Remembering Lee Kuan Yew

ESM Goh Chok Tong on Mr Lee Kuan Yew's 'most awesome' speech in Parliament

SINGAPORE - Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong, in a Facebook post on Wednesday, wrote about what he thought was the most memorable speech the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew made in Parliament - a four-hour long speech.

"I recall vividly his many speeches in Parliament. The most awesome was the one he made in February 1977 at the old Parliament House," Mr Goh wrote.

"I had just been elected an MP. He was speaking on the debate on the President's Address. He spoke for nearly 4 hours, from 3.45 pm to 7.30 pm. I sat spell-bound in the back row. No one moved."

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He added: "He ended his speech with a rider on psephology. He asked why Marine Parade as a new HDB estate with more 5-room and 4-room flats than Buona Vista, another new estate, did worse electorally.

"Marine Parade won with 76% of the votes cast as compared with 81% for Buona Vista. Was it because the candidate in Marine Parade was new while Ang Kok Peng was known, being a second term MP shifted from Crawford?"

Mr Goh said Mr Lee did not provide the answer.

"He added that whoever could solve the riddle would have one of the qualifications to succeed him but only one," he wrote. "After his speech ended, there was a rush to the wash-room. My bladder was about to burst. There was no time to think of the answer."

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