MM's keys to living long and successfully

Jan 12, 2008
MM's keys to living long and successfully
By Lee Siew Hua


PLUGGED IN: MM Lee says his days are high in stimuli and he is fully connected to the world. he says 'you must have a reason, you must have the stimuli, to keep going'. -- LIANHE ZAOBAO FILE PHOTO

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THE Minister Mentor has calculated his date with destiny.
His mother died of stroke at 74. His father was 94 when he died. Now that MM Lee Kuan Yew himself will turn 85 in September, he says: 'I've reached the halfway point.'

But he is living long and successfully - the theme of his dialogue at the first Silver Industry Conference - as his days are high in stimuli and he is fully connected to the world.

He would have shrunk away if he had retired, he said. 'Retirement means death,' he said, putting this point in the darkest light several times.

At a time when extending the retirement age is being debated, he thinks that those who expect to retire at 62 for a life of enjoyment are making the biggest mistake of their lives.

'If you want to see sunrise tomorrow or sunset, you must have a reason, you must have the stimuli, to keep going,' he said.

IND A REASON TO GO ON

'The biggest punishment a man can receive is total isolation in a dungeon, black and complete withdrawal of all stimuli, that's real torture. So when I read that people believe, Singaporeans say, 'Oh 62 I'm retiring.' I say to them, 'You really want to die quickly?'

'If you want to see sunrise tomorrow or sunset, you must have a reason, you must have the stimuli to keep going.'

MM LEE

WORK AT LOWER GEAR

'I do not believe we should have a retirement age. It is very difficult to switch from what is a world practice which we adopted, the British left us at 55, we pushed it up to 60 and pushed it up to 62.

I think a man should go on working or a woman should go on working for as long as we can but changing the nature or the intensity of the work as he ages.'

MM LEE
Brain drain worry hits close to home
THE worry over brain drain has hit close to home for Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew.

Yesterday, he related this story from within his family: 'I have a grandson who has just gone to MIT, he's doing economics... Fortunately for the father, he decided to apply for a Public Service Commission (PSC) scholarship, which means he is bonded to come back.
... more
His own father exemplified that. He swam every day and kept himself active. After retiring from the Shell company, he became a salesman, surprising people by selling watches at BP de Silva.

'But it kept him busy,' Mr Lee said. 'It kept him meeting friends.' His father had a routine, he added.

In a dialogue filled with family stories told with a light touch, he revealed how at each turning-point of life, he made choices to stay alive.

In his 30s, he was very fond of drinking and smoking.

Once, he met foreign correspondents, and an unflattering picture was printed. 'I had a big belly...a beer belly,' he told an amused audience of businessmen, policymakers and activists.

So he played more golf, but the belly stayed. 'There was only one way it could go down - consume less, burn out more.'

He quit smoking soon after he lost his voice and could not thank voters when he won a City Council election in 1957.

He would puff 10 cigarettes on stage before each campaign speech, watching people, sensing the mood.

'Three speeches a night, plenty of cigarettes, a lot of beer after that, and the voice was gone.'

His one-hour-plus dialogue showed a less-glimpsed side of the nation's founding father as he spoke freely of his frailty.

But, true to his forceful nature, he fought each brush with mortality.

At one turning point in the 1970s, his daughter, about to graduate as a doctor, found him breathing heavily on the Istana lawn.

He told her: 'I feel an effort to breathe in more oxygen.'

She said: 'Don't play golf. Run.'

He was not one bit keen on running, but loved golf. So in between golf shots, he started walking fast. Later, he ran.

After a few years, he told himself: 'Golf takes so long. The running takes 15 minutes. Let's cut down the golf and let's run.'

Another time, his doctor gave him a medical encyclopaedia, and he zoomed in on the ageing section to learn more.

'As you acquire more knowledge, you then craft a programme for yourself to maximise what you have,' he said.

In his case, he said, he has 'led a very active life, connected with the world'.

And all that he has accumulated, he interprets it for Singapore, he said. Including his ideas about ageing vitally.

siewhua@sph.com.sg