How do I comfort myself? Well, I say, 'Life is just like that.'

At the end of the day, is Singapore society better or worse off? That's the test.

I am not interested in ratings by Freedom House or whatever.

I'm not guided by what Human Rights Watch says.

Peace and security in the Asia-Pacific will turn on whether China emerges as a xenophobic, chauvinistic force, bitter and hostile to the West because it tried to slow down or abort its development, or whether it is educated and involved in the ways of the world - more cosmopolitan, more internationalized and outward looking.

Let the historians and the Ph.D. students work out their doctrines. I'm not interested in theories per se.

I had some very powerful minds working with me.

The original communitarianism of Chinese Confucian society has degenerated into nepotism, a system of family linkages, and corruption, on the mainland. And remnants of the evils of the original system are still found in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and even Singapore.

I can feel the gradual decline of energy and vitality. And I mean generally, every year, when you know you are not on the same level as last year. But that's life.

China itself is now in the process of sloughing off not only the communist system, but also those outdated parts of Confucianism that prevent the rapid acquisition of knowledge needed to adjust to new ways of life and work.