MM Lee: what will they say of me after my coffin is closed?

From Straits Times

Accepting the award, MM Lee, 85, thanked the Rotary International president and added a wry remark of his own.

He quoted a Chinese proverb which says that ‘when the coffin is closed, then you have the final verdict’, and explained that it served as a ‘reality check’ for him.

‘When I am praised on occasions such as for honorary degrees, I try to keep my sense of proportion by recalling this proverb,’ he said to laughter from the audience. ‘After I have left the scene, the biographers, historians and editors will track my career and pronounce their verdicts.‘

EDITORS’ NOTE:

When he is still alive, MM Lee is able to control what Singaporeans say of him. The sycopantic and subservient state media worship him like God who cannot commit a single mistake. Even articles written by the foreign media had to be censored of critical remarks about him before they are allowed to be republished for local readers.

Like Mao Zedong before him, the cult of Lee Kuan Yew will eventually fade away into oblivion and before his real achievements and failures can be objectively studied and assessed on their individual merits by future generations of Singaporeans.

His “achievements” have been blown out of proportion through years of rigorous, systematic and brainless propaganda. He cannot take full credit for transforming Singapore into a developed nation. On the contrary, he should be held accountable for the many misguided ecnomic policies leading to a widening income gap, a loss of identity and belonging to the country by native-born Singaporeans and the loss of billions of reserves in ill-timed overseas investments.

The British left us their Westminister Parliamentary system of democracy which was corrupted by MM Lee to become a rubber-stamp Parliament for his autocracy. Now he had bequeathed us a flawed system of governance lacking healthy checks and balances with over concentration of power in the hands of a few.

Our citizens are deprived of economic, political and civil rights which put us forever at the mercy of handouts from a nanny state. All our institutions are under the influence if not direct control of the ruling party. Unless we become part of the ruling clique, ordinary citizens are barred from participating in the nation-buidling process.

We are “digits” in our own land of birth, labor to be exploited till the end of our productive lives before we are shipped out to some neighoring islands to perish there on our own. Though we are materially richer than many other Asian countries, we are spiritually poor. Singaporeans are amongst the unhappiest people in the region.

MM Lee’s arrogance will be the cause of his downfall. In spite of his desperate attempts to exonerate himself from any blame, his performance as Chairman of GIC is laid exposed for all to see. Figures do not lie. We have lost and are still losing our reserves built up painstakingly over the years.

While the state loses billions of dollars of public monies with impunity, more and more Singaporeans are falling below the poverty line. We were told that we cannot depend on the state to help us because Singapore need to save to build up our reserves for rainy days. When our reserves are lost, we are reassured that Singapore will be able to recoup the losses in the future. We will never be able to touch the monies which belong rightfully to us, not even smell it.

MM Lee once made an infamous remark that he will rise out of the coffin if there is something wrong with the way Singapore is run. The future of Singapore should be the least of his concern because there are many capable Singaporeans out there who are more than qualified than him or his son to govern the nation.

What he should be worried about most is his fast disappearing legacy. He should have stepped down a long time ago to give the generations after him to plot their own destiny. But he chooses to linger on and cast a shadow over the entire nation. By remaining in power longer than he should, he has done Singaporeans a great disservice. He is living on past glories and completely out of touch with the realities in a new world order.

After he is long gone, he will be put into the rightful place together with other dictators like Suharto and Mahathir who curbed the civil rights of the people and democratic institutions of the land to serve to preserve and perpetuate their political hegemony. History will be a lot crueler to you, MM Lee and it is a pity you will not be around by then to hear the final verdict pronounced on you with your own ears.

Singapore elderly can only afford $1 porridge a day

Translated from Channel 8 News:

Stalls selling economic rice at Toa Payoh Lorong 7 had seen an increase in business lately by slashing the price to $2.20 for 2 meat and 2 vegetables. Their customers are mostly from the lower-income group.

One stallholder said: “I feel very sad. Recently there was aa regular customer who didn’t turn up for a few days. The volunteers told me he had no money to eat and might have fallen to his death. Everytime he patronized my stall, he ordered only one bowl of porridge and one plate of vegetables at $1.”

 

EDITORS’ NOTE:

Why do we have so many poor, pitiful elderly who cannot fend for themselves and died penniless? Why are we Singaporeans paupers a country which has billions of dollars of reserves?

Because of this:

“Mr Lee compared this to state-funded welfare administered by officials which could be easily taken for granted. It could also end up being considered as an entitlement, leading people to lose motivation to do their best.”

- Channelnewsasia, 7 March 2009

Being taken care of by the state when one is old and jobless is an entitlement. Otherwise, why should we vote for the PAP?

Did we vote for a government to lose billions of our precious reserves to bail out ailing overseas banks?

Is it an entitlement for some individuals to do as they like with our country without being made accountable for it ?

Also read what Singapore Cafe says:

I wonder, is he right on this? Lets compare to other 1st world countries. Are they slacking because they have state-funded welfare? Did the people, say, the Americans lose motivation to do their best?

I think Lee is WRONG AGAIN. In fact, Singapore, with its minimal state-funded welfare, it doesn’t has higher motivation to do their best compare to other developed countries.

How do we measure who’s faring well then? One of it is the Human Development Index.

“The Human Development Index (HDI) is an index used to rank countries by level of “human development”, which usually also implies to determine whether a country is a developed, developing, or underdeveloped country.” –Wikipedia

Now, according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Development_Index, out of top 30 developed countries, where do we rank? We Singapore ranked 28th.

So, can we say that, with lesser state-funded welfare among the countries, that doesn’t really give us higher motivaton to do our best??

Apology to the late David Widjaja, his family and friends

The Wayang Party Club would like to offer our sincere apologies to the late Mr David Widjaja, his family and friends for the articles we have reproduced here from the mainstream media which appeared to give an erroneous impression of the chain of events leading to the unfortunate death of Mr David Widjaja.

We agreed that the assumptions made by the mainstream media is completely baseless and unsubstantiated. There was no evidence that David had brought a knife along to the fateful meeting with his professor nor were there any eye-witnesses of what exactly transpired in the room between both of them.

When the news first broke, we have little choice but to rely on information given by the the mainstream media. In the aftermath of the incident, we had exhorted the media to show more respect to the deceased and had repeatedly castigated them for their one-sided, biased reports.

We will do our best to address and assuage the grievances and hurt in your hearts. It must be a difficult and trying period for all of you. If there is anything you feel we should know about David or the case, please email us at wayangparty@hotmail.com

 

Eugene Yeo
Chief Editor
Wayang Party Club

Letter from reader Wendy Halim re: David Widjaja

Dear admin,

Now all his friend wants is his name being cleared from all baseless accusations until Police department report their finding in 3 weeks time. Why all media said it is his fault when Media do have any evidence again him. They just hope the late name being cleared first. Most of them are not allowed to speak up to the media by NTU so i am not surprised that they keep silence.

Some of them did not think Singapore’s Media is credible and reliable anymore because “all” Singapore Media said it was him who stabbed his professor. Please be reminded, no body in the room, no body saw what really happened. Police and his parents has confirmed that there is no slit wound on his wrist but his parents saw the late’s neck was wounded by knife (so is he the victim or the culprit?).

If you have any proof that he is the culprit then i can’t say anything but now media do not have any proof. NTU never said he is the stabber but believed he was. What wonder me is whe all media deleted the word “believed”?
but i do not think Singapore Media would apologize to the late for defamation as i have wrote email to many news editor and none of them reply me.

Sgpolitics.net reply me but made no commitment to alter their statement or apologize to the late, his family and friends. Sgpolitics.net just reply with a message said,”thank you for alerting us, we will be more cautious in the future.” what is this? You have destroyed his character and now just said that? don’t you guys know how pain is their parents and close friends heart when you guys said he suicide because of depression or mental problem or even scholarship issue??? All the claims has been rebuffed with a good evidence and witness. This is also a reason beside others why David parents reject all interview with Singaporean Media. You guys kills his character in the media, made him like a lunatic killer.

I hope for justice and freedom of speech, Singapore Media can alter their statement and apologize. If there is really an equity or fairness or objectivity in Media, I hope Media can go along with it.

 

Regards,

Wendy Halim