Why no one told us all these when mr LKY was still alive

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

Mr Lee was a very frugal man, and I explain that because that's the way he ran the country.
Once, I was on a trip with him to the United States. I was at his table for dinner. At the end of dinner, we were given dessert. I asked for ice cream, and we were given ice cream.
This was the United States - they gave me three large scoops. I hadn't expected it. I don't eat much dessert, so I took one scoop and I left the rest behind.
He saw that. He told me off. He said, you are wasting food.
I told him, this is what they served. I didn't ask for this. He said: You should have found out how much they would serve and should have ordered only what you could have eaten.
He said that - even though we were being hosted by the United States, and it didn't matter to him that it was the Americans who were paying for it.
It was not a question of money. He believed as a principle that there should not be waste.
It's a simple illustration. But this was central to the way he thought. Both in his personal life and in government.
His exercise shorts, for example. For 17 years, he wore the same shorts. And when it broke or tore - he patched it up, or his wife patched it up for him.
And he was very careful with government money in the same way. Because it is your money.
Every week, we have a Cabinet meeting. Every week. Even this week, Prime Minister (Lee Hsien Loong) called for a Cabinet meeting.
We meet first for lunch. Sometimes not, but almost always, we meet for lunch. And this is not a social lunch, we discuss government business. Cabinet meeting is after the lunch.
Mr Lee does not attend the lunch. But his rules are, because you have to eat lunch anyway, he says you have to pay for the lunch even though you are coming to Cabinet to discuss Cabinet (matters). You have lunch, you pay for the lunch. The Government doesn't pay for the lunch.
We must be the only Cabinet in the world that does that, when we meet to discuss government (business).
But it is good, because in every way, we are reminded every day that public money should be carefully spent.
By Minister K Shanmugam


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