Importing aliens to settle in
Sin is a fatal blunder.

patriot

Do we judge a society or a leader by his own measure of success or by another measure (Western i.e. Enlightenment ideals, Christian morals and ethics, Buddhist morals, Islamic morals, etc)? I believe the goals set by LKY for Singapore as a nation has been achieved to a large extent. This is an accomplishment of great respect and he should be credited for this.

My personal belief is that LKY did not take into account factors that were beyond his intellect and this has manifest itself with the current “birth-rate” issue which seems to threaten the existence of the Singaporean nation. A growth focused society will sacrifice having a larger family for the purpose of higher education and higher wages. Although this is the ideal when coming from the state that Singapore was in 1965, when taken to the other extreme it has drastic consequences.

I would also like to mention that the western/secular world also has the same problem with low-birthrates, low-marriage rates and the maintenance of its civilization. I am interested to see how highly nationalistic societies and growth driven societies will reconcile the fact that immigrants will be needed to sustain the nation and to further economic growth. In Western Europe this has led to right-wing anti-immigration movements which has tarnished the egalitarian principles that these societies based their moral worth on.

I am very interested to hear about LKY’s philosophical influences and his own philosophy, rather then his “as a matter of fact” manner of writing his experience in life.

Our society places so much on excellence that parents feel compelled to provide the best education possible, in order to give their kids a competitive edge.
Parents also need to spend time and watch out for appropriate opportunity to pass on valuable moral lessons.

These are two of many things on the minds of every parent, but they are time consuming and require much energy. Moreover job demands are ever increasing amidst high living cost. It is not like we can survive on tapioca and sweet potato like in the kampong days.

Is it any wonder if more people choose to remain childless or single?

patriot

- speech at the official opening of the Singapore Centre for Chinese language, 17th November 2009.

“Earlier this month, in an interview carried in the People’s Action Party magazine Petir, he cited bilingualism as the most difficult policy he had to implement, and the one which should have been done differently from the start.

This was because he did not realise that a child’s intelligence and language ability were two different things, something which his daughter, a neurologist, confirmed late in his life.”

- Straits Times, 18 November 2009

Once again, this know-it-all conveniently forgets that he is on the record admitting to the unforgivable crime of forcing his particular language fetishes down the throats of an unwilling populace and in so doing, blighting the lives of generations of Singaporeans for half a century. When we were in Malaysia he insisted that everyone be fluent in Bahasa Melayu because that was vital to our survival; with the rise of China, he fixated on Mandarin. Doubtless if either India or Russia becomes an industrial power, then Hindi or Russian will be flavour of the year.

Latest MOE data shows that families that speak mainly English at home now supply 59 per cent of the Primary 1 cohort in 2009, compared to 49 per cent just five years ago and 10 per cent in 1982. In other words, resentful citizens have been dragged kicking and screaming to the water but despite the most unrelenting badgering, nagging and coercion, they have refused to partake of Lee’s slash and burn style of bilingual dogma.

He has lost another major battle but is as ever, a mighty sore and vindictive loser. Hence this book touting his dubious achievements in the field of Animal Farming. Fortunately Singapore’s families can count on being spared the trauma of Lee Kuan Yew living long enough to ‘get it right’ in the way he got ‘Stop At Two’ and ‘Graduate Mothers’ right.

Let us be grateful for small mercies.