The great but late Lee Kuan Yew is not a deity. There, we’ve said it, send in the ISD (but only the chio or lao chio Wendy Lim-type of officers, please).
Praying to Lee Kuan Yew will not help you strike 4D (we tried), increase the odds of a Murali win in Bukit Batok, or bump your kid’s PSLE Science marks from a B to an A.
But some people obviously don’t think so, like these guys:
Please lah, Harry wasn’t the shiniest shoe in the looks department, but not ugly until that jialat lah.
The sad part about Lee Kuan Yew, who by all means ruled like a pragmatist, is that his legacy is going to be tainted by such nincompoops.
What’s worse is people are going to remember him as a “nice guy” of some sort rather than for the work which he did to steal us from Malaysia deliver us independence and build the country. That’s because of indoctrination – how else do you have kiddies crying about somebody they’re too young to know?
But no, that isn’t enough. Some have made it their mission in life to indoctrinate kids about Old Lee. Doesn’t matter if they are way, way too young to understand history, geography or politics, or even simple English. Just bow, and bow again.
And it looks like devotees are simplifying things more for themselves than for children. It’s likely even Elder Lee wouldn’t dare claim credit for single-handedly building a Singapore, but that’s what all these fellas seem to be saying. To children.
And to further simplify things, no need to read any of the Lee memoirs. Just write a hearty “thank you” note on a memorial well, take a couple of selfies and move on. Really lah, that’s more than enough already. We feel like fools now for taking the time to read all those damn books, when even primary school kids can read and preach about his legacy.
Then there’s the rush to have everything with the Lee brand on it. Our first president Yusof Ishak served from 1965 to 1970. And then he died. It took 34 years for him to get his mug on a ten dollar note. It took Lee a little more than 3.4 months.
So congratulations, devotees, you’ve effectively reduced a once great leader into a couple of cheap sound bite and wooden idol. Just don’t use his name in vain, because the gahmen says so.
