Some leaders flee their country when the going gets tough, when it seems like the end of the country is imminent.
Some leaders only push policies that they feel will boost their popularity amongst the people, but does no actual good to the country, to the nation, to the citizens, eventually.
Some leaders, fueled by greed and hunger for power, take to under-the-table money transactions, without a care about their people, only wanting to benefit themselves.
I am proud to say, my founding father, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, is none of the above. In fact, he has done so much for this nation and it's people, that we find it hard to repay him. He was a remarkable and extremely capable leader. He never gave in to temptations or bribery even when corruption was rife then. He upheld his integrity and kept to his morals.
All his life, he dedicated it to the building of singapore. It is indeed my honor to have him as my founding father, my first prime minister. He transformed singapore, from a small fishing port with hardly any bilateral relations to other countries, to one now respected, prosperous and a thriving metropolitan.
He was in-charge of Tanjong Pagar for 6 decades, choosing to represent it as he wanted to fight alongside the trade union workers and be their voices, advocating for better pay and working conditions.
It makes me proud when I see other politicians, like Obama, Ban Ki-Moon, Tony Abott, Margaret Thatcher and many more say so many wonderful things about Singapore and Lee Kuan Yew. Marveling over the fact that singapore could progress so much under Mr Lee Kuan Yew, about how average incomes increase by 100 times under his rule, by how we became a country with world-class facilities from a barely surviving country just out of Malaysia, without any resources. It was a fight to stay afloat in this entire world. But under Lee Kuan Yew, we made it. He never gave up or ran away, leaving us to fend for ourselves. He told us: I am not here to play somebody else's game. I have a few million lives to account for. Singapore WILL survive.
He made many bold promises. People wondered if he could fulfil them. They were skeptical. He told them Singapore would be a metropolis, a global hub in future. They told them not one, not two, but EVERYONE in future would have houses to live in and no longer had to stay in dirty and crowded squatters. He told them we would survive after separation despite having nothing. He was extremely confident of his words. Imagine if HE himself was unsure of our survival and shaken, if he himself wasn't even certain that we would survive, would the PEOPLE believe him?
And he made sure he delivered on these promises. All of them. He wasn't NATO - no action talk only.
He devoted his whole life to building this nation. He never asked for anything in return. We were once just a small red dot on the world map, but he made us a SHINING STAR, a country well-known for its success story of transformation in the modern world.
He cried for us when we were forced out of Malaysia. He knew little resources and an economy that was so weak would render us defeated and struggling for survival. He cried. But after it all, he grit his teeth, gathered his team of politicians, set in place law and policies, got the economy working by providing jobs to citizens, had a citizen armed force to help defend Singapore and tirelessly worked every single day, every waking moment to make Singapore a better nation for generations to come. His efforts paid off. Schools were built, flats were constructed for people, the economy gradually improved, lifes under Mr Lee Kuan Yew improved tremendously.
He was often critisized for ruling Singapore with an iron fist, with so many laws in place, like fines for seemingly minute things like littering. Imagine a country without law. Imagine if you walk on the streets one day and see rubbish strewn all over. Is this the kind of country YOU want to live in? Yes he was strict with laws. If he had not done so, would anyone put Mr Lee in high regard? Imagine OUR country without strict fines, and now ask yourself, is this the country YOU want to live in, with no law and order? Ultimately, these laws benefit us indirectly, one way or another. He had good reasons for his strict laws.
Yes his policies were not always well-liked. But that's what a politician have to face. No matter how good the policy sounds, there would be two sides to the reactions, good and bad. Mr Lee Kuan Yew never made policies he felt would boost his popularity or gain him more votes. Instead, the basis of his policies were always to ensure the people would benefit from his policies and that eventually, this country would grow, prosper and succeed. And we have to be grateful for that. Imagine a politician only making policies based on how it would help him gain popularity and favour from the people. Such politicians are destined to fail.
E.g. the government granted some couples to have a third child, but how do they determine if one is ready for another child? Through the income tax paid. This way, those who could pay taxes were allowed to have a third child. This set us apart from other countries. Instead of totally banning a third child, our government gave it to those who could afford it. This way, our population wouldn't be affected that greatly either. And those who could afford to keep a third child, was allowed to. It wasn't a total unfair ALL-BAN kind of thing.
He sent a message that singapore, albeit a small little country, was not to be underestimated. He made sure other countries knew that singapore was no pushover. In the Michael Fay incident, he never relented to letting Fay go scot-free after vandalizing singapore property, even when US president Bill Clinton stepped in and demanded Lee Kuan Yew to set Fay free. Lee Kuan Yew put his foot down and was firm, punishing Michael Fay by caning anyway. Imagine if Mr Lee had just relented and let Fay go, what message was he sending? Mr Lee's message was clear as day: 'when in Rome, do as the Romans do'. Just because we were small and weak, it didn't mean we would condone such acts, much less be SUBMISSIVE to global superpowers just because we were small and defenceless.
He was always humble and never ashamed or afraid to learn even in old age. Even at 90, he had a string of tuitions. Why, you may ask? He's already retired! He could just rest and relax, no need to involve himself in politics anymore! But he believed in lifelong learning. The first thing Lee did when he took over was build a defense force. As such, Lee turned to Israel and Switzerland for examples of how a small country should go about defending itself. The next think he did was ensure the safety and security of the country and provide a stable legal system.
DID YOU KNOW : Lee Kuan Yew had dyslexia, which made it more difficult for him to learn to read, spell and process words than for other people. Nevertheless, he still succeeded in speaking four languages fluently – picking up the Chinese dialects Mandarin and Hokkien in his thirties due to the fact that his formal education when he was younger had covered only English and Malay.
Mr Lee Kuan Yew often raised key questions in parliament, questioning policies and always seeking to improve policies. When everyone was flustered about how SARS would affect corporations and businesses, Mr Lee raised a question which touched the hearts of many: "what about the lives of taxi drivers?" taxi drivers relied on passengers to make a living but hardly anyone wanted to move around Singapore or even step OUT of their houses. He was macro AND micro in thinking. Besides thinking about how to improve businesses in corporations which had suffered because of outbreak of SARS, he thought for the common man in singapore, like taxi drivers whose incomes relied heavily upon the availability of commuters.
He had foresight. Incredible amounts of it. He chose English as the first language for singaporeans to learn. Why? English was almost a universal language in the world, and if we didn't learn English, we would have fewer opportunities if we wanted to go abroad to study / work and cooperation with the world wouLD be greatly hampered. He introduced bilingualism. Yes, you and I often complain we hate learning a second language, Mandarin. But imagine where we would be without mandarin. Mr Lee knew China was a rising country, and should Singaporeans ever want to expand businesses into China or travel to China for educational purposes, we would always have an ADVANTAGE. It was all foresight Mr Lee had for this nation and its people. Ultimately he only wanted to see us benefit. To him, language was the key to cultural self-identity, and he didn't want singaporeans to be so westernised to the point of losing their roots.
An example of exactly how devoted he was to Singapore's development was the story of the red box. If you haven't heard of it, Mr Lee always carried around with him a red box, in it contained anything from communications with foreign leaders, observations that a tree in the Istana grounds was ailing, speech drafts, observations about the financial crisis, and even notes about rubbish seen in the Singapore river eg even when he was in the car, when he saw trees in poor conditions, he would note it down and put the note inside his box, reminding himself that he had to do something about it. What really touched my heart were 2 stories :
1) Mr Lee just had an operation and when he woke up, the first thing he wanted was the red box. Nurses said patients his age would have preferred to rest after an operation. Whats more, he had retired from politics already and had no reason to continue working so hard. He was 90. His devotion and love for Singapore is evident in this example, whereby he was constantly thinking of ways to improve our country.
2) Mr Lee was in hospital for chest infection in 2010 when his wife died. After paying his respects, he took a stroll along singapore river alone to mourn. Then, he saw a piece of trash floating on the water, and signalled for his secretary to take a photo of it and put the photo in his red box, so he could think of ways to make our country cleaner. Even when he was mourning. Even when Mrs Lee was lying in state.
He pushed for charitable initiatives, like Lee Kuan Yew scholarship award, which helped countless numbers of students pursue higher education despite having financial difficulty. Many thanked Mr Lee for his policy of meritocracy too. He set up Mendaki, a self-help subsidy group for Malays who were financially weak, to receive help from such foundations.
Also, he took part in his own initiatives, walking the talk. One of his widely-known initiatives was the mass clean-up of Singapore River. He recognized that the river was the vital bloodline of singapore and that it was extremely polluted, hence there was a clean-up campaign. Mr Lee said: “It should be a way of life to keep the water clean. To keep every stream, culvert and rivulet, free from pollution."
"The Ministry of Environment should make it a target: In 10 years let us have fishing in the Singapore River and Kallang River. It can be done," he added. Indeed, in 10 years, the state of the river has improved tremendously.
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