This is the front page of what Xinhua has put up to honor the life and work of our late founding PM.
And here is the tribute to Lee Kuan Yew by President Obama, Joe Biden & Jill etc from the US side.
From Low Thia Kiang we have
To save time, I just exchanged messages with my siblings on this topic. The transcript.
Despite being hounded and bullied by the PAP, Low must still show magnanimity. Political high office aren't for ordinary men and women. He is not extraordinary enough. This guy will serve his interests, focus on his pet projects than putting the people first if he ever becomes our leader.
Low could have written like he had perhaps for another of our PMs when the time comes, but LKY was special and it is revealing of the man's character and attitude that he publicly failed to recognize that. In many ways LKY transcended politics even if he operated from the political arena. Like it or not, he is part of our social and political DNA. To me any leader who fails to recognize that disqualifies himself or herself. Can you imagine any US President pouring scorn on George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and even later Abraham Lincoln? Even the Chinese kept Mao for all his terrible mistakes. For all the Great Helmsman faults, China would still be mired in darkness without him.
Update: March 24 4:05 pm
Compare Chiam See Tong's condolence letter to Low Thia Khiang's. Kudos to Chiam, ever the gentleman and patriot. He likens LKY to Singapore's Churchill, which is the view held by Nixon of Lee as far back as the 70s.
Update: March 25 2:45 pm
Mr. Low, eat this! New Zealand's parliament pays tribute to Lee Kuan Yew. And who are those ignorant people who left some comments for me like they were from another planet? Eat this too.
Thanks TOC for this.
Update: March 25 11:15 pm
You can naturally expect like the Kiwis, the Aussies to also pay tribute to LKY.
Update: March 26 12:40 pm
The secretary in his own words.
"His views that he shared with me as a young senator have helped to shape my thinking today as a Secretary of State. And those are the things we build on": US Secretary of State John Kerry on Mr Lee Kuan Yew. http://cna.asia/1ELagQz
Posted by Channel NewsAsia on Wednesday, 25 March 2015
LKY's passing or not, the WP have wasted the goodwill, time and opportunity given to them by voters. I do not think they deserve a 2nd chance.
ReplyDeleteSorry I don't see the WPs condolence as stingy. They said what needed to be said. LKY would have been just as terse in LTK's position. Given the LKY's warning to Aljunied that they would have 5 years to repent, I think it is LKY who fell short of statesmanship at the last hurdle. LKY's greatness is well known. There is really nothing the WP can say to add to that. If the PAP is milking LKY's passing for political benefit the opposition has no duty to help the ruling party. Just as the ruling party has always said they have no duty to help the opposition. LTK is making a clear distinction between the first generation of political leadership and the current generation. We have been pretty much doing the same.
ReplyDeleteYou idiot, did you read the letter his family sent when JBJ died. Honestly all these tribute a way too much for what ever he has done, I guess the ultimate will be to ban all future investigations into what ever concerns him, so that the real truth abut him is never exposed. Just like sealing the records.
ReplyDeleteLet's start by investigating you first n let's see what we can find
DeleteIt is impolite to call another one idiot. LTK has been objective and we don't need to be over emotional or sentimental and lose our grip of reality. Politicans can be very flowery in their praises especially those from the west.
ReplyDeletePlease mature or this nation will falter and lose what we all proudly uphold of LKY's putting Singapore on the global map especially among our neighbours
Praises are cheap. BTW did anyone see this image of the national flag's crescent and five stars with LKY image on it being circulated? I wonder whether the "artist" is overzealous and overlook the need to give due respect to national symbols?
ReplyDeleteIt is great that all the information are provided so that people can view and judge. Based on all the tributes from all the people, all are very positive and ranges from 2-5 paragraphs. I viewed LTK's as objective and standard and there is no potential negativity.
ReplyDeleteIt would be best if the author can advise why he called it "stingy"? Are there any specify phrases or terms that must be included/excluded to be termed "generous"? If the author is not able to provide examples, it may be more appropriate for the author to rename this post title to something else.
Just because Chiam expressed a view once held by Nixon, that is not a fair comment that LTK's stingy. Bear in mind Nixon is atypical of politicians that gave generous bouquets until they are tainted by scandals and eventually faded into nothingness. I am no supporter of LTK but I believe we have to be objective and not be tainted by personal bias. To do the latter, the message LTK conveyed would be lost in the midst of all the superfluous tributes that clog the media.
ReplyDeleteSnake...hard to believe that u are not LTK supporter. By all yr comments,likely u are in the same camp
DeleteIf Aljunied decides to go that way, well Aljunied has five years to live and repent.
ReplyDeleteKuan Yew was never magnanimous!
ReplyDeleteI also cannot see the PAP writing a
condolence letter to a member of the
opposition without nasty remarks. Go
read the PAP's letter to JBJ's family
when JBJ died. It was a very mean
missive and made very clear that the
PAP have no class or manners at all!!!
What is badly lacking these days is honesty. We are living in an age of faking and make-believe. Just the likes on the web - how true can the tally be or the numbers are just made up. Time will tell but sadly, it will be after many get disillustioned or wrecked, financially and emotionally.
ReplyDeleteQuestion, are u one of the FAKEn make believe
DeleteSo what do you think about LTK's tribute speech to the late LKY in Singapore parliament?
ReplyDeleteI wasn't surprised. In fact I could identify with the human costs LTK alluded too because my family bored some of it. Nevertheless I thought LKY policies resulted in far few casualties than any alternatives. If there were better ways, it was in hindsight. Nobody could do a better job than him to the point that all over the world they sought his advice.
DeleteTotally agree
DeleteTotally agree
DeleteMr Lee Kuan Yew was a great leader and had won a lot of respect, of course, there are also people who are against him. Well, both sides have their valid points.
ReplyDeleteEveryone has their own credits and discredits, including our dear Mr Lee Kuan Yew. At the end of the day, it is all about the weighing of credits vs discredits.
If Mr Lee Kuan Yew had done a disservice to you or your family, more likely than not, the result of your weighing of him will be negative; similarly, if he had helped you or your family in some ways, it is likely that you will weigh him positively. - Unless medically proven otherwise.
So there is really no point in arguing whether he is good or bad. Worst, behaving like a little boy telling others to "eat this" when their views are not inline with yours.
Similarly, how LTK expressed his opinion and speech are based upon his experience. Being angry with him and calling him "stingy" just because he does not share your thought is childish. From that letter, I see no basis to call him "stingy", and I am still waiting for your explanation or your sister's, if any.
Putting personal experience aside, on the global stage, it is an undeniable fact that what he had achieved was remarkable. However, how many people can be objective as such? Even you are starting to get overheated.
You have many great posts, that is why I have followed you. Stay cool and be objective.
From another perspective, isn't it another extreme case when people worshiped him without knowing exactly what he did? The infamous one is the joke that LKY turned Singapore from a fishing village to a modern Singapore - He did not, do you know that LKY said that himself?
Do you realise that currently there is a strong force promoting him even for things that he had not done? Can you feel the next force coming up, which will relate themselves to him and give the perception they are the continuation of him?
Singapore is already in a BIG mess, if People of Singapore do not put things in the right perspective, forget about another 50 years - it will be gone in the next 20.
I am impressed with Mr Lee Kuan Yew, not just with what he did, but with his honesty and the fact that his speeches were extremely candid. If given another country, how do you think he will do it? Well, do you know that he said he can't?
For those who hated Mr Lee Kuan Yew, I am sure you have your valid reasons, but let's just let him rest in peace.
"Blogging 4 myself", keep your cool and be objective, can?
Meanwhile, I have temporarily closed my blog in respect and mourning for him, I had a one-day vegetarian on Monday.
We can discuss further on the "Basis of Mr Lee Kuan Yew's Contribution" after that.
Stay cool.