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Esteemed Singaporean author and renowned political dissenter Catherine Lim has kept mum about the passing of Lee Kuan Yew, but it was only when the period of National Mourning was over that she wrote an eloquently balanced tribute to the memory of the nation's founding Prime Minister.
In a post on her website, she pays tribute to Lee in If Only, applauding his many achievements while also pointing out that they all came at a huge cost.
"You have been described as a great leader. In the many tributes to you, your qualities of greatness were singled out for special mention — your courage, your strength, your vision, your fearlessness, your passion for doing the best for your people," she writes . "If only you had shown one more attribute of great leadership — the ability to acknowledge mistakes made and the humility to say sorry for policies that had caused pain and hardship to others," Lim counterpoints.
Aside from writing sharp observations of Singapore society and traditional Chinese culture in her numerous fictional short stories, novels and poetry, the 73-year-old celebrated author has also been known to trade literary punches with the ruling government People's Action Party (PAP) throughout her years.
Political leaders such as then cabinet minister George Yeo and then Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong previously rebuked Lim over her scathing article published in The Straits Times in 1994, entitled PAP and the People: A Great Affective Divide.
Even the late Lee remarked in his memoirs that Lim would not have dared to write a series of critical articles if he was still at the helm.
"Because my posture, my response has been such that nobody doubts that if you take me on, I will put on knuckle-dusters and catch you in a cul-de-sac," Lee himself stated in Lee Kuan Yew: The Man and His Ideas.
Photo: YouTube screengrab
Got a tip? Send it to us at singapore@coconuts.co.
Esteemed Singaporean author and renowned political dissenter Catherine Lim has kept mum about the passing of Lee Kuan Yew, but it was only when the period of National Mourning was over that she wrote an eloquently balanced tribute to the memory of the nation's founding Prime Minister.
In a post on her website, she pays tribute to Lee in If Only, applauding his many achievements while also pointing out that they all came at a huge cost.
"You have been described as a great leader. In the many tributes to you, your qualities of greatness were singled out for special mention — your courage, your strength, your vision, your fearlessness, your passion for doing the best for your people," she writes . "If only you had shown one more attribute of great leadership — the ability to acknowledge mistakes made and the humility to say sorry for policies that had caused pain and hardship to others," Lim counterpoints.
Aside from writing sharp observations of Singapore society and traditional Chinese culture in her numerous fictional short stories, novels and poetry, the 73-year-old celebrated author has also been known to trade literary punches with the ruling government People's Action Party (PAP) throughout her years.
Political leaders such as then cabinet minister George Yeo and then Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong previously rebuked Lim over her scathing article published in The Straits Times in 1994, entitled PAP and the People: A Great Affective Divide.
Even the late Lee remarked in his memoirs that Lim would not have dared to write a series of critical articles if he was still at the helm.
"Because my posture, my response has been such that nobody doubts that if you take me on, I will put on knuckle-dusters and catch you in a cul-de-sac," Lee himself stated in Lee Kuan Yew: The Man and His Ideas.
Photo: YouTube screengrab