Evolution Diary

Just found this interview piece on the internet. Mr Lee is a Darwinian and he also mentioned his religious inclination. Thanks Mr Lee for all that you have done for Singapore.

Lee Kuan Yew, 80
Retired Singapore Prime Minister
The Straits Times, Sept. 14, 2003

ST: How do you feel about turning 80? Have you been in a reflective mood these last few days as you approach your 80th birthday?

SM Lee: I have never been a great one for birthdays. (Laughs)

ST: There are many parties being planned for you.

SM Lee: Yes. It reminds me that time has passed and I take more time to do my daily chores. I get up, I take breakfast. I take smaller and smaller breakfasts because I can’t burn it up.

Then I go through my daily exercises to make sure that my joints are working and so on. That takes an hour. Then I go to the computer to respond to emails. I do this and that, and before I know it, the day has passed.

What I miss most is the high levels of physical energy I had up to 10 years ago. I used to dash around, meet people, talk, dictate, get things done. I used to have working lunches with you journalists, with MPs, businessmen and trade unionists, right?

But now I wake up late, and no more working lunches.

ST: What time do you wake up?

SM Lee: About 11. I sleep at about 2, 3 am. I have a different biorhythm. I still meet people, but less of them.

Fortunately, I still can travel, but less often because I suffer from jet lag.

ST: When you see your contemporaries dying, becoming frail, either mentally or physically or both, how do you feel? Do you ever think of dying and fear it? Do you believe in God? Have you become more spiritual with age?

SM Lee: Growing old, becoming weaker and eventually dying are part of life. I have watched my contemporaries fade away. I am not afraid to die.

What I fear is a series of increasing disabilities before I die. The worst is a crippling diminution of my mental capacity from a series of strokes.

I have some dear friends. The heart is ticking, but the mind is blank. I have stopped visiting them. It means nothing to them, and it is very sad to see them in this state.

I am an agnostic. I believe in Darwinism, that evolution is how humans came about.

But who created this universe? There may be a God. We will never know. However, I do not accept that any written book, whether the Bible, Old or New Testament, or the Quran or the Buddhist scriptures has the last words on it.

I do not know whether I have become more spiritual with age. More philosophical, yes. I seek perfection, knowing it is something to strive for, but never to attain.