Lee Kuan Yew as told by Irene Ng

The night before a heart operation, Mr Lee Kuan Yew refused to rest.

He felt it was more important to be talking to young Singaporeans about the future of the country and their role in it.

So that was what he did on March 14, 1996.

For more than 2½ hours, he was on his feet in full flow, engaging about 1,700 undergraduates at the Nanyang Technological University (NTU).

Using his wealth of political experience and wit, he exhorted them to learn from the mistakes he had observed abroad, and to back leaders who would take the long-term decisions needed to prevent Singapore from becoming just another slow-growing developed country.

Meanwhile, his wife, Mrs Lee, who sat in a front row seat, was beside herself with worry.

Her face was etched with concern as she watched him go on for an hour longer than scheduled.

Earlier, she had tried to persuade Mr Lee, who was then Senior Minister and 73, to put off the forum at the NTU.

A devoted wife, she wanted to minimise all risks for Mr Lee, who had a blockage in his coronary artery.

The next day, he was due to undergo balloon angioplasty to insert a stent - his second heart operation in two months, after an earlier procedure to widen the artery failed to work.

But Mr Lee insisted on keeping his date with the young Singaporeans.

Driven by his strong sense of mission, he wanted to help them understand how the country got to where it was and how to avoid the pitfalls that troubled other advanced countries.

As he said later: "They have grown up in a time of growing security and comfort and, by the time they learnt the pitfalls, it may be too late. So, why not try to lessen it?"

Throughout his life, his concern for the younger generation never slackened.

On the contrary, it grew stronger in the face of his old age and certain mortality.

By Irene Ng, former journalist and MP.

Lee Kuan Yew: A humble lifestyle

Not many people have been inside Mr Lee Kuan Yew's bedroom.

But five years ago, I stood within its austere walls and learnt a little more about the great man.

It was April 11, 2010, and I was among a group of friends who were visiting Mr Lee's daughter, Dr Lee Wei Ling, at their Oxley Road home.

When she showed us her father's bedroom, we could hear him in the adjoining room reading to his wife, Madam Kwa Geok Choo.

She had become bed-ridden after a series of strokes.

Mr Lee, known for his fiery speeches, spoke in a gentle voice as he read to her from The Sunday Times.

She was not able to answer him but, without fail, he read to the love of his life every single day - alternating between news, her favourite poems and novels - for 18 months until her death in October 2010.

His room was spartan. A single bed was the main piece of furniture. On it was a thin towel blanket and a small bolster. I did not see a pillow.

The screen of his computer, on a desk beside the bed, flickered as e-mails arrived.

Sitting on the floor was a solid red briefcase, the subject of our visit to his bedroom. It was a "parliamentary red box" used by ministers in the British government, and the Queen herself, to hold and transport official documents.

Mr Lee was probably the only person in Singapore to still use it.

Amused that we had not seen one before, Dr Lee had asked "Pa" for permission for us to see the box.

He did not object. But he did not interrupt his reading to come out from the room.

SPARTAN

The rest of the old two-storey house was equally spartan.

The downstairs bathroom, for instance, still held a hamdankong (Cantonese for barrel or tub used for making salted eggs), a large clay urn filled with water for bathing, old-school style, complete with a plastic scoop.

Its mosaic tiles, some a little chipped, had been popular in the 1970s.

The chairs in the house were mismatched, giving off an eclectic feel.

An ancient exercise bike stood in one corner, gathering dust. It was nothing to look at - a bicycle mounted on a stand, but I learnt that Mr Lee had exercised on it for decades, well into his 70s, until he fell off one day.

Although the model had been replaced by a more modern one, the trusty old bike still retained its place in the 100-year-old home.

Between 1960 and 2011, Singapore's per capita gross domestic product surged more than 100-fold.

But the Lees' modest home remained largely unchanged in that time and had become dwarfed by the multi-million dollar, multi-storey bungalows that sprang up around it.

Its floor was made up of longitudinal strips of wood with the varnish already peeling off. Its garden was lush with trees and plants that had flourished over the years.

The family cat, Manis (Malay for sweet), sat quietly licking itself.

The home was filled with memories.

Its basement dining room had witnessed the beginnings of a political party that would go on to shape modern Singapore.

One could imagine the thoughts and conversations that went on within its walls that would translate to actions to take Singapore from Third World to First.

In another room in the house, another son of Singapore has grown up, like his father, to become Prime Minister.

Like its occupants, its foundations have stayed true and strong. The visit brought home to me what really matters in life.

- Judith Tan
This article was published on March 26 in The New Paper.

Defend Singapore

"If you who are growing up do not understand 

that you've got to defend this country, 

then I say in the end we will lose."

- LEE KUAN YEW

Multiculturism as a distinctive feature of our national identity

The occasion: To celebrate Chinese New Year.

The spread of food: Typically Singaporean, with Malay satay and Indian roti prata, as well as traditional Chinese fare like dim sum.

As the guests prepared to tuck in, Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam gave them some food for thought.

Pointing to his presence at the annual Chinese reception, he said: "It's normal, not a novelty or something very unusual."

Multiracial and multi-cultural. That's a distinctive quality of Singapore that Mr Tharman wants to reinforce as part of our national identity.

He delivered his Chinese New Year greetings in Mandarin, received oranges and handed hongbao to a child.

The annual reception is organised by the Singapore Federation of Chinese Clan Associations (SFCCA), networking group Business China and the Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre (SCCC).

Mr Tharman suggested three vital ingredients for enriching Singapore's uniqueness.

1. Evolve, adapt and strengthen our own cultures and take a keen interest in each other's cultures and participate in them wherever possible.

"This will allow us to deepen our Singapore identity, and take real pride in multiculturalism in Singapore," he added.

2. Integrate new immigrants so that they can understand and preserve Singapore's multicultural ways,

This could include helping them learn some local languages, and mixing with the local community.

"If we do it well, over time they too will contribute to evolving our culture, but very importantly, it also means ensuring immigrants assimilate within our multicultural environment," he said.

3. Maintain the Singaporean quality of giving back to society, schools and community groups.

"There is something in our cultural identities that was about the ethos of contributing to the community," he said, adding it was for this very reason of helping each other that clan associations were formed.

While this came naturally to a generation that went through great hardship, the quality needs to be nurtured in today's young, Mr Tharman said.

TOTAL DEFENCE DAY

The defence of our counry is our responsibility and ours alone.

The FIVE PILLARS of Total Defence:

Psychological defence
Social defence
Military defence
Economic defence
Civil defence

Don't take what we have for granted. And don't allow ourselves to be weakened by those who seek to sow discord and divide us.

Total Defence involves everyone of us, individually and collectively playing our part. A strong, secure and cohesive nation that is prepared and ready to deal with any crisis!

Treasure and guard what we have for ourselves and future generations - for an enduring future.

Photo credit: Fabrications About The PAP

TODAY IN HISTORY - 15 Feb 1942 and the Fall of Singapore

It was Chinese New Year but there was absolutely no joy in celebrating it. The country was in shambles.

A Japanese flag could he seen flying from the top of the Cathay Building! Was this the end?

9.30 am:
Gen. Percival convened his most senior officers at the Battlebox for the latest status reports.

Brigadier Simson reported that water supply could not be maintained for more than a day due to breakages everywhere which could not be repaired. Water was still flowing despite the pumps and reservoir being in enemy’s hands!

The only fuel left were what remained in each vehicle and at a small pump at the Polo Club.

Reserved military rations could last for only a few more days.

With unanimous concurrence of all present, the decision to cease hostilities and to capitulate was made.

A deputation comprising Brigadier Newbigging, HQ Chief Admin Officer, the Colonial Secretary Mr Fraser and Major CH Wild as interpreter, left Fort Canning for the enemy lines at Bukit Timah Road.

At the junction of Farrer Road, they proceeded on foot with Union Flag and a white flag across the defence line for 600 yards where they were met by the Japanese soldiers.

They were later met by Col Sugita who refused their ‘invitation’ to the City for negotiations. Instead, Col Sugita demanded that Gen.Percival was to personally surrender to Gen.Yamashita.

To acknowledge this condition, the British were to fly a Japanese Flag from the top of the Cathay Building.

5.15pm:
The British surrender party drove up to the Bukit Timah Ford Motors factory.

The delegation was made up of Lt-Gen AE Percival, Brigadier Newbigging, Brigadier Torrance, Gen Staff Officer Malaya Command, and Major Wild, the interpreter from III Corps.

Though Gen.Percival tried to negotiate for some terms for his men, Gen Yamashita thought that he was playing for time and pressed Percival for an unconditional surrender, telling him that a major attack on the City was scheduled for 10.30pm that night and any delay, he might not be able to call off the operation in time.

“The time for the night attack is drawing near! Is the British Army going to surrender or not?”

Banging the table he shouted in English “Answer YES or NO.”

6.10 pm:
Gen.Percival signed the surrender document, handing Singapore over to the Japanese Empire.

Photo: 15 February, 1942 The Surrender (photo Imperial War Museum London)

bit.ly/1PW5F5b

THE COUPLE - By Tan Swie Hian

The always awake has fallen peacefully asleep
The holding hands have to let go
The final verse of a poem read a thousand times
Follows the last leaf falling
Be it in the era of flames of war
Or in the homeland of emerald green
All have ceased to remain
Save the virtuous and wise leading all virtues
To remain forever in the sky
None has ever heard you make a saying in public
Beyond the Women's Charter
Or the blissful Singapore River banks
In the shining classics of Asia
You have only found a long contained footnote
That after the complete equal of both genders
You say you are a traditional Asian wife choosing
To take respectfully two steps slower than him
The sky is a looking up
At a model a distance far and skywards
The standing is as monumental
The gait as wearing jade ornaments
And the holding fragrant orchids
Looking at the time and space where life changes
Just no one has ever returned from there
As it just can't be helped
Sorrow knows no end for the motherless children
Sorrow knows no end for the remaining parent

A painting that began on Valentine's Day in 2009 and went through a baptism of fire.

Tan Swie Hian is one of Singapore's most successful painters.

In Jan 2013, there was a fire in a unit neighbouring his at Telok Kurau Studios.

Mr Tan did what he could. He grabbed six works from his collection - including a painting of Mr and Mrs Lee Kuan Yew and fled.

Several other works in his studio were ruined when firemen doused the fire with water.

More than a year after the fire, the partially damaged artwork was finally complete in June 2014.

Recalling the fire, Tan, 71, says in Mandarin: "Back then, the water and soot resulted in some of the painting's colours smudging. This artwork has gone through a baptism of fire and water. I'm glad it's finally complete."

Titled A Couple, the painting shows former prime minister Mr Lee and his late wife, Madam Kwa Geok Choo, in their youth. It was inspired by a black-and-white photograph of the young couple on the campus of Cambridge University in 1946.

Tan had started work on the painting in 2009 on Valentine's Day.

He says: "I chose to paint them because everyone can learn from their love, especially in this day and age where life expectancy is rising and divorce rates are high. Here is a couple who entered into marriage and lived together happily."

He adds: "Mrs Lee once said she was a traditional Asian wife who always walked two steps behind her husband. Those words left a strong impression on me."

Mrs Lee died in October 2010 at the age of 89. After her death, Tan, who is also known for his poetry and calligraphy, wrote a poem - in English and Chinese - in her memory. He incorporated the poem into the painting's background to give it an "added dimension".

He says: "I've always felt she was a great woman who, despite her intelligence and capability, was also a humble and dedicated wife."

To further show his admiration for the couple, Tan added two Vanda Miss Joaquim orchids, connected by a twinned stem, next to Mrs Lee.

His biggest challenge was making out the expression on her face as a shadow is cast on it in the photograph. Another challenge was imagining the colours from the black-and-white shot. Tan adds: "The photo's background is also filled with buildings and very complicated. I veiled the background with clouds to bring the figures into full focus."

Source: ST

From rivals to lovers: A beautiful love story

From rivals to lovers, best friends and confidante.....till Madam Kwa's death do them part.

In October 2008, after Madam Kwa suffered her second stroke, Mr Lee knew that if she survived, she would never be able to walk independently.

Dr Lee Wei Ling, his daughter, wrote:

"...he felt that so long as she knew she was an important part of his life, she would still find life worth living.

He told her: ‘We have been together for most of our lives. You cannot leave me alone now. I will make your life worth living in spite of your physical handicap.’

She replied: ‘That is a big promise.’

Papa said: ‘Have I ever let you down?’ "

At Madam Kwa's funeral service, Mr Lee walked to her casket and placed a stalk of red rose.

Then, gripping the sides of the casket for support, he reached for his beloved Choo's face with his right hand.

He brought his hand back, kissed his fingers and placed them on her forehead. Twice.

In his eulogy to her, he said, “Without her, I would be a different man, with a different life. She devoted herself to me and our children. She was always there when I needed her.

“She has lived a life full of warmth and meaning. I should find solace in her 89 years of life well lived. But at this moment of the final parting, my heart is heavy with sorrow and grief.”

Madam Kwa's death left a great void in his heart.

For a week after his wife died, Mr Lee Kuan Yew fussed over her photographs on the wall of the living room at their Oxley Road home.

He placed pictures of their favourite moments together at the foot of his bed and by the treadmill which he used every day. A few days later, he would move them around again.

He repositioned his grey plastic chair at the dining table to have the best view of her pictures on the wall. As he ate his dinner, he listened to classical music, which she enjoyed - her favourite composer was Johann Sebastian Bach.

But nothing seemed to comfort Mr Lee in the days after Madam Kwa Geok Choo, his wife of 63 years, his best friend and confidante, died on Oct 2, 2010.

He slept erratically. A memory would bring tears to his eyes. When her ashes arrived at Oxley Road in a grey marble urn three days after the funeral, he wept.

It took three months before he began returning to normal.

"Slowly, he accepted that Mrs Lee was gone," said his youngest and only surviving brother, Dr Lee Suan Yew.

It was nine months before his health stabilised, said his only daughter Wei Ling.

One day, Dr Lee Wei Ling saw a note at home that is addressed to all three of Mr Lee's children.

The note read:

‘For reasons of sentiment, I would like part of my ashes to be mixed up with Mama’s, and both her ashes and mine put side by side in the columbarium. We were joined in life and I would like our ashes to be joined after this life.’

In his death, they were united again - never to part.

Social change and harmony

In any social change that affects a particular community, we must be careful because it not only impacts that community but also society’s perception of that community.

This is not unique to the tudung issue. We can also look at how the Government views the gay rights issue, for instance. The Government did not budge on this matter.

We should not just be concerned with what we want. We should know that every community wants its rights to be met. As Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean has said, we have remained a harmonious society not because every community is given its rights, but because each community has sacrificed something that is very precious to them for the sake of that harmony. This is something that we truly hold dear.

Hence, I hope that in all these matters, we must be wise. We must think long and hard, we must go with those who are learned in these matters - what is the religious issue, its impact on religion, its social impact, its impact on society and so on.

Think it over carefully because when we solve an issue, and if the issue is a complicated one, we must tread lightly.

- Masagos

Honour to be bestowed on the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew by Japan: Grand Cordon Of the Order of the Paulownia Flowers

SINGAPORE - Founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew will be awarded one of Japan's top honours for foreign leaders on the first anniversary of his death on March 23.

He will be posthumously conferred the "Grand Cordon of the Order of the Paulownia Flowers", Japan's Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said at a press conference held after a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday (Feb 2).

"Mr Lee strived to strengthen relations with Japan and was successful in building a friendship between the two nations," he added.

A spokesman for Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Wednesday (Feb 3), in response to media queries, that it is deeply honoured and appreciates the decision.

Said the spokesman: “This is in recognition of Mr Lee’s contributions to the development of relations between Singapore and Japan over several decades.”

- ST

Upholding the integrity of the NCMP Scheme

Last Friday’s combative parliamentary debate on filling Ms Lee Li Lian’s vacated Non-Constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP) seat offered a foretaste of the dynamics between the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) and the Workers’ Party’s (WP) in the 13th Parliament.

The transfer of an NCMP seat within an opposition party has no precedent. The closest similarity happened in 1985, when the People’s Action Party (PAP) moved a motion to fill the vacated NCMP seat after WP’s M P D Nair had declined it after the 1984 General Election (GE). It was then offered to Singapore United Front’s Tan Chee Kien, who also declined the seat. Parliament then opted to keep NCMP seat empty even though it was the first time the NCMP scheme was introduced.

It is perhaps timely to relook the law governing the filling of vacated NCMP seats. Currently, the law provides that Parliament may fill a vacated NCMP seat. This should be changed to make the filling of a vacated seat automatic without Parliament having to decide whether to fill the vacated seat or not.

Secondly, the law should prohibit “intra-party” transfer of seats (as with the Lee Li Lian and Daniel Goh situation). This precludes parties engaging in a “political manoeuvre”, in the words of Government Whip Chan Chun Sing in last Friday’s debate.

The overall intent of both proposals is to ensure the integrity of the NCMP scheme. The first avoids a situation where an NCMP seat is left vacant for whatever reasons at the will of the ruling party. The second prevents a situation where an opposition party can act anti-democratically by thwarting the expressed political choice of the electorate.

There is a tendency to overlook the democratic element that underpins the NCMP scheme. The Parliamentary Elections Act provides that the NCMP seats are to be filled on the basis of the percentage of the votes polled in a general election (the so-called “best losers” requirement). Clearly, the voters’ preference is determinative with regards to the filling of NCMP seats.

Opposition parties should not be allowed to go against the choice of voters in filling NCMP seats because that is tantamount to letting a party, rather than the voters, decide on the NCMPs. This enables an opposition party to place a NCMP out of self-interest rather than respecting the expressed will of the voters, contrary to what the Constitution requires.

This was the essence of PAP’s amendment of WP’s parliamentary motion for Associate Professor Daniel Goh to fill Ms Lee’s vacated NCMP seat at last Friday’s debate.

In a tactically shrewd move — cognisant of public sentiment supporting Parliament having its full complement of three NCMP seats — the PAP took advantage of its numerical dominance in Parliament to amend the WP motion to reflect the point that the WP was making a “political manoeuvre” to take full advantage of the NCMP scheme, even as WP secretary-general Low Thia Khiang had been dismissive of the scheme.

In so doing, the PAP also sought to establish it was acting from a principled stance in which the WP should not ride roughshod over the preference of Punggol East voters.

It is worth recalling that in the September 2015 GE, 48.23 per cent of voters in Punggol East voted for then-incumbent Ms Lee, while only 39.27 per cent of East Coast GRC voters supported the WP team there, which included Dr Goh and three candidates.

To the extent that the NCMP derives its currency from seeking to maintain Parliament’s relevance in a one-party dominant system, it is clear that the NCMP has benefited both the PAP and the WP.

For the PAP, having a nominal, if not minimum, representation of opposition parliamentarians helps ensure that Parliament is more representative than it otherwise would be, and is better able to act as a check and balance in our constitutional system of government.

Most significantly, the NCMP scheme also helps assure the Singaporean electorate that it should not be overly concerned with Parliament being dominated by the PAP, since there will be a guaranteed minimum number of non-PAP MPs.

For all intents and purposes, the WP has benefited from strategically utilising the NCMP scheme even as Mr Low derisively described NCMPs as rootless “duckweed on the water of a pond”. Its official stance — faithfully and consistently reflected in the party’s election manifestos — is that it is opposed to the scheme and would abolish the scheme if it were the Government. The WP’s premise is that elections should not dilute the individual voter’s voice and should therefore only be run on single member seats, with individual MPs fully accountable to constituents.

However, in reality, the WP adopts a different reasoning when it says that it would accept an eligible WP candidate’s decision to take up a NCMP seat so as to contribute to parliamentary debates and because “the struggle for a functional democracy … must be fought from within the existing system”.

The scheme has enabled the WP to profile itself and its NCMPs while also providing more opportunities toraise parliamentary questions, debate Bills, file motions and speak on PAP motions.

Besides M P D Nair and Ms Lee, WP losing candidates in the past have accepted NCMP seats: Lee Siew Choh (1989-1991), JB Jeyaretnam (1997-2001), Ms Sylvia Lim (2006-2011), Mr Yee Jen Jong and Mr Gerald Giam (2011-2015), and their current three NCMPs.

There needs, in my view, to be greater clarity and consistency in the WP’s position on the NCMP scheme. In light of the Government’s proposal to increase the number of NCMPs (from nine to 12) and for them to have the same voting rights as elected MPs, the WP should not permit its members to accept NCMP seats when offered in future. Given the WP’s severe criticisms of the scheme, surely it cannot have its cake and eat it, too.

This will raise the stakes for voters in constituencies where the WP’s best candidates are contesting. It will also make the WP’s objection to the NCMP scheme principled and not self-serving. The artificial distinction between the party’s vehement objection to and an individual WP member’s inclination to take up an NCMP seat is an untenable proposition going forward.

By:

Eugene K B Tan is associate professor of law at the School of Law, Singapore Management University, and a former Nominated Member of Parliament.