Ephesus, 1994

Ephesus, 1994
On this grand tour, a Singapore lady complained: "Why come here?... see stones only." You be the judge of how some Singaporeans let us down....

© 2014 A. Khaw: Foreword...


Edited 5 Nov. 2014: Five years from start (Oct 2009) to finish, this blog was designed to tell
all about the contrived demise of the Singapore Herald in 1971, beginning with
"A blot on Sir Harry's Escutcheon" -- a tale of "the oppressor's
wrong, the insolence of office," of deception and chicanery and Harry
Lee's lies -- indeed, lying hardly describes what he did; with apologies to
Shaw, let's say "he overdid it, he got carried away in an ecstasy of
mendacity!"
To a select group of friends, mainly journalists, who
have been invited to visit this blog, I am tempted to declare solemnly that this is not
a calculated effort to smear the image of a man held in high esteem by many... But no! I would rather leave it to
every reader to make up his or her own mind about how LKY’s failure to exercise
self-restraint has cost him dear!
Recently, his radio speeches on the Battle for Merger
were reprinted. However, having persuaded Singaporeans to vote for merger in
1963, he travelled north to advance a personal “Malaysian Malaysia” agenda. As
a result, the Tengku threw him and Singapore out of Malaysia. Can anyone now
recall what we did gain from being in Malaysia for 22 months? My own
recollection: Zilch!








e d i t l o r e

Introduction: "Lore" as in folklore... from pensive ruminations on a trip down memory lane. Safire vs. Lee: "You tinpot tyrant!" It does have a certain ring to it. Mr LKY defended Harry Lee in his self-serving memoirs -- which reminded me of a stand-up comic's opening line: "My life is an open book, only I have a few pages stuck together." (Rapturous applause). So, I am musing on Singapore's past, present and future -- and Life's lessons on the human condition; no memoirs for me, thank you.

Incredible! LKY's oxymoron

Incredible! LKY's oxymoron
QUOTE: "The Singapore Herald has been taking the Government on since its publication in July last year" -- by Mr LKY (See posting: A rush of blood to the head & A blot on Sir Harry's Escutcheon).

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Leaders who are revered AND reviled: Why?

The historical record of Stalin's life and times is pretty well known. Still, millions of elderly Russians think they were better off when Stalin was around than they are today in modern Russia. In North Korea, Kim Il-sung is indisputably the "beloved leader" to millions. Robert Mugabe has his devoted camp followers. Even Idi Amin had his admirers.

Where do you think I am going with this? The truth is that all leaders have a public image -- one they burnish carefully when they are in power. They also have private demons, kept under wraps. To find out about these demons, one has to venture deep into the dark recesses of bruised egos, peering into the labyrinthine ways of their minds.

{To be contd)
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Followers