Choosing When To Go by Lee Kuan Yew 

Life is better than death. But death comes eventually to everyone. It is something which many in their prime may prefer not to think about. But at 89, I see no point in avoiding the question. What concerns me is: How do I go? Will the end come swiftly, with a stroke in one of the coronary arteries? Or will it be a stroke in the mind that lays me out in bed for months, semi-comatose? Of the two, I prefer the quick one.

Some time back, I had an Advanced Medical Directive (AMD)) done which says that if I have to be fed by a tube, and it is unlikely that I would ever be able to recover and walk about, my doctors are to remove the tube and allow me to make a quick exit. I had it signed by a lawyer friend and a doctor.

 If you do not sign one, they do everything possible to prevent the inevitable. I have seen this in so many cases. My brother-in-law on my wife’s side, Yong Nyuk Lin, had a tube. He was at home, and his wife was lying in bed, also in a poor shape. His mind was becoming blank. He is dead now. But they kept him going for a few years. What is the point of that? Quite often, the doctors and relatives of the patient believe they should keep life going. I do not agree. There is an end to everything and I want mine to come as quickly and painlessly as possible, not with me incapacitated, half in coma in bed and with a tube going into my nostrils and down to my stomach. In such cases, one is little more than a body.

I am not given to making sense out of life — or coming up with some grand narrative on it —other than to measure it by what you think you want to do in life. As for me, I have done what I had wanted to, to the best of my ability. I am satisfied

Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama has once again assured the members of Fiji National Provident Fund that their savings are secure.

However he did not mention mention illegally breached contracts and monies that had been stolen from pensioners by decrees.

Nor did he mention the fact that the FNPF have done nothing to ensure that future Fiji pensioners will have sufficient monthly pension to provide security for their retirement.

The simple fact is that future inflation will outstrip pensions and this government has done nothing to counter this in the seven years they have held power.

REMEMBER THIS WHEN YOU VOTE.

REMEMBER ALSO THAT IT WAS THIS GOVERNMENT THAT TREATED YOUR GRAND PARENTS AND PARENTS WITH CONTEMPT BY DEPRIVING THEM OF THEIR BASIC CIVIL RIGHT OF SEEKING REDRESS THROUGH THE COURTS.

THE PEOPLE OF FIJI NEED A NEW GENERATION OF YOUNG INTELLIGENT LEADERS WITH COMPASSION, HONESTY AND INTEGRITY.