New Zealand politician recalls hairy moment in Singapore amid tributes to Lee Kuan Yew
A veteran New Zealand politician has recalled a hairy moment he experienced in Singapore that made his mother a particular fan of the late Singapore founding leader Lee Kuan Yew.
As the New Zealand parliament convened this week to pay tribute to Lee, who died on Monday, former Labour Party leader and current member of parliament Phil Goff told how he explained to Lee at a dinner in 2008 why Singapore’s stringent haircut enforcement in the 1970s earned the respect of his mother.
“As a student who had gone six years without a haircut, I was given my first haircut when passing through Singapore by the customs officials at the airport as the price of entry,” ChannelNewsAsia cited Goff as saying.
“My mother congratulated him [Lee] on achieving something that nobody else had been able to do for years before that time.”
On a more serious note, Goff also recalled how, as a 12-year-old, he was impressed by Lee’s speech in 1965 about why he was taking Singapore out of Malaysia. “With such power and emotion…I still remember that as the first political speech that ever impacted me in that way.”
New Zealand Deputy Prime Minister Bill English said “Mr Lee was a long-time friend of New Zealand and a supporter of New Zealand’s role in Southeast Asia”.
“Due to his unwavering determination and vision, he guided Singapore’s growth and development, making it the world leader among small countries that it is today.”
English also lauded Lee for his instrumental role in establishing the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).
Tracey Martin, deputy leader of New Zealand First, acknowledged Lee’s given name in Chinese meant “light and brightness”.
“We would respectfully suggest that the world is a little less light and a little less bright after his passing,” she said.
