TR EMERITUS

作者：南方朔 北京故宫后门有小丘，叫做煤山。上有当年崇祯皇帝自缢的那棵树，原树兵毁，后人重植，已枝叶扶疏，成了大树，古木悲风，诉说的都是历史的凄怆和反复的愚蠢。 在此重提明朝 (Ming dynasty) 崇祯皇帝，并无任何借古讽今的念头。而是用当代政治学的标准来分析，崇祯是所谓“自恋型领袖”的最标准样本。领袖极端自恋，小则误己误身，大则误国误民，崇祯的自恋就是个“误”，他“误”了一切。 崇祯是典型的误国亡国之君。可是他即位之初不是这样的。当时魏忠贤滥权，朋党营私，崇祯立即杀魏忠贤并全面罢黜他的党羽，看起来很有一点中兴气象，崇祯也自己照镜子，愈看愈得意，真的以为自己是盖世无双的明君。于是由自恋转自大，由自大变成刚愎自用，刻薄寡恩。 明末出了一堆混蛋皇帝及大臣，但他们再怎么混蛋，还是知道要替国家留一些能吏勇将，去做他们没... 

OPINION When opposition candidate in the last election James Gomez tried to leave Singapore for Sweden where he worked, he was stopped by the police at the airport and his passport impounded. The reason? Gomez was being "investigated" for "intimidating" a civil servant when he (wrongly) accused an election officer of misplacing... 

By Tony Pang With a heavy heart, I can relate to the statements made by Mr Lee Kuan Yew. Taking his statements in context (minus all the emotions), I have to agree that there are some levels of truths. "Over time, Singaporeans have become less hard-driving and hard-striving." Hypothetically speaking - If we were to take an average...