Red Box for a Little Red Dot

Many of us may have read about Mr Lee Kuan Yew’s red box from Mr Heng Swee Keat’s post on facebook. It’s a touching revelation about how Mr Lee worked, and how dedicated he was to Singapore. I was a little amused about the purpose of the red box. It is so old school, so totally unexpected.

I had thought the box might have carried around some sort of secret gadget. You know, like how the U.S. President brings along with him, or carried by his security detail, a black briefcase that enables him to launch a nuclear strike from anywhere in the world.

Of course, it didn’t seem like Singapore needed any such sort of gadgetry.

Instead, Mr Lee’s red box held ordinary things. Things, I thought, could have been replaced by an iPad Air. Ok, no, this isn’t a product placement post. But you get the idea. Modern day technology has pretty much replaced the red box into a single instrument, no larger than a writing pad.

Mr Heng’s post shared about how Mr Lee had a photo taken of some trash spotted in the Singapore River, so that he can have someone follow-up on it later. Sounds like the makings of NEA’s myENV app and LTA’s MyTransport.SG app.

It’s an interesting insight to how Mr Lee worked. For ordinary people, who don’t have security tag team and personal assistants, we do have the modern day technology to accomplish that level of productivity. Sort of, at least. Our tablets, with massive document storage, camera, microphone, and network connectivity enable us to do quite a lot of things. It’s a different matter altogether, of course, whether or not we’re as dedicated to our work or the way we spend our lives.

As the nation mourns the passing of Mr Lee Kuan Yew, many of us are probably still learning many new things about him.