Photo & video only when LKY is seated for book launch

[Sammyboy RSS Feed]

An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:

Photo & video only when LKY is seated for book launch

August 14th, 2013 | Author: Editorial

Singapore's former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew (C) looks at his son Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (not pictured) as he arrives for his book launch at the Istana in Singapore, August 6, 2013 (Photo Reuters)

Jeremy Grant, a journalist from the Financial Times, was invited to the Istana for the press conference of Mr Lee Kuan Yew’s latest book launch on 6 August last week.
Mr Lee’s book, “One Man’s View of the World”, is a 400-page volume which carries his views on the “future of the major powers and regions of the world”. The book is published by Straits Times Press.
The launch, held at the Istana, was attended by Mr Lee Kuan Yew, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Minister Vivian Balakrishnan and 125 other guests, including foreign diplomats, academics, business leaders and journalists.
A team from The Straits Times provided research and editorial material, and conducted a series of interviews with Mr Lee. Excerpts of these interviews are included in each chapter. The team included Han Fook Kwang, Zuraidah Ibrahim, Chua Mui Hoong and Elgin Toh.
During the whole event, Jeremy Grant twittered (https://twitter.com/TradingJeremy) the following tweets, giving a good insight into the happenings during Mr Lee’s book launch:
> Back at the Istana for Lee Kuan Yew book launch. He’ll be 90 in a few weeks and has just published again
> Strict rules for this Lee Kuan Yew book launch: no photography or videoing allowed when he arrives at the venue
> Photography and video allowed only when Lee Kuan Yew is seated for the book launch
> Lee Kuan Yew dedicates his latest book “in memory of my wife and partner Choo”
> Chapter headings in LKY book typically forthright: “Vietnam: Locked in a socialist mindset”. “America: troubled but still on top”.
> LKY on Singapore: “A nation at a crossroads”. Let’s see whether he elaborates on that when he’s seated in an hour
> LKY: Singapore general election result of ’11 (at which PAP scored its worst result ever) “would have been produced sooner or later”
> “If, in the end, S’pore decides to move towards a 2-party system, then we are destined for mediocrity” – Lee Kuan Yew, in new book out today
> LKY makes much of a generational change in S’pore, where “a younger one takes for granted Singapore’s affluence”
> I should make clear I am quoting from LKY’s book, being handed to people arriving for its launch. LKY hasn’t arrived yet
> LKY: “Will Singapore be around in 100 years? I am not so sure.”
> LKY: “An earlier generation of Singaporeans had to build this place from scratch – and what a fine job we have done.”
> LKY: warns that S’pore will “sink into nothingness” and “we are done for” if it gets a “dumb government”
> Asked in a Q&A at the end of the S’pore chapter of his new book what his greatest worry is for Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew answers:
> “I have no worries. I have done my job. I found a successor and handed over to another generation. I can do no more.”
> Largely older generation turnout for Lee Kuan Yew book launch at the Istana
> Lee Kuan Yew due to arrive in this reception room we’re gathered in at the Istana. Probably 100 people here
> LKY looks frail but managed to shake a few hands on the front row before sitting down slowly
> LKY walking slowly to podium to speak – he can’t have done this for ages
> Lee Kuan Yew book launch over & like all good launches discounted copies are available for sale. $30 a pop, reduced from $39
Interestingly, according to Mr Grant, strict rules were imposed at the book launch – no photography or videoing allowed when Mr Lee Kuan Yew arrived. It was only allowed after he was seated.


Click here to view the whole thread at www.sammyboy.com.