Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew Urges Muslims to ‘Be Less Strict’

Temasek

Singapore’s founding father Lee Kuan Yew has urged local Muslims to “be less strict on Islamic observances” to aid integration and the city-state’s nation-building process.

Singapore has a predominantly Chinese population, with minority races including Muslim Malays and Indians, and Lee has always stressed the importance of racial harmony.

“I would say today, we can integrate all religions and races except Islam,” he said in “Lee Kuan Yew: Hard Truths to Keep Singapore Going,” a new book containing his typically frank views on the city-state and its future.

“I think we were progressing very nicely until the surge of Islam came and if you asked me for my observations, the other communities have easier integration — friends, intermarriages and so on…” he stated.

“I think the Muslims socially do not cause any trouble, but they are distinct and separate,” Lee added, calling on the community to “be less strict on Islamic observances.”

During the book’s launch on Friday, the self-described “pragmatist” warned Singaporeans against complacency, saying the largely ethnic Chinese republic was still a nation in the making.

Describing Singapore in the book as an “80-storey building on marshy land,” Lee said it must contend with hostility from larger Muslim neighbors.

“We’ve got friendly neighbors? Grow up… There is this drive to put us down because we are interlopers,” he said, citing alleged Malaysian and Indonesian efforts to undermine Singapore’s crucial port business.

Singapore was ejected from the Malaysian federation in 1965 in large part due to Kuala Lumpur’s preferential policies for ethnic Malays, and has since built up Southeast Asia’s most modern military to deter foreign aggression.

Turning to local politics, Lee said the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP), which has been in power since 1959 when Singapore gained political autonomy from colonial ruler Britain, will someday lose its grip on power.

“There will come a time when eventually the public will say, look, let’s try the other side, either because the PAP has declined in quality or the opposition has put up a team which is equal to the PAP… That day will come.”

“In the next 10 years to 20 years, I don’t think it’ll happen. Beyond that, I cannot tell.”

Lee said that despite a survey showing the contrary, he believed Singaporeans were not yet ready for a non-ethnic-Chinese prime minister.

“A poll says 90 percent of Chinese Singaporeans say they will elect a non-Chinese as PM. Yes, this is the ideal. You believe these polls? Utter rubbish. They say what is politically correct,” he stated.

He also defended the policy of promoting marriage between highly-educated Singaporeans, a policy seen by critics as a form of social engineering, and dismissed the notion of love at first sight.

“People get educated, the bright ones rise, they marry equally well-educated spouses. The result is their children are likely to be smarter than the children of those who are gardeners,” he said.

“It’s a fact of life. You get a good mare, you don’t want a dud stallion to breed with your good mare. You get a poor foal.”

People who are “attracted by physical characteristics” may regret it, he said.

Lee also revealed that he had donated to charity all his earnings of 13 million Singapore dollars ($10 million) since stepping down as prime minister in 1990 after 31 years in power.

Singapore’s cabinet ministers are the highest paid in the world as part of a strategy to prevent corruption and attract talent from the private sector.

Lee, who holds the special title minister mentor, now serves as an adviser to his son Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who came to power in 2004.

Amid all the hard-edged talk, Lee showed his tender side when asked about his late wife Kwa Geok Choo, who died aged 89 in October last year.

“It means more solitude. No one to talk to when the day’s work is done,” Lee said in the book, the result of exclusive interviews with journalists from the country’s leading daily, the Straits Times.
Source: Agence France-Presse

Poem For Harry Lee

This is the story of Harry Lee Kuan Yew,

Promised us he’ll govern Singapore anew,

Claimed to be better than Marshall the Jew,

So to him and the PAP our votes flew,

Then seemingly he came in as PM the new,

But soon us S’poreans he started to screw,

One by one all our rights away he blew,

Our brave ones disagreed with his view,

So under the ISA in prison them he threw,

One such poor soul was Dr. Lim Hock Siew,

With a hatchet everyone he threatens to slew,

And in extreme fear of him Singaporeans grew,

Highest salaries he and his ministers withdrew,

Boasting that they are the only brightest few,

Today life in Singapore is no honey and dew,

It has become so bad even a gum you can’t chew,

So its time time to vote out Lee and his crew,

Since all their evils we now already knew.

.

Deen

Temasek

Hilary Clinton Sees The Real Multifaceted Anwar Ibrahim

Hillary Clinton, Najib Razak and Anwar Ibrahim: The Top U.S. Diplomat Comes Around on Malaysia

21 Jan By Rachel Motte

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced to reporters on Friday that she had an “excellent meeting” with Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin at the State Department. When she told Muhyiddin that Malaysia is “a model nation” that might serve as an example to other developing nations, she underscored a very recent — and revealing — shift in American official perception of that country and its government.

Clinton’s last meeting with Malaysian officials late last year, conveyed substantively less enthusiasm for the Southeast Asian nation, at least in the eyes of veteran Malaysia watchers. Although she spoke enthusiastically about the future of U.S.-Malaysia engagement, her carefully choreographed telephone conversation with opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim sent a message that America’s sympathies were not entirely with the elected government of Prime Minister Najib Razak.

How things have changed in just four months!

Now, the Secretary of State’s tone is markedly different — and far more positive toward the Malaysian leadership. She told Muhyiddin that Malaysia stands as an important example to other nations because it is “democratic, effectively governed, and economically sound.”

Clinton implicitly acknowledged that Malaysian democracy has come a long way under the current government — and, barring a change in leadership, that it will continue to improve. This, combined with Malaysia’s strong financial outlook and its role as a model for Islamic democracy, makes the nation an attractive partner for the United States. Clinton and Muhyiddin went on to discuss the development of a Peace Corps program that would enable Malaysian teachers and schoolchildren to learn English from visiting American students — an initiative Prime Minister Najib suggested to President Obama during their meeting at the ASEAN Summit in New York City last autumn — and agreed that such a program would benefit both nations. They also discussed the signing of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a multilateral free trade agreement which Muhyiddin expects will be completed by the end of the year.

Favorable words from the U.S. Secretary of State can go a long way toward boosting one’s political standing in Malaysia. So it is good to see Hillary Clinton finally realizing who are the good guys and the bad guys in Malaysia.

When Anwar Ibrahim was a recipient of favorable rhetoric from Hillary Clinton, his supporters were quick to capitalize on the attention. Though Clinton cancelled a face-to-face meeting with Anwar at the last minute during her Malaysian tour this past autumn, opting instead to speak with him by phone, she stated then that the U.S. would continue to advocate for him with Malaysian officials.

Anwar’s amply documented anti-Semitic rhetoric and ties to shady organizations that are linked to the Muslim Brotherhood and have been investigated by US authorities for alleged terror-finance ties to Al Qaeda, made this a truly puzzling admission.

So what happened to change Clinton’s mind about him? In a word, the American Secretary of State seems to have now found out just who Anwar is.

Anwar’s own statements make it obvious that, were he to become Prime Minister, we should expect him to continue to encourage the resurgent anti-Semitism he has already led in Malaysia for narrow, cynical, and opportunistic reasons. An Anwar-led administration would likely mark the end of Malaysia’s relatively stable religious diversity, and the end of Malaysia’s status as the “model nation” Clinton praised. In fact the truth is that if Anwar ever came to power, it could create a positively dangerous situation – for Malaysia.

By contrast, American policymakers have found an increasing amount to like in the policies of Prime Minister Najib. His call for a “Global Movement of Moderates” at the US-ASEAN summit in New York City last fall was well received in D.C. Najib’s level of public commitment to religious moderation is not always easy to find in the Muslim world, and this puts him in a unique position to benefit both the U.S. and other Muslim-majority nations. As Muhyiddin pointed out,

“Our role is much appreciated because it can help meet our aspirations and theirs… Although Malaysia is a small country, we can see that the message from the Prime Minister (for closer relations) has reached the American administration and this can help in the development of our country.”

Anwar, on the other hand, is an Islamist of the most dangerous sort. His long-time involvement with the Muslim Brotherhood through its American front organization, the International Institute of Islamic Thought, the Herndon, Virginia organization that since 2002 has been investigated by the FBI, IRS and US intelligence agencies for alleged financial assistance to Al Qaeda, now gives smart U.S. policymakers increasing pause. So too do his other terror finance ties and his relationship with the radical Sheik Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the Islamist cleric who was a major voice in the past decade to speak openly in favor of suicide bombing. Read more.

Also read:

1.Anwar Ibrahim and Yusuf Qaradawi, Together Again

2.Anwar Ibrahim’s No Good, Very Bad Year

The World's 10 Happiest Countries

The Legatum Institute's 2010 Prosperity Index ranks 110 countries, covering 90% of the world's population. To build its index Legatum gathers upward of a dozen international surveys done by the likes of the Gallup polling group, the Heritage Foundation and the World Economic Forum. Each country is ranked on 89 variables sorted into eight subsections: economy, entrepreneurship, governance, education, health, safety, personal freedom and social capital.Read more.

Singapore Malays:A Questioned Loyalty

Hantu Laut

Did Mahathir provoke the Singapore Malays? Yes! he did and quite rightly so.What Mahathir inferred of the Singapore Malays was not far from the truth.

Are the Malays in Singapore marginalised?

Indeed, they are, but they are just too ashamed to admit that they are and looked down upon by the majority race. This can be clearly seen in the job market both in the private sector and the civil service where preference were for Chinese first, Indian second and Malay last.

Unless the Malay is really outstanding his chance of securing the job against his Chinese compatriot of equal educational standing is almost zero.Most jobs in Singapore called for applicants to be able to speak Mandarin which cancelled out most Malay applicants.The Singapore government also practised a policy of no Malays in sensitive positions in the civil service as their loyalty are much doubted.

In 1986 following the visit of Israeli President Chiam Herzog, which triggered off massive protests in Malaysia the then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew questioned Malay's loyalty and said "Are we sure that in a moment of crisis, when the heat is on, we are all together heart to heart? I hope so. But we ought to have a fallback position and quickly fill up all the missing hearts if some go missing."

In February 1987 in an article in FEER, Lee's son commented further on the status of the Malays in an open forum on why Malays do not hold sensitive positions in the armed forces. Explaining that there are no Malay fighter pilots, for example, because their religion might conflict with their duty to Singapore, he provoked a backlash of criticism from the Muslim community in addition to Singapore's Muslim neighbours. The article goes on to say, "these statements represented some of the most frank public commentaries ever made by Singapore's political leaders on the role of the Malays, which continues to stir emotions among the Malay community.

In Sept 19, 1999 the Straits Time reported Lee, in a forum with some polytechnic students said "If, for instance, you put in a Malay officer who's very religious and who has family ties in Malaysia in charge of a machine gun unit, that's a very tricky business.

"We've got to know his background. I'm saying these things because they are real, and if I didn't think that, and I think even if today the Prime Minister doesn't think carefully about this, we could have a tragedy."

"So, these are problems which, as poly students, you're colour-blind to, but when you face life in reality, it's a different proposition."

There are Malay officers in the Singapore Armed Forces but as Lee said they are under watchful eyes just in case their religion or their ethnicity screw up their brains, pointing the guns at Singapore instead of the enemies.

Singapore do not recruit top civil servants regardless of their ethnic origin. It is a government policy in what they say for security reasons they will not place a Malay in sensitive and critical positions because they simply don't trust them. Yet the Malays in Singapore are lulled into believing that they are not marginalised. Discrimination comes in many forms, unpalatable or subtle, Singapore Malays seemed quite happy to ignore the insults.

The Indians are more trusted and many held top management positions in Singapore civil service and GLCs for the simple reason Singapore is not on the southern tip of the Indian sub-continent, it is in the Malay Archipelago surrounded by over 200 million people of the same stock.

Singapore has a deep sense of insecurity.That's the very reason it has built up and strengthened its Air Force to be the best in the region and one that can give them not only a strike first capability but also strike deep into enemy's territories. Its highways could be turned into runways within minutes and the underground mass transit turned into bomb shelters.Singapore is well prepared for any eventualities.It has emulated Israel and its continued survival would be well protected by the Western powers.

Not only Singapore does not trust its Malay citizens , it also does not trust both its neighbours.Can you blame them?

The Singapore Malays are still in a deep slumber, they can't see beyond their HDB flats. If the leaders have openly expressed their doubts about Malays' allegiance and treat them as peripherals what would you call it.......love!!?