Sunday, March 29, 2015

From Mr Lee Kuan Yew



“His journey, his physical manifestation may have ended, but I think his legacy will live on forever”: Bhutan King His Majesty King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, who was at Mr Lee Kuan Yew’s State Funeral Service today. cna.asia/lkystatefuneral
Posted by Channel NewsAsia Singapore on Sunday, March 29, 2015

"It's not how you begin a journey, it's how you end it." —— This is advice from Singapore's first prime minister Lee Kuan Yew to His Majesty King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, Bhutan.

“旅程的关键不在你如何开始,在你如何结束。” —— 这是建国总理李光耀,曾给不丹国王旺楚克的忠告。




Speaking to the Singapore Press Club in 1996, Mr Lee Kuan Yew said:

“Thirty years ago, my colleagues, younger and more dreamy eyed, settled the words of our pledge. We did not focus our eyes on our navels or we would have missed the rainbow in the sky. We pursued that rainbow and that was how we came to build today’s Singapore.”

“For the young, let me tell you the sky has turned brighter. There’s a glorious rainbow that beckons those with the spirit of adventure. And there are rich findings at the end of the rainbow. To the young and to the not-so-old, I say, look at that horizon, follow that rainbow, go ride it.

Not all will be rich, quite a few will find a grain of gold. Dig it up.”



Speaking at the Lunar New Year celebration dinner in 2012, Mr Lee suppresses bouts of hiccups and abdominal discomfort for a speech on foreign immigrants:

"Economically we have done very well. Our GDP is more than 300 million Sing dollars. Higher than many countries in the region. Per capital is probably the highest outside Japan. But like Japan, we face a very serious problem. An old-ing and a shaking population.

The Japanese do not want to take immigrants, they want to remain a homogeneous society. The result is an ageing population and a stagnant economy. Our choice must be the other one. Taking immigrants. I know Singaporeans do not feel very comfortable seeing so many strange new faces, but the alternative is economy stagnation, and worse, nobody to look after our old people later on. So i urge everybody to understand why we are doing what we are doing."

In Mandarin, he said, "Our economy is strong, but our population is shrinking. The birth rate for the Chinese is 1.08. This means that the Chinese population will shrink by half its current population in 18 years."

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