Biting the Bullet

"Everyone likes to be a friendly, nice, pleasant, charitable, helpful minister, particularly the Prime Minister, and everyone will say: "Nice man".

But to be kind to you and your children, sometimes we have to take a very sharp knife and go through the movements and say: "Look dont do that or I will have to - you know, this will have to be used."
~Mr Lee Kwan Yew, 1971, on the need for unpopular policies