Dr Goh's State Funeral...Part 3

After the final eulogy was delivered, Dr Phua Swee Liang his wife since 1991, walked up to place a wreath at the casket. This was in turn followed by PM Lee Hsien Loong who represented the government and people of Singapore.

PM Lee standing firmly and ramrod straight in respect after he had placed the wreath.

At the lectern is the MC Mr Peter Ho, Head of civil service.

The military pall bearers preparing to remove the state flag and medals

from the casket to be handed to President SR Nathan who then handed

the same over to Mrs Goh Keng Swee.

To the left of this scene, a lone bugler from the SAF began to play

"The Last Post". This solemn piece always played only on a bugle signals the

Final Farewell, the Final Goodbye for a fallen comrade, soldier or stateman.

The sounds from the bugle echoed throughout and within the confines of the sombre

hall...Ta..ta..ta..ta..ta..ta..ta.. tah..ra..ra.tah..ra..ra..tah..ra..ra..ta..ta..tum..tum..tum..thumph....!

The whole assembly stood in stoic silence, many reliving their

private moments of sadness and grieve at the passing of such a great man

they have all loved and cherished.

Many must have felt blessed to have at least come into even the briefest

of contact with him. Others knew they had the privilege only few can dream

about...they had actually benefitted from his advice, mentoring and teaching.

Men from all the military wings of the SAF giving The Final salute: We salute you, Sir!


Unk Dicko doesn't think this is the end of the Dr Goh Keng Swee story.

If I gauge correctly, the larger public especially the older generation,

will want our nation to not only preserve the memory, legacy and accomplishments

attributed to him, but to HONOUR and RECOGNISE him in more elevated and

permanent ways.

Ask any student of history, ask any ordinary person if he or she has heard of this or

that king of a certain period of China and I would not be at surprised if the reaction

is "No".

But ask the same person about a certain man called "Confucius" and the response

will likely be ..."A-ha, yes Confucius. I know ! "

In the same way, we ought to ensure that, at least our present younger generation and those after them,

know WHO Dr Goh once was and the immensity of his contributions to Singapore.

So, what and how can the Government, the people, the stat boards, the universities

and so forth do this?

We the ordinary folks can suggest...for a start.

Any suggestion anyone ?

The State Funeral for Dr Goh Keng Swee...pt 1

Sunday 23 May 2010 will be remembered as the day Singaporeans, friends and diplomats bade a final farewell to our former Deputy Prime Minister Dr Goh Keng Swee in a moving State Funeral. The entire ceremony and procession was telecast "Live" by CNA Tv channel and also covered "Live" by 93.8 Fm radio station.
D2 and I had gone on our own to pay our deepest respect at the Dunbar Walk wake. Thousands of Singaporeans took the trouble to make their way to Parliament House since Thursday when Dr Goh's casket was moved there...to show their love and pay homage to this truly GREAT son of Singapore.
At 1 pm, a one hour programme was shown on CNA highlighting the great achievements and contributions that Dr Goh had made to our country since 1959. It contained a lot of flashback footage of our early days in black and white showing the work he was doing...Jurong Industrial Estate, SAF, MINDEF, Elections, Kreta Ayer, opening factories, EDB, DBS, Zoo, Bird Park, Sentosa and etc. Many of the key people who have worked with him were interviewed...and their very frank and candid comments were a revealation!
Former ministers, perm secs, Generals and others spoke about Dr Goh and what they fondly remembered about him most.
There seemed to be a common trait running through their different strories.
The trait?
I think in bits and pieces, a little here and there, the picture becomes very clear....that Dr Goh Keng Swee was a man, a Minister, a LEADER like no other we have seen in Singapore before or since!
He was unique.
A man with a brilliant, creative mind and was forceful and very original in his ideas and approach to solving the country's complex problems. Yet, he was most frugal and prudent in his own ways. Strict but fair-minded, he went out of his way to help those who needed it most.
More can be said and more will be said by many.
Looking back to history for examples of such selfless and capable leaders, I can think of the great Chinese sage Confucius.

The photos in this post are all captured from images appearing on my Tv screen "Live", today.

The Gun carriage that carried the casket of the late Dr Goh from Parliament House to Singapore Conference Hall.

The route that the funeral procession took ended at the SCH. All flags at Govt buildings were flown at half-mast in a sign of deep respect.

The gun carriage carrying his casket arrived and the Bagpipers played their soulful sounds. Men from the Military Police executed a special drill with their heads bowed and arms on rifle.

Mr Tharman, Dr Yaacob, Mr Lui Tuck Yew accompanying Mrs Goh ( Dr Phua Swee Liang )



The casket being gently borne into the Conference Hall. The state flag was draped over it.

And Dr Goh's medals were on top of the flag.

The casket being placed on a blue raised bier while solemn music

was being played in the background.

WHO will win the WORLD CUP?

[ Above is the back page of The New Paper - 29 June 2006]


The 2010 World Cup
What's so special and exciting about this year 2010 to the billions of people out there? The YOG? Tennis Grand Slams? Swimming World Championships? The Superbowl Finals? The Thomas Cup Badminton Finals? Answer is none of these. The WORLD CUP is normally taken by every avid football fan to mean only one thing....which makes the entire world go crazy, delirious, happy (or unhappy as the case may be), unproductive ( employers beware! ) and in FIFA's case, greedy and unreasonable as far as Singaporeans are concerned over the way they are holding out on us ( Singtel and Starhub ) over the "LIVE coverage" issue. Huh... so sorry, I've digressed. Will blog about that too, later. Back to the main story.

The World Cup to be held in South Africa is less than 3 months away. Already, the 32 teams that have made it to the Finals have all begun their preparations seriously. This is the first time that the W Cup is hosted by an African country. South Africa as host country is an automatic qualifier among the final 32 teams.

The early rounds will begin in June, leading to the Quarter-Finals, Semi-Finals( 6 & 7 July)and the Grand Final( 11 July 2010).

The question on everyone's mind right now is..." WHO will win this 2010 World Cup? ".
The last winner in 2006 was Italy who overcame France in a pulsating, incident-filled match with Zinedine Zidane ( once the world's Best Footballer) sent off for head butting Marco Materazzi. Germany defeated Portugal for the 3rd Placing. It was an all-European cast for the last four in the Semi-Finals. The likes of Brazil and Argentina, traditional powerhouse from South America, were bundled out in the Q-Finals. Other victims included England, Ukraine and others.

So who will it be this time to lift that coveted and glittering gold W Cup trophy?
Will it be one of the European sides or one from south of the border?
Can an Asian-Oceania side make an improbable breakthrough?
What about the hosting continent itself...Africa? They seem to have some reasonably strong teams like Egypt...the current African champions and Didier Drogba's Ivory Coast, Samuel Ito's Cameroon and Essiens' Nigeria.
So-called soccer pundits and soccer experts are having a field day trying to make the early predictions.

Many have been swooned by Wayne Rooney's recent form and so unsurprisingly England is one name that rings very loudly. The more astute among observers say it will be Spain's breakthrough year as they have arguably, one of the best if not, the very Best players in Europe.
Holland has always been nearly there coming in 2nd in the 1974 Finals. Uruguay who won the inaugural 1st World Cup way back in 1930 seems to be in a doldrum.


[ Above is from the same back page - The NewPaper 29 -6-2006 ]

The 2006 World Cup...some very interesting predictions and
analysis that came true!

The Headlines screamed loudly, " England will win the World Cup". The accompanying text gave 8 reasons to support the wide belief ( mostly in England ) that because of the magical number of " 7", nothing can stop or change this "inevitable" fate of an English triumph.
You and I know what happened...eventually to England.
Maybe they should have come out with just 7 reasons instead of 8 ( see they made an error there!).
By the way, the newsclips I have put here were published BEFORE the Q-Finals took place.
England was fated to meet Portugal in the Q-F stage and the 2 outstanding fellow strikers for Manchester United...Christina Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney faced each other in a "do or die" match, for it was the knock-out stage( only 1 match decides, if no goals Extra time of 30 minutes, then still no goals...the deathly Penalty kicks follow).
As that match went the gamut, Ronaldo managed to influence the referee to get Rooney sent off and he had the cheek to make "a wicked wink" at poor Rooney, who knew he was conned. Alas too late to be of help for the game, after extra time, produced no goals.
In the mandatory penalty kick segment...all the Portuguese players converted but only OWEN HARGREAVES succeded for England ! This has always been a perennial weak point for the 3 Lions.
Argentina too were beaten on penalties ( 2-4 ) after they drew 1-1 with host nation Germany. France managed to beat the not so mighty Brazilians 1-0.

Watching soccer with a small punt on the sideline always increases the enjoyment and excitement factor. Your adrenaline will pick up as you witness "your team" playing well and confirming your bet...giving you a lift and a high at the same time. But be very careful that a big and substantial bet on the football pools can push your adrenaline level way beyond...to a heart attack and physical collapse...when your bet investment go up in smoke.
So if you do bet, do it just for the simple "fun" of it. A small wager of a few $ won't kill you. Set and know your own limit. NEVER, EVER do it in the HOPE of making BIG MONEY.
Like most addicted gamblers everywhere...99 % will not only lose in the final analysis but many have lost their homes, their lifesavings, their CPF, their children's pocket money, their family and quite a number kill themselves as a result.
So Unk Dicko says...if you do bet know yourself first. Otherwise avoid gambling or betting at all costs.

Back to the above story
After I studied the report making a strong case for ITALY to win in 2006, I took my pen out to underline the pertinent points. I must say based on the statistics and other relevant side information...I came to this conclusion:
That a European side will win and the STATS point to ITALY as the report said. So, I went to S'pore Pools to place a small bet on ITALY winning the CUP.
On Cup Final day, billions of people were glued to the worldwide telecast going out "live".
For me, I was with a large party of more than a 150 people watching this Italy vs France Final at the Serangoon Gardens Country Club. We had a superb supper laid out and the game was shown on a huge cinema-like screen. Mp and Minister, Mrs Lim Hwee Hua and hubby were also present.
How did that match go?
France took the lead in the 7th minute from a penalty scored by who else...Zinadine Zidane.
Italy equalised to make it 1-1 when Marco Materazzi scored in the 19th minute. The exciting match ended at 1-1. During Extra time, it remained scoreless but a dramatic and ominous incident occurred. Materazzi had been "bad-mouthing" Zidane about his mother using expletives that escaped the Ref's attention but it got to the point where Zidane exploded in the blink of an eye. He suddenly charged at Materrazi with his head, knocking him down. Straight Red card for Zidane!
And with that con job, Materazzi had removed the best player on the field.
No goals during E T..so penalty kicks. Italy converted all 5 including Materazzi himself taking one. France converted 3 but the critical 4th kick was a big miss by Trezeguet.
So Italy won 5-3 on penalty kicks and took the CUP home.
And the rest as they say, is history.

So...WHO will it be this year?
If you follow the report of 2006 above and continue the logical sequence, it should be a South American Team who should win it.
Brazil, under coach Dunga is still a very potent force. But do check what the report says, " Brazil can only succeed when their population or public think they can't win".
Argentina, under "fatty" Maradona has a lot of top players under his disposal. If somehow, he can find the right formula for them to gel as a team with the likes of Lionel Messi..I think the world would be mesmerised and surprised. Who knows, "Fatty" might just have the last and loudest laugh!
What about England and Spain and all the other strong teams?
Well what about them?
Statistics don't lie...or do they?
Going by the alternate sequence since 1962...and that sequence has yet to be broken and the data is there for all to see...2010 is not going to have a European Winner.
One other vital piece of information is crucial.
No European team has ever won the World Cup outside Europe. Italy, Germany, England and France are the only countries who have reached the pinnacle. But all were achieved when the tournament was hosted in Europe.
And now the tournament is outside Europe.

In 2006, the TNP report I read convinced me to lay a small bet on Italy. When Italians lifted the Cup...I had more than a Smile!
Not so lucky was a friend of mine, he too had read the same report and placed a 1 x 2 bet for Italy to win the game. SG Pools and other betting systems are similar in many ways. The 1 x 2 option for a win, draw or lose is based on the 90 minute match time alloted, including the few minutes of "injury" time added on by the Referee. The Game ended in a Draw ( 1-1 )...so my friend lost his bet!
Just remember this, analyse the info provided and if you want to bet do so sanely and wisely.
Do not bet until you have to auction off your grandma's drawers!

If any of you have your own inspiration or theories I would hope you can share them.