Finally, some wisdom from the LEE family [Tagged]

[elainehoal]

By Lee Wei Ling, daughter of Lee Kuan Yew, Former Prime Minister of Republic of Singapore

In 2007, in an end-of-year message to the staff of the National Neuroscience Institute, I wrote: ‘Whilst boom time in the public sector is never as booming as in the private sector, let us not forget that boom time is eventually followed by slump time.

Slump time in the public sector is always less painful compared to the private sector.’ Slump time has arrived with a bang.

While I worry about the poorer Singaporeans who will be hit hard, perhaps this recession has come at an opportune time for many of us. It will give us an incentive to reconsider our priorities in life.
Decades of the good life have made us soft.

The wealthy especially, but also the middle class in Singapore, have had it so good for so long, what they once considered luxuries, they now think of as necessities. A mobile phone, for instance, is now a statement about who you are, not just a piece of equipment for communication. Hence many people buy the latest model though their existing mobile phones are still in perfect working order.
A Mercedes-Benz is no longer adequate as a status symbol. For millionaires who wish to show the world they have taste, a Ferrari or a Porsche is deemed more appropriate.

The same attitude influences the choice of attire and accessories. I still find it hard to believe that there are people carrying handbags that cost more than thrice the monthly income of a bus driver, and many more times that of the foreign worker labouring in the hot sun, risking his life to construct luxury condominiums he will never have a chance to live in.

The media encourages and amplifies this ostentatious consumption.
Perhaps it is good to encourage people to spend more because this will prevent the recession from getting worse.

I am not an economist, but wasn’t that the root cause of the current crisis – Americans spending more than they could afford to? I am not a particularly spiritual person. I don’t believe in the supernatural and I don’t think I have a soul that will survive my death. But as I view the crass materialism around me, I am reminded of what my mother once told me: ‘Suffering and deprivation is good for the soul.’

My family is not poor, but we have been brought up to be frugal.
My parents and I live in the same house that my paternal grandparents and their children moved into after World War II in 1945. It is a big house by today’s standards, but it is simple – in fact, almost to the point of being shabby.

Those who see it for the first time are astonished that Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew’s home is so humble. But it is a comfortable house, a home we have got used to. Though it does look shabby compared to the new mansions on our street, we are not bothered by the comparison.

Most of the world and much of Singapore will lament the economic downturn. We have been told to tighten our belts. There will undoubtedly be suffering, which we must try our best to ameliorate. But I personally think the hard times will hold a timely lesson for many Singaporeans, especially those born after 1970
who have never lived through difficult times. No matter how poor you are in Singapore, the authorities and social groups do try to ensure you have shelter and food. Nobody starves in Singapore.
Many of those who are currently living in mansions and enjoying a luxurious lifestyle will probably still be able to do so, even if they might have to downgrade from wines costing $20,000 a bottle to $10,000 a bottle. They would hardly notice the difference.

Being wealthy is not a sin. It cannot be in a capitalist market economy.
Enjoying the fruits of one’s own labour is one’s prerogative and I have no right to chastise those who choose to live luxuriously. But if one is blinded by materialism, there would be no end to wanting and hankering.
After the Ferrari, what next? An Aston Martin? After the Hermes Birkin handbag, what can one upgrade to? Neither an Aston Martin nor an Hermes Birkin can make us truly happy or contented. They are like dust, a fog obscuring the true meaning of life, and can be blown away in the twinkling of an eye.
When the end approaches and we look back on our lives, will we regret the latest mobile phone or luxury car that we did not acquire? Or would we prefer to die at peace with ourselves, knowing that we have lived lives filled with love, friendship and goodwill, that we have helped some of our fellow voyagers along the way and that we have tried our best to leave this world a slightly better place than how we found it?

We know which is the correct choice – and it is within our power to make that choice.
In this new year, burdened as it is with the problems of the year that has just ended, let us again try to choose wisely.

To a considerable degree, our happiness is within our own control, and we should not follow the herd blindly.

The writer is director of the National Neuroscience Institute
–
Blessed are those who can give without remembering and take without forgetting.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 21st, 2009 at 10:13 pm and is filed under Forex News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

[Johnston]

LOL big time.
After Lamborgini, there is Lamborghini Balboni or Reventon
Pagani Zonda , Pagani ZOnda Cinque (FIVE only in the world)
And not to forget the bugatti Veyron.

This post is so funny i going to make it prettier

[glbonker]

Nice one please continue , thanks

[Johnston]

In the Annual address to the staff of the National Neuroscience Institute, i wrote: Whilst the public sector has never been as active compared to the private sector, let us not forget that times of plenty are inevitably followed by times of deprivation.

Oddly, these periods of deprivation are felt more strongly by the private sector, while the public sector is able to shoulder the blow better.

While i worry about the less affluent singaporeans who will feel the impact harder than the rest of us, perhaps it is just as well the recession hits us now. It will give us an incentive to reestablish our life priorities. We have lived high on the hog for decades now and we have grown soft as an result.

The more affluent portions of our population have lived the high life for so long, that what they once deemed as luxurious they now deem as neccesities. A cell phone, just as an example, is now a statement of who you are and what you can afford rather than just an instrument for communication. Thus people buy the latest models even though their current models work perfectly. A Mercedes-Benz automobile is now considered passe. For the more well-to-do, a Ferrari or a Porsche is considered more appropriate.



-- cheesepie lah, too hard to translate. i go drink more beer now

[Kuan Aik Hong]

Nice thread..more pls.

[RoyalSalute]

Sorry but I wonder what has it got to do with a sex forum???

[BonEx]

will read again soon wall of text so i briefly browsed through only

[Johnston]

Originally Posted by elainehoal

My family is not poor, but we have been brought up to be frugal.
My parents and I live in the same house that my paternal grandparents and their children moved into after World War II in 1945. It is a big house by today’s standards, but it is simple – in fact, almost to the point of being shabby.

ed.

wah sure not, brought up to be frugal.... Mr Lee the birthday party i sure not held at kopi tiam "zhi cha" right??? if so frugal then why not sell the big house and then live in standard hdb 5 room flat.... i hear that pre-war house sell for big buck okay....

Shabby? Simi si shabby? Pre-war house called shabby ah???? then i dont know what they call OPULENT. CASTLE isst?

[thedicknight]

A big mistake posting it here, if she do more actions to help the poor than talk about it ,we can appreciate her article. Lee Family is not don't have wisdom, just a lack of common bonding with the citizens.
Ask them about poverty which they may not even know how to spell. Have they eaten hawker leftovers, beg in the streets, buy a tissue from the handicapped? Distribute their wealth or a Lee Foundation for the poor? Sadly, Wealth and Power blinds a person's senses

[comm]

Originally Posted by Johnston

wah sure not, brought up to be frugal.... Mr Lee the birthday party i sure not held at kopi tiam "zhi cha" right??? if so frugal then why not sell the big house and then live in standard hdb 5 room flat.... i hear that pre-war house sell for big buck okay....

Shabby? Simi si shabby? Pre-war house called shabby ah???? then i dont know what they call OPULENT. CASTLE isst?

you cant like that compare, if your jobless and eat zhi char for birthday, thats called extravagant. if your singapore top10 richest family and birthday party spend only $1000, thats called frugal

[Cheonging101]

Originally Posted by comm

you cant like that compare, if your jobless and eat zhi char for birthday, thats called extravagant. if your singapore top10 richest family and birthday party spend only $1000, thats called frugal

That means if we no money, it's okay to rape?

[Zoick]

How this article relate to SBF?

[Johnston]

I like to make it known that Mr Lee Senior like to drink Tiger Beer.
BUT.
He dont accept canned beer, he like it from the Barrel. Thats not frugal Its the mark of an connoisieur.

I really love it when people living in house with swimming pool can say "We live in shabby condition". I am not aware that swimming pools are considered shabby.

[WWEF]

Originally Posted by Cheonging101

That means if we no money, it's okay to rape?

Well said.

Anyway she has never been poor in her whole fucking life. Talk cock nia.

[elainehoal]

i've read all of ur comments in here... and i know some of u zapped me off my points.. well... thanks n no thanks.

there's no purpose in sharing it in sbf.. i always liked sbf as a sexual fantasy forum for guys n girls to come along and share their experiences... in the past, i did comment on other ppl's non-sensical posting of a non-sexual content into sbf.... so i support bros who qn the purpose of putting this info in here...

however, this article was not spread locally, plus it was copied n pasted here from a foreign website.. i believe some of us are interested in our country's politcal situation and though its not relevant to sex... i thought some bros might be interested in reading something different from a prominent figure in our country's most famous family.

anyway...... its only fyi.. don't get worked up...

i'm posting a new story again... for bros who supported me thru'out... its time to read n fantasize!