Lee Kuan Yew Hard Truths To Keep Singapore Going Interview - Youthful Concerns

we asked young singaporeans of diverse backgrounds if you could ask mm Lee any question at all no matter how weird or trivial or irreverent what would it be we came up with a list of almost 70 questions that gave us an insight into the issues that fire up young people among them sexuality gender politics disability and love do you feel that uh women have attained equality in Singapore today when you see equality equality of what education job opportunities equality of uh uh arduous work no I mean there are certain physical functions of the woman has different from a man I mean these are realities in the west they're trying to they're trying to override these uh differences and I think to their disadvantage I mean we recognize their different roles uh women become mothers women have responsibility to bring up their children men would have to share part of that responsibility but they're not women they haven't born the child so how about single mothers we didn't receive some comments that single mothers felt left out by some government policy say for um cpf or hdb flats so could there be more done to help I am no longer in charge I can only express a personal view I think I believe the way Society is developed with the internet and travel abroad we're going to have more single mothers to sorry you saw you hold more liberal view on no I believe not I'm not more liberal or conservative I believe in facing facts facing Trends and this is a trend you you mentioned gay rights um just wondering do you think what is your personal view on on being gay do you think it's a lifestyle no it's not a lifestyle you can read the books you want I mean all the Articles you know that there's a genetic difference so it's not a matter of choice but they born that way and uh that's that I mean so if two men or two women are died away just leave them alone whether they should be given rights of adoption is another matter because who going to look after the child that's those are complications that arise once you recognize that you can actually legally marry then you say I want to adopt but as far as I'm concerned I believe is balakrishna says is not it's not decisively proven I believe it's in there's enough evidence that some people are that away just leave them be this is more of a personal question and if one of your your grandchildren were to that's life they born with that genetic code that's that uh dick Chene didn't like gays but his daughter was born like that so he says I still love her full stop Yes happened to his family so on principle is he's against it but is his da daughter so you throw the daughter out that's life I mean none of my children are gay but if they were that's that one of the questions we got addressed the issue of political apathy and the person who asked this question um claimed that it was partly the result of how political activism doesn't have a place in our University campuses I mean do you think this is let's go back to the history of it political activism meant the Communist right and they were in charge of all the Chinese schools and non Young University so we had to dampen their influence we are now in a different stage if we had difficult social uh educational and employment conditions we're going to have political activism all the time as you have in Thailand or now in Malaysia or in Indonesia uh the activism comes not from being you know discussing politics at uh in your teenage years and at University what is it you're interested in you're interested in getting knowledge and getting yourself useful you have to have a certain amount of experience in life uh to understand the difficulties people face large groups of people fac in life and then you become an activist I mean I was not an activist in raf's college or in Cambridge I just listen I watched I learned but when I had I came back and wanted to go into politics I worked with the unions and I decided we have to do something about this I mean they underpaid no future their children so I formed my ideas uh discuss it my friends hence we had the women's Charter full education in schools for everybody and you were facing we were facing real problems I mean not not theoretical ideas about you know Socialism or conservatism or state ownership or private Enterprise these are real problems we had a small country we have a small country uh we need national service to defend the country so the first thing that came to my mind is unless they have a stake why should they fight and die for which or's bank or Leong Chan uh sons and their homes and their shares so I worked out the scheme cpf hdb Flats so below market price you can't sell it for 5 years and we know that they'll go up in value so everybody now in Singapore has a stake do you think something is missing today's Young Lakers well of course I mean what are you going to change in Singapore I now I ask you what do you want to change in Singapore fundamentally what they want is more growth Better Homes cars More Travel better schools better nurseries uh better kindergartens that's it they are Fringe items so the intensity of feeling for the for the country and in its future no not the intensity of feeling for the country you have now more to lose therefore you got to fight to keep what you have but you cannot there is nothing you can do will fundamentally lift up to another Lift us up to another plane what can do that Talent writers thinkers musicians researchers talented professionals who will attract more talent and you become a lively City that's not you cannot be done overnight but we're do heading in that direction and those who said is dull sanitized Society absolutely nothing they're wrong we had first things first we done it clean green Law and Order now we saw IR b top dancing uh buan jumping reverse whatever it is if I can um put the question another way what should a young person enter politics today what what is there to fight for what matters you got to fight for what you have right if you lose what you have and you become like the Philippines or Malaysia or Indonesia or Thailand you've got a lot to lose haven't you to preserve what we have we need talented robust committed people in charge look we've been through a very serious crisis because we built up reserves because we've got thinking people I thinking cabinet I thinking prime minister uh Finance Minister lii n they worked out the scheme so 9 months into the CR Cris there's no Panic question now is how long do we carry on with this crutch employers and trade unionists wanted to carry on forever but you can't you got to in the end you got to restructure and reorganize your economy right the jobs that have gone away are not going to come back so you've got to retrain you do new jobs and you got to face up to it so I get you're saying that you see no need to get youths interested in in politics they will get interested in politics the moment it hurts them the moment the shoe pinches they'll be jumping around they're unemployed they'll get interested in politics very quickly they'll vote for the party that say I'll get you reemployed another question that came in was whether you believe in love and love at first sight I don't believe in love at first sight I think it's a grave mistake you're attracted by physical characteristics and you'll regret it I married a woman whom I knew for a long time I had no interest in her when she was a student at Rafa's college with me because I was too young and preoccupied with my work but she told me later that she was interested in me so but during the War I was making gum melage so young y was the chemist so one production was my home the other production was his home and so I went to see and there she was and I said oh she's a there was time on my hands I was cycling so I said oh she's a nice girl so we became friends they gradually developed and I carefully considered the problem and uh I think I made the right choice and with every passing year we adjusted to each other until now even our habits become the same that's life your secret marriage in Stratford she's an old-fashioned girl with an oldfashioned family and so was mine so we did not want to have an illicitly S and it was be wrong so we got married but she was on scholarship and my my tutor would not have been very pleased to hear that I've got so we just kept it quiet so she wore the wedding ring on a on a chain all that I could afford was a was a platinum wedding ring I think it was the right thing to do but these days they say what I mean I read and was it your paper that reported that they did a poll on the teenage boys and girls now More than 70% have already active sex by the way by the time they're 14 15 or whatever it was I mean I don't think that's a good idea I would be very sorry to see my grandchildren or my granddaughter do that no I mean after a while it becomes just a physical commodity that's all doesn't make sense to me um another question was uh who is your favorite child and grandchild I can't answer that question all of them are favorites but I was say the most uh likable fellow my is my disadvantaged grandson he's turned out very polite well spoken well behaved quite unexpectedly because I used to take him around his mother died within the month of his birth so my wife and I used to take him walking around the estana at night and we were very worried because he did strange things when we changed the root he would cry and knock his head against the girl so said something's wrong with this boy and my daughter said she's he's autistic people with Autism do not like to change habits food or whatever it is he much improved now and she's over the years she watched him develop so he's got mild autism called asperges fortunate for him and for the mother and father but he a nice land speaks very politely you have mentioned before that uh you had dyslexia yeah um so I didn't know that yeah but how did you find out later well my daughter brought a dyslexia specialist he was in Singapore for some conference and she knew she had dyslexia but in a stronger form than mine so she's seen some of my spelling mistakes so she suspected that I've got dyslexia so he brought him to see me in the office and he put me several questions asked me to spell out certain words so it says you got mild dyslexia but I went through life I I think I was already 50 plus or 60 I overcame it I should have come to that conclusion that something was wrong when I did a course in spee be reading and I did not succeed and it's not because I'm stupid because I usually have to run my eye back to make sure that I got the right word so that slows me down but because I read more slowly it's I read only once and it sticks so there are compensations the important thing is not to be discouraged and feel I'm disabled no another D Vinci was dyslexic so what he was a great artist culture thinker so I'm not comparing myself to him but if he can overcome dyslexias fortunately I overcame it without my noise it how do you think today's youths uh perceive you I don't know I my grandchildren probably think I'm too strict do you think they they sort of look at you as some kind of mythological figure even you no I don't I'm not a mythological figure I don't know what they think of me or what know uh in anyway it's not relevant I'm no longer a central player in politics but you you mentioned um you know some several Statesmen that you really admire do you think do you hope to be remembered in the same way as them by by Singapore and youth no I'm not first of all I do not classify myself as a Statesman I put myself down as a determined uh consistent persistent trial I set out to do something I keep on chasing it until it succeeds that's all that's how I perceive myself not as a statement after rubbish anybody who thinks is a is a basement needs to see a psych psychiatrist I like this question do you believe in fun and astrology because I think a lot of singaporeans suspect that you do AR rubbish AR Rish look I'm a PR pragmatic practical fellow I do not believe in horoscopes I do not believe in funu but and I don't I'm not superstitious about numbers but if you have a house which other people think is uh disadvantage funu numbers and when you buy it you must consider that when you resell so again it's a practical consideration not that I'm interested in it but if I buy that I must get a low price because when I sell it I will get a low price do you believe I go for function and horoscopes well you know there are all these stories about how our $1 coin it's got eight sides to it because you know you thought that it was a good idea and it was auspicious and people spin these Yarns and let them die it doesn't bother me um is there is there anything that um you think you need forgiveness for it's one question that came in that's another po game question I did what I thought was right given the circumstances given my knowledge at the time given my the pressures on me at the time is finish done I move forward you keep on hacking back you're just wasting time do I regret going to Malaysia no it was the right thing to do did it fail yes do I regret pressing for Malaysian Malaysia and making it fair no if I did not we'll be stuck and today the same issue is there so it's part of a process of just growing up you want said you rather be feared as a leader than love yeah of course if you're not feared when you say something people don't believe they won't take notice but they know that when I say something I mean it and if you you're going to cross sords with me then you must be willing to get stabbed that's that if I think this is going to be it's necessary to do and you set out to th me then we fight so to avoid a fight I make quite sure that you understand that I will fight simple is that I am not interested in being loved what's the propit in it but this this climate of fear I mean it's this part of it is your creation because of the way I can't it are you fearful if you are not fear if you are fearful why you ask me these questions is anything going to happen to you after rubbish we may not personally be fearful but we did encounter quite a few young people who were I cannot explain that and I'm not interested whether they are fearful or not fearful I think it's better that they are fearful and will take me seriously that they think I'm uh some somebody they can brush off so and if you're the Prime Minister and you're brushed off you're in trouble one impression that we got um serving young people is that they're starting to see you as a kind of celebrity so do you do you worry no no I'm what they think of me does not worry me I'm no longer in active politics I don't have to collect votes I don't have to be popular all I do is to make the right decisions use my uh Network around the world to improve our chances that's all these things do not concern me it's irrelevant to me what they think of me what they think of me after I'm dead and gone in one generation will be determined by researchers who will do phds on me right so there'll be lots of revisionism as people revise Stalin Brash nef and one day now Y and now later on put in I mean I live long enough to know that you may be idealized in life and reviled after your dead what are the things important to me in my life my family and my country my family my wife looks after she brought up the children but Singapore is an evergoing concern Singapore is my my concern till the end of my life that's that

Channel: Oscar Lee

Views: 317,818

Keywords: lee, kuan, yew, hard, truths, interview, to, keep, singapore, going, youthful, concerns, youth, matters, dvd, opinions, insights, book, recommend, straits, times, the, press, holdings, sph, philosophy, educational, bring life, technique, evanescence, immortal

Id: -btRzxJvYOc

Length: 25min 49sec (1549 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 13 2011