Stories of Mr Lee Kuan Yew’s courage, tenacity and even his frugality are now told in a new book for secondary school students, titled LKY: Follow That Rainbow, Go Ride It.

The workbook was launched at Bendemeer Secondary School yesterday, on the first anniversary of the founding Prime Minister’s death.

The 64-page Straits Times Press publication is developed by The Straits Times Schools team and sponsored by Mapletree Investments and Singapore Power.

A total of 200,000 copies will be distributed to all secondary schools.

Sakethivell Ahrumugam, 14, one of the first to get a copy, found the design of the book appealing.

“The typography really attracted me. The contrast between the colourful cover and the black and white pictures also gives it a really nostalgic feel,” said the Secondary 2 student at Bendemeer.

Senior Minister of State Josephine Teo, who launched the book, was struck by the poignant content.

She said the articles, such as one about Mr Lee’s simple taste in clothes, made her recall her own interactions with him.

She recounted speaking with Mr Lee on a trip to Australia in 2007, when she had asked him why he was still carrying a briefcase from the 1970s.

Mr Lee replied matter-of-factly: “It still works.”

His frugality was but one of many values that the workbook, which covers Mr Lee’s life from 1923 to 2015, hopes to inspire in students.

Targeted at teenagers aged 12 to 18, it comprises newspaper articles, historical photographs and motivating activities structured around four values Mr Lee embodied: idealism, courage, resilience and tenacity.

The author, Ms Debra Ann Francisco – a former teacher and a correspondent specialising in news in education at The Straits Times – chose a value-centred approach as she hoped readers would discover these values in their own lives.

“I believe that teenagers have much to learn from how Mr Lee lived his life. The activities I created in the workbook aim to get students to dream big and set realistic goals in order to chase their own rainbows.”

She shared the activities with 39 Secondary 2 students at Bendemeer, getting them to set goals they hope to realise in five, 10, or 20 years, an exercise that showed the importance of having a road map.

This is the second book inspired by Mr Lee that ST Press has produced for a young audience. The first book, What’s Inside The Red Box, was published in December last year and is for children aged three to seven.

clementy@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on March 24, 2016.
Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.

The Chamber of the Old Parliament House was where the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew delivered some of his most fiery speeches, and where some of the country’s landmark laws were passed.

Yesterday, past and present parliamentarians filled the historic hall of the building, now called The Arts House, to pay tribute to Singapore’s founding Prime Minister on the first anniversary of his death.

They included Old Guard leaders Ong Pang Boon and Jek Yuen Thong, current Cabinet ministers, Workers’ Party chief Low Thia Khiang, and former MP and presidential candidate Tan Cheng Bock.

A spray of yellow hybrid orchids named Aranda Lee Kuan Yew was aptly placed on the seat Mr Lee had occupied – a bittersweet reminder of his long years building up Singapore.

Leader of the House Grace Fu, in her opening address at the remembrance ceremony, said the history of Parliament would be incomplete without a mention of the late Mr Lee, the country’s first Prime Minister from 1959 to 1990.

“His abiding vision of Singapore as a multiracial nation ensured that the protection of minority rights and representation were enshrined in our Constitution,” said Ms Fu, who is the Minister for Culture, Community and Youth.

“Mr Lee’s personal leadership helped set the tone and shaped the Parliament that we know today.”

Mr Lee was 31 years old when he won the seat of Tanjong Pagar in Singapore’s Legislative Assembly election in 1955. He was the constituency’s MP until he died last year at age 91.

Mr Abdullah Tarmugi, former Speaker of Parliament and former Cabinet minister, became emotional as he recounted his memories of Mr Lee.

Mr Abdullah, who entered Parliament after the 1984 General Election, recalled that he was both proud to be speaking in Parliament, and nervous as he worried about what Mr Lee thought of him.

“When I spoke, I was looking at the ceiling, at the Speaker… to avoid (Mr Lee’s) gaze.”

He said that at an earlier lunch with Mr Lee, the late prime minister could sense he was intimidated by his presence.

“He was extra calm and gentle… He wanted me to be myself, do what was right”, he added, and “not pander to what others thought of, or wanted me, to be”.

Former deputy prime minister Wong Kan Seng, a former Leader of the House who was first elected to Parliament in 1984, said Mr Lee was always frank and open with his views. Mr Lee also paid attention to things big and small, he added.

“In one of the lunches I had with him as a new minister in the 1980s, he explained that ministers should drive so they could see the road condition for themselves.”

When plans were made to build a new Parliament building as the old one was no longer adequate, Mr Lee reminded Mr Wong, who was then the Leader of the House, not to build a grandiose monument.

“Taking this sound advice, we built a new functional Parliament House in proportion to our prudent approach to public spending,” said Mr Wong.

Earlier at The Arts House, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong opened a permanent exhibition titled The Parliament In Singapore History.

It traces chronologically the history and milestones of the building, and of Singapore’s Parliament.

The exhibition will be opened to the public from today until May 29.

leepearl@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on March 24, 2016.
Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.

Singapore’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are taking a hit from China’s economic slowdown and many are hoping to receive financial help from thegovernment’s 2016 budget, due later Thursday.

Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat has said that this year’s budget will have a “strong focus on the economy,” fueling expectations that new measures would be geared toward boosting economic growth and helping local companies increase revenues.

That would be good news for companies such as Berlitz Offshore & Marine Group, which has seen revenue shrink due to a dearth of new orders amid the decline in oil prices. The privately-owned business, which mainly charters vessels for offshore construction activities, saw charter rates drop by as much as half in the past year, with revenue declining by more than 20 per cent.

Berlitz’s CEO Chan Kern Miang has some clear ideas about what his business needs from the budget: “I would like to see the government giving financial assistance, because right now, the banks are very scared of lending, especially to those in the oil and gas sector.”

Manufacturers are also feeling the pain from external headwinds. The sector, which makes up a fifth of Singapore’s economy, experienced a 5.2 per cent decline last year, compared with a 2.7 per cent expansion in 2014, according to a report by the Ministry of Trade and Industry Singapore.

John Cheng, who runs his family’s sugar manufacturing business, Cheng Yew Heng Candy Factory, said that he has noticed an as much as 30 per cent slump in customer sales this quarter compared with a year earlier. But the 34 year-old owner is still keen on investing in automation to raise productivity.

“What I think is lacking right now is the additional boost in terms of funding. The government gives up to a 70 per cent subsidy on project costs, so the other 30 per cent, we actually need to fund that,” he said.

“But for us to do so in this economic climate, we actually need a lot of cash flow so we hope the government can ease on tax, give us tax rebates or tax reliefs so that can encourage companies to embark on this kind of innovation,” he said.

Boosting productivity

Hopes that the government will help out small businesses aren’t just a pipedream.

According to Richard Jerram, Chief Economist at the Bank of Singapore, SMEs could be getting some incentives in this year’s Budget, targeted at helping companies increase output.

“In an economy where there is a persistent labour market squeeze, high productivity growth is obviously one way of overcoming tight labour market conditions, so you would expect to see subsidies to try to perhaps adopt more technology or to increase the skills of the existing labour force,” Jerram said.

The city-state has a population of only around 5.5 million people, with around 20 per cent expected to be over the age of 65 by 2030. A recent backlash against immigration has slowed the inflow of foreigners to supplement the working population. That’s put the squeeze on companies’ hiring plans.

But despite the government’s aggressive push to restructure the economy, productivity growth – measured by the value added per worker – remained sluggish at negative 0.1 per cent last year. That compares with the national target of 2 to 3 per cent growth annually.

However, Berlitz’s Chan feels it’s more important to focus on getting past short-term challenges as opposed investing in technology for returns over the long haul.

“You talk about how to improve operations of a vessel, adding more technical gadgets; I really doubt how helpful that is for SMEs. Even if it is helpful, the SMEs are more concerned about what is in store for them in the present, the survival mode,” Chan said.

Seeking growth beyond Singapore

The annual budget comes at a challenging time for the economy. Just last week, private economists polled by the Monetary Authority of Singapore trimmed their growth expectations for the city to 1.9 per cent this year, compared with December’s forecast of 2.2 per cent.

Even though both Berlitz and Cheng Yew Heng Candy Factory told CNBC that the government’s policies have significantly helped SMEs grow their business, they were also concerned over limited room for domestic growth, and the need to expand aboard.

“The Singapore market is really small. I think more can be done in terms of collaborations between foreign and local companies and government agencies can help with establishing the right connections and partnerships,” Cheng said.

But Berlitz’s Chan said that the challenge is not being adequately informed about the various measures that are available.

“If you want to expand overseas, the government has various schemes to help you, but I just wonder how many SMEs know about these schemes and how to apply,” he said.

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