Welcome 2017

Wisdom for a new year that brings with it uncertainties.

Was Mao Zedong a good man?

INEQUALITY

I asked my mother if Mao Zedong was a good man. She said he was a good man but he did something that was wrong. He took the wealth away from the rich and made everyone equal.

How could you take away the wealth of the rich, she said. These weren't ill-gotten gains. They weren't stolen. They were accumulated through very hard work.

No one wanted to work, she said. There was no motivation to work because everyone ate from the 'same pot of rice'. In the end the rice was finished.

Return our Terrexs

I read this comment on CNA:

[What a shame to you, China: you were not able to look after your own people, n many of our forefathers had no choice but to take risks n travel afar to find livelihoods; whether they were successful or not, they remained thrifty n supported you n their families in china thru remittance; even during Japanese occupation when many sacrificed n risked their lives for China; Singapore's government has also been investing as one of China's largest inves...tors, supported china all these years, we learn your language .... and look at how a big bully you have become, keeping Singapore's 9 armor vehicles 'unlawfully' n indefinitely while immediate bow to USA when you 'rightfully' capture the drone. If you want to be a respectable giant, start behaving like one.]

And thought how true it is.

Many overseas Chinese worked hard and supported their families back in China. My father never failed to remit money to China to take care of his 5 brothers and a sister and their families. That was why when he died, he left no savings.

My mother never forgot the families in China. Despite being illiterate, she worked very hard not only to raise us but to continue her responsibility to families in China. She scrimped and saved and each end of the year, she would send a little of what she had managed to save to both her side and my father's side of the families in China.

In later years when I started work, she had more money to send. She sent money for them to build their houses to withstand typhoons. Long after the families in China began to prosper, my mother continued to send a token of her love and care for them even though they told her circumstances have greatly improved, they have prospered and no longer lacked anything and she didn't need to remit money to them anymore.

Overseas Chinese have fulfilled their responsibilities to the families they left behind in China.

Don't be a small man. Return our Terrex.

Freedom of Speech and defenders of Amos Yee

Freedom of speech is responsible speech. A civilized society is one that respects racial, cultural and religious differences and sensitivities.

There is nothing civilized in making fun of or mocking another's religion or race, just like you wouldn't think someone who looks over at his neighbour's house and starts shouting profanities at the neighbour's children is civilized. Sure, you'll say he is just exercising freedom of speech. But you would not say his behavior was civilized.

Freedom of speech without responsibility has no value. One who exercises freedom of speech without responsibility is like a noisy gong attracting a lot of attention but producing nothing constructive.

Liberal freedom of speech? It is overvalued and under policed. Someone gets harassed and taunted online and commits suicide, and all they can do is to express horror that such a thing has happened. They can't even protect the weak and the vulnerable with their liberal freedom of speech. So they just wring their hands and cry "the horror, the horror".

Civilized behaviour is the behaviour of an enlightened person. And one who exercises freedom of speech in a responsible way is a mature person because only mature people can exercise self-restrain and self-control.

Learning how to live in abundance and how to survive with little

During the Asian financial crisis, many people were hurt. I recall reading the story of a young man from Malaysia. He described his hardships after being hit and one of his hardships is the quality of rice he had to eat. He could not afford high quality rice and he found it difficult to swallow inferior grade rice.

That story left an impression on me. I grew up in a very poor family and I have no difficulty surviving on the barest minimum. But my children live in different circumstances.

So one day I told my girls I could buy high quality rice for them to eat. But they should learn to eat rice even if it is of an inferior grade. They should learn how to live in abundance and how to survive with little. And I don't buy high quality rice for them.