While Mr Miyagi thinks that the MM Lee Ministerial Conference has made some parents shit bricks (and "so near Chinese New Year some more"), I am sure many of us are curious about the thoughts of those who were really there (except from those who only there to bio chio bu-s). Oh, by the way, those of you who need help to get your views on the Ingterneck, and need a friend who can help you set one up, I hear these guys are quite good at making websites and they have a nice one themselves.
The Despot post has generated some interesting responses from people who were actually there, I am posting some of the more interesting ones here.
It is an interesting subtext to the transcripts of the day's exchanges as well as some of the speakers' own views.
So how did some of the attendees present feel?
Samuel:
I was there at the forum and it was super funny. When Jamie called the Elder a despot, everyone was like 'huh? what's a despot?' Quite amusing. But what he said was quite true lah, although i think the title of despot was unwarranted. This kind shouldn't enter politics in Singapore, if not confirm kena sued for defamation. I'm not pro-PAP, but i respect LKY for what he has done for Singapore, and technically speaking, people like Jamie and myself are his grandchildren, so he has every right to lecture us. But from the way LKY responded, it seems more of a threat than a challenge. We'll see, we'll see...
Chris:
I was there at the event and felt that Jamie was very brave and upfront. MM got fired up only after having dealt with his question, and appeared to be dying to have the last say when he asked some time later "How old is your father?"
Jamie also happens to be a friend of a friend, who went to the event with him. Generally we think he has very big balls and I personally feel that he has a point.
That he managed to snag a few interviews, and get chastised by his relatives who told him that he might have been jailed or sued if he said this a few years ago merits that we are moving in a new direction. :)
For the disappointing speech that MM gave, I think it needed an incident like this to make the whole event more meaningful.
ching:
here's my take (i was sitting at the forum, facing the boy jamie).
the comments by the boy (as quoted in the papers) were prefaced by some half-baked academic term he must have picked up from the day's lecture: "i think you are fetishizing unity" (which was MM's theme during his opening speech).
mm chai si, say MM got fetish.
MM, of course was very gentle in his response.
but boy think he can edge in the last word "there are two sides to the argument... i thank you for your time."
very rude.
then when he was seated and when MM refer back to some points in his question, boy just sit there and shake his head...like he is right and MM is wrong."
very rude.
dont let him graduate.
