Our former jewish minister last interview before his departure
talks frankly about singapore focus on material success:
And are youths the miasma of apathetic subservience to authority?
But you say to yourselves, Well, you know, what do we seek in
life? We seek a rice bowl, full!
It is full and overflowing, in fact. They serve you your rice in a
jade bowl with golden chopsticks; not that it makes much difference
to the taste of the rice. But youre empty!
Youve got technocratic skills and you are seeking more but
internally you are empty. Money is your acid test of success.
Ive got nothing against money. Id like to have money myself! Id
like to have a house and a garden and dogs and a car and a
chauffeur but, look, Ive got a flat. Ive got a swimming pool
attached to the flat. Ive not even got a car but I use taxis. I
have a dignified way of life without being wealthy.
I dont see the necessity of owning a Mercedes-Benz and a swimming
pool and a couple of mistresses. I think weve got our values all
wrong.
You know $96,000 a month for a Prime Minister and $60,000 a month
for a minister. What the hell do you do with all that money? You
cant eat it! What do you do with it? Your children dont need all
that money.
My children have had the best of education. In fact, Im very proud
of them. One of them is a senior registrar to two major hospitals
in Oxford. Another of them is a consultant in European law to the
Securities and Investment Board in the United Kingdom. Theyve had
their education. There are no complaints.
I never earned $60,000 a month or $90,000 a month. When I was Chief
Minister, I earned $8,000 a month. Look, what is happening today is
we are encouraged to and are becoming worshippers of the Golden
Calf.
We have lost sight of the joy and excitement of public service,
helping our fellow men. The joy and excitement of seeking and
understanding of the joy of the miracle of the living the duty and
the grandeur. We have lost taste for heroic action in the service
of our people.
We have become good bourgeois seeking comfort, security. Its like
seeking a crystal coffin and being fed by intravenous injections
through pipes in the crystal coffin; crystal coffins stuck with
certificates of your pragmatic abilities.
