History makes man and man makes history. Whether you like him or not, Lee Kuan Yew ("LKY") made a part of Singapore's history. In fact, Singapore's history of independence began with him.
Looking back at the period from 1965 to 1990, when LKY was prime minister, one feels great pride in Singapore's tremendous progress as a country and nation in that time. The economy grew substantially and a strong national identity emerged. Though he had his critics and was considered paternalistic and high-handed, especially in matters concerning national security and politics, he was the man who steered Singapore to become an international financial centre and the little red dot that everyone came to knw.
We do not have to love LKY but we must give him credit for the positive work that he did for Singapore. In Chinese, there is a saying ”没有功劳也有苦劳“ which means that even if he had not done any meritorious deed, he had performed his work with elbow grease.
And many will agree that during his tenure as prime minister, he had done well overall notwithstanding disagreements over some of his policies. There can be debate over the prudence of some of his unpopular policies but we cannot deny that he had many good policies too. The Chinese saying "功不可没" which means "we cannot bury the credit due to him" applies to LKY for his contributions to Singapore.
He deserves to be remembered and not forgotten.
Looking back at the period from 1965 to 1990, when LKY was prime minister, one feels great pride in Singapore's tremendous progress as a country and nation in that time. The economy grew substantially and a strong national identity emerged. Though he had his critics and was considered paternalistic and high-handed, especially in matters concerning national security and politics, he was the man who steered Singapore to become an international financial centre and the little red dot that everyone came to knw.
We do not have to love LKY but we must give him credit for the positive work that he did for Singapore. In Chinese, there is a saying ”没有功劳也有苦劳“ which means that even if he had not done any meritorious deed, he had performed his work with elbow grease.
And many will agree that during his tenure as prime minister, he had done well overall notwithstanding disagreements over some of his policies. There can be debate over the prudence of some of his unpopular policies but we cannot deny that he had many good policies too. The Chinese saying "功不可没" which means "we cannot bury the credit due to him" applies to LKY for his contributions to Singapore.
He deserves to be remembered and not forgotten.
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