And one of the unforgettable quotes from GE 2015...

Unesco City Of Design

Event that shaped 2015

Singapore being designated UNESCO City of Design.

This international recognition as a city of excellence shows that Singapore is able to preserve our rich cultural heritage while preparing for the future through innovation.

Events that shaped 2015: World Heritage Site

Singapore Botanic Gardens declared UNESCO World Heritage Site in July.

What a splendid birthday gift for Singapore.

It is not just a venerable garden but also one that supplies greenery for parks and roadsides in our Garden City and is also the training ground for budding local horticulturalists.

What is meaningful to you?

National-level SWAT Team To Response To Infections

A national-level "Swat Team", comprising infectious disease experts who can be mobilised at short notice to respond to outbreaks in any healthcare institution may be set up.

This is one of four measures being considered by the task force headed by Minister of State for health, Chee Hong Tat.

Such a team will strengthen Singapore's capabilities to respond to outbreaks, said Mr Chee as it is not feasible for every healthcare facility to have a full-fledged infection control response team that can respond to complex and unusual outbreaks.

Mr Chee said: "The 'Swat team' members can come from different institutions in Singapore (in) both public and private sectors.

"There could be a few full-time members while the rest are experts from our hospitals, universities and government agencies who MOH could call upon and activate during an outbreak."

Associate Professor David Lye, senior consultant at Tan Tock Seng Hospital's Infectious Diseases Department and Institute of Infectious Diseases and Epidemiology, said a "Swat team" is a fantastic idea. "We are small and we do not have the same number of experts in every institution. The 'Swat team' allows us to get experts from different areas together very rapidly and work together on an emergent issue," he said.

The Singapore that Lee Kuan Yew built in graphic detail

Main issues in 2016

Loke Kok Fai:
WHAT ARE THE MAIN ISSUES WE WILL FACE HEADING INTO 2016 AND ONWARDS?

Teo Chee Hean:
I won’t speak only of security threats because security threats are only one component of the challenges we face in the country, and I won’t look ahead just one year because that’s not the way the Government thinks and plans. We think and plan for the medium to long term for the good of Singaporeans and the good of Singapore. That’s the hallmark of Singapore. So I would say there are four things which we are looking to for the medium term – for the coming years.

The first is the economy, and Mr Heng Swee Keat is leading the Committee for the Future Economy, and this is a very major component of making sure Singapore thrives and does well in the future – good jobs, a thriving economy and continues to be a hub, a place where people would want to come to to do business and which provides a good living for Singaporeans as we move up the economic ladder. So this is a very important component, and we face serious challenges here because our population and our workforce are no longer growing. Our Singaporean population and workforce in the next five to seven years will stop growing, and this is a major, major challenge for the economy.

On the other hand, the skill levels of our people are increasing and can be increased further, so there are many opportunities to be exploited, what kinds of economic sectors, what kinds of activity, how do we link up with growing areas of the world, what are the sectors in which we have a competitive advantage. So this is one major component – the economy.

The second is security – something which we’ve been talking about earlier. Security is not just in terms of terrorism and extremism, although that’s the most salient threat that we are facing today, but also the more traditional security threats. Singapore will always be a small country in a part of the world which historically if you look back has been a place in which there have been instability, in which there have been wars and conflict. And so if we want to survive in peace and security as an independent country able to determine our own future, defence and security will always be an important component of Singapore.

Third is social cohesion, community bonding. How do we as a country maintain our social cohesion and bonds going into the future? And in particular, as we have migrants who come to Singapore, and the migrants include families of Singaporeans who marry with those who are non-Singaporeans, have children, and how do we bring (in) all of them and integrate them into Singapore. And I think eventually it is really the ideals and the values which Singapore lives by and which has grown by which unites us all.

And fourthly, I would say the most important of all is to make sure that we continue to have good, stable, clean leadership for the future. The last General Election has provided us with this platform and opportunity to do that, and it’s not just the leadership for the next term, next five years, but to prepare the leadership for the next 15 years to make sure that Singapore remains lead by able, honest, capable people with the right motivations, and the right heart for Singaporeans in Singapore. That itself is a major enterprise which should not be left to chance.

Because it’s a small country, if we fail on this one, we may never have a chance to recover with it.

Excerpt of interview with CNA

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/security-economy-social/2381084.html?cid=FBsg

SG2015 - A LOOK BACK AT 23 MARCH: Day Of Mourning That Brought Singapore Together

Years from now, observers will no doubt look back at 2015 as an eventful year for Singapore.

Singapore turned 50 and its big, exuberant party was supposed to have been the key event of the year packed full of activities. There was also the long anticipated general election.

Both events were eclipsed to some extent by the death of founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew, 91 in March.

When news broke on March 23 that the nation's first prime minister Lee Kuan Yew had died in the wee hours of that morning, the dam that held back Singaporeans' hopes, wishes and worst fears broke.

People wept openly, waited for hours in long queues to pay their last respects and stood in the torrential rain along the funeral route to bid their final farewell to the man who played a pivotal role in bringing Singapore from Third World to First World in less than 50 years.

The swell of sorrow had been building up, with the Singapore General Hospital and Tanjong Pagar Community Club becoming a repository of flowers, cards and posters that expressed people's hopes and wishes for Mr Lee to get well.

But these places, as well as the Istana gates, were swiftly transformed into sombre mourning grounds as the sun rose on that Monday morning.

As Singaporeans grieved during the seven days of national mourning, a stirring change was felt by many. Mr Lee, in death as in life, gave the increasingly fractious nation a treasured gift: a state of closeness from a shared sense of loss.

The nation grew more united.

At the same time, the younger generation became more aware of the achievements of the pioneer generation of political leaders.

Mr Lee, 91, had been in poor health for over a year and on Feb 5 was admitted to Singapore General Hospital. The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) announced it on Feb 21 and subsequent statements sparked a feeling of dread among many.

On March 17, the PMO told Singaporeans his condition had taken a turn for the worse .

Social media brought out the worst in some who found macabre delight in posting hoax reports of his death. Several international media agencies were taken in, particularly by a fake post on March 18.
Mr Lee breathed his last at 3.18am on March 23.

As Singaporeans woke up to the news, many swarmed the Istana gates - Mr Lee's office was at the Istana - to leave flowers, lit candles and condolence messages.

Beyond the gates, at Sri Temasek, the official residence of the Prime Minister, Mr Lee's family held a private family wake for two days.

The rest of Singapore sought solace at community clubs, including the Tanjong Pagar Community Club.
As the crowds grew, another 17 tribute centres were opened by the People's Association, with 10 staying open round the clock.

The rich and poor, able-bodied and wheelchair-bound, Singaporeans and foreigners: all came to pay their respects.

Older folk recounted the many events they linked to Mr Lee, especially the day he cried on television in 1965 when announcing that Singapore had been kicked out of Malaysia, and how he spearheaded a campaign to clean up Singapore's rivers. Teenagers who had only read about the man in history books felt, for the first time, the weight of his legacy.

It sparked discussions about what Mr Lee and other pioneer leaders, even those who bitterly opposed him, had achieved for the country. These continue today, even as the first phase of public consultation for a Founders' Memorial concluded last week.

Most Singaporeans feel a deep sense of gratitude for Mr Lee's pragmatism and fervour in having a clean government as well as a meritocratic, multiracial and multi-religious society.

Still, the long queues at Parliament House, where Mr Lee's body was lying in state, surprised many. More than 450,000 people paid their respects over four days.

At its peak, tens of thousands endured 10 hours of waiting in line under a blazing sun for a brief moment and sight of Mr Lee's casket.

The overwhelming response prompted government officials to extend visiting times not once, but twice within the first day of public mourning. Instead of getting to pay their respects for 10 hours a day, people could do so round the clock.

One of the many tributes was from the MPs, at a special Parliament sitting convened on Thursday, March 26. In a stirring address, Defence Minister and then-Leader of the House Ng Eng Hen talked about how Mr Lee had led Singapore in chaotic times and through tough measures, like extending work hours, that paid off only later.

Reflecting the respect Mr Lee commanded internationally, flags were flown at half-mast in New Zealand and India on the day of his funeral . Former US president Bill Clinton, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Indonesian President Joko Widodo and Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak were among the world's leaders who flew in to attend the proceedings.

But at the final count, it was the people of Singapore, who mattered most to Mr Lee, that gave him the most poignant farewell on Sunday, March 29. In pouring rain, they came out to line the 15.4km route his cortege travelled for an hour, from Parliament House to the state funeral service in Kent Ridge.

While some wore ponchos and carried umbrellas, many went without. One man told reporters that Mr Lee went through much more than mere storms to bring Singapore to where it was today.

At the funeral, telecast live, President Tony Tan Keng Yam and Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong were among 10 people who delivered eulogies. Later, a private funeral was held for the Lee family to say goodbye to their patriarch who loved his family in his own stoic way.

As Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said: "The light that has guided us all these years has been extinguished." But in death, Mr Lee Kuan Yew has fired up the Singapore spirit, giving people renewed purpose to honour him by moving forward - and upwards.

Source: The Sunday Times 20 Dec 2015

What The Government Is Doing To Keep Singapore Safe - Cyber Security

Cyber security is becoming a key concern, whether it is for the Government, banks, telcos or other infrastructural agencies, DPM Teo Chee Hean said in an interview with CNA.

International cooperation will also be crucial, as cyber-attack methods cross digital and physical borders.

Singapore has looked beyond its shores to strengthen its cyber defences, partnering countries such as India and the United States to cooperate and share expertise in this field.
 
“Inherent in cyber security often is that the attacks are either mounted or routed through other countries’ servers, individuals and so on,” said Mr Teo. “So even if the mastermind is your own national, the likelihood is that you will route it through servers and paths that pass through many other countries.

“The entire enterprise may well be housed and located abroad. So this is an area in which countries inherently need to cooperate with each other.”

Such cooperation is already beginning to pay off. Mr Teo said the international team at the INTERPOL Global Complex for Innovation, also set up this year, has carried out several successful operations to counter specific cyber-crime threats.

They include the use of stolen credit card data to fraudulent purchase of air tickets for use by criminal groups.

TRUST: Our Defence And Resilence. Build It

Should a terrorist attack ever befall Singapore, our social cohesion must not be allowed to fracture, DPM Teo Chee Hean said in an interview with CNA.

"Trust is a very fragile thing. You can never take it for granted," he said.

"It’s something which you have to work on all the time, every day, to make sure that where there are potential points of friction, you try and deal with them beforehand; where something actually comes up, you manage it in a constructive way."

Trust is also our greatest defence to rally together, reject the attack and rebuild in the aftermath.

"(It) provides us with a reservoir of strength and resilience should we ever face an attack," he said.

Promises Kept, Not Empty Promises

A nation is built on PROMISES KEPT.

Not on populist cry or empty promises made for the purpose of winning votes but are forgotten when the hustings are over.

And a true leader is one who is not afraid to make good but unpopular decisions.

Photo credit: Fabrications About The PAP

Looking Back At 23 March 2015

The day Mr Lee died is still vivid in the memory of General Paper (GP) teacher, Mr Sum. Mar 23 was also the first day of Term Two for students and lessons had to go on.

"It was really an educator's dilemma because: What do you do as a teacher? Because this is live material," said Mr Sum.

A documentary he watched that morning on Mr Lee helped resolve that dilemma, inspiring a last-minute change in his lesson plans for the week.

It turned out to be a GP lesson he now intends to repeat every year.

Said Mr Sum: "Even as an older Singaporean, I was not aware of the material and background behind the policy that they made, and I thought: 'Come on, the young ones need to know this'.

"I I tried to put together a lesson and themed it legacy and greatness. So I decided to just wing it, 15 years of teaching, I think I can manage this. I let the students watch the footage and from there I facilitated discussion".

Mr Sum added: "Some of them chose to write to Mr Lee to thank him, some wrote to Mr Lee Hsien Loong's family to show support and offer of prayers."

"yao" (耀) - Chinese character of the year.

"yao" (耀) - Chinese character of the year.

That's the choice of readers of Lianhe Zaobao.

It's a brilliant yet poignant choice to describe Singapore's golden jubilee year.

While the word has several connotations including radiance, brilliance and glorious, it is notable for also being the third character of the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew's name (李光耀).

Lianhe Zaobao editor Mr Goh Sin Teck said:

"Although this character can be linked to various news events, the news that will first come to people's mind would still be the passing of our founding Prime Minister Mr Lee Kuan Yew.

"This shows that when readers look back at the major events of the year, the one that leaves the deepest impression is our shared memories of the seven days in March."

No real democracy without a loyal opposition: David Marshall

To opposition parties in Singapore, democracy is defined by opposition parties winning in an election. As long as they do not win, there is no democracy, never mind that there are free elections. 

To the Workers' Party, democracy is defined by how many members they have in parliament. 

"There is no real democracy without a loyal opposition," so said David Marshall, founder of Workers' Party who later quit the party after being played out by party members. 

The current Workers' Party will do well to listen to what their founder had to say of a 'loyal opposition' instead of 'sweeping under the carpet' their mistakes.

"There is no real democracy without a loyal opposition. I emphasise loyal opposition' that would prevent you from sweeping under the carpet the mistakes you are making, that would open your eyes to other potential ways of improving the quality of life of the people." - David Marshall. 

For an enduring Singapore....The future of us is your duty and mine.

Lee Kuan Yew: Life is better when it is short, healthy and full

Speech by Mr Lee Kuan Yew delivered at the 5th Asian-Pacific Congress of Cardiology Delegates dinner at Shangri-La hotel in Singapore on Oct 13, 1972.

"Life is better when it is short, healthy and full"

I am overawed to find myself in the presence of so many eminent heart specialists. It's a daunting prospect to have to talk to some 500 people who, even as I speak, will run their professional eye up and down me, checking my age against my weight, height, the amount of alcohol I may be showing, either on my countenance or lack of crispness in my speech.

The reason I am here, of course, is that your chairman gives me an annual check-up to see whether the old ticker is degenerating faster than it should.

Every year, we go through the routine: electrocardiogram (ECG) lying down; ECG sitting up; ECG, after going up and down steps at a certain speed for several minutes; ECG to discover how quickly the pattern returns to normal after this exercise.

Each time, I leave a little encouraged. He knows I am suspicious. So he never tells me that all is well. His is the subtle approach - a quiet nod and a hum of satisfaction as he runs through the stream of paper graphing my heartbeat, and the very audible asides to my general physician about an athlete's heart.

It gladdens mine.

He knows that I read up all the medical articles in magazines ostensibly meant for more than just the average layman.

He knows I cut out saturated fat - lean meat, preferably beef, only selected parts of mutton and pork, and that only occasionally. Even in vegetable oils, some are to be avoided like coconut, which is saturated.

Yet, despite all this hotchpotch collection of dos and don'ts from articles and tips from friends like Professor Monteiro, I had all this while laboured under a grave misconception - that the heart should never be strained, that as one gets older, one should be careful not to push the ticker too hard.

So violent exercises like badminton and squash are to be eschewed. More leisurely ones unlikely to induce cardiac failure, like golf or swimming, are for me.

Then, one day, I was playing golf with a surgeon friend. He had read up the latest on aerobics.

He said the heart should be pushed to its uttermost limits to dilate all the arteries throughout the body and in the heart itself, and to increase the pulse rate to its maximum, for as long as possible.

It will improve heart muscle tone, and after a few weeks, the lethargic feeling will go.

I asked him if he had tried it out himself. Well, he said, running on the spot for him, bringing his knees as high up to his chest as possible, that was difficult because he was well in his 50s. So he walked on the spot.

But he assured me that he had got quite a few friends who had complained of feeling lethargic and slothful to run on the spot, more and more minutes each day, and now, they are almost bursting in song with a spring in their steps.

None has dropped down dead.

I asked him whether they were his friends or his guinea pigs. He countered that it was the results of experiments by a Canadian heart specialist.

He recounted a case of a Canadian pilot who was invalided because of heart problems. After one year of aerobics he had his pilot's licence and status restored.

This sounded convincing. So I tried it, but cautiously. I walked on the spot.

Nothing happened. So I began to run, but gently, on the spot. Still no ill-effects.

So I increased it day by day. Then, one day after a round of golf, I ran for five minutes.

Before that, I got my surgeon to take my pulse rate. He said it was normal, 70 plus. After five minutes, "Marvellous, 140."

After three to four minutes, back to 70-plus. Marvellous! Young man's heart, was his verdict.

If only I had known earlier, I would have been younger at heart all these past years!

My belief: Life is better short, healthy and full than long, unhealthy and dismal. We all have to die. I hope mine will be painless. As (Charles) de Gaulle said, "Never fear, even de Gaulle must die", and he did. And how lucky - heart failure during sleep.

Of course, it is preferable to die at home in one's bed - not in a motel. Just think of the embarrassment to one's children, all the gossip that the extra excitement of unaccustomed company caused a defective heart to falter.

When I was a young man, I considered the various professions that might be satisfying and fulfilling. I ruled out medicine. It was too noble. The oath of Hippocrates - to keep alive a patient as long as possible.

Sometimes, as I cast my mind back to my teenage years, I wonder, perhaps, whether I should not have been a doctor.

Never mind the nobility. It's a marvellous profession, the Hippocratic oath: Everything should be done to keep the patient alive.

Patients are kept alive longer with tremendous leaps in knowledge, breakthroughs in both medication and surgery.

And, of course, it creates more demands for services of doctors.

Like the car, so the body. When the carburettor gives way - repair or change it. When the piston rings wear out - change them. When the pistons get too small for the cylinder bore - grind-bore the engine block and put bigger pistons.

If the piston block cracks, put in a new piston block. Better still, take the whole engine out and put a brand new one.

Then door-hinges give way - change hinges, if necessary, change doors. Constantly repaint and retouch. With every passing year, it becomes more expensive to keep the car going.

So beyond a certain point - I think the third year - it becomes more economical to sell the car and replace it.

Now, in America, the economics have been worked out one stage further: Don't buy a car, lease it for two years.

If only one could do that with life! There is no point in owning a decrepit body with daily deterioration making it ever more expensive to stay alive. But you cannot change the human body. So it is good for doctors.

Your heart timing is wrong, they put in a timing device.

Then something else, like the kidney, gives way, in which case a kidney machine will keep the patient alive for years and years. But for what purpose?

Then transplants, just like spare parts in cars, and cortisones to prevent rejection of transplants, and sterile conditions to avoid infection, which with cortisones will be hard to detect.

It is a marvellous never-ending process. Each discovery prolongs life and moves the degenerative failure to some other part of the body.

The medical profession is the biggest and best trade union of all unions. It is a closed shop in all countries, and in some countries, even when you cross state boundaries, they make you become an intern or a houseman for many years before you are allowed to practise on your own.

Every breakthrough in medical science prolonging life creates more patients, as degenerative failures take place in some other part of the human physiology. And now geriatrics and gerontology have become respectable, but not yet lucrative branches of medicine because pensioners get poorer with galloping inflation in so many Western countries. So knowing this, the medical profession now promises, or holds out the prospect, not only of prolonging life but also of prolonging youth. This is an entirely different proposition. That means the man or the woman can work and make the money to pay his medical bills, which his pension cannot afford him to do.

Tonight, I have a unique occasion of some 500 heart specialists as a captive audience.

Can I say that the kindest thing you can do for me - if ever I have a partial cardiac failure or a stroke - is to let me die as painlessly as possible.

Nothing is more pitiful than to have stroke after stroke after stroke, with each one, both physical movement and intellectual capacity reduced until one becomes a vegetable.

One evening at dinner last year, I had a morbid discussion over coffee. My guest had coffee and liqueur. I stuck to my wine.

We discussed the right to die - euthanasia.

He was a very high-powered American executive. He had thought the whole question through.

He said: "But after the first stroke, and when the time has come to make the decision, one finds life is still sweet. And you will not make the request to die."

I said: "In that case, make the request before the event."

He said: "You will withdraw it when the event occurs, or you may not be in fit mental condition to exercise your judgment."

I countered: "In that case, let the decision be taken by a close relative or a friend." He said: "A close relative? God forbid, he is after your money! He may believe he is in your will."

I said: "Then a friend." He said: "He may be such a good friend that he believes, despite the fact that you are only 30 per cent of what you were, it is still worth giving you that 30 per cent and he will keep you alive."

There will never be a final solution to the problem of life and death, other than death itself.

And whether it is philosophy or logic or medicine or morality or law, we are all human beings with human imperfections, both as individuals and as societies.

And Singapore is an imperfect society.

But I hope, despite all the imperfections, you have found some pleasure in having come here.

As long as we live, remember 2015

2015 has been an emotional year.

It is the year when we have to bid goodbye to our founding father Lee Kuan Yew. It is also the year of our jubilee celebration.

“This emotional year has left a deep mark on all of us, individually and as a society,” Mr Lee Hsien Loong said on Sunday (Dec 6) at the PAP Convention.

Whether one is a pioneer or a young student, there was a collective “moment of grief” when the late Mr Lee died and a “moment of celebration” when Singaporeans sang the national anthem and recited the pledge on National Day, he added.

“So for all of us here, because of 2015, I think we have a new consciousness; we were changed,” said Mr Lee. “As long as we live, remember this year.”

We are now in the post-LKY era and the SG50 celebrations are coming to an end but the Singapore spirit must live on and the people must “build on what we’ve experienced together”.

Fullerton Hotel gazetted a national monument

The stunning Fullerton Hotel with its neoclassical architecture, formerly Fullerton Building, is gazetted today as a national monument in a ceremony officiated by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong..

PM Lee said the building holds special meaning to Singaporeans, who remember it fondly as the General Post Office, and as an important point of reference for public roads such as Mile Zero.

He added that he has personal memories of the place, as it was at Fullerton Square that political parties held lunchtime rallies during General Elections.

"Mr Lee Kuan Yew would speak at the PAP rally, always a major event in the campaign, and delivered many stirring and memorable speeches usually in the sun or in the pouring rain. My mother would listen to him from the balcony of the Fullerton Building.

"When I first entered politics in 1984, I too spoke at the Fullerton Square rally," said PM Lee.

Multiple historic events and milestones in Singapore's history have taken place within its walls.

It was where the British military made the decision to surrender to the Japanese; where the Japanese military administration department operated during World War II; and where Singapore Government departments such as the Ministry of Finance used to be housed.

The building also once had a lighthouse which guided ships into the Singapore Harbour. The lighthouse was installed on top of the building in 1958 to guide ships 30 miles away. It replaced the lighthouse on Fort Canning which was increasingly being blocked by new skyscrapers along the waterfront. The lighthouse was replaced by the Bedok Lighthouse in August 1978. 

Read more here: http://www.nhb.gov.sg/places/sites-and-monuments/national-monuments/former-fullerton-building

As One United People To Ensure Success

Excerpts from PM Lee's speech (8th S Rajaratnam lecture):

To be successful, we have to be united regardless race, language and religion "in order that we are not divided when we conduct our foreign policy and not weakened by others, taking advantage of our internal schisms."

We may be Indian Singaporeans, Malay Singaporeans or Chinese Singaporeans, but above all, we are Singaporeans first. We have to see the world through Singaporean eyes and advance Singapore's interests and our common interest.

We must be determined that we want to be Singaporean, to stand up in the world, and to be a shining red dot.

As Mr Rajaratnam said – "Being Singaporean is a matter not of ancestry, but of choice and conviction". If we make that choice and we have that conviction that we want Singapore to endure and prevail, then the rest can follow.

http://www.pmo.gov.sg/mediacentre/pm-lee-hsien-loong-8th-s-rajaratnam-lecture-27-november-2015

United Politically To Ensure Success: A Loyal Opposition

PM Lee Hsien Loong said at the 8th S Rajaratnam lecture that to be successful, Singapore must stay united politically.

This does not mean no domestic politics or political opposition.

It means that we must have an opposition that will understand Singapore’s fundamental interests in the world and will not seek to undermine Singapore's fundamental interest, either to court foreign support or to gain political points.

It means that after elections, government and opposition come together especially when we deal with other countries.

He cited Mr Chiam See Tong as one such opposition who when he travels overseas, either in an official delegation or as a Parliamentary delegate, he stands up for Singapore and closes ranks.

That is the norm which should really prevail in Singapore.

Sincere And Humble In Service

P
AP Convention 2015

A reminder to be sincere and humble in service and not to take voters for granted.

Giant On Global Stage: Addressing A Joint Session Of Congress in 1985

Then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew had the rare honour of addressing a joint session of Congress in October 1985. He received a very long standing ovation at the end of his speech.

The video recording of the speech is found here: http://www.c-span.org/video/?171712-1%2Fprime-minister-singapore-addressed-joint-session-congress

However, due to the age of the original video, much of the footage is gone. The speech by Mr Lee is available only from 1 hour onwards.


His speech: http://www.nas.gov.sg/archivesonline/data/pdfdoc/lky19851009.pdf

ST Asian Of The Year: Regardless Of Race, Language Or Religion, A Nation Grieves

There is no life here he did not touch or shape in some fundamental way.

In life, Mr Lee Kuan Yew was for many years a ubiquitous figure, tough-minded and stern in the popular imagination.

In death, he drew the nation together in grief and prompted a renewed reflection of what it meant to be Singaporean.

It was a silent emotional bond, all the more powerful because it had hardly been publicly displayed before. And it persisted long after the official mourning period had ended.

Mr Lee formulated the need and basis for a multiracial, meritocratic Singaporean identity - based on justice and equality for all races and religions - very early on, and it was no coincidence his death also led to its fullest expression on the streets.

Lee Kuan Yew: ST Asian of the Year

There is no life here that Mr Lee Kuan Yew did not touch or shape in some fundamental way.

Tanglin Halt resident Sayuti Dahlan, 82, remembered that, as a young man in his 20s, he would cycle from Pasir Panjang to Tanjong Pagar to attend rallies where Mr Lee would give powerful speeches.

Standing on a stationary, open- topped lorry, he would shout: "The British think we are stupid. But I will show them that the people of Singapore can and will have merdeka (freedom)."

Mr Dahlan underlined a defining characteristic of the founding Prime Minister's legacy:

"Mr Lee never used the words Chinese or Malay or Indian to describe us. He always said Singaporeans."

ST Asian Of The Year: GIANT ON THE GLOBAL STAGE

Steering from the bow of a small island nation in the Asia-Pacific, Mr Lee Kuan Yew's impact on the world was far bigger than the geopolitical space he occupied.

The last leader to have been shaped directly by World War II, his influence on China is well-documented, the product of years of painstaking effort.

Mr Lee visited China over 30 times, nurturing relationships with five generations of China's leaders, from Mao Zedong to President Xi Jinping. But he had the biggest impact on Deng Xiaoping, who was impressed by Mr Lee's successful mix of strong government and free markets.

Mr Lee provided an account of Mr Deng's catalytic four-day visit to Singapore in 1978 in his 2013 book, One Man's View Of The World. Over dinner, he writes, Mr Deng congratulated him. "I asked him what for, and he said, 'You've got a beautiful city, a garden city'."

Mr Lee answered that China could do better than Singapore, a sentiment that Deng repeated in 1992, during his famous Southern Tour. "Ah, he has not forgotten what I told him," Mr Lee writes, remembering with satisfaction.

Nearly four decades later, when the benefits of China's transformation had long become clear and at least 300 million had been lifted out of poverty, Premier Li Keqiang offered a tribute on Mr Lee's death.

Mr Lee's "contributions towards China's reform and opening up will be recorded in history", he said.

President Xi, who referred to Mr Lee as "our senior who has our respect", said his death was "a loss to the international community".

Across the Pacific, in the United States, Mr Lee was a treasured friend, adviser and mentor to several senators, congressmen and former functionaries. "I often arranged his visits in Washington, but it was not easy to put in order the many applicants who wanted to see him," said former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger.

A visit by Mr Lee was a kind of national event, Dr Kissinger wrote in an obituary. "That he would see the President was a matter of course. But in addition, he would see key Cabinet members. Senators, too, wanted to see him. And why? He did not talk about Singapore. He told them what they ought to do. He facilitated their reflection on their own role in the world.

"I looked at him as a teacher. I learnt much from him."

Mr Lee had a direct line to US presidents from Richard Nixon to Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush, who sought his views on China. President Barack Obama hailed him as a "legendary figure of Asia in the 20th and 21st centuries".

Former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher was another admirer, saying that he was "never wrong" in his reading. "Prime Minister, an hour's talk with you is itself worth a journey halfway round the world and farther still," she said at an Istana banquet in April 1985.

Mr Helmut Schmidt, the former West German chancellor, also counted Mr Lee as a close friend. At 93, defying a blood clot in his leg which ultimately contributed to his death last month, Mr Schmidt travelled to Singapore in May 2012 for what was to be their last meeting. "We need leadership figures. We need people like Harry Lee," Mr Schmidt said afterwards.

Why was Mr Lee so admired by foreign leaders? "Because of his intellectual brilliance, his power of analysis and judgment, his eloquence and charisma, and his willingness to share his candid and disinterested views. His longevity also gave him an advantage as he evolved from being the brilliant prime minister of Singapore to being a wise elder statesman," Singapore's Ambassador-at-large Tommy Koh said in an article for The Straits Times.

In a testament to the deep regard for him across the globe, Mr Lee's funeral was attended by leaders from 23 countries, including the Malaysian King, Sultan Abdul Halim Mu'adzam Shah, Indonesian President Joko Widodo, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

India and New Zealand declared a day of mourning and flew their flags at half-mast. A village in Tamil Nadu held a procession in his memory and a bus driver named his newborn child after him. A bust of Mr Lee was unveiled last month in Barcelona's Cap Roig Gardens, which he had visited a decade ago.

His memoirs, and other books distilling his insights, like Lee Kuan Yew: The Man And His Ideas and Vintage Lee, continue to carry his ideas, translated in many languages from Croatian to Myanmarese.


http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/st-asian-of-the-year-lee-kuan-yew-giant-on-the-global-stage

Value Of 38 Oxley Road To Be Donated To Charities

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his brother Lee Hsien Yang will each donate half the value of the Oxley Road house of their father, the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew, to charities named in the obituary notice, the Prime Minister announced on Facebook on Friday (Dec 4). Mr Lee Kuan Yew passed away on March 23 2015.

The eight charities are:

Education Fund
NTUC-U Care Fund
Garden City Fund
CDAC
Mendaki
Association of Muslim Professionals
Sinda
Eurasian Association

"Speaking as the children of the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew, Mr Lee Hsien Loong, Dr Lee Wei Ling and Mr Lee Hsien Yang hope the government will allow the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew's wish for the demolition of the house to be honoured and that all Singaporeans will support their cause." - LHL, 2015

In his lifetime, Lee Kuan Yew donated all of his earnings since 1991 to charities. This amounted to over $12 million.

Over a period of 5 years beginning 2007, his son Lee Hsien Loong donated over $3 million of his salary to charities.

In 2012, he further donated another $350,000 of his salary to establish three new awards to promote community bonding, encourage Singaporeans to pursue careers in social service, and recognise young arts talent. (http://bit.ly/2mUnHhw)

He also donated some money to MOE, to set up the “Lee Hsien Loong Interactive Digital Media (IDM) Smart Nation Award” for polytechnic students in 2016. (http://bit.ly/2oftzSy)

Social Policy, Singapore Style: Lessons for US

We have disadvantaged families and individuals in Singapore, but we don’t have a single disadvantaged neighborhood.” This was one of the most striking statements from Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister, speaking here at Brookings earlier this week at an event on Housing, inclusion, and social equity.

Singapore has little choice but to manage its housing market closely: it has a population of 5.5 million people on an island of just 278 square miles, the equivalent of the entire population of Denmark living in a city the size of Lexington, Kentucky. But as a nation born by accident and populated by immigrants, Singapore has taken the additional step of effectively forcing geographical integration. There are, for example, legal caps on the proportion of people from a particular ethnic group who can live in a particular neighborhood, or even apartment block.

“This is intrusive,” admitted Shanmugaratnam. Some people, he conceded, would describe this kind of policy as social engineering. They would indeed. But his point was that policymakers end up as social engineers whether they like it or not. The question is simply whether they do their work “upstream,” by preventing segregation and concentrated poverty, or “downstream,” using policy to try and deal with the consequences of segregation. This was a lesson not lost on the Americans in the audience. It was perhaps the most thoughtful argument for progressive paternalism I have heard.

The Deputy Prime Minister insisted that social policy should not simply be seen as a “residual” of economic policy, something we pay for once we’ve secured growth, but as an important element in creating economic stability and success. For example, one result of Singapore’s strict neighborhood integration policies has been to ensure that home values increase across the board, which keeps wealth inequality in check:
                                          
To say that the U.S. is in a different situation would be an understatement. While Singaporean public policy has acted specifically to prevent segregation, American policy has mostly done exactly the opposite, through racist laws, practices and attitudes. As Margery Turner of the Urban Institute put it, we have “social engineered ourselves into the current situation”

One big takeaway: while Singaporean social interventionism is not on the cards, it is clear that U.S. policy makers will have to be much, much more intentional about integration.

By Richard V. Reeves

 http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/social-mobility-memos/posts/2015/12/02-social-policy-singapore-style-reeves

Tharman: Public Housing And Social Integration Go Hand In Hand

Public housing and social integration go hand in hand, DPM Tharman Shanmugaratnam said at a Brookings Institution conference centred on the theme "housing, inclusion and social equity".

Public housing that avoids any kind of segregation is at the core of social policies that have promoted cohesion and economic vitality in Singapore.

“The secret sauce is our neighbourhoods, the composition of them and the way they are designed so as to maximise interactions and give us the best chance of achieving an integrated community,” said Mr Tharman.

"It's not just about the numbers - the balance of ethnic groups in different neighbourhoods - it's about the everyday experiences. It's walking the corridors and taking the same elevators as your neighbours every day; it's the way the kids grow up together in the playgrounds and in the primary school nearby; it's about the peers in the neighbourhood. Neighbourhoods matter, the culture of neighbourhoods matter, but it doesn't come about by accident," he said in his keynote address.

When it came to social interventions, the Singapore government had decided to jump in upstream instead of downstream - even if some consider the measures to be intrusive social engineering.

"You either engage in social interventions or, if you like social engineering, by design, as intelligently as you can, under the best public purposes in mind or you engage in social interventions and engineering by default. And typically, if you do it by default, once problems have accumulated, the problems are larger, they are more intractable and they are more expensive," he said during the dialogue after his speech.

Mr Tharman also said that just as the invisible hand of the market can produce inefficient outcomes, social forces can push society apart.

"Financial markets can also be extremely inefficient even in economic terms, as we know from the global financial crisis. The consensus has shifted and it would be crazy to think we can do without regulating markets.

"We also know that societies don't naturally trend towards some equilibrium, they don't naturally trend towards harmony, and particularly ethnic and religious accommodation and harmony. It's not a natural tendency of society, it's not part of the natural workings of society that you get people wanting more and more to live with people who are different from them," he said.

"So we need the visible hand of public policy to mitigate the invisible hand of markets, both the economic market as well as the invisible hand of social forces."

H e explained that in Singapore, this intervention cut across many different policies.

Besides building small flats next to big ones and setting housing quotas to ensure that racial enclaves do not form, he stressed that it was crucial to have quality public spaces, high standards of service and rejuvenation to ensure estates do not fall into disrepair, and good access to jobs and good schools.

"The policies of integration that I've described... have given society something for free, a bonus. It has given us home equity appreciation for the lower income group, no less than for those in the middle and above. It would not be possible if they were living in an enclave by themselves or a neighbourhood by themselves, which is common in many cities.

"By designing neighbourhoods so they are mixed for all income groups and with high quality shared spaces, attractive for everyone to live in, everyone's home equity goes up," he said.

"We have disadvantaged persons, we have disadvantaged families, we have at-risk youth, but we don't have disadvantaged neighbourhoods in Singapore, and we don't have an at-risk neighbourhood. That's a big difference," he added.