Wednesday, March 25, 2015

#Newsflash: 10 things we learn from Education Minister’s Lee Kuan Yew red box story


Heng was his Principal Private Secretary from 1997 to 2000.  

In what was an insightful blow-by-blow account of Lee’s daily routine, the Education Minister gave Singaporeans a sneak peek of Lee’s life. 

1. The red box held Lee’s papers, speech drafts, letters, readings, and a whole range of questions, reflections, observations and cassette tapes.

2. It also contained anything from communications with foreign leaders, instructions to questions about some trees he had seen on the expressway.

3. Lee’s breakfast of choice? A bowl of dou hua (soft bean curd), with no syrup.

4. He was neither a tea nor a coffee person in the morning.

5. His exercise regime included jogging on the treadmill, rowing, swimming and walking.

6. He had “one of those old man bicycles”.

7. He was a night person: his average bedtime was three-thirty in the morning. As Senior Minister and Minister Mentor, he went to sleep after two in the morning.

8. When he regained consciousness after his balloon angioplasty operation in 1996, the first thing he asked for was the red box.

9. He was not by the side of his wife when she passed away. He was hospitalised for a chest infection.

10. Lee entered the hospital on 5 February 2015. He continued to use his red box every day until 4 February 2015.

Photo from AsiaOne News
Article from Mothership SG

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