LKY values in 38 Oxley Road

Pay special attention starting from play point 27 seconds and hear his words,

"...Because of my house the neighbouring houses cannot build high. Now demolish my house and change the planning rules, go up, the land value will go up."

He wasn't thinking about himself or his family's interests. Most leaders elsewhere would have loved to preserve their estate as a very visible monument of their legacy but LKY was devastatingly pragmatic to the very end and what for? Because of the hard truths of Singapore's survival which are different from almost everywhere else. With no margin of safety except man made ones, no two huge oceans to protect America but our own made SAF and foreign reserves with a first class foreign service as the first line of defence.

Do not trade our survivor and success values for a century old house. We get less and not more of what make this place tick if we do. So what is this PAP led government trying to do?

Mile's maxim helps us make a good guess.

“Where you stand, depends on where you sit”

LHL has to win elections but LWL and LHY do not. That is why their stand is different. LHL has skin in this but not his siblings, but he could never command the troops like his father could. It is almost impossible because the times are different. More important the son is not the father. I think the elder son has more passion for this country than his siblings. This is all about skin, responsibility and accountability. Not in theory but in real life which you have to win elections.

In the end the ball is in our court, the voters but there is always the nagging doubt of how much of the steel in our pioneer generation is also in us. Looks are deceptive but when push comes to shove we can be reasonably confident we will pass the test. We can never be completely sure because that can only come from a real test.

If we can find a better man or woman than LHL to lead us, we should follow that person and LHL should graciously make way for him or her. Nevertheless at the end of the day, we have to live we what we have got and not what we imagine to have. If we want to fantasize then work hard and pay the price to make it real.

I hope the family would reconcile and come back together again. The way to do it is to tear the old house down when Dr. Lee moves out. Then late LKY and KGC can rest in peace.