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Books by Lee Kuan-Yew



Lee Kuan-Yew has written 3 books (as far as I know) :

  1. Collected Speeches on Politics for the past 30 Years

    Unfortunately, this book is in Chinese, published by a Chinese Newspaper which gathered Lee's speeches into a book. I don't know if English Translation is available.

  2. The Singapore Story

  3. From Third World to First (The Singapore Story 1965-2000)




After reading his books, I have the following impressions,

  1. Lee encouraged Moral Education. He encouraged the Chinese to learn Confucius values, he encouraged the Indians to learn moral lessons from Hinduism, and encouraged the Muslims as well as the Buddhists to learn from their respective religions.

  2. He believes that "family/extended-family" is a fundamental unit of society, and emphasizes on "social considerations", in that one should not act selfishly, but should pay due consideration to effects on the society one lives in.

  3. He is a firm believer of "One Law for All" precept. He would not tolerate anyone using "racism" to create unrest in Singapore. (Note : But his "elitism" is a drawback in this, because an elite will protect another elite. I will speak more about this later.)

  4. Lee studied Law at Cambridge, and had worked as a lawyer. Many lawyers would ply their trade and would use lawyers' tricks, but Lee would not do that. I think he understands justice better than most lawyers. In the 60's, when Communists would do subversive work, he did not hesitate to shut them in prisons until they repented of their evil works. He was right in this, which was real justice administered. Many lawyers dare not do such, the text-book requirements for successful criminal law persecution are hard to overcome. Lee had the moral courage to brush those aside, and would not be afraid of world opinion.




His three books are very good for all those who wish to offer service to the society, especially to servants of LORD.

To those who wish to serve LORD and wash the feet of his fellow people, I would offer the following advice when reading Lee's books, (or in fact, any other books by famous persons) :

  1. Goals of Life

    As Christians, we should model ourselves after LORD, after Jesus. We should NOT model after Lee (or any other persons), though we may learn terribly lot of things from him (or them).

    The goals of a Christian should be

    1. name of LORD (merciful, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, abounding in faithfulness, forgiving, jealous against iniquity).

    2. The name of Jesus (all the teachings of Jesus in the Gospels of Matthew/Luke/John, e.g. pure as a child, humble as a child, gentle and lowly in heart, meekness, kindness, mercy, wash the feet of other people, Golden Rule, Good Samaritan, ....)

    3. Spirit of TRUTH, i.e. one must be honest and upright at all times. Truth and truth only. This is the only spirit that Christians would allow to remain in our heart. All other evil spirits are never allowed to remain in our heart.

    Moreover, Christians should not make "possession, wealth, fame, life of enemy, long life, fleshy passions (like good food and sex), building great business empire to exalt ourself" their goals.

    Many famous persons who have great success and who do not believe in the Almighty are easily caught by these "vanities", and would break LORD's Laws to achieve those goals, therefore causing ageing, sickness, or even pre-mature death to themselves.



  2. New Precepts?

    Books by famous persons (e.g. those by founders of big Japanese companies) may provide us with valuable lessons as well as insights, but at the same time, those books may contain new precepts.

    And because they have attained fame and success, their precepts would be very tempting.

    And because the goals of those famous persons are not the goals of Christians (Christian should do only things that are right in the sight of LORD), their precepts will have pitfalls in the long run. They may serve us well for a number of years, but in the end, because of breaking of LORD's Laws, they will cause us weariness, and make us drift farther and farther away from LORD, so that we become ill, age, and die (or even bringing curse from LORD).

    My usual way to read those books are : are those precepts new to me, that I have never heard of from LORD before? I would only learn those which I think would enhance my understanding of the teachings of LORD/Jesus. I learn nothing other than the teachings of LORD and of Jesus.

    (As a Chinese, I have read books by Confucius and Menchius, and I regard their precepts as valuable stepping-stones leading me to LORD. But I cherish in my heart precepts none other than those of LORD's and of Jesus')

    Only the teachings of LORD and the teachings of Jesus (whom Christians regard as LORD condescending on Earth, or LORD appearing in human form. Jesus was a duplicate of LORD created by LORD. Therefore we Christian called Jesus the only son of LORD) are 100% correct, totally error free. And we will never regret of their teachings in the long run.

  3. Make friends only with real Christians

    The picture that Lord Jesus washed the feet of his 12 disciples, including Judas who betrayed him, and his walk carrying the cross to Golgotha, should be firmly in our mind.

    Christian should show kindness and mercy to all, even to our enemies or those who persecute us. But we must not make "real friendship" with those who refuse LORD's/Jesus' teachings. If we do, we will not see their unrestrained behaviour, and will lower our standard gradually, and one day, we will become like them. But Christians must be "holy", honest and upright, firm in keeping the Laws and Commandments of LORD/Jesus, holding fast their teachings resolutely onto the end of our life, doing only things that are lawful and right in the sight of LORD.

    We should make friends with those who follow LORD steadfastly, i.e. real Christians. The Bible people, e.g. Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Issac, Jacob, Judah, Joseph, Moses, Jethro, Joshua, Caleb, Ruth, Samuel, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel , .... , the prophets in Old Testaments, as well as people in the New Testament - Matthew, Peter, John, Luke, ..... , were real Christians. What they did and what they said, should be firmly in our heart.




About Mr. Lee's books, I have the following comments,

  1. LORD to Adam and Eve in Eden garden : "... but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day you eat of it you shall die."
    [Gen 2:17]
    "neither shall you touch it, lest you die." [Gen 3:3]

    (Note: When we ponder what to do, our criteria is: is it right in the sight of LORD, or wrong? NOT : is it good to us, or evil to us?)

  2. LORD rules the universe with His Laws, and
    KEEP THE LAW => BLESSING;
    BREAK THE LAW => CURSE
    Therefore we should study LORD's Laws, and remember them firmly in our heart.

  3. LORD : And you shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds the officials, and subverts the cause of those who are in the right. [Ex 23:8]

  4. LORD : There shall be one law for the native and for the sojourners among you. [Ex 12:49]

    (Note : Not only "One Law for All", but for the same crime, the punishment for

    1. Common people
    2. People who hold public office
    3. Elder
    4. Priest
    are not the same. It is considered much serious if that comes from a priest than from a common people. See [Leviticus 4]

    Therefore "Elitism, where one elite will protect another elite, and elites consider themselves higher than the people they serve" is against Jesus' teachings of "wash the feet of other people; servant to all, slave to all".

    Moreover, we know that all our "talents" are gifts from LORD, therefore we should use our "talents" to serve our fellow people, and not as an asset to exalt over the less gifted, the less fortunate.

  5. I have to tell my personal experience with Singapore here.

    In about the year 1983 (I cannot remember the year exactly, around that time) when I was working in the University of Hong Kong. One day, my father told me that one relative from China had arrived in Hong Kong, and introduced him to me. I have never seen him before.

    After I had talked with him, I became sympathetic with him. He told me that he had no place to live in Hong Kong and was taking shelter in a Clan-Association. Therefore I rented a house in Ping Chau Island and let him live there. I also moved there because I liked living in an island and its surrounding sea.

    After he had lived there for some time, I discovered that he had something to do with the Security People from China. I had a feeling that he was NOT a relative of my family, and my father was ordered by someone to lie to me.

    One day, he brought in a man from Switzerland, and put him to live in my house! He did not ask my permission before! That man from Switzerland had visited China before arriving in Hong Kong. I did not like it, but I found it hard to tell that Swiss to leave, so I allowed him to stay. He lived in my house for some weeks and then left. Later, my "relative" left too.

    I was hard-pressed by Security People from China, therefore in 1985, I resigned from University of Hong Kong. I rested for one year without doing any work. In 1986, I tried to find job but unable to. In December 1986, I travelled to Singapore, to see if I may find a job there and perhaps emigrated there for good. My uncles are Singapore citizens.

    I tried to find jobs in the Universities and Polytechnics, and everywhere I went, I was met by Security People, and they harassed me the same way I was harassed in Hong Kong.

    After staying there for 2 weeks, I still could not find a job, therefore I decided to return back to Hong Kong. My uncle and his wife went to the airport to see me off. At the airport, the "relative" who lived in my house in Ping Chau Island suddenly appeared with my uncle! But my uncle's wife expressed surprise as she had never seen him before and my uncle hadn't told her of such a man!

    Later I knew that many Singaporeans had emigrated abroad. Mr. Lee said it was "brain-drain", but I do not see thing that way. Who would leave a place where one was born, was educated, has established friendship, and worked for some time, without giving it serious considerations ?

    During the 10 years leading to 1997, when Hong Kong was reverted back to China, about 600000 people emigrated abroad.

    Personally, I think Mr. Lee does not understand "Secret Alliance". He had some knowledge of the Communists, and knew their ruthlessness in achieving their aims, but I think he knows little about the real nature of "Secret Alliance".

After having said these, I hope you would find books by Lee Kuan Yew, as well as books by other famous persons, good reading, and add to your knowledge and insight.

Wu Siu Yan
29th November 2001

(P.S.

Secret Alliance

Secret Alliance usually originates from one person (or a group of persons) who lusts for power. Members who join Secret Alliance must swear an Oath of Silence, they must not betray the secrets to outsiders, or else they lose their lifes. They are highly organized and they protect one another right or wrong, not only minor crimes, but up to murders.

They share power, wealth together. It is the "They-Us precept" and not LORD's "One Law for All" precept.

They would resort to murder to achieve their purposes. Mr. Lee talked about the Communist Party in Singapore in the 60's : "If you oppose them, they will fix you. When they fix you, they shoot you!". Please read [Book of Daniel, Old Testament, Chapter 7] for LORD's revelation on this. If you have the time, [Book of Mormon] is a worthwhile book, it described the Secret Alliance among the Maya people and how it caused the total destruction of the Maya people.

)

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