Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am referring to the recent April 14, 2010 interview Lee Kuan Yew's son had in the US on the TV Show Charlie Rose, http://charlierose.com/view/interview/10963, when he said Singapore is governed on the precepts of Confucianism, when asked about nepotism.
I am sure not only the Indians and the Malays but even almost all the Chinese in the island always thought that Singapore is based on the principles of democracy (or at least it should be) and the Constitution of the island which derived from the British model, with the principles of freedom of speech, assembly, a free press, and an accountable government.
But now this son of Lee Kuan Yew who is the Prime Minister of the island claims that that is not the case, that it is in fact run on Confucianism. Not being an authority on the subject, I believe its basic foundations rest on the belief that the the citizens should respect authority.
That in fact explains why Lee Kuan Yew and his son sues anyone who criticizes them and sent me to jail as well, becasue I and several other foreign newspapers and JB Jeyaretnam and Dr. Chee Soon Juan did not show him and his father the necessary Confusion respect as a Confucian gentleman is supposed to do.
Lee Kuan Yew's son's statement on Singapore being Confucian, was a startling revelation. So far his father had never confessed to this fact, even though everyone knew this before, but this time his son finally admits openly to practicing Confucianism, changing everyone's concept of Singapore once and for all.
And if this is so, then surely, should he not completley re-write the Constitution to reflect this fact, and why are we all continuing to pretend that it is democracy?
You cannot help but watch the video to see first hand what this man is actually saying. Some of the astounding parts, I paraphrase below:
Charlie Rose: How do you measure your commitment to democracy
Son: Legitimacy of government, how Singapore works, a better life
Rose: Is it a Jeffersonian style of government
Son: No we do not equate with American systems
Rose: Your father Mentor, you the son, your wife Tumasik? You seem to be very sensitive to the word nepotism
Son: We are very sensitive. The whole system is based of meritocracy, you are where you are not because of your father. If anyone thought I am where I am because of my father, my entire credibility will be destroyed, then I am not fit to govern. It is based on the Confusion precept, first you should have the moral authority to govern, then you form policies. Otherwise I should be kicked out.
Rose: Your defamation case against International Herald Tribune?
Son: They apologised and paid damages
Rose: (Laughing) So if anyone mentions nepotism, you will sue them?
Son: Yes
Rose: Have you sued others?
Son: Bloomberg apologized and paid damages
Rose: Are you sending a signal to others not to mention nepotism?
Son: We are saying that they can say what they want, but be prepared to prove it, otherwise they will lose and pay damages.
With this interview in the US, like both him and his father does all over the world, he is making the Singapore public look imbeciles, prepared to live under this father and son Confusion dictatorship and when everything they say is just simply humbug.
Firstly, Singapore is not a Confucion society, it is a democracy. (At least it is supposed to be)
Second, when he talks about suing people, he fails to mention that he engages in this cowardly practice only in Singapore, not anywhere else.
Third, he fails to mention that he and his father has not lost a single case they undertook against their opponents in the entire history of Singapore. In other words all his judges are corrupt or Confucian, whichever way you want to call them, and they are beholden to the father and son and will give away every case to them. So it is no great success when they win each time hands down in their Singapore.
Fourth, Singapore is not based on meritocracy, it is based on nepotism as his shown by his being the Prime Minister of Singapore and it is run by a bunch of opportunists who have lost all sense of decency and moral fibre. The way to success in Singapore is either through your relationship either blood or marriage to the Lee Kuan Yew household, or through boot licking such as the Tamil Minister for Law K Shanmugam, a Lee Kuan Yew minion, makes a living.
As proof, Lee Kuan Yew's son went to school, was given a scholarship to England by his father's government, was made a Brigadier General, the highest position in the Singapore Army within a couple of years by his father, was immediately made an MP by ensuring that noone else can challenge him at elections, was immediately thereafter made a Deputy Prime Minister, and immediately thereafter Prime Minister.
Someone should ask him, if this is not nepotism, what is it?
Gopalan Nair
39737 Paseo Padre Parkway, Suite A1
Fremont, CA 94538, USA
Tel: 510 657 6107
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31 comments:
for a father, son and daughter of Lee dynasty to lose unprecedented billions in the history of the world ,and yet feel no remorse and no guilt. but kind of human are they ? Even more so, they are talking about confucian ? Those clowns are really big disgrace to the world when they start talking with their asses. Every words from their asses can only fart and they think that citizens can't smell from their bullshit.
Lee the Father the son and the wholly Goh lah!
Sure it is nepotism. What else can it be? With our observation and historical record it is definitely nepotism.
LHL "If anyone thought I am where I am because of my father, my entire credibility will be destroyed, then I am not fit to govern".
You don't have credibility, and you are not fit to govern.
You can sue and suppress the legacy media, but you cannot control the Internet.
Simply put, you are PM because of nepotism.
You wife loses billions at Temasek, but still keeps her job because of nepotism.
The list is long ... let someone else add to it.
Please send this article to
Charlie Rose
charlierose@pbs.org
LEE HSIEN LOONG: Yes, of course. They [International Herald Tribune] put us on the same list as Kim
Jong-il.
CHARLIE ROSE: Because he inherited his power from his father.
LEE HSIEN LOONG: Yes, indeed, and in a similar way.
North Korea, indeed! The Lees and the Kims are tyrants and despots made from the same mould.
Ah Loong's lymphoma must be spreading to his brain. What crap confucian society is he claiming ?
It is more like confused society after 50 years of despotic rule by the Lee dynasty.
The son says "you must have moral authority to govern"
What!!! I beg your pardon.
Your Harry jailed Chye Thye Poh for 32 years without trial and you say you got moral?
Shame on you and your entire family.
Wonder if he is prime minister of singapore or china. Since he speaks more about china rather than about singapore. Guess who pays him?
Did you know that mascots are expensive?
In Singapore, they pay a certain mascot $3,700,000 a year.
or $308,333 a month
or $10,137 a day.
Impressive!
----
CHARLIE ROSE: But he [LKY] remains as the senior mentor.
LEE HSIEN LOONG: He calls himself a mascot.
-----
People of Singapore - we are being taken for fools and idiots.
I wonder how does he define moral authority?
I am not even sure if Confucius is a moral person. Why not Chuang Tze, Lao Tze, Buddha, Socrates, Marx or Lenin? Who is to decide?
Gopalan,
Singapore is NOT run with Confucius principle.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confucianism
Humanity (Rén) is core in Confucianism
Rén also has a political dimension. If the ruler lacks rén, Confucianism holds, it will be difficult if not impossible for his subjects to behave humanely. Rén is the basis of Confucian political theory: it presupposes an autocratic ruler, exhorted to refrain from acting inhumanely towards his subjects. An inhumane ruler runs the risk of losing the "Mandate of Heaven", the right to rule. A ruler lacking such a mandate need not be obeyed. But a ruler who reigns humanely and takes care of the people is to be obeyed strictly, for the benevolence of his dominion shows that he has been mandated by heaven.
Also ...
The term jūnzǐ (Chinese: 君子; literally "lord's child") is crucial to classical Confucianism.
Confucianism exhorts all people to strive for the ideal of a "gentleman" or "perfect man". A succinct description of the "perfect man" is one who "combines the qualities of saint, scholar, and gentleman." In modern times the masculine translation in English is also traditional and is still frequently used. Elitism was bound up with the concept, and gentlemen were expected to act as moral guides to the rest of society.
They were to:
cultivate themselves morally;
show filial piety and loyalty where these are due;
cultivate humanity, or benevolence.
The last thing I expect from non-Chinese speaking Hakka tribe Lee Kuan Yew to know any of this.
The junior Lee may be Chinese educated and understand Confucianism. But his first wife death, his fixing of opposition and slapping Dhanabalan is not exactly practising Confucianism.
I realised that not only is Lee Kuan Yew a low grade specimen of a politician, his son is worse.
To suggest that a foreign media apologise after losing legal cases in Singapore is proof of no nepotism is a laughable matter.
I reckon that any educated Singaporean who believe that there is no nepotism in Singapore, need to be re-educated.
The scary thing about all these is how PAP Singapore managed to deceived everyone and managed to get away with all these.
We know that the early economic miracle is a farce.
I am interested to know who will replace Loong.
Anonymous said...
Wonder if he is prime minister of singapore or china. Since he speaks more about china rather than about singapore. Guess who pays him?
Secretly, he (and LKY) wants to rule China.
But, the Chinese of the past were smart - they shipped out these Hakka peasants a long time ago.
Their gain. Our loss.
LEE HSIEN LOONG: Well, he [LKY] made a state where there was none, a
country, a nation which will become a nation which nobody believed could
succeed.
Right! Gong Ken Swee, Ong Teng Cheong, S Rajaratnam, B Sheares, A Ibrahim, ...
In this sissy's mind, only his dad matters.
Romour is that his dad selected Ho Ching t be Loong's wife.
U ALL CAN LAUGH ALL U WANT BUT THE TRUTH IS...NO ONE CAN TOUCH HIM OR THIS FAMILY...ONLY SINGAPOREANS CAN MAKE CHANGES TO THE COUNTRY & CHANGE THE MINDSET,IF ANY, OF THIS REGIME THRU THE COMING ELECTION,IS WAKE UP CALL FOR SINGAPORE & IF SINGAPORE PEOPLE CONTINUE AND WANT THIS SORT OF "IMPERCILE"LIFE STYLE & DICTATORSHIP,WHO IS TO SAY THE LEAST,BECAUSE U CAN BRING A COW TO THE WATER,U CANNOT FORCE THEM TO DRINK THE WATER...!
Mr Nair, this is why they want what they call "Confucianism". Goh Chock Tong has now said "Trust lends more legitimacy to government than legal authority."
So you see, even laws got no laku.
James Tan, yes it is NOT Confucianism but Legalism. You can search Chinese Legalism in wikipedia and read about it.
"It is based on the Confusion precept, first you should have the moral authority to govern, then you form policies. Otherwise I should be kicked out."
Yes you should indeed since you have no moral authority to govern at all.
So it's confusionism(based on the principles of spreading confusion)
No there was no spelling mistake in there.
Renaldi
From wiki
Humanity is core in Confucianism. A simple way to appreciate Confucian thought is to consider it as being based on varying levels of honesty, and a simple way to understand Confucian thought is to examine world by using logic of humanity. In practice, the elements of Confucianism accumulated over time. There is classical Wuchang (五常) consisting of five elements: Ren (Humanity), Yi (Righteousness), Li (Ritual), Zhi (Knowledge), Xin (Integrity), and there is also classical Sizi (四字) with four elements: Zhong (Loyalty), Xiao (Filial piety), Jie (Continency), Yi (Righteousness). There are still many other elements, such as Cheng (誠, honesty), Shu (恕, kindness and forgiveness), Lian (廉, honesty and cleanness), Chi (恥, shame, judge and sense of right and wrong), Yong (勇, bravery), Wen (溫, kind and gentle), Liang (良, good, kindhearted), Gong (恭, respectful, reverent), Jian(儉, frugal), Rang (讓, modestly, self-effacing). Among all elements, Ren (Humanity) and Yi (Righteousness) are fundamental. Sometimes morality is interpreted as the phantom of Humanity and Righteousness[1].
----------------------------------
LHL YOU'RE A LIAR!!!!
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Renaldi
Hello :),
I'm seriously ashamed to be a Singaporean especially after this OVERSEAS interview with the 'Mini' Emperor's son, the undeniable successor to the 'Mini' Dynasty. Acting smart and full of moral locally is already enough to make Singaporeans feel utterly disgusted, but to sprout nonsense in a foreign country is simply unacceptable!
IT'S OBVIOUS, THE PRIME MINISTER OF SINGAPORE HAD JUST PORTRAYED TO THE WHOLE WORLD THAT HE DOESN'T EVEN KNOW WHAT REAL CONFUCIANISM OR NEPOTISM IS ALL ABOUT. IS HE AWARE THAT TO THE EYES (AND EARS) OF THE WORLD, HE IS ACTUALLY REPRESENTING HIS OWN NATION?
This is tragically revolting. :[
ISK
Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong was forced to defend his administration’s frequent use of defamatory lawsuits against the foreign media
Though Singapore is a democracy in name, it resembles and functions more like a one-party totalitarian state similar to Kim Jong Il’s North Korea.
During a speech made during an election rally in 2006, PM Lee threatened to “fix” the opposition if more of them were to get elected into Parliament.
PM Lee is the eldest son of Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s first Prime Minister from 1959 to 1990. His wife Ho Ching heads Temasek Holdings while his father is the Chairman of GIC.
The two Singapore sovereign wealth funds manage billions of dollars of national reserves and have come under intense scrutiny of late after reportedly losing a significant proportion of it in failed overseas investments last year. The extent of the loss is still not revealed to this very day.
http://www.temasekreview.com/2010/04/16/pm-lee-our-political-system-is-based-on-meritocracy/
Q: People look at the failings of some members of the Lee family and wonder if they really are the most qualified people. The most often-heard criticism of Ho Ching is her management of [state-owned electronics concern] Micropolis, which failed at the end of 1997.
A: But the criticism of Ho Ching and her management of Micropolis--you have to ask, is it fair? Who made the decisions? Was it the board? Was it the [executive committee]?
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/02_25/b3788071.htm
Charlie Rose video interview with PM......
http://www.charlierose.com/guest/view/952
LKY is still missing in the meantime. Where is he?
About time Charlie Rose raise the level of interest for his program.
Invite Lee Hsien Loong again with Dr Chee as the other guest. Charlie Rose can sit back, relax and let Dr Chee ask the questions.
I believe Charlie only needs to prompt PM Lee to help him along.
And of course, to up the tempo,
PM Lee can bring his father along for the next Charlie Rose interview.
ps: anything less only confirms the son and father are the biggest political cowards on this planet.
One of these will the next best man to do the job
Li Xiuqi (1980 - )
Li Yipeng (1982 - )
Li Hongyi (1987 - )
Li Haoyi (1989 - )
It is an existential problem.
What kind of moral authority fetches 6 times the pay of USA president but administer only a 50km squared island?
I know of a few Confucius societies, such as Taiwan, HongKong, Korea Japan. But only Singapore government is so petty, small-minded, expen$ive and treat its people like 'lesser mortals'.
confucius instigated war between 2 states to save his own state from being attacked. that is not a moral act. his teachings on proper behaviour is common sense. i really do not why he is revered in chinese culture. i am chinese by the way.
This "chinese by the way on Sun Dec 12" does not understand any confucius at all. He does not know about confucius history. His knowledge may come from the communist people who hate confucius
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