Is Letting People Think for Themselves a Bad Thing?

 

The late Lee Kuan Yew was without doubt an extraordinary person. Say what you like about the late Mr. Lee but on the whole, he did good for Singapore. Sure, I have my grouses about Singapore and how life has become expensive. However, as one Dutchman said to me “Where else is there.” If you think about it objectively, Lee Kuan Yew got most things right and I will never tire of saying this but Singapore is pretty much what any city or country should be – clean, green and rich.

However, while Mr. Lee was undoubtedly an extraordinary leader, he developed what one could call a glaring flaw. In his later years as a consultant to nations, he developed a philosophical aversion to natural law – namely an aversion to the laws of natural selection. He seemed to genuinely believe that the system he created, which was all about the perpetual rule of an “intelligentsia” concentrated around his family (both his actual family and political party) was the best possible system for Singapore and would last in perpetuity.

The man who forged a nation where citizens pledged to “build a democratic society, based on justice and equality” ended up arguing that Singapore would be undone by a “two-party” system and while Mr. Lee had the wisdom to know when to curb himself (let’s remember he voluntarily stepped aside and made his successors remember to let him come to them), this wasn’t necessarily the case with the people after him. Whilst Singapore’s political system seems to continue to deliver the proverbial goodies, one cannot help but feel that there is a genuine belief in the elites that they have received the “mandate of heaven” to be where they are. I mean, which other “free-market” capitalist society actually has business leaders saying “the market is too small for competition.”

 

 Singapore’s success made Mr. Lee the choice consultant of developing nations. He was particularly liked by the People’s Republic of China. Thanks to Mr. Lee, autocrats of the world found an example that proved that you could keep an iron grip on power and still grow the economy. It’s particularly noticeable when you talk about the Asian giants. While you get a number of Indians complaining about China being nasty, you will undoubtedly get another group (mostly business people) talking about how India should learn from China’s ability to get things in order. India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi is known to be an admirer of Mr. Lee Kuan Yew and attended his funeral.

So, was Mr. Lee, right? Is an iron grip on power better for the economy than letting people do what they want? Sitting in Singapore, which seems relatively stable (no Trump and no Brexit) compared to pretty much most of the world, the answer might be yes.

However, around November of last year, I attended a talk by His Excellency, Mr. Ignacio Concha, the Chilean Ambassador. This was a talk about investment opportunities in Chile, which is the most advanced economy in South America.

 

Chile's “success story” once made it comparable to an Asian Tiger economy rather than a Latin one. More importantly, Chile was once run by a strong man, called Augusto Pinochet, who along with murdering millions, actually stabilized the economy and set Chile onto the path of growth and development.

One might argue that Chile under Pinochet was a classic example of the benefits of strong man rule. However, the Ambassador made the point that the real explosion the Chile's growth came in the decade after the return to democracy (1990). If you were to look at World Bank statistics, you would realise that the Ambassador is right:

https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD?locations=CL

 

 

 

If you look at the statistics closely, Chile’s real explosion didn’t happen in 1990 with when Pinochet stepped aside but in 2000 when he was arrested in the UK on the orders of the Spanish Magistrate Baltasar Garcon. This marked the beginning of the end of his influence on the country.

So, while there is a case to say that Pinochet, for all his faults, did stabilize the Chilean Economy, there is a case to say that his influence held the country back and the country only started exploding into wealth and advancement when his influence over the country ended.

There’s a similar example closer to home. In South East Asia, there is Indonesia, which is by far and away the economy that counts on the global stage. For 30-years, Indonesia was run by a strong man. Like Pinochet in Chile, Suharto had millions killed. However, he was a stable force in Indonesia and the ASAEAN region. Coming from Singapore, where there are memories of “Konfrontasi” under his predecessor, Sukarno, Suharto was a vast improvement. He kept Indonesia stable and focused on itself rather than on us, which allowed us to grow.

When Suharto fell, it seemed that things were a little bit messier. However, if you look at growth figures, Indonesia has done exceedingly well and being the world’s third largest democracy has been good for Indonesia’s entrepreneurs. The years under Jokowi, Indonesia’s first entrepreneur president, have been particularly good for growth:

https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD?locations=ID

 

 

On the African continent, there’s Nigeria. Like Indonesia in South East Asia, Nigeria is the giant in its neighborhood. For the better part of its Independence, Nigeria was run by its generals. There were periods of vast growth, which were then followed by economic collapse. Nigeria was effectively driven by oil exports. Then, in 1999, the last and worst of its military dictators died. Nigeria returned to civilian rule and growth has been steady. While Nigeria has by no means escaped poverty, its been remarkably steady since 2000.

https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD?locations=N

So, if you look at the examples of Chile, Indonesia and Nigeria, there is a case to be made for democracy being good for growth. Yes, rule by strong men can be necessary to bring a sense of stability. However, that’s only good up to a certain point. A lot of the benevolent effects of strong man rule depends on the strong man himself. In Singapore, we’re lucky that the “strong man” was Mr. Lee who got things right and saw to it that his immediate successors remained honest. However, there’s no guarantee that the next few leaders will remain honest or get too used to the perks of power.

Nigeria’s plethora of military strong men turned what should be an exceedingly wealthy place into a basket case. Suharto was a force for stability but when things collapsed in 1997, he was exposed as being more interested in hanging onto power to protect family wealth than running the country.

Democracy and competition for power are actually good. When you let people get on with it within a certain framework, you actually create prosperity. It may look messy and ride may be rough, but in the end, letting people get on with it and making them have a stake in the country is actually good for everyone

The Definition of Insanity

 I’ve been a little taken back that my piece on “Should You Exercise for Life,” has been getting a bit of traction on Linkedin. The story was essentially about two friends who found that exercising for life had benefits other than the physical.

However, I realise that these two gentlemen might be an exception. If I look closely at enough at the people around me, I realise that there’s one major problem with aging – namely the fact that you become rather resistant to change no matter how beneficial or necessary that change might be to your survival.

One of the reasons why “older” people are so resistant to change is because they tend to be better off. A guy who has worked ten years is more likely to have cash in the bank than a kid who started out. If you’ve been around somewhere for a decade or so, chances are you’ve found a formula of sorts to move on with life. When you think you have a formula, there’s no need to look for another one. By contrast a kid who just started out needs to experiment to find his or her formula to life.

However, if one looks at the pace of technological change, one will realise that established formulas are no longer reliable. What worked yesterday may not work today and quite often it takes “crisis” to force a change.

If you look at the two gentlemen in the previous posting, you’ll notice that both went through a personal crisis. This gave them the impetus to change the way they were doing things. Change in their lifestyle brought them back their health. Their improved health helped improve all other aspects of their lives.

However, I’ve realized that these gentlemen are a rare breed. Human beings can be so hard wired that even the threat of a decline in the quality of life and impending death can’t them to change. The most amusing example of this was found in a reality TV show called the “1000lbs Sisters,” which follows the story of two sisters whose combined weight is 1,000lbs (453kg). They can barely walk and the root cause of their health problems is painfully obvious their lifestyle is screwed up. The heavier sister (600 lbs or 272 kg) is particularly interesting. Despite being told that she’s likely to die unless she makes drastic changes, she persists in carrying on. Take a look at the following clip on how they don’t drink water – they drink “soda” to counteract sugar. The expression on dietician’s face is priceless:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIAFe7zaCRU

 

 The 1,000 Lbs sisters are merely the most public example of people who double down and refuse to change in the face of crisis. Recently met someone whose diabetes was so bad that he’s lost his hearing and had his toes amputated. Yet, he insists on drinking Coke and proudly declares that he does not take vegetables. Why do people let their health reach that stage and why can’t they see the problem even when its pounding upon them?

I’m not saying that I’m saintly. I’ve persisted in many sticking with many rough decisions when I should have cut earlier. I stayed married to the first wife longer than I should have. I should have started exercising in my 30s instead of waiting to be hospitalized in my late forties. I should have worked a blue-collar job alongside my freelance work earlier and thus had a better financial savings. I did make the adjustments but it took a while. Yes, not all the changes have been to my liking but it was better than the alternative, which was to be a poorer, sicker person.

Change in inevitable and if we’ve learnt anything from the last two-decades it should be that change is so constant that paradigms and formulas are constantly changing. What worked yesterday may not work today. I personally argue that the best form of crisis is called anticipation – the best way to manage a crisis is not to let it get to crisis stage in the first place. I’d also add that the worst form of crisis management is called – digging deeper – where you double down on the thing that brought you down in the first place. I recently met someone who wrote an email calling the judge an unflattering name. This fellow then proceeded to tell the police that he would do it again. I told him that he was begging to be slapped very hard and he’d lose what he wanted most (custody of his son). He insisted that his was a principled stance.

Many of us, myself included, tend to avoid problems instead of dealing with them head on. It’s a natural thing to not want to deal with the unpleasant. Then we hit “crisis” point. At that point we should be forced to deal with the crisis so that we survive and even bloom as a result of the crisis. Whilst we should anticipate crisis, we should, when they come around, use them to learn. Doing the same thing that brought the crisis in the first place is the very definition of insanity.

Should You Exercise for Life?

 

One of the things I realized when I hit my forties was the fact that the only way, I’d be able to survive in Singapore was to do all the rough work that young, local graduates would not do. Such work inevitably involves being in relatively uncomfortable places and involves the use of muscle. Hence, I’ve made it clear to the boss that I have no desire to look at files and stay in a cubicle but I have plenty of energy to run around.

There’s only one problem with this. You need to be relatively healthy and as I push 50, looking after my health has become important. While I do go out for the odd drink or so (since I am obliged to entertain), I avoid the wild parties of my 20s and 30s. I make it a point to walk as much as I can and take the stairs. Then, when the doctors told me that my blood sugars and bad cholesterol were shooting north, I had to add some of resistance training to my life. Whilst I am by no means body beautiful (the tummy and folds on the neck are clearly visible), I am feeling a lot better at the end of my forties than I was at the beginning.

Let’s face it, much of modern life is bad for you because it’s simply too convenient. As a doctor I once had to arrange interviews for said “Life is NOT meant to be convenient – you would not have been born a baby and been forced to grow up if were.” He has a point. Convenience culture has removed a reason for people to leave their homes, let alone their desk. People can get their necessities from the comfort of beds and chairs. Even at my worst, I had to walk out to the kopi shop to get food. For Kiddo and her generation, they just press a few buttons and food is delivered to them. So, why move when you don’t have to.

Yet, at the same time, life is seemingly more stressful. There is no such thing as “work-life” balance. You are your job and being trapped a cubicle is a badge of pride. One is expected to be on call 24-7 if one wants to keep the job let alone get ahead and build a career. So, you have people who don’t move around, get stressed out and end up eating the type of food that whilst tasty has the nutritional value of a sponge.

The life that we lead isn’t doing us any good and suddenly, after spending our youth screwing up our bodies, we suddenly get hit with something nasty and a portion of what we sacrificed our youth building, ends up going to feed the medical industry.

One of the first friends I made via Linkedin and who since become a “real” friend came into my life because of this. It was a post about ending up in hospital which got us connected because it was something I could relate to. By the time we met in person, he’d already set out on a personal fitness journey and today, he posted about his fitness journey and how it had affected his life:

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7164536341156859904/

 

 Taken from Mr. Lewis Grimm’s Linkedin Page

Exercise isn’t just about the physical. It’s about the personal and mental. For my lawyer friend, the discovery of exercise not only helps keep his body in check but he’s found a way of controlling stress and having better mental clarity – two things which are vital for him in performing as top-level lawyer for a huge firm.

I found, though Linkedin that former colleague had an even more interesting story. When this man joined the firm around five years ago, he was grossly overweight. He struggled on the escalator and was notoriously bad tempered. His news on Linkedin was about a dramatic physical transformation, which became a personal transformation:

https://exerciseforlife.sg/about-us/

 

 The man would go onto become The First Singaporean Recipient of the Global Hero Award from the Medtronic Corporation and he’s gone onto set up a movement called “Exercise for Life,” to encourage ordinary folk, especially those who are overweight or obese to get into the habit of regular exercise.

When I was pushed into having to exercise regularly, I also become interested in knowledge about the things that I needed to do. One of the things that everyone, and the two fellows mentioned have been living proof of, the benefits of lifelong exercise go beyond the physical. Both men mentioned have improved their lives mentally and physically as well.

I mean, you could say that I’m past the age where I can expect to be “Body-Beautiful” – so why exercise? However, the choice is this – get the muscle tone to use and store the excess blood glucose or spend whatever is left of my life as a lab rat for a medical system that is primarily focused on selling pills?

https://www.tiktok.com/@tang.li0/video/7336607861306297608?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7274292816955999746

 

Exercise for Life I’ve tried to be an example to a young man I was responsible for. I wanted to show him that if he maintained good health and fitness, he would enjoy things better when he reached my age. I had to step up and exercise more and while I’m nowhere near beach model standards, I’m enjoying decent enough health and not being a burden on those around me. Isn’t this something we need to be mindful of as we grow older?

                                                                                                                    

Trying to be a Little Less Obese and Ugly

 I got to admit that my freelance life was a lot of fun. I didn’t work normal hours. Stayed up late at night and whenever I had spare cash, I spent it on food and drink. You could say that I lived very well. For man whom people wondered how I survived, I lived pretty well. I was, for example, regular enough in the Bar & Billiard Room for two successive managers to invite me and an eating buddy to their Sunday brunch on more than one occasion. On the output side, well, my exercise was rather limited.

The natural result of a life of eating and drinking the stuff I shouldn’t have been drinking and limiting my physical activity was the fact that I ended up becoming an obese little thing. First it was the rolls around the neck, which I tried to hide by not wearing ties and then the trouser size grew. I actually had to buy cloths instead of inheriting them from Dad. When people, or specifically my own mother told me I was actually “gross-looking,” I continued to eat more because, I took the attitude that if people wanted to be around me for my looks, they could jolly well sod off because I was having a decent enough life doing things that I liked – basically eating, getting enough booze in the system and flirting with Pinoy Bar Girls.

I guess must have looked OK in my 20s, reasonably normal in my early thirties but by the time I reached my late thirties and headed into my forties, I was actually getting a little round. Didn’t bother me as I figured I could get away with wardrobe tricks.

The Covid happened. The wife insisted I walk more and I realized that walking was a wonderful way of getting away from the house. The kilos dropped and I started to like not needing to doze off in the day. Then, there was the stick. I got such a bad gout attack on my 46^th birthday that I spent in hospital. I also ended up back there in hospital several months later. Yes, weight had gone down but my uric acid levels were abnormally high. I was literally camping out in the polyclinic on a weekly basis because I was getting gout attacks on a regular enough basis.

Then, to get the right pills, I needed to take a blood test and there they found that my blood sugars and triglycerides (bad cholesterol) were heading the wrong way. I ended up being given a series of pills.

I don’t really like pills and so I’m trying to not need them. I’ve started taking exercise seriously. As anyone who follows my key social media pages can testify, I try to move constantly.

I’ve indulged in two gym sessions recently. However, whatever work outs I do, usually tend to be the home-based variety. Much as I see the value of gyms, I don’t think you should only be able to work out in a single place, just I don’t believe you need to be confined to a single place to do work.

If I stay with my aunt in Marine Parade, I use East Coast Park. I’ve I’m with the family in the Whampoa area, I use Blastier as my walking route and in both places, I make the most of the HDB facilities. So, what have I gained out of all of this.

Talking to the One Person that Will Never Lie or Butter You Up

I like to work out topless. Usually work out at night or in the afternoon on weekends. Given that I am an obese man, I don’t exactly have the type of body I can show off. However, when you’re topless, the sweat cools faster and if you lack enough water, you might find salt crystals in places you never imagined them to be.

More importantly, being aware of your body makes you live on planet earth. As I’ve gained a title in professional life, I’m aware that people might be inclined to stroke my ego. The Padawan actually called me “handsome in rugged way.” It didn’t stop there. I’ve had the phrase “muscular frame” used to describe me and someone whom I’ve grown to care for and whose opinions on my looks matters to me, went as far as to use the phrase “really good looking.”

As nice as these phrases are to hear, the truth remains, I’m still a middle-aged obese man. The one thing that never lies is your own body and I notice that I still have too much belly fat and the neck rolls are well…… So, no matter how many people might tell me the things I want to hear, looking at my own body tells me what I really am and while it encourages me, its also made clear that I am far from what those praising me tell me.

At Our Age

A few people have used this phrase when talk to them about what exercises I do. It’s especially true when I tell people I started sprinting on a weekly basis. Apparently, bodies over 40 are not supposed to take the punishment and I should restrict my activities to the gentler ones.

Well, I happen to like the sensation of bringing my heart rate up. Have brought it up to as high as 160 plus beats per minute. The bottom line is I probably have a deficiency in human growth hormone and testosterone and so, rather than injecting the stuff or accept that I’m supposed to let things fall apart, I’m going to try and shock the body on a regular enough basis to get things moving. The reality is that I need to be of a certain strength level because I’m probably going to need to work for a very long time and the work available to people like me will inevitably be physical.

Getting Used to Collapsing.

If you look at enough YouTube videos on fitness, you’ll notice that they all make a single point. You are supposed to train a muscle to failure. Rest it for about two days and train it again. The mechanics are simple. Exercise tears the muscle and during the rest day, the body builds it back bigger and stronger.

Had a go at pushing myself to that extent on Monday night, doing several sets of bench dips and Tyson pushups as well as inverted rows. Found it challenge to raise a cup of water with my arms but it will be interesting to see how things go from there.

 

 Muscle building is like life. You got to get torn up a bit and then you heal and come back stronger.

Can’t say if I’ll be less obese and ugly but as I approach the half century mark, I like to think I’m going to age as a fit old dude or at least someone who won’t be a burden on the kids, who will undoubtedly have enough of their own problems to worry about.