The New York Times: My Father Founded Singapore. He Would Be Troubled by What It’s Become.

[Chase]

Opinion | My Father Founded Singapore. He Would Be Troubled by What It’s Become.
April 30, 2025 Lee Hsien Yang

Full Article:
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/30/opinion/singapore-lee-kuan-yew-election.html
https://dnyuz.com/2025/04/30/my-father-founded-singapore-he-wouldnt-like-what-its-become

 

[Chase]

The party, which has governed uninterrupted since 1959, is no longer living up to its obligations to the people. At the same time, it is becoming more authoritarian, introducing oppressive laws in recent years. Singapore is still an autocracy but no longer the benevolent one my father envisioned.

This will be on the minds of many Singaporeans when they vote in parliamentary elections on Saturday. Today many people feel that they are living in a country that primarily benefits the wealthy, members of the ruling party and their cronies.


Full Article:
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/30/opinion/singapore-lee-kuan-yew-election.html
https://dnyuz.com/2025/04/30/my-father-founded-singapore-he-wouldnt-like-what-its-become

 

[Chase]

Today’s ruling elite is out of touch, and Singapore’s vaunted reputation for efficient, corruption-free governance is in danger.

The government has long claimed that the salaries it pays to its ministers, among the highest in the world, help prevent official corruption and ensure top-quality administration. Singapore still performs well in corruption perception indexes, but perception lags reality. A slew of scandals in recent years has implicated government ministers, ruling party politicians and influential state-linked companies.

The Economist’s latest index of countries most affected by crony capitalism, which was released in 2023, ranked Singapore fourth, after Russia, the Czech Republic and Malaysia. A number of cases indicate that because of its carefully cultivated clean image, Singapore has become a prime destination for those seeking to launder money, evade international sanctions or otherwise dodge financial scrutiny, including wealthy Chinese citizens, Russian entities and drug and arms dealers from Myanmar.


Full Article:
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/30/opinion/singapore-lee-kuan-yew-election.html
https://dnyuz.com/2025/04/30/my-father-founded-singapore-he-wouldnt-like-what-its-become

 

[Chase]

More important to average citizens is that Singapore’s wealth is no longer being fairly distributed. The country has become a playground of the superrich and is routinely ranked as one of the world’s most expensive cities to live in. Providing inexpensive, quality public housing was once a point of national pride; today many citizens can’t find affordable apartments, or they face competition for jobs from foreigners. Public transport breakdowns, flooding and data breaches add to the sense of decline in government competence.

At the same time, the government has doubled down on autocracy, introducing repressive and overly broad laws in recent years. These are described as necessary to protect national security and social harmony or to combat fake news, but they give the government even more tools to silence dissent. As it did in my father’s time, the government continues to use police investigations, defamation lawsuits and other legal actions to intimidate political opponents, civil society groups and other critics. In February, with elections imminent, a court found Pritam Singh, the leader of the opposition Worker’s Party, guilty of lying under oath to a parliamentary inquiry, which he denies.


Full Article:
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/30/opinion/singapore-lee-kuan-yew-election.html
https://dnyuz.com/2025/04/30/my-father-founded-singapore-he-wouldnt-like-what-its-become

 

[Chase]

There is no chance that the government, headed by Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, will fall on Saturday. The People’s Action Party holds 83 of Parliament’s 93 elected seats and has a firm grip on the institutions of state power and the media. Singapore’s elections are not free and fair. Critics cite last-minute changes to electoral boundaries as signs of gerrymandering. A short nine-day campaign period and limitations on freedom of speech also put the opposition at a clear disadvantage.

Singaporeans deserve open and accountable government and more say in the policies that affect them. Genuine democracy also will help make Singapore more resilient in withstanding the challenges of a fracturing world. Even my father predicted a day “must come” when the People’s Action Party would no longer be in power.

As successful as Singapore’s system was under my father, it is clear now that it really works only with a man like him in charge. The political scientist Samuel Huntington probably said it best: “The honesty and efficiency that Senior Minister Lee has brought to Singapore are likely to follow him to his grave.”

That prediction has sadly come true.

Full Article:
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/30/opinion/singapore-lee-kuan-yew-election.html
https://dnyuz.com/2025/04/30/my-father-founded-singapore-he-wouldnt-like-what-its-become

 

[Eisenhut]

When he was Singtel Optus CEO, piaking brown sugar in Ozzieland, did he think about all these?

 

[Chase]

When he was Singtel Optus CEO, piaking brown sugar in Ozzieland, did he think about all these?

He was a respectable officer in Army, not cocky and better care of his specs and men than other regulars and Enciks.

I served under him.

 

[True Believer]

This will be on the minds of many Singaporeans when they vote in parliamentary elections on Saturday. Today many people feel that they are living in a country that primarily benefits the wealthy, members of the ruling party and their cronies.

The Economist ranks S'pore 3rd on the World Crony Capitalism Index: we have a high % of billionaires who enjoy family and personal ties to our politicians.

 

[jsctan]

Majority Sinkies can't be saved.

 

[syed putra]

Family feud gone international. This is embarrassing. No wonder LHL retired.

 

[laksaboy]

Moral of the story: politics come and go, but human nature never changes.

 

[Rogue Trader]

When he was Singtel Optus CEO, piaking brown sugar in Ozzieland, did he think about all these?

Exactly. He is just using politics as a platform to flame his family feud.

Just be a man and fight your own battles for once

 

[bobby]

Sham….please POFMA New York Tines.

 

[sbfuncle]

His father founded sg?
The opening statement already wrong le.
He should just say my father build up sg from a fishing village.

 

[GOD IS MY DOG]

Opinion | My Father Founded Singapore. He Would Be Troubled by What It’s Become.
April 30, 2025 Lee Hsien Yang

Full Article:
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/30/opinion/singapore-lee-kuan-yew-election.html
https://dnyuz.com/2025/04/30/my-father-founded-singapore-he-wouldnt-like-what-its-become

Ah Yang trying to say Raffles never came to S'pore ?

 

[Leongsam]

Benevolent my foot. LKY threw his political opponents in jail without trial and left them to rot for there for years.

With LKY still in charge 3/4 of the current WP candidates would be behind bars. That's what LKY did to the Barisan Socialist candidates in 1963. Every single candidate that was a genuine threat was rounded up.

---

From Grok :

Operation Coldstore was a major security operation conducted in Singapore on February 2, 1963, by the Internal Security Department under the British colonial government, in collaboration with the Malayan and Singaporean authorities. It targeted left-wing political groups, primarily members of the Barisan Sosialis party and other communist-leaning organizations, accused of being part of a pro-communist subversive network threatening Singapore’s stability.
Key Details:

• Context: Singapore was moving toward merger with Malaysia, and the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP), led by Lee Kuan Yew, faced strong opposition from the Barisan Sosialis, a left-wing splinter group from the PAP. The British, Malayan, and Singaporean governments feared communist influence amid the broader Cold War and the ongoing Malayan Emergency.
• Operation: Over 113 individuals, including prominent Barisan Sosialis leaders like Lim Chin Siong, trade unionists, and student activists, were arrested and detained without trial under the Internal Security Act. The operation was justified as a preemptive strike to prevent alleged communist subversion.
• Impact:
  • The arrests crippled the Barisan Sosialis, weakening the political opposition to the PAP ahead of the 1963 general election, which the PAP won decisively.
  • Detainees were held for varying periods, some for years, under harsh conditions, with allegations of torture and coerced confessions.
  • The operation solidified PAP’s dominance and shaped Singapore’s political landscape, prioritizing security and economic development over political pluralism.
• Controversy: Historians and former detainees have debated the operation’s necessity. Official narratives claim it thwarted a communist takeover, citing declassified documents showing some leftist links to communist networks. Critics argue the threat was exaggerated, and the operation was a politically motivated move to suppress legitimate opposition, with limited evidence of an imminent communist plot.

Legacy: Operation Coldstore remains a polarizing event in Singapore’s history, symbolizing the trade-off between security and civil liberties. It is often cited in discussions about the PAP’s consolidation of power and the suppression of leftist politics in Singapore’s early years.

 

[laksaboy]

Dear Ah Yang, your father was a rabble rouser who got kicked out of Malaysia. The Tunku called his bluff.

Sinkieland was successful because your father sarkar the correct Jew buddy at that time, and the rest is history. But feel free to wax lyrical about the old first gen PAP leadership etc. It's natural for a son to want to believe that his dad was the greatest.

 

[winners]

Benevolent my foot. LKY threw his political opponents in jail without trial and left them to rot for there for years.

Ah Leong ah, why you contradict yourself again? Are you having dementia? Didn't you just said today: "the time to do the hard yards and set the stage with policies that work even though they may cause temporary pain. Otherwise, you don't understand how politics works."

https://www.sammyboy.com/threads/vi...-world-im-trying-to-save.385665/#post-4238056

Wow, you are worse than those Double-Headed Keling Kia Cobras. You can present various versions of your argument which you deemed fit, depending on who you deem as a villain and who is your idol. How to believe you again?

 

[Leongsam]

Ah Leong ah, why you contradict yourself again? Are you having dementia? Didn't you just said today: "the time to do the hard yards and set the stage with policies that work even though they may cause temporary pain. Otherwise, you don't understand how politics works."

https://www.sammyboy.com/threads/vi...-world-im-trying-to-save.385665/#post-4238056

Wow, you are worse than those Double-Headed Keling Kia Cobras. You can present various versions of your argument which you deemed fit, depending on who you deem as a villain and who is your idol. How to believe you again?

I am full of admiration for LKY. All I said was he was anything but benevolent pointing out that LHY has a distorted view of history because he was never on the receiving end of his father's wrath.

Your comprehension skills are sorely lacking along with your inability to spot satire when it is staring you in the face. How's your bicycle going?

 

[Eisenhut]

I am full of admiration for LKY. All I said was he was anything but benevolent pointing out that LHY has a distorted view of history because he was never on the receiving end of his father's wrath.

Your comprehension skills are sorely lacking along with your inability to spot satire when it is staring you in the face. How's your bicycle going?

Lim Chin Siong is the real rightful ruler of Singapore, not LKY. Lim Chin Siong is 真命天子