The Singaporean Identity Needs TLC

Photo Credit: Epigram Books

SINGAPORE is sometimes referred to as a nanny state, particularly by the Western media. The epithet is not particularly flattering, but there is some truth to it.

The country’s founding father, Lee Kuan Yew, was, after all, a man who was tough on corruption and litter, a visionary who steered Singapore from a third world country to a first world oasis. His love for the country and his no-nonsense approach to nation-building can be summed up in that one line he delivered in a speech—if ever anything were to befall Singapore even if he were dead and gone, he would crawl out of his grave to set it right.

Friends in the Time of Study

WITHOUT friends, we are nothing. Our world would be one lonely, quiet universe. When the exams are near, the mood of worry and anxiety weighs heavy upon us. But that hard-to-shake-off oppression doesn’t feel twice as bad because you’re not alone. So many others are sitting for the exam as well; and for me, that big exam is the ‘O’ levels, exactly 19 days away.

Believe

“BELIEVE you can,” Theodore Roosevelt once said, “and you’re halfway there.” This couldn’t be more true because all great endeavors start with one single thing: belief. The word has a powerful ring to it. It ignites the human spirit, giving it all the energy of resolve and possibility.

The Active Voice of Lee Kuan Yew

SO much was said and written about Lee Kuan Yew following his passing on March 23. For the entire week of national mourning, the media was a deluge of all things Lee Kuan Yew—eulogies and tributes, his words and wisdom, remembrances that had a way of breaking down into choking grief.