The petition to rename Changi Airport after Mr Lee Kuan Yew set me thinking.
This would befuddle travellers who have been drawn to Changi Airport for decades on the strength of its track record: Chosen as the world’s top airport many times by seasoned passengers, renowned ranking agencies, aviation authorities and popular aviation magazines.
Our nation’s founding father had stressed that he was averse to personal glorification of the visceral genre. Rather, he would have wanted his stellar legacy to be improved upon exponentially.
The way forward is to strengthen interracial togetherness and solidarity, reduce sectional divisiveness, create more and better-paid jobs, build the infrastructural ballast to sustain a larger and more demanding citizenry, provide affordable and premium housing, transport, education, et cetera.
The aforesaid, if achieved substantially, would improve the lives of Singaporeans in a very successful Singapore. Mr Lee would surely be proud of such an attainment. Renaming roads, parks, buildings and institutions are cosmetic, unworthy of serious consideration.
In some countries, a regime change often results in the destruction of statues or edifices built to adulate the previous ruler.
Initiatives that add to the quality and depth of common citizens’ lives, including a full stomach, safe environment, affordable health facilities and vibrant social amenities, are self-sustaining, having a permanence and significance that override simplistic, populist quests for immediate satisfaction.
This would befuddle travellers who have been drawn to Changi Airport for decades on the strength of its track record: Chosen as the world’s top airport many times by seasoned passengers, renowned ranking agencies, aviation authorities and popular aviation magazines.
Our nation’s founding father had stressed that he was averse to personal glorification of the visceral genre. Rather, he would have wanted his stellar legacy to be improved upon exponentially.
The way forward is to strengthen interracial togetherness and solidarity, reduce sectional divisiveness, create more and better-paid jobs, build the infrastructural ballast to sustain a larger and more demanding citizenry, provide affordable and premium housing, transport, education, et cetera.
The aforesaid, if achieved substantially, would improve the lives of Singaporeans in a very successful Singapore. Mr Lee would surely be proud of such an attainment. Renaming roads, parks, buildings and institutions are cosmetic, unworthy of serious consideration.
In some countries, a regime change often results in the destruction of statues or edifices built to adulate the previous ruler.
Initiatives that add to the quality and depth of common citizens’ lives, including a full stomach, safe environment, affordable health facilities and vibrant social amenities, are self-sustaining, having a permanence and significance that override simplistic, populist quests for immediate satisfaction.
