Have you heard this word before?
There was the day way back in 1977 when parliament became a 'classroom'
and Mr Lee Kuan Yew taught this new word to all who were present:
"In case the press gets me wrong, it is psephology and not psychology. I
have a dictionary here. It is the science of how people vote. Just in
case they dispute my definition, I have brought the Shorter Oxford
Dictionary and it is in the addenda. It is not in the body of the
dictionary itself. It is a new science. Psephology - the study of trends
in voting or elections. From Greek psephos (pebble) because when the
Greek voted he threw a pebble."
1.
THE NIGHT BEFORE HIS HEART OPERATION to insert a stent in 1996, his
second operation in two months, he was on his feet for more than 2 1/2
hours engaging about 1,700 undergraduates at the Nanyang Technological
University (NTU).
He felt it was important to be talking to young Singaporeans about the future of the country and their role in it.
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, " “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?”
His concern for the younger generation grew stronger in the face of his old age and certain mortality.
2. THE DAY AFTER HIS STENT OPERATION, he kept up with his engagements
and flew to Hong Kong to meet Bill Clinton putting Singapore before
self.
3. In an essay for the Straits Times published on Oct 23 2011, Dr Lee Wei Ling, daughter of Lee Kuan Yew wrote:
Like my mother did when she was alive, I accompany him so that I can
keep an eye on him and also keep him company. After my mother became too
ill to travel, he missed having a family member with whom he could
speak frankly after a long tiring day of meetings.
At the age
of 88, and recently widowed, he is less vigorous now than he was before
May 2008 when my mother suffered a stroke. Since then I have watched him
getting more frail as he watched my mother suffer. After my mother
passed away, his health deteriorated further before recovering about
three months ago.
He is aware that he can no longer function at
the pace he could just four years ago. But he still insists on
travelling to all corners of the Earth if he thinks his trips might
benefit Singapore.
We are at present on a 16-day trip around
the world. The first stop was Istanbul for the JPMorgan International
Advisory Council meeting. We then spent two days in the countryside near
Paris to relax. Then it was on to Washington DC, where, in addition to
meetings at the White House, he received the Ford's Theatre Lincoln
Medal.
As I am writing this on Thursday, we are in New York
City where he has a dinner and a dialogue session with the Capital Group
tonight, and Government of Singapore Investment Corporation meetings
tomorrow. After that, we will spend the weekend at former US secretary
of state Henry Kissinger's country home in Connecticut. Influential
Americans will be driving or flying in to meet my father over dinner on
Saturday and lunch on Sunday.
Even for a healthy and fit man of
88, the above would be a formidable programme. For a recently widowed
man who is still adjusting to the loss of his wife, and whose level of
energy has been lowered, it is even more challenging.
But my
father believes that we must carry on with life despite whatever
personal setbacks we might suffer. If he can do something that might
benefit Singapore, he will do so no matter what his age or the state of
his health. For my part, I keep him company when he is not preoccupied
with work, and I make sure he has enough rest.
References:
http://bit.ly/1InBXjA
http://bit.ly/1DAaDtQ
You live in dreamland if you believe that freedom of speech and rights are boundless.
Freedom
of speech and expression of rights are possible only within boundaries.
You can argue where those boundaries should be but you cannot argue for
boundlessness. Take away the boundaries and what you have is anarchy.
Some boundaries are unspoken. They represent the standards upheld by the communities or organisations
where people live or work. Some are clearly defined by laws providing
people with a means to seek redress and legal recourse for their
grievances or disputes.
Indeed
it is law and order that gives rise to meaning. One is able to plan for
the future because laws make the world predictable and render the
actions that you take meaningful and purposeful.
Even
the universe is governed by laws of nature. Can you imagine a universe
not governed by laws of nature? Can anything meaningful arise from such a
universe? The answer is obvious.
You
are able to understand what I write, even if you disagree with what I
write, because I follow the rules of grammar of the English language
which makes what I write meaningful.
If you take your car out today, you are able to reach your destination safely if you and everyone else follow traffic rules.
Studies
have shown that the child who grows up with no boundaries or poorly
enforced boundaries is an insecure child who lacks ownership of his own
life, has little self-control and lacks respect for others.
How do you identify the child who lacks boundaries?
He's
the one who walks freely into your room regardless of whether your room
is open or closed and does whatever he wants. He changes the TV channel
as he pleases regardless of what anyone else is watching, and he blames
everyone else for his mistakes. It's either the teacher's fault,
brother's fault, neighbour's fault or friend's fault when something goes
wrong. It's never his fault. In short, he is unable to take
responsibility for his actions.
Boundaries
define acceptable behaviour. They tell you how you can express your
speech and your right without infringing upon the right of another.
Boundaries are what enable the different communities within a society to
co-exist in harmony and safety and to have a healthy respect for each
other's differences.
Boundaries
represent responsibilities, the responsibility of the individual and
the collective responsibility of the different communities. A breach of
any boundary leads to consequences that one has to bear. Boundaries are
meaningless if they do not carry responsibilities. Boundaries are
meaningless if they are not enforced.
One
may argue that the person who denies the existence of boundaries in
free speech and rights is an immature person, just like the child who
grows up without boundaries and has little self control.
For
him, freedom of speech means he should be allowed to say anything he
wants under the sun - never mind if it hurts or insults people or if
it's true - without having to assume responsibility for it. Such a
person lacks self-control (must say whatever he wants to say), respect
for others (don't care if it insults or hurts others) and is immature
(don't want to bear responsibility for his speech).
In
the US, freedom of speech is a protected right under the First
Amendment. Even then, free speech is not absolute. There are limits to
what is protected. The existence of limitations means there are
boundaries.
Certain
types of speech, particularly speech that can harm others, are not
protected. Such speech includes obscenity, fighting words (words that
may lead to violent confrontation), true threats, child pornography,
defamation (the act of injuring another's reputation by any slanderous
communication, written or oral; the wrong of maliciously injuring the
good name of another; slander; detraction; calumny; aspersion) or
invasion of privacy. Speech related to national security or state
secrets may also not be protected.
Boundless free speech? It's a myth. It doesn't exist.
Don't believe? Look at the people who champion it. You will find that the freedom they espouse applies only to themselves.
You live in dreamland if you believe that freedom of speech and rights are boundless.
Freedom of speech and expression of rights are possible only within
boundaries. You can argue where those boundaries should be but you
cannot argue for boundlessness. Take away the boundaries and what you
have is anarchy.
Some boundaries are unspoken. They represent the standards upheld by the communities or organisations
where people live or work. Some are clearly defined by laws providing
people with a means to seek redress and legal recourse for their
grievances or disputes.
Indeed it is law and order that gives
rise to meaning. One is able to plan for the future because laws make
the world predictable and render the actions that you take meaningful
and purposeful.
Even the universe is governed by laws of
nature. Can you imagine a universe not governed by laws of nature? Can
anything meaningful arise from such a universe? The answer is obvious.
You are able to understand what I write, even if you disagree with what
I write, because I follow the rules of grammar of the English language
which makes what I write meaningful.
If you take your car out today, you are able to reach your destination safely if you and everyone else follow traffic rules.
Studies have shown that the child who grows up with no boundaries or
poorly enforced boundaries is an insecure child who lacks ownership of
his own life, has little self-control and lacks respect for others.
How do you identify the child who lacks boundaries?
He's the one who walks freely into your room regardless of whether your
room is open or closed and does whatever he wants. He changes the TV
channel as he pleases regardless of what anyone else is watching, and he
blames everyone else for his mistakes. It's either the teacher's fault,
brother's fault, neighbour's fault or friend's fault when something
goes wrong. It's never his fault. In short, he is unable to take
responsibility for his actions.
Boundaries define acceptable
behaviour. They tell you how you can express your speech and your right
without infringing upon the right of another. Boundaries are what enable
the different communities within a society to co-exist in harmony and
safety and to have a healthy respect for each other's differences.
Boundaries represent responsibilities, the responsibility of the
individual and the collective responsibility of the different
communities. A breach of any boundary leads to consequences that one has
to bear. Boundaries are meaningless if they do not carry
responsibilities. Boundaries are meaningless if they are not enforced.
One may argue that the person who denies the existence of boundaries in
free speech and rights is an immature person, just like the child who
grows up without boundaries and has little self control.
For
him, freedom of speech means he should be allowed to say anything he
wants under the sun - never mind if it hurts or insults people or if
it's true - without having to assume responsibility for it. Such a
person lacks self-control (must say whatever he wants to say), respect
for others (don't care if it insults or hurts others) and is immature
(don't want to bear responsibility for his speech).
In the US,
freedom of speech is a protected right under the First Amendment. Even
then, free speech is not absolute. There are limits to what is
protected. The existence of limitations means there are boundaries.
Certain types of speech, particularly speech that can harm others, are
not protected. Such speech includes obscenity, fighting words (words
that may lead to violent confrontation), true threats, child
pornography, defamation (the act of injuring another's reputation by any
slanderous communication, written or oral; the wrong of maliciously
injuring the good name of another; slander; detraction; calumny;
aspersion) or invasion of privacy. Speech related to national security
or state secrets may also not be protected.
Boundless free speech? It's a myth. It doesn't exist.
Don't believe? Look at the people who champion it. You will find that the freedom they espouse applies only to themselves.
From Hard Truths Page 120
"This is to give you an idea of what my market value is worth," said
Lee Kuan Yew as he handed us some papers.
Listed in the printouts were
his earnings from his memoirs, speaking engagements and appointments to
various advisory boards since stepping down as Prime Minister in
November 1990.
He has donated all of it - without taking any tax
deductions - to charity, with the bulk to three educational endowment
funds. Since 1991, he has donated almost $13 million to charity (S$12.2
million and the rest in various currencies).
Mr Lee Kuan Yew worked to give Singaporeans a good life but cared little about the luxuries in his own life.
This is a ham dangong, or salted egg jars in Cantonese. People used it
to store water and then ladled water from it to wash themselves.
Do you know that right up to 2003 before Mrs Lee Kuan Yew's first
stroke, Mr Lee Kuan Yew and his family at Oxley Road were still using
the ham dangong? A water heater was installed in the bathroom only after
Mrs Lee had a stroke so that she could have a warm shower.
"The
most intrusive social policy in Singapore has turned out to be the most
important one....And that is a rule on ethnic balance in every single
block of HDB flats. Every single block and every single precinct has a
rule on ethnic balance, which means that on the same floor and taking
the same lifts up and down every day, you have a certain interaction that's quiet, unstated and normal.
But it also means, critically, that the kids go to kindergartens and primary schools that are quite close to where they live.
And when you grow up together, you're not just in the same classroom
together, you play some sports together, you just become more
comfortable with each other...
We can never think that the
natural workings of society would somehow produce cohesion - usually the
opposite happens in most societies."
- Tharman Shanmugaratnam
Source: The Sunday Times, April 12 2015
