Is He A Real Maverick?

For young generations in Malaysia, many considered him as a legend. For some, he is the most powerful man in Malaysia; an equivalent of Lee Kuan Yew to Singapore. In 2003, my friends and I did a research to complete our History assessment. It was indeed a very eye-opener event when we discovered that Dr. M was the first Prime Minister of Malaysia from the normal people (not from the Royal family) as the previous three. 

Despite many have said about him, most of them are uncomfortable about what he says. Reason? When they say things, they lay out their reasons and evidences to support their arguments, however when Dr. M rebuts their points, he seem more right. Maybe the cynical-effect works for him. Back in 2003, he introduced Teaching of Mathematics and Science in English (PPSMI as known in Malay acronym) which I think the most brilliant idea coming from Dr. M. For me, simple reason is to raise the bar of Science and Mathematics of our students. At the same time, terrific improvement in English can be vividly seen. For those who could not improve, that was their own problem in taking up challenges. There was no 'Malaysia Boleh!' spirit in their true Malaysian blood. I guess if they were to study Mathematics and English in Malay, they would still got Ds. Do not blame the system if your own fault is the fundamental aspect that will get you nowhere on this planet.

Trust me, if you keep blaming the system, you will continue blaming it even though the system will eventually become perfect. When they were to revert the teaching in Malay again, that was the dumbest decision made. 

The politicians came into education sector and scholars(both who supports or against) are put aside. When this happens, it was a total doom. I was lucky to be the first batch which completed the PPSMI from high school. Thank you, Dr. M. 

That was my relationship to Dr.M; as a student. Now, I really want the book but looking at the price,hmm. Is he a real maverick? Let me read the book first and justify it with how much Dr. M has affected my life.

Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore, Dr. Mahathir and Malaysia : Try make a 'good' story from the words given

Conversations with Lee Kuan Yew: Citizen Singapore: How to Build a Nation (Giants of Asia series)

Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said Lee Kuan Yew, his then Singapore counterpart, would go down in history as a very remarkable intellectual and politician at the same time. 

His comments appeared in this latest book on Lee written by an internationally syndicated veteran American journalist and columnist Tom Plate. 

Commenting further on LKY, Dr. M said : "He is a bog frog in a small pond. He had ambitions to become the Prime Minister of all Malaysia."

" He tries to lecture people but people dislike that.People do regard him as an intellectual, as something more than just ordinary politicians," he added.

How does an American present an accurate and non—judgemental view of Singapore? For columnist Tom Plate, he took that challenge head—on — and being from Los Angeles, he approached the story as if he was writing a screenplay on a blockbuster that is Singapore.

Tom Plate, author of “Conversations With Lee Kuan Yew”, said: “You come into a room, and you start talking with him and he cracks a joke and you say something. And then you disagree, he agrees, and back and forth, and it’s almost like a movie.

“No footnotes, a lot of dialogue and it’s an intimate but issue oriented profile of a political giant.”

The 200—plus page book covers topics ranging from Mr Lee’s views on China and US presidents to revelations about his family life.

For the author, it was also an opportunity to dispel some Western perceived myths about Singapore.

Mr Plate said: “He’s state of the art political management — I mean this is not a chewing gum, caning environment; this is a serious place, brilliant people.

“We Americans don’t know everything, we’ve made our share of mistakes, but we make a terrible mistake when we write Asia off.”

I highly recommend this book to all Malaysians if you really want to see how LKY views Malaysia and Singapore. Reading this book makes me wonder, what would happen to Malaysia if Singapore stays with us. For me, Dr. M and LKY are different but the same.

What I learnt from this book? 1.LKY makes me think that Malays are lazy as our long-lived culture made them so 2. Work culture is very important in building nations 3. I       need to learn more about Confucianism 4. LKY is a great man 5. Malays in Malaysia need to change.