of the re-spondents cited Mr Lee’s integrity, intelligence and wisdom, and his ze-

ro-tolerance for corruption as the top qualities that Singapore’s lead-ers “must deinitely” emulate.

Propping up the l ist were Mr Lee’s ruthlessness in dealing with political opponents (34 per cent), his distaste for Western-style democracy (30 per cent) and his handpicking of top Government oicials (23 per cent).

Separately, Mr Lee’s cut-throat approach towards political oppo-nents (46 per cent), his uncompro-mising brand of politics (28 per cent) and his aversion to state welfarism (22 per cent) were among the most commonly cited qualities that “must deinitely” be avoided.

ContinuEd on pagE 15

aking sure that this tiny red dot could protect itself with a robust defence and national security, and a public housing policy that allows Singaporeans to own their homes.

These two achievements in which Singapore’s founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew had a large hand in came out tops — by a dis-tance — in a face-to-face survey of

hot news today • Wednesday 23 March 201615

GRC MP Zaqy Mohamad said: “There is no point having a strong economy and having people living in squalor and ghettos.”

He noted that the terrorism threat — which Home Afairs and Law Minister K Shanmugam de-scribed last week as hitting its high-est level in recent times — and cur-rent regional geopolitics could have had a bearing on the indings, with the public having a deeper apprecia-tion of the work of Mr Lee and the other founding fathers in making sure Singapore could protect itself.

National University of Singa-pore sociologist Tan Ern Ser felt the indings showed a complicated relationship between Singaporeans and Mr Lee.

“They appreciate his wise, deci-sive and pragmatic leadership, but not what they would consider his authoritarian, paternalistic style of ruling the country,” he said.

Assoc Prof Eugene Tan agreed that the indings indicated that Sin-gaporeans “do not have ainity for his authoritarian ways”. “Ironically, it is the relative peace, stability and prosperity that Singapore has en-joyed the past half century that has rendered Singaporeans less com-fortable with Mr Lee’s traits that ranked the lowest,” he pointed out.

While Mr Lee’s qualities may not be universally embraced, there is little doubt that Singaporeans feel the country has lost a giant whose wisdom, intellect and leadership abilities were well regarded around the world.

In the TODAY survey, respond-ents identiied Mr Lee’s wisdom and

In particular, a higher proportion of older respondents (aged 35 and above) felt his political style should be avoided by current and future lead-ers, in contrast to those under 35 — a greater percentage of whom cited his deep-seated views on Western-style democracy and state welfarism.

The survey respondents were also asked to pick the best way to remember Mr Lee and his contri-butions to the country. A national holiday declared in Mr Lee’s honour was the top choice by some distance (43 per cent), followed by a memorial park (17 per cent) and a dedicated Lee Kuan Yew library (12 per cent).

In terms of the impact of his death, almost four in 10 of respond-ents — the highest proportion in the survey — agreed with the state-ment that it made Singaporeans re-lect on the country’s achievements since independence. About a third concurred that it made Singapo-reans contemplate the future and where the country is heading, while 29 per cent felt it helped youths to better understand how far the Re-public has come.

Senior research fellow Mathew Mathews at the Institute of Policy Studies noted that Mr Lee’s death coincided with the SG50 celebra-tions, and happened when the en-tire nation was in a relective mood.

“The celebrations focused on our successes as a nation, our gratitude to our pioneers and our hopes for the future,” he said. “It would be little wonder that this reflection would be further strengthened with Mr Lee’s passing since he did em-body a pioneering generation, and is attributed with leading the suc-cessful transformation of Singapore from Third World to First World.”

‘STRONG MATERIALISTIC

DIMENSION’

On what the respondents saw as Mr Lee’s greatest achievements, po-litical analyst Felix Tan from SIM Global Education said the indings showed that Singaporeans and PRs here are, in general, a pragmatic lot who are focused on bread and but-ter issues such as security and af-fordable housing.

He noted that while Singapore has always been hailed as a success story of racial integration and as one of the least corrupt countries in the world, these did not feature as highly on the minds of the public (these areas were seen as Mr Lee’s top accomplish-ments by 16 per cent and 13 per cent of the respondents, respectively).

Singapore Management Uni-versity law don Eugene Tan also felt that the findings reflected a “strong materialistic dimension” to how people here assess Mr Lee’s achievements. “But this may well relect the strong material dimen-sion in Singapore’s irst 50 years as a nation-state,” he said.

Noting that afordable and qual-ity housing is a by-product of a suc-cessful economy, Chua Chu Kang

foresight (41 per cent), his strength and decisiveness (34 per cent) and his leadership abilities (31 per cent) as the top three assets that Singa-pore has lost with his death.

In that regard, Mr Lee has left big shoes for the current and future leaders to ill, Assoc Prof Eugene Tan said.

Agreeing, Dr Felix Tan add-ed: “The current leadership needs to continually ex-amine itself and gain the respect that Mr Lee had garnered during his time.”

N e v e r t h e -less, he stressed the need to see Mr Lee’s accomplishments in con-text. Mr Lee had to do what he did in an era that was very diferent from the present, he said. Circumstances and situations in a post-war envi-ronment difered greatly from to-day’s globalised and interconnect-ed world.

“Besides having a strong leader-ship, a country also needs a society that believes in a collective vision for the country. We had that in the ear-ly days of independence. The ques-tion now would be whether we can see a continuation of this in the next 50 years — a successful, independ-ent nation that many other nations want to emulate,” he added.

NATION IS IN GOOD STEAD

On a scale of 0 to 10 (the higher the

score, the greater the conidence), the TODAY survey found a mean score of 7.3 among the respondents when they were asked about their level of confidence in Singapore’s future post-Lee Kuan Yew.

SIM University sociologist Kang Soon-Hock said that a hallmark of Mr Lee was his foresight. As such,

t h e c o u n t r y stands in good stead, with sta-ble and forward-looking institu-tions — including a competent civil service — that plans for leader-ship renewal in advance.

Similarly, it wa s the work

of Mr Lee and other founding fa-thers that has given the country a strong platform for future success. MacPherson MP Tin Pei Ling not-ed that the respondents’ conidence in Singapore’s future, post-LKY, stemmed from the country’s repu-table international standing. At the same time, it helps that certain core values which Mr Lee stood for — such as a corruption-free govern-ment and meritocracy — remains entrenched in society, she said.

Dr Mathews added: “Many Sin-gaporeans are aware that there is a well-oiled machinery that runs Sin-gapore, and subsequent generations of leaders have been able to navigate Singapore through various challeng-es. So Singaporeans in general are conident that things will go well, at least based on past successes.”


WRITTEN ON STONE At the Community Memorial Garden at Bishan Park last week, residents gathered to pen their memories of Mr Lee Kuan Yew, and their hopes and aspirations for Singapore, with words and drawings on pebbles. PHOTO: DAMIEN TEO

THERE IS LITTLE DOUBT

THAT THE COUNTRY HAS

LOST A GIANT WHOSE

WISDOM, INTELLECT AND

LEADERSHIP ABILITIES

WERE WELL REGARDED

AROUND THE WORLD.

today • Wednesday 23 March 201616 hot news | mr lee, one year on

A

Continued on page 17

Where were you when you heard the news of Mr Lee’s death and how did you feel? Did you expect Singaporeans to react to his passing in the way that they did?

Vijay: I remem-ber I was in the off ice. At f irst, there was dis-belief and I had a sked mysel f : “ H a s i t r e a l -ly happened?” (There was also) a feeling of sad-ness that some-one so important in the develop-ment of Singapore had left us.

Sapiah: I was at home. I felt very sad because Mr Lee was some-one who dedicated his whole life to Singapore and, to lose such a found-ing father, although it was not that unexpected ... as he had been sick for a while ... But we all hoped that he would recover, especially to cel-ebrate SG50 with us.

I was sad that he couldn’t be around for that very important mo-ment ... It was like losing someone dear, like a father figure. I didn’t expect such an overwhelming re-

sponse (from fellow Singapore-ans to Mr Lee’s death) because I thought maybe some young people may not be able to identify with him. Maybe people of my generation, who

actually grew up under his lead-ership, could. It was (surprising) to see so many young people feel the same way.

Jin Yao: I was at home, and during that time, I was on an internship,

so every morning when I woke up, I would scroll through my Twitter and Facebook feeds ... (and I got the news) mainly through social media ... For me, there was a sense of loss, but also a sense of closure — he was ill for some time already.

Xuan Yu: I received the news of Mr Lee’s passing through Facebook where netizens were (overcome) with emotion ... Instead of feeling sad, I was feeling a (sense of) loss. However, I believe that rather than mourning, we should celebrate his life and achievements ... That would be more meaningful.

Candice: Although his passing is inevitable, when I read the news it was very sad; there’s a sense of loss — loss of a great man, loss of a na-tion’s father.

I didn’t really expect an outpour-ing of the show of love for him be-cause I would think that some of his policies may not be very popu-lar with some Singaporeans, but nonetheless, I think when he passed away ... everybody gave him the credit where credit is due.

Vincent: I was at home in the morn-ing. When I woke up, I got an SMS so I thought that ... people were just speculating ... until (I saw on) the news that it was true ... I am relieved to have closure, because he has done so much for Singapore and I think he deserved to rest in peace.

How has Mr Lee — and the changes and policies he had put in place — touched your life?

Vijay: A corruption-free govern-ment, safe business environment, strong rule of law, a system of mer-itocracy — these were all key as-pects which helped bring Singapore to where it is today.

As a businessperson as well, we enjoy the beneits of having such a system because looking at the coun-tries around us we know how gifted we are to have the system we have in place ... Also the environment ... (creates) a homely feel. I’ve lived overseas in many different coun-tries, but there’s really no place like home. I always want to come back.

Sapiah: Mr Lee knew that we are made of diferent people and he re-ally pursued multiracialism which I think, until today, is a very good policy ...

(He also pursued) meritocracy, education for all — boys and girls. Education is a social leveller. I came from a very humble family ... and we moved on from a low-income group to now, I am proud to say, that I can be considered middle-income.

I got my university education, I had a good job, and I can provide for my children to become profession-als. It’s really fantastic that, within a generation, we can see the trans-formation of Singapore.

Xuan Yu: One of his most success-ful policies was the bilingual policy ... This proved to be beneicial in the long term, especially since he pre-dicted that one day China would be-come an economic power ... Apart from mastering English, it enabled Singaporeans to master Mandarin. This allowed them to enter the Chi-na market, which has proved to be a very proitable sector.

Candice: Making English a first language in Singapore has contrib-uted very much to exposing the peo-ple to the global market and global opportunities ...

Meritocracy is also a very good

A nation’s ‘where were you when ...’ moment

(Clockwise from top left): Sapiah Molla, Candice Chee, Vincent Chio, Vijay Kumar Pillai, Siang Xuan Yu and Kwan Jin Yao.

IT WAS LIKE LOSING

SOMEONE DEAR,

LIKE A FATHER FIGURE.

Sapiah Mollaretired property management professional

VideoLee Kuan Yew roundtablescan the Qr code using the reader app on your smartphone, or you can visit bit.ly/1PoAIS2 for the video.

year has elapsed since Mr Lee Kuan Yew’s death — so what are the enduring facets of the founding Prime Minister’s legacy? What impact has his death had on the average Singaporean? How have Mr Lee’s values and policies left an imprint on the man in the street — and do they have continuing relevance? Kenneth Cheng ([email protected]) sat down with six Singaporeans from a cross-section of society to get their take on Mr Lee’s legacy and the mark he has left on their lives.

Participants • Sapiah Molla, 64, retired property

management professional • Candice Chee, 50, management

consultant • Vincent Chio, 48, property agent• Vijay Kumar Pillai, 30, business

owner• Siang Xuan Yu, 24, mechanical en-

gineering undergraduate • Kwan Jin Yao, 24, business under-

graduate and socio-political blogger


What are some of Mr Lee’s values that continue to hold significance today?

Candice: His core values shouldn’t change — like integrity and ... a pre-serving spirit. He’s also a strong be-liever in Confucian values, which he cultivated and encouraged all of Singapore to embrace, such as ilial piety; that’s why he built houses and gave (Singaporeans) priority to stay near their parents ...

Also, his strong sense of justice; nobody is above the law. That’s why sometimes when some magazines or journalists report things that are inaccurate, he will not hesitate to confront, to correct and make sure that the truth and the facts are out there.

Sapiah: His integrity, incorruptibil-ity and not holding on to power, and (making) sure that his legacy lives on ... he’s very (admirable), I really feel that he’s really a great leader in a very small state. But he made us feel big.

Vijay: It’s also his attitude towards work. He was a very hard worker. Because I remember (sometime) in 2007, when they were building the whole Marina Bay, along with the casino and all ... I was back on my

Continued from page 16

policy ... I came from a humble fam-ily — we used to live in a one-room lat and ... education was compulso-ry for everyone ... and an important factor for social mobility, and I am a case in point — through educa-tion, I was able to help my family to move on and inancially to be in better shape.

Jin Yao: My parents both are non-graduates; they came from a Chinese-speaking background and schools, didn’t have a degree, had to work in the same company over 20, 30 years, and had to go for night classes.

But through it all, having the op-portunities and then making sacri-ices, we’ve been able to become a middle-income family, which I’ve benefited from (and which was made possible) through the dif-ferent policies economically and in terms of the education system (which Mr Lee introduced).

What impact has Mr Lee’s passing had on you?

Candice: The immediate thoughts that came to my mind were a lot of anxieties because with his passing come uncertainties. What will be-come of Singapore? Where will we be heading? Is Singapore going to become vulnerable because a great man that is so protective of Singa-pore is gone?

It’s also about leadership, and what that is going to be like after him — will (the current leaders) continue what he has started or (will) the change of guard ... decide to implement their own ideas?

Sapiah: Mr Lee is great because he did not stay in power forever. He planned for (life after) his passing actually. We saw him nurture the future leadership and ensure that his legacy goes on ... He had a capa-ble team to carry on ... For me, the impact is emotional ... but in terms of the impact to our country, I think he has put in place the right people, the right system, the right institu-tions, so these will go on. I am not unduly anxious.

Jin Yao: (Mr Lee’s passing) actu-ally enriched the SG50 discussion that we had last year ... What we also saw was that there was a lot more discourse and challenges to the status quo ... We had questions about the past — there was this con-test of diferent ideas and diferent perspectives.

People were saying, “Should we have a more balanced narrative of the Singapore Story?” There was also discussion about the future, where we go from here ... The im-pact that (his passing) left us was that it kind of compelled us to start thinking about the future ... (This has encouraged me) to continue to be active (and) engaged online ... and to translate the rhetoric in-to action.

summer holidays, just hanging out with a few friends at OneFullerton and it was about 12.30am and I re-member seeing Mr Lee coming and he was inspecting all the work that had been going on ... For someone in his 80s (at that time), he didn’t have to.

What are some of Mr Lee’s governing principles, values or policies that may have worked in the past but might not work today — and hence need to be re-examined?

Jin Yao: One thing that has al-ways deined Singaporeans is con-fidence. We are very confident ... (and) very dogged in terms of how we approach issues. We are very conident in terms of where we are in the world, but I think sometimes this conidence has kind of morphed into a form of complacency as well, so in many instances we think that we are on a very stable footing, we are very good ... but we don’t quite realise that the rest of the world is catching up quite quickly ...

We need to realise that we are not always ahead of everyone ... Coincidentally, I think these are the lessons that Mr Lee had in the beginning when he was taking best practices from all around the world.

And if we’re going to lose that hun-ger and if we rest on our laurels, that’s going to be a problem for the future.

Candice: Meritocracy is a dou-ble-edged sword. While it is good to (make) the good ... better, there will be a great divide ... Other than the meritocracy part of it, we also need to be people-centric ... We can have the hardware, but it is time to look at the heartware, the soft as-pect of things. So we may be very developed (and) advanced, but are we gracious towards fellow Singa-poreans, are we compassionate?

We cannot always be looking at strategy and at 30,000 feet what is good for the nation; the nation is made up of people. So, it’s about time we look at the people and then from there work outwards ...

Singapore need not always have to be No 1 in everything, because to reach that kind of status, there is always a trade-of, like the quality of life.

Singapore is always building, al-ways striving, always working, but we never really take time to enjoy the fruits of our labour ... Perhaps we should take stock (as) to what extent we want to trade of things that are dear to us.

A YOUNGER GENERATION PAYS TRIBUTE School children looking at the programme booklet for the Remembering Lee Kuan Yew: Coming Together, Achieving Together event held at Stamford Green last Sunday. photo: ooi Boon Keong



A nation’s ‘where were you when ...’ moment

What are the enduring aspects of Mr Lee’s legacy — what will you remember him most for?

Vincent: His love for his wife. When (Mrs Lee) passed away, he really showed his love ... You could see the softer side of him, that he’s actually a very loving man. I thought ... he would just hold back and he would not show it, but he actually really expressed it.

Jin Yao: Some of the more prag-matic elements of his legacy would be the strong economic and political institutions. I think that’s the result of the intolerance for corruption ... that has allowed for prosperity eco-nomically (and) for geopolitical sta-bility. When we are considering his legacy, there are always the not-so-pleasant parts of his legacy, (such as) have we developed economical-ly at the expense of things like cul-ture, heritage? Have we developed and promoted national stability and harmony at the expense of freedom of expression, for instance?

Candice: The irst is perseverance. If you look at his life history, he’s very persevering. Whenever we had big obstacles ... how he overcame them and never gave up. This was some-thing that saw me through as well during my younger days, and looking forward, I think Singapore’s going to face a lot more new and unexpected

challenges, so the persevering spirit will be something that will remind me for a long time to take on those challenges as they come ...

The other one that I felt (has been) very enduring is his integrity, even when it concerned survival, he didn’t trade of his integrity for that. So, as Singapore becomes more glo-balised, these are the values that I hope my children will continue to

Sapiah: Mr Lee has blessed Singa-pore globally as a brand. When we travel (and) we say we’re from Singapore, I can see the diference. The Singapore brand is such that it makes you really feel better.

Mr Lee has done very well in terms of his statesmanship when he meets all the great leaders ... Be-cause of his ability, it has brought Singapore up.

So this is where we have to look after the not-so-successful, in order to share the fruits of our labour ... In the past, because of the need, the necessity, we needed to grow the cake, but now we should also look into how we should distribute the cake so that we live by the values of a irst-class economy.

Candice: On the governance side, I would like to see them (the Govern-ment) engage the community and the people more ... Singaporeans need to have a sense of ownership towards Singapore. Around my cir-cle of friends, a lot of them have mi-grated or are planning to migrate ...

But instead of leaving the coun-try and starting somewhere else, perhaps as a Singaporean I hope we could just stay on ... and may-be step forward in one way or an-other. It could be in vocalising our opinions at the right places or vol-unteering ourselves to help fellow Singaporeans.

Jin Yao: The present is very much about maximising opportunities. I think there are a lot of opportuni-ties not just in Singapore, but in the region and around the world that a lot of us are not taking.

We’re too comfortable, and it’s too convenient to stay in Singa-pore. I think sometimes some risk has to be taken ...

For the future, the answer would be to embrace ambiguity. I think a lot of us are very afraid of the un-certain ... But to be able to embrace ambiguity, uncertainty and then taking these different opportuni-ties are important in building on that legacy.

REMEMBRANCE PANELS AT ISTANA PARK Flowers are left by members of the public (foreground) as a woman looks at remembrance panels at Istana Park last weekend. PHOTO: OOI BOON KEONG


FOR THE FUTURE, THE ANSWER WOULD BE

TO EMBRACE AMBIGUITY. I THINK A LOT OF

US ARE VERY AFRAID OF THE UNCERTAIN ...

BUT TO BE ABLE TO EMBRACE AMBIGUITY,

UNCERTAINTY AND THEN TAKING

THESE DIFFERENT OPPORTUNITIES ARE

IMPORTANT IN BUILDING ON THAT LEGACY.

Kwan Jin Yao BUSINESS UNDERGRADUATE AND SOCIO-POLITICAL BLOGGER

carry, because when we become more globalised, there are a lot of temptations out there. So, to what extent do you trade of your integ-rity for success?

Vijay: It’s his selflessness — his commitment to Singapore and Singaporeans. When he stepped down in 1990, he could have easily ruled for another 10, 15 years, but instead he did what’s right for the country in terms of grooming the next batch of leaders to carry the country forward. A lot of people in power wouldn’t give it up.

How would you like to see Singapore building on Mr Lee’s legacy?

Sapiah: It’s about how do we be-come, really, First World people, in the sense that we not only take care of just those groups of Singa-poreans who can grow the econ-omy. We must also think of those who also need help ... Through the years, some are more successful than others. As we move along, the more successful become even more successful, and the children become even more successful.


VALERIE KOH AND KELLY [email protected]

[email protected]


M

Bedrock values, updated for the times

ulticulturalism, meritocracy, incor-ruptibility and eiciency — born out of necessity in the formative years of a Singapore fresh out of a failed merger with Malaysia — are among the traits that have become synony-mous with the late founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew’s brand of governance over the years.

While many of these values and principles remain relevant in pre-sent-day Singapore, with its bright lights and towering skyscrapers, there are those that need to be re-visited or adjusted — such as meri-tocracy and the ruling party’s gov-erning style, say political analysts and former politicians.

Back in 1965, Mr Lee, as leader of a newly-independent city-state, was acutely aware of the diiculties that lay ahead. Singapore had no hinter-land and no natural resources apart from its people. Racial tensions re-mained an undercurrent in a socie-ty that was fragmented, and largely made up of migrants hailing from diferent homelands and speaking various mother tongues.

Years later, Mr Lee continued to hammer home the point that Singa-pore was racially diverse, and hence, its policies had to factor that in.

In a hard-hitting speech deliv-ered in Parliament in July 1984, the man himself posed this question to Singaporeans: “Ask yourselves, let us be honest, let us not bluff our-selves, what are we? Anglo-Saxons with phlegmatic temperaments, not excitable?”

Then, he said: “We are Chinese or Chinese ethnic descent, Malays, Indians, Punjabis, Pakistanis, Sri Lankans ...”

And referring to the lack of demo-cratic traditions in countries where the earlier generations came from, he added: “It is just not part of our history to count heads to decide who is the leader. It is not part of either Chinese, Malay or Indian culture or tradition. Indeed, it is anathema to Chinese culture that the Emperor’s mandate from heaven should depend on the counting of heads.”

Reminding the House that Sin-

While many of these values and principles remain relevant in present-day Singapore, there are those that need to be revisited or adjusted, say political analysts and former politicians.

gapore had achieved a partially-representative government only in 1955, Mr Lee noted that “our at-titudes, our practices” had been shaped by the 29 years of history since then.

“How we will progress depends on how we direct our social, eco-nomic and political policies, and in-cluding how Opposition leaders or Members accept the basic param-eters of what Singapore is about — the independence and sovereignty of Singapore, its multiracial, multi-religious, multilingual, multicultur-al character,” he said then.

EVERGREEN VALUES

Today, political watchers recognise that multiracialism, meritocracy and incorruptibility had formed the bedrock of Mr Lee’s governance model. Communism was “rearing her ugly head” in the 1960s, and there was a need to instill in Sin-

gaporeans the conidence that the Government would not be corrupt, recalled Mr Inderjit Singh, a for-mer Member of Parliament (MP) for Ang Mo Kio GRC.

Dr Alan Chong, an associate pro-fessor at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies, said: “You have to understand that this was not a natural nation-state. The Brit-ish never designed us to be a nation-state. They brought in the diferent races for very instrumental reasons ... If you talked about the struggle to master the destiny of this society called Singapore, it had to be artii-cially brought together.”

Against this backdrop, Mr Lee had pushed for the survival of a mul-ti-racial society, across racial, eth-nic and religious fault lines.

“That meant that we should not talk about contentious issues too much. That’s how democracy was amended to the Singapore context,” said Dr Chong.

Dr Lam Peng Er, of the Nation-al University of Singapore’s East Asian Institute, pointed out that while Mr Lee championed speaking Mandarin, he made it clear that it must not be at the expense of mi-nority groups.

“I think Singapore will unravel if you go for populism by pander-ing to the ethnic Chinese majority ... this is a fundamental value that I don’t think the post-Lee Kuan Yew era or even opposition parties can disagree with,” said Dr Lam.

Over the years, Singaporeans have internalised the view that eve-ryone should have their own space, as far as minority groups are con-cerned, he added.

In Singapore, multiracialism is practised in a unique fashion, given that the majority ethnic group is not allowed to assert its rights based on sheer numbers, said Institute of Pol-icy Studies deputy director Gillian

SILENT TRIBUTE A flower is placed where Mr Lee Kuan Yew used to sit, at the Chambers in The Arts House, last week. The Arts House used to be the Parliament House, which was home to the Parliament of Singapore from 1965 to 1999. PHOTO: OOI BOON KEONG


Bedrock values, updated for the times


Singapore is not race-blind, she added. Rather, the authorities are conscious of ethnic identities.

“If we didn’t recognise those eth-nic categories, or identities around religion and even key language com-munities, then we can’t tell if they are given fair recognition,” said Dr Koh.

Meritocracy came hand in hand with multiracialism, said Singapore Management University law don Eugene Tan. Any preferential treat-ment for the majority or airmative action for the minority would under-mine the fundamental basis of na-tionhood, he added.

Over time, meritocracy has be-come ingrained in the societal DNA — weaved into the education sys-tem and the job market.

“Rightly or wrong ... the initial passport is an emphasis on academ-ic excellence,” said Dr Lam, while acknowledging that this was insuf-icient. “In other words, you need to have the credentials and after-wards, you have to perform. That is the general principle. But we know in real life, there is always this thing called social networks,” he added.

Mr Lee’s insistence on a clean, corruption-free government was known around the globe, and he held his fellow officeholders ac-countable to unyielding standards.

In 1979, Phey Yew Kok, then MP for Boon Teck constituency and Na-tional Trades Union Congress chair-man, was investigated for corrup-tion. He skipped town in the same year, and turned himself in to the Singapore authorities only in June last year. Phey, now 81, was sen-tenced to ive years’ jail in January.

Even today, the value of incor-ruptibility remains a key element of the Singapore Story. This year, the Republic took the eighth spot on the Corruption Perceptions Index released by Berlin-based watchdog Transparency International.

Singapore slipped a notch from last year’s ranking, overtaken by the Netherlands.

Singapore’s reputation for incor-ruptibility — among other factors such as eiciency — has attracted foreign enterprises to set up their businesses here, instead of neigh-bouring countries with more natu-ral resources and larger populations.

“The eforts have reaped real re-sults for Singapore and its people — the country has achieved stabil-ity and a thriving economy over the years, and created a more fair and just society,” said Ms Irene Ng, a for-mer Tampines GRC MP.

Aside from his zero-tolerance for corruption, realism, idealism and foresight also featured heavily in Mr Lee’s governance mantra.

He was realistic about Singa-pore’s position in the world, and the steps it had to take to succeed way beyond the island’s shores.

“Paradoxically, he was quite ide-alistic as well. Because he wouldn’t have implemented so many policies if he didn’t believe that we could

sledgehammer approach to push unpopular policies through will no longer work, he added.

Mr Singh felt that the present Government needs to gain buy-in for its policies by engaging citizens more, and be willing to make adjust-ments “if things don’t seem com-fortable for the majority”.

Indeed, faced with changing cir-cumstances and needs, Singapore has been tweaking its governance style gradually.

Associate Professor Eugene Tan pointed out that the country is tran-sitioning towards a more broad-based measure of merit, beyond academic excellence.

For example, in 2014, the AS-PIRE committee, chaired by then-Senior Minister of State (Education) Indranee Rajah, recommended de-veloping multiple pathways for indi-viduals to progress, based on skills, contributions and experience.

The SkillsFuture movement was born out of this, encouraging Singaporeans aged 25 and above to pick up new skills by tapping on the S$500 SkillsFuture credit they are entitled to.

Musing over the relevance of Mr Lee’s values today, National University of Singapore political scientist Bilveer Singh felt that the late leader was right about certain “eternal hard truths”, such as meri-tocracy, racial fairness and equality.

Citizens today are more in-formed and daring, and are also quick to compare their country with others. “Today, Singapore’s success will be measured with others not just economically, but also on other indices such as democracy, human rights ... (Beyond) economic growth, we may not always look good,” said Prof Singh. “Something may have to give.”

survive. If he was a hardcore real-ist, he would have taken one look at Singapore and said we wouldn’t survive,” said Nanyang Technologi-cal University Assistant Professor Woo Jun Jie.

This mix of realism and idealism, along with fore-sight, allowed the Government to be f lexible and responsive to the needs of its peo-ple. While Mr Lee was adamant that Singapore should not become a Eu-ropean-style wel-fare state, the current Govern-ment has made a concerted leftward shift over the past decade.

“(There’s) greater focus on social welfare policy, minority groups, el-derly ... 20 years ago, we would not have moved in this direction,” said Asst Prof Woo.

Besides foresight, an openness to the world — and to create new op-portunities for Singapore — was also part of Mr Lee’s governance style.

Giving the example of his spear-heading of early eforts to claim a slice of China’s economic pie for Singapore, Ms Ng said: “By the ear-ly 1980s, he clearly saw that China was going to grow ... To build the Suzhou Industrial Park, Singapore trained over a thousand officers (from China) in Singapore, running courses in Mandarin.”

ARE THESE VALUES

RELEVANT TODAY?

The analysts and former politicians that TODAY interviewed largely felt that while many of the values which Mr Lee held dear remain valid to-

day, the govern-ance style could be more adaptive.

Ms Ng, for in-stance, felt that Mr Lee’s hand-b o o k o n g o v -e r n a n c e c o n -tinues to hold answers. After all, the key chal-lenge for Singa-p or e r e m a i n s

unchanged: Surviving without any natural resources, except for its citizens.

The nation is in a strong posi-tion today because of the “system-atic and consistent” policies put in place over the past five decades, said Ms Ng. She urged the Govern-ment to take the same long-term view in its policies, adding that current leaders — and the people — must be willing to make tough but necessary decisions.

The basic principles, such as meritocracy, are evergreen, said Mr Singh. “The day certain people are given more privileges than oth-ers, we will see a serious decline in Singapore’s prosperity and peace.”

However, with a more mature and educated population, the old

THIS MIX OF REALISM AND

IDEALISM, ALONG WITH

FORESIGHT, ALLOWED

THE GOVERNMENT

TO BE FLEXIBLE AND

RESPONSIVE TO THE

NEEDS OF ITS PEOPLE.

The change in the Government’s attitude stemmed from a greater recognition of the need to take into account public perception.

New citizens taking the pledge at a ceremony at Toa Payoh CC last weekend. Mr Lee was realistic about Singapore’s position in the world, and the steps it had to take to succeed way beyond the island’s shores. PHOTO: OOI BOON KEONG


Former PAP MP for Changi Teo Chong Tee penning a tribute at the Remembering Lee Kuan Yew event at PAP Headquarters last week. PHOTO: OOI BOON KEONG

KELLY NG

[email protected]


T

static and the PAP has adapted to the times, including by attracting an increasingly diverse range of mem-bers. Party leaders recognise that a cookie-cutter approach can no long-er succeed in today’s environment, he added.

After Mr Lee stepped down as Prime Min-ister in 1990, he relinquished leadership of the PAP shortly af-ter, passing the baton to Mr Goh Chok Tong — currently the Emeritus Sen-ior Minister — who subsequently handed over the reins to Mr Lee Hsien Loong in 2004, who is the cur-rent party chief and the country’s Prime Minister.

‘ONE OF A KIND’

No other individual in the PAP Old Guard nor any of its current leaders exuded the same level of charisma as the late Mr Lee, said Dr Lam.

“LKY was the charismatic guy. The leaders after him, Mr Goh, Mr Lee Hsien Loong, they are more

technocratic,” he said. Nevertheless, Mr Goh and

Mr Lee Hsien Loong were popular in their own right, well-liked as na-tional leaders by Singaporeans.

Mr Lee’s death, said National University of Sin-gapore political scientist Bilveer Singh, cost the party a father ig-ure.

I n c o n t r a s t t o t he “s tron g and centralised” leadership that Mr Lee displayed, the PAP’s present leadership is dis-

persed, said Asst Prof Woo. Singapore Management Univer-

sity law don Eugene Tan noted that “there will not be another Lee Kuan Yew for a long while”. Nevertheless, Assoc Prof Singh pointed out that as early as 1990, the PAP has been preparing for life after Mr Lee.

Under the leadership of his suc-cessors, the party has become less authoritarian and more engaging, although it retains its paternalistic streak, said Assoc Prof Tan.

Values that Mr Lee stood for — including incorruptibility, multira-

cialism and meritocracy — have also been entrenched within the party, just as they have been in the country.

Dr Lam surmised that one of Mr Lee’s greatest gifts to the PAP and Singapore is how he paved the way for party and country to thrive without a leader like him. “The very success of Mr Lee’s leadership mod-el is that it is unnecessary for some-one to be a clone of Mr Lee … Singa-pore can survive and prosper even if it does not produce a guy like him in the next three or four generations,” he said.

Assoc Prof Singh reiterated that Mr Lee had already started prepar-ing future generations of PAP lead-ers to “run their own show” back in November 1990, when he stepped down as Prime Minister after lead-ing the PAP to victory in seven Gen-eral Elections.

“He was around physically, but in terms of policies, he let his succes-sors run the show, interfering once in a while. But Singapore has been in post-LKY mode since 1990 … (His death) is no real shock (to the sys-tem), except that his physical pres-ence and inspiration will be greatly missed,” said Assoc Prof Singh.

An updated party playbook, for more sophisticated voters

he presence of Mr Lee Kuan Yew, a no-nonsense and charismatic lead-er, will be missed in the People’s Action Party (PAP). But with the leadership style of the party hav-ing evolved over the years — very much a result of Mr Lee’s succes-sion planning — the impact of his death on the ruling party is likely to be minimal, analysts told TODAY.

Still, some experts felt that the absence of a dominant igure could give rise to some splintering, al-though others disagreed — pointing to how the party has successfully navigated two leadership transi-tions after Mr Lee stood down and as it approaches the third.

The late Mr Lee — who led the PAP from 1954 to 1992 as its secre-tary-general — was much revered within the party, and well known internationally for his approach to politics. “Between being loved and being feared, I have always believed Machiavelli was right. If nobody is afraid of me, I’m meaningless,” Mr Lee wrote in Singapore Story: Memoirs of Lee Kuan Yew.

He once said, memorably: “If you are a troublemaker ... it’s our job to politically destroy you ... Everybody knows that in my bag I have a hatch-et, and a very sharp one. You take me on, I take my hatchet, we meet in the cul-de-sac.”

With changing times and demog-raphy, this knuckleduster approach — which was arguably efective in a diferent era — is best left in the past, said analysts and party mem-bers interviewed by TODAY.

The “Lee Kuan Yew playbook of politics”, as Nanyang Technological University Assistant Professor Woo Jun Jie put it, took a tough stance towards the Opposition. “He was not averse to using harder meas-ures against people who strayed away from the straight and narrow,” said Asst Prof Woo.

Dr Lam Peng Er, from the East Asian Institute, cited the covert security operation codenamed Op-eration Coldstore in 1963, where Mr Lee’s government detained more than 100 people without trial, including Mr Lim Chin Siong, who co-founded the PAP with Mr Lee in 1954. Oicials at that time had said the big round-up was aimed at crip-pling the Communist open front or-ganisation.

Mr Lee’s “no nonsense” approach was not universally embraced, but it turned out to be good for the coun-try, PAP party activist Kahar Has-san argued.

Nevertheless, Mr Kahar, who joined the party two years ago, pointed out that politics is never

MR LEE’S ‘NO NONSENSE’

APPROACH WAS NOT

UNIVERSALLY EMBRACED,

BUT IT TURNED OUT TO

BE GOOD FOR THE COUNTRY.

Mr Kahar HassanPAP PARTY ACTIVIST


After stepping down as Prime Minister, Mr Lee held the post of Senior Minister until 2004, and Minister Mentor until he left the Cabinet in 2011.

PAP Member of Parliament (Chua Chu Kang GRC) Zaqy Mo-hamad noted that changes within the party would have taken place regardless of whether Mr Lee was around. The party must adapt to changing demographics and ex-pectations, he said. “We need to nurture leaders who are connect-ed, (who) understand and can adapt to the people … The playbook will evolve, but many values will en-dure,” he said.

Agreeing, Speaker of Parliament Halimah Yacob, who sits on the par-ty’s Central Executive Committee, added: “While the economic chal-lenges have remained throughout, what is diferent is that the current leadership has to deal with a better educated and more demanding pop-ulace compared with Mr Lee’s time.”

PAP activist Murali Pillai, who will contest the Bukit Batok by-elec-tion, said that it is key for the party to continue to uphold Mr Lee’s val-ues. It is not about unearthing an-other Lee Kuan Yew, he added.

“Each generation produces its own set of leaders in tune with the

people of their generation. These leaders will have their own styles and preference. Our party activists should expect that,” he said.

ABSENCE OF A STRONGMAN

But while leadership has to evolve with the times, some analysts felt there is still a need for a dominant figure. The absence of a strong-man like Mr Lee — who was part of the group that founded the PAP — could potentially make the party more prone to internal issures, in-cluding in terms of ideology.

NUS political scientist Associ-ate Professor Hussin Mutalib said: “The plausibility of such cleavages are real, looking at how the pre-sent Cabinet comprises younger PAP ministers who have veered towards a ‘left-of-centre’ bent over the years.”

As a party known for its disci-pline, the PAP leadership would nevertheless try its utmost not to let any divisions “spill over to the pub-lic domain”, said Assoc Prof Hussin.

With the identity of the next Prime Minister still up in the air, Assoc Prof Hussin said succession could be a test, citing past instances.

When the PAP central executive committee held a vote to pick a Prime Minister for Singapore after the par-

ty won the 1959 elections, the votes were split between Mr Lee Kuan Yew and Mr Ong Eng Guan, who was Singapore’s irst mayor. Then-PAP chairman Toh Chin Chye cast the deciding vote in favour of Mr Lee.

More recently, before he handed over the prime ministership, Mr Lee himself had publicly backed Mr To-ny Tan — currently the President — as his irst choice as successor, although he made clear that Mr Goh had the support of the Cabinet.

Dr Lam said the question to pon-der is not what is next for the PAP without Mr Lee but rather, what is in store for the ruling party when Mr Lee Hsien Loong steps down. The Singapore governance model is limited by its hegemonic leader-ship, he said.

Despite more diverse person-alities, the country still practises a “concentrated and top-down” sys-tem. Publicly, there is no team B in the PAP, he noted. “After Lee Hsien Loong, I don’t know if there will be a team B ... but who knows, we don’t have a crystal ball,” Dr Lam said. He added: “If the PAP were to fail, what are the institutional alterna-tives? We don’t have that.”

Assoc Prof Tan pointed out that differences in ideology, approach and policy have been and always would be part of the PAP, or any

political party, for the matter. But differences today have not hard-ened into factions, unlike in the ear-ly 1960s, he said. “I’d be worried if there are no diferences among the ruling elites. Contest is healthy and the key is whether there are robust-enough mechanisms within the par-ty and the Government for diferent views,” he said. The party must ind ways to arrive at a consensus after matters are “robustly discussed and debated”, he added.

Assoc Prof Singh also noted that past diferences have not led to leadership breakdowns with-in the party. “The talk about con-servatives versus liberals is very old-fashioned. (Diferences today) often tend to be based on personali-ties,” he added.

Agreeing, Asst Prof Woo said the PAP has witnessed a proliferation of various positions and views over the years from its leaders but these should not cause polarisation with-in the party. With party members coming from diverse ields — from public service to civil society — so-lutions can be more rigorously de-bated and considered, he said.

“The downside is how decision-making is slower, and there is a risk of fragmentation, even though it has not yet occurred,” said Asst Prof Woo.


An updated party playbook, for more sophisticated voters

A TOKEN OF APPRECIATION Members of the PAP Central Executive Committee and former MPs at a memorial event last week at PAP HQ, where an artillery shell casing from the 21-gun salute at Mr Lee Kuan Yew’s State Funeral was unveiled. The shell casings were also given to 20 other organisations and individuals closely associated with Mr Lee. PHOTO: OOI BOON KEONG


FOLLOW THAT RAINBOW Badges of Mr Lee Kuan Yew at a remembrance event held at Marine Parade Community Club last weekend. PHOTO: JASON QUAH

From abroad, tests for a nation

as others try their luck


SUE-ANN CHIA AND KENNETH [email protected]@mediacorp.com.sg

ounding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew put in place a system here that has proven robust and can run ef-fectively without him, and other countries that deal with Singapore have had the opportunity to take a measure of this system for many years after Mr Lee stepped down in 1990.

But following Mr Lee’s death in March 2015, some countries have tried their luck at putting Singapore in its place, shared Ambassador-at-Large Bilahari Kausikan.

He did not specify the countries or elaborate on what they did, but the famously frank diplomat said: “There will be some countries that certainly will probe and test us to see if there are things they can get away with now that Mr Lee is no longer with us, and some such probes have already begun.

“Please don’t ask me which coun-tries. All I will say is that if they per-sist, they will be in for a rude sur-prise.”

When asked to elaborate, he can-didly added: “They think our ability to stand irm only depends on Lee Kuan Yew — that’s rubbish. Or if they think that now he’s not around you can redo things, no, sorry…”

Mr Kausikan was replying to a question on whether a post-Lee Kuan Yew Singapore is regarded diferently by other countries, es-pecially those in the region.

It is a valid concern, one that many observers and diplomats in-terviewed believe is something to relect on. “Yes, there is some de-gree of shift in other countries’ per-ceptions of Singapore,” said Mr Ong Keng Yong, executive deputy chair-man of the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS).

“The fact is different leaders have diferent styles and personal chemistry among leaders works in mysterious ways in internation-al encounters and meetings. Also, the regional and global situations have undergone rapid changes. Technological advancement has compressed the space and time for information exchange between countries and events, resulting in leaders in diferent parts of the world operating quite differently these days in connecting with their counterparts elsewhere.”

But l ike Mr Kausikan and Mr Ong, observers are optimis-tic that Singapore’s fundamentals in foreign policy — laid down by Mr Lee — have survived the found-ing Prime Minister. He stepped down in 1990 but continued to keep a close watch on global and regional afairs even as his health deteriorat-

F

ed in recent years. “I think the system can endure.

Put it this way, it is for us to screw it up — not that it cannot work with-out him,” said Mr Kausikan, who was permanent secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Afairs.

Retired diplomat K Kesavapa-ny noted that Mr Lee was able to bring up a core group of leaders who shared his ideals.

“Mr Lee took pains to make sure that after he’s gone the system will still run, (that) Singapore is still (well) regarded … So long as we re-main true to what he has taught us and left behind, then Singapore should be okay,” he said.

Retired diplomat Tan Seng Chye said Mr Lee has set the tone for Sin-gapore’s foreign policy and put in place a system that his successors have further established.

“No country can have just one leader and only that leader can do things, but he must put in place a system, a succession of leaders that can continue to build the country,” said Mr Tan, who stepped down as Singapore’s ambassador to Vi-etnam in 2005 after a diplomatic career spanning almost four dec-ades, including stints as the Repub-lic’s envoy to four other South-east Asian nations.

Some of Mr Lee’s ideas and val-ues that have lived on in Singapore’s foreign policy include putting Sin-gapore’s interests irst, being prin-cipled and neutral and making as many friends as possible, said Mr Ho Meng Kit, his former Prin-cipal Private Secretary.

“These values are deeply in-grained in the psyche and culture of our leaders and oicials,” he added.

Mr Ong noted that Prime Minis-ter Lee Hsien Loong and his senior Cabinet ministers have been work-ing with their counterparts in other countries for many years.

“From various international con-ferences and events, notably the re-cent climate change negotiations in Paris, the other countries have seen the leadership capability and efective diplomacy of Singapore. In general, they see a Singapore lead-ership which is worldly and task-oriented. This leadership exudes Mr Lee Kuan Yew’s visionary intel-lect, practical approach and focus on the future.”

While Mr Lee had bequeathed enduring systems and institutions to the country, his lasting legacy is building up the Singapore brand name, said experts interviewed by TODAY.

MR LEE’S LEGACY

As an influential interlocutor on the global stage, Mr Lee had ad-vised every United States President from Mr Richard Nixon to Mr Ba-rack Obama, and across the Pacif-ic, he met and counselled every Chi-nese leader from Mr Mao Zedong to Mr Xi Jinping.

THERE WILL BE SOME

COUNTRIES THAT

CERTAINLY WILL PROBE AND

TEST US TO SEE IF THERE

ARE THINGS THEY CAN GET

AWAY WITH NOW THAT MR

LEE IS NO LONGER WITH US,

AND SOME SUCH PROBES

HAVE ALREADY BEGUN.

Ambassador-at-Large Bilahari Kausikan (right)

VideoInterview withAmbassa-dor-at-Large Bilahari KausikanScan the QR code using the reader app on your smartphone, or you can visit bit.ly/1Vz2VND for the video.


His insightful and incisive views were also valued by leaders in the region, as one of the founding fa-thers of the Association of South-east Asian Nations (ASEAN) who brought together a disparate re-gional bloc.

On why his views were sought after, dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy Kishore Mahbubani explained that Mr Lee had incredible experience, gave wise advice — including on prickly cross-strait relations between Chi-na and Taiwan — and was “remark-ably blunt” in ofering his views.

Mr Kesavapany added: “He told things as they were and he didn’t try to play games with any of the leaders”. Mr Lee would say things that “they themselves would not say,” he noted.

“It’s his inde-scribable char-ismatic person-a l i t y p l u s a n intelligent mind, and he was also a realist who ac-cepted the world as it was and not as he wanted it to be.”

All this made Mr Lee, and, by extension, Singapore, relevant to the world. This is the legacy that he left behind for Singapore, which observers say current leaders are building on to ensure the little red dot continues its outsized role in the global arena.

Indeed, Mr Lee’s contributions go beyond transforming the coun-try from mudlat to metropolis but also turning vulnerability into in-vincibility, ensuring that a small is-land state will not be trampled on or sidelined by bigger powers.

He also elevated the island state’s status to a role model for other de-veloping economies in search of similar success.

“As a small country, we are not a threat. Many regard his advice as neutral and objective. We do not have our own agenda,” said Mr Ho, his former aide and now chief execu-tive oicer of the Singapore Busi-ness Federation.

At the heart of Mr Lee’s overseas overtures was Singapore’s security and survival.

To this end, he has been de-scribed as a pragmatic realist, hard-nosed and even unsentimen-tal in his approach. Yet, he was pre-pared to change his views as the world changed.

Veteran diplomat and former top

From abroad, tests for a nation

as others try their luck

Continued from page 23 civil servant Barry Desker said: “As a realist, he appreciated the need to maintain good links with the West to promote trade and investment at a time when leaders of many new-ly independent countries believed their own rhetoric and thought that they could adopt autarkic policies.”

In 1967, two years after Singa-pore gained independence, Mr Lee started making trips to the US to woo American investors.

“Lee did not wait for US inves-tors to serendipitously discover Singapore as a perfect destination for capital. He seized every oppor-tunity to promote Singapore and stressed the eiciency and quality of the labour force in the country,” wrote Dr Daniel Chua, research fel-low at the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies at RSIS.

Political lead-ers in the US also started to pay attention to this young Asian leader. Mr Fran-cis Galbraith, the first US Ambas-sador to Singa-pore, w rote a

16-page report recommending the US government to engage closely with Mr Lee and Singapore in 1967.

As Mr Lee built a firm friend-ship with the US and Europe, he also expanded networks in Asia, such as with growing giants India and China.

His foresight in engaging China early in the 1970s, despite its com-munist links and even before its opening up and economic reform, was a game changer. He had astute-ly recognised its potential to be an economic powerhouse that would rival the US.

“Who else had the foresight to engage China just at the right time when China was amenable to adjust-ments in an evolving world stage,” said Mr Sajjad Ashraf, Pakistan’s high commissioner to Singapore from 2004 to 2008.

“Mr Lee foresaw the changing global power equation. In addition to private advice to the American leadership, he said publicly that with growing economic and politi-cal clout, ‘China will want to sit as an equal at the top table’.”

From his vantage point in the early years of being close to lead-ers in both US and China, and com-ing from a “non-threatening” posi-tion, he was then able to act as a trusted contact to help both sides understand each other better, not-

ed Dr Lam Peng Er, senior research fellow at the National University of Singapore’s East Asian Institute.

Added Mr Ho: “This role as link between US and China crafted a niche for Singapore and enhanced our own relationship with these two countries.”

This philosophy of being friend-ly to all countries and not making enemies is critical, said Associate Professor Alan Chong from RSIS, adding that the Republic was lex-ible in its foreign policy and did not see anyone as a permanent enemy.

“While Mr Lee appreciated the fact that we needed to deter certain unfriendly countries within Asia, he did not close the door to sincere

forms of cooperation,” he said.“I can also bet that Singapore

would be the irst to invest in North Korea if and when that country opens up — this is the extent of our lexibility. Because why should we make other people’s mortal enemies our mortal enemies?”

Such pragmatism also shaped Singapore’s views on geopolitical shifts and stability.

“Mr Lee Kuan Yew was a master of geo-strategic realism and plan-ning for the future. He believed that some issues in international rela-tions would never be resolved. The best way to deal with these chal-lenges would be to manage them


AT THE HEART OF MR LEE’S

OVERSEAS OVERTURES

WAS SINGAPORE’S

SECURITY AND SURVIVAL.

SHINING LIGHT A child placing a candle at a Lee Kuan Yew Remembrance event at


Mr Lee’s foresight in engaging China early in the 1970s, despite its communist links and even before its opening up and economic reform, was a game changer.

was Mr Lee who saw beyond the ho-rizon and saw the necessity of a con-tinued US presence in the region,” he said.

“He felt that only the US could counterbalance any attempt by an emerging power to dominate the region. It was this reasoning that led Singapore to establish its naval base and make clear that the US Navy could make use of it.”

Mr Lee reiterated his position several times. In his keynote address after receiving a lifetime achieve-ment award from the US-ASEAN Business Council in Washington, DC, in 2009, Mr Lee said: “The size of China makes it impossible for the rest of Asia, including Japan and In-dia, to match it in weight and capaci-ty in about 20 to 30 years. So we need America to strike a balance.”

His comments drew the ire of Chinese netizens and media com-mentators then, but Chinese leaders continued to welcome him as they understood his position of seeking stability in the region, which was also in China’s interest.

Mr Lee’s neutrality was also appreciated, said Dr Paul Evans, visiting professor in International and Asian Studies at the Singapore Management University.

“He steadfastly emphasised that Singapore was independent of both China and the US. The abil-ity to have a strong economic and political relationship with China…and to do that while also speaking to Americans bluntly about their strengths and limitations, those were deining features of Mr Lee,” said Prof Evans.

For all his deft diplomacy, Mr Lee did not fancy himself a statesman.

In the book, One Man’s View of the World, when asked how he wished to be remembered, he said: “I do not want to be remembered as a statesman ... 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 is all ... Anybody who thinks he is a states-man ought to see a psychiatrist.”

No matter how Mr Lee viewed his contributions, his pragmatic and prescient advice was clearly valued.

Will his legacy and values that have shaped Singapore linger on without him?

“Obviously, there won’t be anoth-er Mr Lee ... but there is certainly a need for the clinical, cold-blood-ed analysis that was his style,” said Mr Kausikan.

“No system can last forever. Every system is prone to error and mistake or sometimes just sheer bad luck. But what you have is a fairly adaptable, fairly robust and fairly resilient system,” he added.

“You can still screw it up com-pletely — the factor that can screw it up completely is politics, if the pol-itics goes wrong or if somebody be-comes soft-headed … But it does not need him (for the system) to work.”

coherently, keeping in mind the big picture and looking for the balance needed to prevent upheaval,” said RSIS’ Mr Ong, who is also an Am-bassador-at-Large at foreign afairs ministry.

“This would require longer-term thinking and decisive leadership at the key levels of government. The problem today is often short-term political expediency and inconsist-ent management of the complexities involved.”

Mr Ong added that Mr Lee’s mindset was all the more relevant today given the tensions over com-peting territorial claims in the South China Sea and debate about

how to reshape security architec-ture in the Asia Paciic.

“Recently, I attended a confer-ence in China where a prominent Chinese scholar of international studies openly yearned for Mr Lee’s exceptional principled approach in managing the competition and ri-valry of big powers in our region.”

BALANCE OF POWER

Mr Kesavapany, who stepped down


as Singapore’s High Commissioner to Malaysia in 2002 after spending three decades in the Foreign Ser-vice, shared an example of how Mr Lee’s belief in continued Amer-ican presence in Asia has led to sta-bility in this region.

“Twenty years ago, there was a feeling that after the Vietnam War, the American presence should di-minish. The Philippines asked them to leave Subic Bay and Clark Air Base in a fit of nationalism, but it

NO MATTER HOW MR LEE VIEWED

HIS CONTRIBUTIONS, HIS PRAGMATIC AND

PRESCIENT ADVICE WAS CLEARLY VALUED.

Duxton Plain Park last weekend. PHOTO: JASON QUAH


An anchor for generations to come

TNG JING YNG

[email protected] dear by Mr Lee, and whether Mr Ng is worried that the younger generation will no longer hold on to them as society changes, he point-ed to the late leader’s “context-inde-pendent” principles, such as clean government and meritocracy.

He said Mr Lee and the other founding fathers had put in place these values to pro-mote harmony and peace in a multiracial and multi-reli-gious society. Such princi-ples have also helped to ensure equal opportuni-ties for all Singaporeans.

And along with the diversity in today’s Singapore society — prov-ing the importance of these funda-mental values — “Mr Lee was really ahead of his time”, Mr Ng added.

He believes that many Singapo-reans will cherish these principles as they will provide people with an equal opportunity to succeed in life, among other beneits.

Even bilingualism, which was strongly backed by Mr Lee but might have been challenging for

some, has proven to be right along with the rise of China, Mr Ng said.

N e v e r t h e l e s s , h e a g r e e s that Singapore is changing and policies have to shift along with so-ciety’s needs.

The nation’s fourth-generation leaders, in to-day’s “collab-orative lead-ership”, w i l l have to be far-s i ght e d a nd convince the majority that their policy de-cisions will set the right direc-tion for Singa-pore.

At the same time, the Govern-ment will have to be flexible and adapt to change, Mr Ng added, as he drew an analogy with last year’s State Funeral to illustrate his point.

As its chief organiser, Mr Ng had to make decisions on the go, such as extending the hours for people to pay their respects during Mr Lee’s lying-in-state at Parliament House, as the turnout was larger than expected.

Based on planning parameters of past state funerals, the planning committee had catered for three times more than the numbers ex-

pected, the former Chief of Defence Force said. However, the number of people paying their inal respects to Mr Lee was “way of the charts”.

Thus, he said, even if policies have been planned, there will be a need to assess and change.

“If things are of, admit that you are wrong, if need be, say sorry. We plan and set the assumptions, but if need be, let’s try again,” said Mr Ng.

This was also the case with Mr Lee, who made several adjust-ments along the way, such as propos-ing the Elected Presidency and Non-Constituency Member of Parliament schemes during his time.

“(Mr Lee) had done it (assessing and making adjustments) very well, but without losing sight of what are the fundamental principles that will keep Singapore successful,” said Mr Ng.

The current generation of lead-ers will have to maintain the trust between the Government and the people, and ensure that Singapore-ans remain at the heart of all poli-cies, which are the legacies left be-hind by the founding fathers.

Singaporeans will then be able to assess and come to their own rea-sonable conclusions, Mr Ng added.

And while the Government will do its part to pass on Mr Lee’s val-ues through education in schools and future policies, Mr Ng stressed that it is for Singaporeans to decide whether his principles are worth holding on to.

“They will be able to judge for themselves what would be the best way forward for Singapore,” he said, as he recalled some of the scenes he saw during Mr Lee’s lying-in-state.

These included Singaporeans waiting patiently in the sun, with queues snaking out all the way from Parliament House to Hong Lim Park; the elderly bowing at Mr Lee’s coin; and ive sisters coming in the early morning to pay their respects.

“We are not very expressive peo-ple, day to day, we have our gripes ... (but when) it came to what mat-tered ... it comes back to the unity of people. This is something that I really cherish,” Mr Ng said.

He drew a parallel between the State Funeral and the aftermath of the nuclear reactor meltdown in Fukushima, Japan, in March 2011, when Japanese rallied behind their afected countrymen.

“I think Singapore will evolve again but I think this (the State Fu-neral) is really one anchor of our his-tory that will actually guide quite a few generations ahead,” Mr Ng said.

Harking back at the question about whether he is concerned that younger Singaporeans may not hold on to Mr Lee’s principles, Mr Ng said: “Let me put it the other way around. I am conident that the younger generation, having lived through this period, having seen this (the State Funeral), and given the values system we have in Sin-gapore, given the education, I think they will be able to make the right decisions and calls”.

Acting Education Minister Ng Chee Meng at Frontier Primary School last October. Mr Ng said Singapore is changing, and policies will have to shift accordingly. PHOTO: JASON QUAH

he next generation of Singaporeans will have to decide whether they want to hold on to the values and principles that the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew cherished, such as meritocracy and clean government, but Acting Minister for Education (Schools) Ng Chee Meng is confident that they will be able to make the right call.

In an interview with TODAY to mark the death of the late found-ing Prime Minister on March 23 last year at the age of 91, Mr Ng ac-knowledged that society is changing, bringing with it an increasing range of voices clamouring to be heard.

However, he added that his ex-perience in helming the organising committee for Mr Lee’s State Fu-neral showed him that Singaporeans would be able to rally together for the good of the country when the need arises. “When we come to it, we will have the wherewithal. I have the con-idence in that in our young people.”

When asked about the values

THE CURRENT GENERATION

OF LEADERS WILL HAVE TO

MAINTAIN THE TRUST BETWEEN

THE GOVERNMENT AND THE

PEOPLE, AND ENSURE THAT

SINGAPOREANS REMAIN AT

THE HEART OF ALL POLICIES.


On March 23, 2015, a strange mix of feelings

AMr Ng Chee Meng said the display of public unity after the death of Mr Lee Kuan Yew gave him great optimism about Singapore’s future. TODAY FILE PHOTO

NG JING YNG

[email protected] him to swop his military uni-form for the People’s Action Party’s all-white garb.

One year on since Mr Lee’s death, Mr Ng remembers the exact details — down to the minute: At 3.29am on March 23, the organis-ing committee was alerted and told to wait for doctor’s confirmation before activating Operation White Light — the codename for the State Funeral. Mr Lee’s death was certi-ied at 3.54am. At 6am sharp, the State Funeral swung into place.

Mr Ng’s eyes reddened as he re-called the many Singaporeans he met during the seven days of nation-al mourning, including an 84-year-old lady who declined to join the pri-ority queue for the elderly, and young students who turned up in the wee hours before heading of to school.

“It was a very strange cauldron of feelings ... you are facing the re-alities that the founding Prime Min-ister has passed on, but you’re also happy that Singaporeans are com-ing out in large numbers (to pay their respects),” he said.

As he begins his own journey as part of the country’s fourth genera-tion leadership, Mr Ng said he would draw inspiration and strength from Mr Lee’s political career, which saw him adapting seamlessly to chang-ing circumstances.

“In this journey, we need to stay the course, but we also need to be able to sense, adapt and move again ... it might not be a straight line. This will not change for any generation of leaders,” Mr Ng said.

He reiterated the need for nation-al leaders to keep in mind the big pic-ture and core governing principles, such as having a clean government and maintaining the trust between the Government and Singaporeans. The leaders would also have to be close to the ground, in order to “de-velop the judgment and instinct and the wherewithal to understand the direction to go, to get the right things done to getting things done right”.

As the next generation of leaders takes over the mantle of steering the country forward, Mr Ng paid tribute to Mr Lee’s part in the smooth lead-ership transitions over the decades.

Noting that Mr Lee did not cling on to the prime ministership and instead relinquished it in 1990 —

s the head of the organising com-mittee for Mr Lee Kuan Yew’s State Funeral, Acting Education Minister (Schools) Ng Chee Meng witnessed irst-hand Singaporeans’ outpour-ing of grief as the nation united to mourn the death of its founding Prime Minister.

Looking back, Mr Ng said the ex-perience was personally uplifting, after he was saddened by what he felt was a divided society post-2011 General Election. “This affirma-tion of Singaporeans’ unity (during the national mourning) ... gave me great optimism about Singapore’s way forward,” he told TODAY dur-ing a recent interview.

“When asked (to join politics), I was quite ready to step forward,” said the former Chief of Defence Force, who added that he felt the need to play a part in Singapore pol-itics after the 2011 General Election.

A sense of responsibility and a desire to give back to society, he said, were also factors which moti-

something that “not many people” in his shoes would have done — Mr Ng said: “We had two success-ful changeovers … (Mr Lee) has pre-pared for it (new leadership).”

On his education portfolio, Mr Ng said he shared Mr Lee’s em-phasis on education. “It is a heavy responsibility. To prepare our chil-dren to be future-ready and the fu-ture is fast-changing, uncertain and complex,” he said.

During his time in Government, Mr Lee was steadfast in pursuing a bilingualism policy, which has be-come institutionalised in the educa-tional system — much to the chagrin of some parents. Mr Ng said that by and large, the policy has served Sin-gapore well. He noted that Singa-poreans’ proiciency in English has allowed the country to plug into the world economy while the use of mother tongues has helped citizens strengthen their cultural identities.

Having risen through the ranks — all the way to the pinnacle — in the military, it was perhaps no surprise that Acting Education Minister (Schools) Ng Chee Meng identiied a robust national defence, apart from a strong economy, as the foundation envisaged by Mr Lee Kuan Yew and the other founding fathers to under-pin Singapore’s success.

And as the country enters its next phase, a third ingredient, a “strong Singapore heartbeat”, is needed to propel the nation for-ward, said Mr Ng, returning to a topic he had brought up during his maiden Parliamentary speech in January.

Mr Ng had stressed in the House

A vulnerability that will not go away

the need to ensure unity in society and forge deep bonds of kinship in order to preserve Singapore’s inner strength and core.

During the interv iew with TODAY, Mr Ng noted that protect-ing Singapore’s security and having a robust economy go hand in hand in keeping Singapore successful. While some might have doubted the importance of national defence to a strong and prospering country, the former Chief of Defence Force noted that the current security cli-mate has brought a realisation that Mr Lee had “never lost sight of”.

Mr Ng recalled a meeting with Mr Lee in 2010 at the Singapore Air Show. Mr Ng was then the Chief of

Air Force while Mr Lee was Min-ister Mentor. He recalled Mr Lee’s curiosity and inquisitiveness about the operational details of the Repub-lic of Singapore Air Force.

“You see that ... his core princi-ple remains that Singapore needs a strong defence, but (Mr Lee) at-tempts to keep (himself) updated — from the changing context of tech-nology to (military) relationships, to help him understand how to do things right.”

Citing the decision by Mr Lee and former Deputy Prime Minister Goh Keng Swee to establish the Sin-gapore Armed Forces in 1965, Mr Ng said the founding fathers were aware of Singapore’s strategic vul-

nerabilities. “Singapore is vulnera-ble and there are no two ways about it,” he said.

Another astute decision in the nascent years, in Mr Ng’s opinion, was the move to invite multination-al corporations to come to the Re-public, instead of pursuing import substitution, which was commonly adopted by developing countries at that time.

Decades on, Singaporeans from all economic strata are enjoying the fruits of the country’s success. “Without a strong economy, how do you do social transfers? Without a strong defence, how do you have a robust economy?” Mr Ng said. NG JING YNG


At Tanjong Pagar, personal accounts

of a leader’s impact


CLIFFORD LEE

[email protected] irst death anniversary of the constituency’s long-time Mem-ber of Parliament Lee Kuan Yew, who planted the seeds for the na-tion’s Garden City fame, amid his nation-building eforts.

Mr Chew Kok Leong, who has l ived in Tiong Bahru for most of his l ife, was among the 1,500 residents there that day. The following day, he was back again to place a bouquet of white flowers among the bundles of sunlowers and brightly-coloured gerberas left at the base of panels commemorating Mr Lee’s legacy.

For the 76-year-old, it was a small gesture for the man who had changed their town, their country

and their lives. “ I a m ver y

g r a t e f u l t o Mr Lee, for his pains (in building the country). In 1964, I managed to take up a job as a parking at-tendant through new job openings created by him,” Mr Chew told

TODAY, in Mandarin. He worked his way up subsequently, working for the police within two years, and staying in the Traic Police depart-ment until he retired.

“It’s because of him — he brought

in many jobs for all of us. It was dii-cult for us to ind a job then,” said Mr Chew, citing the instability in the af-termath of the Japanese Occupation.

On the irst death anniversary of their MP of six decades, the mood among Tanjong Pagar residents was anything but sombre. Instead, they shared personal stories of how their lives were changed by policies shaped by Mr Lee.

Mr Chew, for instance, remem-bers the inluence of secret societies in the 1950s and 60s, which Mr Lee dealt with. “Wherever you go, if you have no money to pay the secret so-cieties for protection, you can get beaten up. It used to be very danger-ous leaving the house and roaming the streets, and Mr Lee managed to clamp down on the secret societies in Singapore,” he said.

On top of that, he remembered how Mr Lee got people to live to-gether harmoniously, no matter their race or dialect group. Refer-ring to the conlicts that used to ex-ist between the various Chinese dia-lects, Mr Chew said: “When I lived in Hokkien Street during my young-er days, if I went to Tofu Street, I would have been beaten up by the Cantonese people because we were diferent from them and could not speak their language.”

He added: “Our Prime Minis-ter managed to unite the Teochew,

REMEMBERING AN MP OF SIX DECADES Tea lights at a Lee Kuan Yew Remembrance event at Duxton Plain Park last week. PHOTO: JASON QUAH

With Pinnacle@Duxton, the crown jewel in Singapore’s public hous-ing policy, towering over them, residents of Tanjong Pagar GRC gathered at a park last Saturday, partaking in a “green ingers” ex-ercise — from planting seven Mem-pat trees and numerous seedlings, to learning how to cultivate vegeta-bles in used plastic bottles.

It was, noted Minister in the Prime Minister’s Oice Chan Chun Sing that day, an apt way to mark

HE MADE A LOT OF CHANGES

TO THE COUNTRY, AND IT

HAPPENED SO RAPIDLY ...

THE MINUTE HE WANTS

TO DO SOMETHING,

IT WILL BE DONE.

Chew Kok Leong


Mr Muhammad Nur Hakimin took the opportunity of an exhibition on Mr Lee Kuan Yew at Marine Parade Community Club last weekend to teach his four young children more about Singapore’s founding Prime Minister. ‘Mr Lee was like family to everyone in Singapore,’ he said. PHOTO: JasOn QuaH

COnTinued frOm Page 28

e was out with his family last Satur-day and chanced upon an exhibition and community gallery on Mr Lee Kuan Yew at the Marine Parade Community Club.

Mr Muhammad Nur Hakimin took the opportunity to teach his four young children more about Singapore’s founding Prime Min-ister, whom he dubbed “everyone’s godfather”.

“Mr Lee was like family to eve-ryone in Singapore. He gave up his life for us ... he turned noth-ing into something. Without his

Cantonese, Hokkien people — we are all Singaporeans after all; be it Malays, Indians and other races — we don’t discriminate and separate them from one another, and he man-aged to eradicate the factionalism.

“Now, the Chinese can live with the Malays harmoniously. I have lived with Malays before, and can speak a little Bahasa as well. He united all of our people — we are all one people, as Singaporeans — and this is very important.”

Fruit-seller Chen Mei Choo, 53, remembers how Mr Lee cleaned up the streets of illegal hawkers. It landed her mother in prison once — because she could not pay fines for illegal hawking — but from the policy, their business grew to be-come more stable, said the owner of Grandma’s Fruit Store at Tanjong Pagar Plaza market.

Recounting the early days of their business, when her mother sold fruits on the streets with a push cart, Mrs Chen said: “We were very poor then, and we had to be on the run when the authorities conduct-ed raids on illegal hawkers ... When surprise raids were conducted, I re-member some of them even had to leave their children behind, just to get away.”

In hindsight, Mr Lee’s insistence on setting up permanent markets with cheap stall rentals was the right move, said Mrs Chen.

Likewise, Mr Chew appreciates how Mr Lee had pushed through some of his policies, despite resist-ance from the public at times.

“He made a lot of changes to the country, and it happened so rapid-ly. He built up a strong foundation very quickly, and the development of the country has never stopped since. The minute he wants to do something, it will be done,” he said. “What our founding Prime Minister did was right and that’s why people listened to him. He took care of us, and made sure we worked hard for our own living. He had foresight — advising the younger generation on the importance of education; of be-ing diligent, and getting a job.”

While driving Singapore’s pro-gress, Mr Lee never forgot about his constituency and residents, said Mr Soh Kee Yam, 69, a resident of Tanjong Pagar for over 40 years.

Mr Soh lives several floors above one of his sons, who is a pilot. Al-though his children coaxed him to move in with one of them so that he could rent out his flat, he has de-clined to do so.

“My other son invited me to live with him in West Coast, but I’d rath-er stay here. It’s where all my friends are,” he said. “It’s a wonderful place to live. The market, hawker centre, train station and other amenities are all within five minutes of my home. The landscape has changed and developed a lot over the years.”

Mr Soh added: “Mr Lee took very good care of us and our needs, and delivered everything that he promised us.”

Lessons for the young,

from ‘everyone’s godfather’

LOuisa Tang

[email protected]

Hhelp, there would be no home,” said Mr Hakimin, 26.

The late Mr Lee’s emphasis on family ties and resilience has in-spired Mr Hakimin, an SMRT tech-nician. When he married his wife, Ms Fardiana, 29, about six years ago, things were “very hard”. He had just completed National Service and they were struggling to make ends meet.

But Mr Lee’s values spurred him to work harder, he said. Mr Hakimin is now able to support his family, and they will move into a Build-to-Order flat soon.

“I’ll teach my children Mr Lee Kuan Yew’s values. It’s very impor-tant for them to know how much he sacrificed for our country,” he said.

Another visitor, 75-year-old Mr Tan Kok Ki, called Mr Lee’s values of patriotism and family the “foundation of the nation” and

wants to pass them on to his grand-son, Aaron, five.

Business analyst Cindy Chen, 33, who has two children, also said Mr Lee’s “determination and love for the country” was something par-ents should teach their kids.

Regional sales manager Eugene Tan, 36, added: “He stressed the importance of family bonds ... He didn’t talk a lot about his family (when he was alive), but it was clear in his actions (the) love for his wife and family.”

School bus driver Dennis Ng, 50, said he admires Mr Lee’s patience and confidence and hopes for the same in his six-year-old daughter, Anthea.

Ms Brenda Ching and Mr Gavin Chan told TODAY that the exhibi-tion, organised by grassroots or-ganisations in Marine Parade, was meant to showcase values, such as filial piety and multi-generation-al bonding, that were emphasised by Mr Lee. Marine Parade, Singa-pore’s first and only housing estate built entirely on reclaimed land, could not have been possible with-out Mr Lee, said Ms Ching, chair-man of the Marine Terrace Breeze residents’ committee.

“He had a great vision: That what was once sea could become land. We wanted to show that he built a home for us — how much the community touches on the family,” said Mr Chan, a member of the Ma-rine Parade Citizens’ Consultative Committee.

The exhibition and community gallery will run at Marine Parade Community Club until Sunday.


Four taps and a foresight that won’t

let them run dry

M


ASYRAF [email protected]

A tribute to Mr Lee Kuan Yew by the Singapore River. Mr Lee saw the need to clean up the

For families and others, a gift

that is very important, especially when we grow old — we don’t have to depend on our children,” said Madam Nirmala, a retired police of-icer. “I think we are the only coun-try where the percentage (of home ownership) is very high ... In that sense we should be very proud.”

Said her husband, a police oicer who became a Singapore citizen in 1986: “Moving from a kampung (in Malaysia) to a lat in Singapore, I ap-preciate everything the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew has done. You (turn) the tap, the water runs, there’s clean drinking water. I don’t need to steri-

lise it myself. It’s a gift.”Toa Payoh, Singapore’s second

satellite town, was the first to be conceived and built solely by the Housing and Development Board (HDB), established in 1960 and the successor to Singapore Improve-ment Trust (SIT), which was the nation’s first public housing pro-gramme.

Adjusting to multi-storey public housing was not easy for everyone, however.

When Madam Rose Lee’s family was relocated from its village near Kim Keat to a new SIT lat in Toa

Payoh 62 years ago, they were un-happy with the arrangement.

“When we irst moved, we were not happy because there were only two rooms, and my father had eight children, so we had to ight for the room, ight for the bed. Our kam-pung house had 10 bedrooms, up-stairs (and) downstairs. So each of us had our own room. It was a big change to move from the kam-pung house to the small lat,” said Mdm Lee, 70, who has lived in Toa Payoh ever since.

The family moved to Block 25 when Mdm Lee was eight years old. She moved to Block 104 when she got married, and currently lives in Block 31.

The town has changed over the years and, in Mdm Lee’s words: “It’s all much better now”.

The cleaner, who works at Deli-france, was present last Saturday for a commemorative exhibition on founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew at Toa Payoh Central Commu-

oving to their lat in Toa Payoh in 1992 marked a milestone for Mr Panneer Selvam, 50, and Mad-am Nirmala Devi, 54, who were living in a rented lat in Whampoa Drive before that.

“We have our own homes and

The late Mr Lee introduced the nation’s irst Water Master Plan in 1972 that outlined long-term plans to develop sustainable local water re-sources for Singapore. This was to ensure that Singapore did not have

to depend on Ma-laysia for its sup-ply of fresh wa-ter. Singapore’s current water agreement with Malaysia will end in 2061.

Besides en-suring a sustain-able and diversi-ied water supply for future gen-erations through the four National

Taps — local catchment water, im-ported water, NEWater and desali-nated water — Mr Lee also saw the need to clean up the Singapore Riv-er. In 1977, he challenged the Envi-ronment Ministry to clean up the river over the next 10 years.

The Singapore River today, which locals and tourists can stroll along and admire the modern sky-line from comfortable river boats, is his legacy.

Mr Richard Wong, 61, agreed that the clean-up helped heighten Singapore’s profile as a tourism hub, as “tourists (who) come to

Singapore tend to visit those areas of interest”.

He added: “(Previously), the Singapore River had a lot of loat-ing debris and it was dirty and it smelled bad. No ish lived in it. Af-ter the clean-up (of) the waterway, people can even swim in it.”

Some older interviewees felt the

younger generation may not be fully prepared to handle the problem of wa-ter scarcity in future, but one young-er Singaporean was more conident. Mr Lai Zhenwei, 29, said Singapore could be a role model for neighbour-ing countries in overcoming “natural obstacles” such as “not having fresh

Madam Halimah Salleh, 68, re-members how she had to queue to ill a pail of water for her family as a child. Running water from a tap at home was a luxury then, and most Singaporeans had to queue with pails to get clean water from lor-ries supplied by the government that went to the villages, she said.

“ W h e n t h e lorry came, all of us had to rush to queue and, since only one pail was allowed per per-son, we had to rush home and come back out again ... I had nine siblings, but only the older ones did the manual work,” said the retiree, in Malay.

Mdm Halimah, a Punggol resident for ive years, was among the visitors to Punggol’s inaugural Waterway Day last Sunday, an event that also commemorated the irst death anni-versary of Mr Lee Kuan Yew.

Her childhood experience is vastly diferent from the reality to-day, thanks in part to the foresight by Singapore’s founding Prime Min-ister to ensure clean waterways, reservoirs and tap water for the people. CONTINUED ON PAGE 31

The late Mr Lee introduced in 1972 the nation’s first Water Master Plan, which outlined long-term plans to develop sustainable local water resources for Singapore.

(Previously), the

singaPore river ... was

dirty and it smelled bad.

no fish lived in it. after

the clean-uP (of)

the waterway, PeoPle

can even swim in it.

Richard Wong


TLOUISA TANG

[email protected]


er, who lived in a village in India where girls were not encouraged to go to school. “Being a girl of a

minority race, there is one thing that has afected me most among Mr Lee’s accom-plishments, and that is his firm belief in equal-ity of opportuni-ty regardless of gender, class or race,” she said.

T he youth s also expounded

on the values embodied by Mr Lee that they hoped young people would adopt — especially discipline, hard work and daring to dream. For ex-ample, National University of Sin-gapore graduate Siti Aiyah Musta-pha, 23, recounted how Mr Lee was single-minded in his determination to clean up the Singapore River.

Undergraduate Shanice Hedger, 20, said that youths should not let their circumstances define them. “Mr Lee Kuan Yew has left us a precious reminder — to create the life we want to live, and to make the most of what we’ve been blessed with,” she said.

A precious reminder for today’s generation

o Mr Cheong Xuan Yong, Mr Lee Kuan Yew was little more than a legendary figure who attracted raucous cheers at National Day Pa-rades — that is, till his death last March.

Mr Lee’s demise spurred the 27-year-old civil servant to ind out more about the man behind modern Singapore. He read Mr Lee’s mem-oirs, including Hard Truths to Keep Singapore Going, and spoke to his parents about their past days living in kampungs until Mr Lee and his team moved them to Housing and Development Board (HDB) lats.

The stories Mr Cheong heard and read led to a “more in-depth un-derstanding of what (Mr Lee) did”.

“The only memory of a Prime Minister I had was of Goh Chok Tong. I didn’t have much concept of what Mr Lee had done for us. But when I saw my parents and relatives from the Pioneer Generation crying

for him (after his death), I realised I should talk to them about their ex-periences with Mr Lee, as I never had the opportu-nity to meet him myself,” he said.

Undergradu-ate R Daminis-ree, 20, was al-so inspired to r e a d m o r e o f Mr Lee’s books and memoirs af-ter his death. “We (youths) may have not been through turbulent times, but his books give us an insight in-to his thought processes ... they are a good reminder to keep ourselves grounded,” she said.

Mr Cheong and Miss Daminisree were two of the youths who spoke at a remembrance service last Sunday. Four youths from each ethnic com-munity gave speeches, touching on themes such as multiculturalism, equal opportunities for all and bilin-gualism, which they felt were some of the legacies of Mr Lee that reso-nate with today’s generation.

Miss Daminisree recounted how she could do “everything in school”, in stark contrast to her grandmoth-

Mr Lee Kuan Yew has Left

us a precious reMinder

— to create the Life we

want to Live, and to

MaKe the Most of what

we’ve been bLessed with.

Undergraduate Shanice Hedger

(From left) Shanice Hedger, R Daminisree, Siti Afiyah Mustapha and Cheong Xuan Yong were some of the youths who spoke on the founding Prime Minister’s legacies at the ‘Remembering Lee Kuan Yew: Coming Together, Achieving Together’ event last week. PHOTO: OOI BOON KEONG

Singapore River in 1977. PHOTO: ROBIN CHOO

nity Club. “Toa Payoh is very small, so I walk around everywhere. There is still a sense of community spirit, but there are also a lot more for-eigners moving into the HDBs,” observed Mdm Lee.

Visits by Mr Lee generated buzz in the estate, said residents. Mr Panneer said the late leader visited his block of lats a few years after he and his wife had moved into the neighbourhood.

“He wanted to see how all the new f lats looked like. He came around to see the development tak-ing place for him to understand the people’s concerns,” he said.

The National Day Parade held at Toa Payoh Sports Complex in 1975 was “chaotic”, recalled long-time resident Johnson Foo, 53.

“I was a little boy, about 12 years old,” he said.

“There were so many people and you could hardly catch a close view of Mr Lee because it was very crowded.”

water (sources of our own)”.“I am pretty confident that we

will reach a stage of water sustain-ability for the whole nation, but I think it takes the whole nation to do it together, rather than just a small party (of people) doing it,” he said. ASYRAF KAMIL


Date post:	23-May-2020
Category:	Documents
Upload:	others
View:	1 times
Download:	0 times

today • Wednesday 23 March 2016 hot news mr lee, one year on · 13 hot news | mr lee, one year on...

Documents