Lee Kuan Yew loves the world, especially Singapore, very much. In 1965, he shed tears in front of national television when he announced the separation of Singapore from Malaysia. Fifty years later in 2015, the entire nation shed tears for him. Singapore and the world are showing Lee now how much they love him too.
The funeral on Sunday 29 March 2015 reads like a 'Who's Who's' of the world leaders. No other world leader's funeral has attracted so many visitors, not even the late Princes Diana in 1997.
How does Lee Kuan Yew love his people? Many young people may not appreciate what he has done for the nation, because they perceive him to be a strict and fierce parent. One thing for sure: he does not love them by spoiling them, he loves them by developing them. From watching over hundreds of hours of videos and articles on Lee, I think Lee loves his people in 8 ways:
- Kindness. Lee always have the peoples' interests at heart. He sacrificed his whole life to work hard for the people's interests. He is tough when it comes to leadership on critical issues, yet soft when it comes to his own family and humanity issues
- Equanimity, which means equal-ness of mind, being objective and not subjective. Lee practises equanimity with free market policies and use the power of the 'invisible hand' or laissez faire. Most importantly, he gives people space to perform by adopting meritocracy policies.
- Happiness is upper most at Lee's mind. His relentless pursuit of opportunities for Singapore is with one purpose: to create a better and happier life for all
- Compassion means to reduce other people's suffering. Without doubt Lee is a man of compassion, for he spent his entire life to improve the lives of Singaporeans and lifted it from poverty in 1959 to one of the top 3 richest country in the world by 2015.
- Suggestion. Lee always gives suggestions readily, especially to world leaders. The late Deng Xiao Ping of China attributed China's success to learning from Lee. Yet he is also open to suggestions
- Praise. Lee gives credit when it is due and is never stingy in giving praises to encourage people
- Advise. Lee's advise are always ahead of the times and have far-sightedness not seen elsewhere
- Criticism. This is what Lee is most well known of. He is known to take a tough stand, and would not hesitate to demolish people if he thinks that they are on the wrong path. Isn't this what a loving parent would do to their children?
by Andy Ng of Asia Trainers, details of courses at www.asiatrainers.com/SeminarsList.php. Related articles:
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