Why more Singaporeans have lost our respect for Lee Kuan Yew

Lee Kuan Yew is hailed as a great leader of Singapore and credited with the miraculous transformation of Singapore into a developed country. But this is only according the propaganda on mainstream media.

More Singaporeans, especially the younger generation, no longer believe in such propaganda and have turned to online media which have become a more trusted source of information. As such, the mainstream media’s popularity and credibility have continue to plummet since the advent of the internet.

From Lee Kuan Yew’s quotes, all can see the person he really is. Lee had total control of our country for too long and did not envision the day when online media would reveal all his shortcomings. Lee mistakenly clings to power as if it would last forever. Below are just some quotes.

1 ”Look, Jeyaretnam can’t win the infighting. I’ll tell you why. WE are in charge. Every government ministry and department is under our control. And in the infighting, he will go down for the count every time… I will make him crawl on his bended knees, and beg for mercy.”

Which leader in any democratic would threaten its citizens in such a manner? It is easy to ‘talk big’ to a citizen as the most powerful man. Would Lee talk to the US or China is such a manner if they had offended him? A true leader shows compassion, is magnanimous, refrains from showing off his power and using threats against his people

Only a compassion lacking/very cruel person would speak in such a manner.

2 “… if we had not intervened on very personal matters– who your neighbour is, how you live, the noise you make, how you spit, or what language you use. We decide what is right. Never mind what the people think”.

Lee imposes his ideas on society, does not listen to citizens because he believes only in himself. But when it came to a failed policy like “Stop-At-Two”, Lee was quick to blame external factors.

Lee is an egocentric person. An egocentric person is not a team player and makes a bad leader.

3 “If nobody is afraid of me, I’m meaningless”.

Lee spends a lot of time disseminating propaganda, threatening/fixing citizens and bankrupting some to create fear among citizens. In the 80’s and 90’s, many citizens were fearful of critising the PAP in public places. Thanks to the internet, nobody really bothers if the PAP is listening to criticisms. And because Lee had gone to great lengths to cultivate fear among citizens, he has become much hated and it is not uncommon for netizens to use coarse language on Lee. It is a pity for Lee because no other leader in the world seems to be so hated by its citizens.

Is President Obama meaningless because Americans are not afraid of him?

Lee is a bully.

4 “If Singapore is a nanny state, then I am proud to have fostered one.”

Notice whenever there are problems, especially where money is concerned, the nanny disappears and in her place stands a self-reliant discipline master.

Lee takes credit quickly but shirks responsibility doubly fast.

5 “At the end of the day, we are so many digits in the machine. The point is – are these digits stronger than the competitors’ digits?”.

Citizens have all the while been treated as economic digits, not human beings.

6 “That was the year the British decided to get out and sell everything. So I immediately held an election. I knew the people will be dead scared. And I won my bet big-time.”

He was scheming right from the start. Singapore progressed to serve Lee and any benefit to citizens is incidental.

There are more quotes here and here.

Perhaps only die-hard supporters and the elderly (but not my mum) may still whole-heartedly believe in Lee as if time had stood still since the 80’s. The facts speak for themselves.

Lee Kuan Yew is not the leader that our mainstream media’s propaganda made him out to be. A leader listens and lead by consensus. Lee dictated.

Do good leaders bankrupt their political opponents, incarcerate them without trial and still not apologise even though the victims were innocent? Do good leaders sweep their mistakes under the carpet and paint themselves as close to perfect in the local and international media ?

According to Lee, the PAP is the government and the government is the PAP. No doubt, Lee was the PAP.

Lee may be well known on the world stage but the international standing of Lee does not matter to citizens because our lives have been impacted by PAP’s flawed policies.

What we have is a global political circus with politicians patting each other on the back despite their abject failure to resolve chronic problems in their countries. Worse, bestowing on each other national awards of the highest order which, again, means nothing to citizens.

Lee’s supporters would illogically reason that if he was not a great man, he would not be admired by many powerful foreign leaders. Question: So what if President Obama or President Xi praises Lee? Do our lives improve when foreign leaders heap praises on Lee?

Lee had clearly understood the need for total control and the power of propaganda. Total control allows issues of accountability and transparency to be ignored. Till today, our success is in fact an illusion because citizens do not know which part of our system has malfunctioned. More easily preventable mistakes by government agencies have started to surface.

The need for control still exists in the PAP, no thanks to Lee Kuan Yew. Today, the MDA has ‘requested’ online media TOC to register under the Broadcasting Notification. The PAP realises it no longer controls the flow of information and is trying to control all online media if possible. The PAP is desperate and clinging to dictatorial ways of governance.

The internet has revealed the true feelings of Singaporeans towards Lee Kuan Yew. Hate spewing comment and profanities are not uncommon.