Thought of the Day - Respect LKY's Last Wish
As an opposition politician, I am apparently not a fan of LKY for all my adult life, for reasons I have already expounded during his death in 2015.
However, if he truly wished not to have his old house to be made into a memorial monument for himself because he did not want to become the idol of hero worshiping in spite of all those high praises (regardless whether worthy or not) of his achievements for Singapore, then at least this formidable opponent whom I do not like, earns my respect for this last decision.
It is shocking to me that the current PAP government under his very own son's leadership, has seek all means and ways to go against his last wish. If what Lee Wei Ling had said in her latest combined statement with her other brother, Lee Hsien Yang, is true, then I would say this is a FEARFULLY DISHONORABLE act from our government.
PAP and its Prime Minister had been screaming "Rule of Law" high and low in recent months over all things but I would say, to use all legislative means to DISHONOR the last wish of their very own "Hero", Mr Lee Kuan Yew, is neither a good example of "Rule of Law" nor Rule of Morals. Do they not want LKY to Rest In Peace?
LKY has not only stated once in his life that he did not want any monument for himself and has stated clearly in his last memoir that he wanted the old house to be demolished after his death.
Why is that so difficult to grant the very person whom so many Singaporeans adore and respect, his very last wish?
As far as the house is concerned, this is a Private house belonging to LKY and now, his estate and immediate family after his death. Though PM Lee has stated that this is "private family dispute" over the house, but why should his government be meddling in this private matter of the house?
PM Lee is totally incoherent here. Once his government decided to exert power to determine the future of the Private House of the Lee family, it will no longer be a private matter but a public matter.
Why would he set up a Ministerial Committee to determine the fate of this Private house? To determine a dead man's will? There isn't a need to. LKY had repeated expressed in no uncertain terms that he did not want any monument to be set up for him after his death. Isn't that clear enough? Thus, I would say that although I am not prevail to all the insider's details, I have to agree with Lee Wei Ling and Lee Hsien Yang that the government under PM Lee is abusing its power to force or influence the outcome of a purely Private matters of the Lee family.
This is especially so when the three siblings had just signed an agreement on how to deal with house but yet, PM Lee set up this Ministerial Committee to re-look into the matter again. Why would that be so? It is no wonder both Lee Wei Ling and Lee Hsien Yang felt betrayed and anyone in their position will naturally think that their brother has abused his political power to get what he want. Most importantly, how could they ever trust him again with this political maneuver?
This saga has sent chill deep down into my spine. Imagine:
If PAP government could even dishonor their very own founder, LKY in such manner, who else would they respect? Definitely not small potatoes like us in the street.
If what Lee Hsien Yang and Lee Wei Ling said is true, even they felt uncomfortable by their brother's use of national machinery to monitor them up to the level of making them feel overwhelmingly intimidated and wanting to migrate out of Singapore, what else could we expect for those of us who are powerless but brave enough to stand up as opposition members?
If the PAP government even dare to use their administrative and legislative powers to forcefully take over a private house in such manner, with so much disrespect to the one they claimed they adored, loved and worshiped, there is no other people's private property they would not dare to take forcefully if they fancy!
If even the member(s) of the most powerful and influential Lee family would say openly that the Singapore's Main Stream Media is controlled by the government and the 154th ranking given to them by international organization is somewhat justified, how else could we as a nation trust the MSM?
If even the members of the Lee family felt that there is basically no proper separation of powers and a total lack of checks and balances of the power that be, why should we still trying to make believe that this is a meaningful democracy at all?
The latest public statement made by both Lee Wei Ling and Lee Hsien Yang is highly provocative and even up to the point of potentially defamatory if all these assertions are untrue. Apart from the accusation of abuse of power, there are other serious accusation. This is especially so on the part of indirectly accusing Ho Ching of instructing senior civil servants when she holds no political office and has no power to do so. There is also mention of PM Lee obtaining official document (Deed of Gift) from one of his ministry and passing it to his own lawyer. (The last time such thing happened was in the 1997 defamation case against Tang Liang Hong.)
All these are serious accusations made by two prominent public figures from the distinguished family in Singapore and they cannot be ignored or brushed away lightly.
Goh Meng Seng
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11 comments:
Goh Meng Seng, with all these events unfolding, don't you think it is all the more urgent now that opposition leaders like you should try hard to get your party strong and ready to be seen as a credible alternative?
Or at least you can take the lead to organise the various opposition parties to form a real united front and announce that the opposition is ready to form a coalition govt (without PAP of course) should the opposition be given the mandate at the next election?
Put aside your ego and try to initiate and convince the leader of the biggest opposition party Low Thia Khiang to accept this idea of opposition unity for a coalition govt, although in the past Low did not believe in opposition unity, let alone form govt out of it.
Learn from our neighbour Dr Mahathir. He put aside differences with the opposition and is working hard with them to form a united front to replace Najib's govt in their coming election.
Anon 1:06 AM, I think you are asking too much of Goh Meng Seng lah, to the point of being unrealistic or even bizarre with such suggestions.
In fact I nearly fell off my chair after reading it. Never in my wildest dreams had I ever dream of such a thing.
High lawyer and the more money than imagine? No platform over the *demolished of a house?*
This is a storLEE ,
About a house in OxLEE.
It belongs previously to an elderLEE,
Tear it down when I am gone eternaLEE.
I don't need it as a memoLEE.
Now that he is gone, his children cannot settle it properLEE.
Two say bring it down and obey respectfuLEE,
One say let's see if we can deal with it differentLEE.
Why does the whole WORLD need to know the whole storLEE,
when actually it is a matter of their own FamiLEE.
As elderLEE shakes his head sadLEE,
I can't help but ask why you guys cannot let me go peacefuLEE..
Too much time and money? Nothing better to do. Do something constructive and meaningful. Please spent your time and money on charities. These humans need more care and attention than being a disgrace washing dirty laundry regards to demolition a house. What is the hurry? Is she ill and departing soon?
What kind of values are these people sending to the real families? Not happy just fight publicly ? These people are just adding fuel by the already me first and selfish society. The nation is already going down socially without them making it worse.
Real families are very affected by this saga. So from now onwards we will meet more nasty people around us. If that family who is suppose to represent our nation is fighting to win by all means, so will the people. Expect increase in the already unpleasant people around us.
Ordinary folks are worrying about their own jobs when they see their colleagues around them being retrenched. Going to work daily is a necessity and sometimes difficult. A few people make their own worries about a big potential piece of land rather than appreciating what they already have.
The issue is miniscule don't make a mountain out of a molehill.
Its a wake up call for those whose life ambition is to own a 2nd property. The option to pay the a few hundred dollars of ABSD outweighs going into a forest to pluck names from trees to avoid paying to register for ownership.
Though I do not agree to some of Mr. Goh's arguments, I do agree that you are not a multi-face opposition with overseas connections! You do not stalk the government.
The dead man has created this mess himself. It was said that the infamous SPH editors hounded him to reject or scrap his will to demolish the house. This is simply amazing! Alas, bad Karma has found its way to haunt him even before his death.
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