Do not punish a man till you take away his pride and self esteem…

Salim is a thief. So says everyone in the village where I turn the wheel of life. One day Salim was caught red handed stealing fruit from my lands. When Salim was brought before me under the shade of a tree. I told Salim’s parents, I would not report the matter to the police. As since Salim is young. A criminal record will affect his life. That is too harsh…too arbitrary…too automatic a method to dispense justice. But Salim must pay for his crime.

The sentence was two years banishment. No one in the village would provide Salim with food, shelter and employment.

After two years Salim returned. I brought a cow to the masjid and told the imam slaughter this and invite the whole village to welcome Salim in a Kenduri (feast). When I saw Salim I went up to him and kissed him on both the cheeks. I whispered to him, ‘now take your rightful place.’

The moral of the story is this – do not inflict so harsh a punishment on a man that you take away his pride and self esteem. This you have no right to do – and should you cross that line. Then the man who you once passed sentence on will come back and kill you! As you have burnt all the bridges and there is no route for him to return back to the fold. So what does this man have to lose even should he decide to take up arms against you?

Always leave the door open….keep the lines of communication open.

This way when people see you how you manage yourself and others – they will say this man is a steady fellow, he is not power crazy. He can be entrusted to do big things.

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‘If you ask me whether China has a right to demonstrate their displeasure with the ruling party in Singapore. Then I say it certainly has. But it must be a measured response within limits…that is to say if China is just out to make a point that is OK. But if she is all out to destroy Singapore, to cut her off, beggar her economically that is not acceptable in my book – as it also means she is out to destroy the Singaporean way of life as well. And not only is that not right. But it also reflects badly on China.

China should assume the Classical Chinese gentleman’s poise – in Cantonese this is expressed as ‘Tai Fong.’ The superior man. The man who is assured of his position in the world is naturally superior as he is the direct opposite of the xiaoren (小人, “small or petty person”) who in my opinion is the petty woman pretending to be a man – this is why females in this world are doomed to failure as they are genetically encoded to fail….as they don’t seem to grasp the bigger picture…that explains why their watches are so small as well. Theirs can only be the grasp immediate gain. As that is the default position of all petty beings – they are egotistic and can seldom appreciate the bigger picture. Hence they do not consider the consequences of their actions.

Should a ruler be surrounded by xiaoren as opposed to junzi, his governance and his people will suffer due to their small-mindness.

China should be big hearted…this way Singaporeans will love them and take pride in their achievements.’