Here’s a controversial suggestion by MM Lee in his recent interview with an American journalist – that Singapore rejoins Malaysia.
“If they would just educate the Chinese and Indians, use them and treat them as their citizens, they can equal us and even do better than us and we would be happy to rejoin them.”
Well, I suppose he is speaking for himself and his like-minded cadres only. I am sure many Singaporeans are not very keen about the country rejoining Malaysia.
Sometimes after reading comments made by Singapore’s leaders, I wonder when they say things like “Singapore will be happy to… “, etc, are they referring to the people of Singapore at large or just projecting their own desires onto the rest of the population?
What is this thing about embracing foreigners, to “use them and treat them as … citizens”? Is MM Lee conceding that the government’s ideal policy is to provide the same benefits for foreigners and Singaporeans alike? If so, then what is the purpose of being a Singaporean? Why should we work so hard for the country when we are not getting any better treatment than foreigners are? (Edit: I noted after reading another article that MM Lee was referring to the Chinese and Indian population of Malaysia, not foreigners)
And once again, what’s with our leaders always trying to teach other country’s leaders how to run their governments? I am sure than Singapore does have a civil service that is more efficient than many other countries’, however, I am not sure it is a good idea to go around telling people, “Look, you got to be like us and blah blah blah… “.
When former Malaysian PM Mahathir joked about Singapore some years back, he said that Singapore was so small that if you have a sports car, if you speed up for a while, you’ll drive into the sea… and he welcomed Singaporeans to drive their sports cars into Malaysia where they have highways to speed on. He is right. Singapore is small, Malaysia is way bigger – a small country is always easier to administer than a bigger one.
What’s with Singapore leaders trying to teach their Malaysian (and on numerous other occasions, other countries) counterparts how to run their country? One man’s medicine can be another’s poison – what worked for Singapore may not necessary work for others. A large country have different problems from a tiny one like Singapore.
Also, at the end of the day, it’s not like Singapore is that perfect – there are plenty of pointers we can take from countries like China whose administrations are not deemed as efficient as Singapore’s. For example, upon realising the problem of local governments spending extravagantly on government office buildings, the Chinese central government took action to persecute those responsible and prevent such excessive spending in future.
On this point, Singapore should learn from China – all the government offices I walked into before were furnished like 4 or 5 star hotels. What’s with trying to look posh and high-class? A government office should portray an image of professionalism and consideration for taxpayers’ money. What’s more important is that they look decent and are functional.
I hope someday we can have leaders who are more humble of our country’s achievements, so that when Singaporeans go to other countries we will not be looked upon as stuck-up people just because people read about our government’s not-so-humble statements.
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Hi mrbiao,
I think when MM mentions,”educate the Chinese and Indians, use them and treat them as their citizens” he was talking about Malaysian Chinese and Malaysian Indians and alluding to the affirmative action for the Bumiputra which make many non-Malay feel like 2nd class citizens in their own country.
Actually there are many older Singaporeans who feel a certain attachment to the peninsula and may not be against a reunion.
We have more similarities than differences.
Dr.Huang
[...] LKY Interview – This lush garden within: Singapore happy to rejoin Malaysia – not SingaporeANS – Presenting the(new)mediaslut!: Print media gets suggestion from MM Lee to stay ahead – My [...]
Indeed, from reading another news article it seems that my interpretation was incorrect – however, one would have to read the actual interview transcript to know what exactly he meant.
That goes to show that statesmen should also try to speak in a way that doesn’t make their words look out of the original/intended context.
A reunion can of course be ideal… in an ideal situation, Singapore can rely on Malaysia’s natural resources and land, while Malaysia can leverage on our strong technological and financial infrastructure – however, there are still many differences between us that makes it impossible and makes the idea seem dreadful to Singaporeans (imagine religious police raiding your houses, even more censorship than we have now, etc).
So in a way, I suppose MM Lee was not wrong in saying that if Malaysia emphasise more on meritocracy, it would be possible to have a reunion, but, that still doesn’t mean that he can speak for the whole of Singapore…
In practical sense, it is not possible to re-unite at this stage because of the political differences and the ambitions of the leaders. All this talking is to provide diversion from other key issues. He has been doing this when there are problems. He is trying to make people debate on what he said, as you are doing. The main things that are bugging the government are Burma, annunity, economy and obsure laws. It is usually done so when the junior ministers and the PM cannot handle the problems by themselves. The media is suddenly filled with his “wisdom” talk. He is creating some breathing space for the cabinet.
Why would he be concerned with this kind of thing anymore when it is already discussed to death?
reunite with Malaysia?
I thought you guys wanted independence from Malaysia some 42 years ago? What this is Lee Kuan Yew talking about???
I’ve read the news, he said he’s worried about Singapore “survival on the long run”, that everything that Singapore own and built on her own feet will come crushing down easily some day. But I think Singapore should not be worrying too much on that. Singapore alone is strong, look where you guys are today.
Besides there’s too much political differences between your country and mine. I dont think Malaysian fully understand SIngaporean and Singaporean to fully understand Malaysian. So until we all do, I dont see anyway our 2 country can reunite again.
And then I would like also to point something:
It’s true Malaysian Malays are the majority in our country but we’re no longer considering the Chinese or the Indians to be 2nd class citizens. I think I can safely says we’re all “equal Malaysian”
and one last thing:
If you guys note, both country leaders express that “Singapore will be happy…” and that Malaysian Mahathir says “it’s not the right time”
It mean both country are open to this re-emerging idea. So what’s its going to be, we all can just wait.
Peace!
- Your Malaysian neighbor
Basically LKY is trying to incite the Chinese & Indians in Malaysia that they would be much better off if they had been treated fairly by the Malaysian Govt. Hence the rebuttal from one of the Malaysian Ministers that the Malays in Singapore likewise should not have been treated worse than their Chinese & Malays.
This is just blatant intererence in another country’s domestic affairs. Either he is trying to be funny or just blatant irrogant.
It just doesn’t make sense for LKY to make such insensitive remarks about another country’s racial minorities especially when our infamous Minister Ho has stated that foreigners has no right to interfere in our domestic affairs.
And we Singaporeans are made to suffer the next time when we happen to encounter some problems in Malaysia especially with their authorities like the Police or Customs as they have no sympathy for us Singaporeans because our great LKY has spite them.
When will our leaders ever learn about preaching double standards ???
Dear Mr Biao,
I agree with sgman that pompous LKY is using the diversion tactic again to ease the heat from Burma and CPF (headache created by himself)
I also agree with Alan that we have enough of double standard and double talk dish out by him and his followers!
Most S’poreans are pretty sick and tired of LKY shameless disregard for people that he despises. He seems to look down on everyone. Insulting our closest neighbour is his pastime. I guess his creed is: Either you are with me, OR you must be stupid! Dumb!
Is he going to apologise again like he did when he said Johor was crime city a few years back? Oooops. . . btw 11/10/07 ST Home on H2 reported “Parang-wielding robbers flee with $200,000″ & “Snatched thieves on motorbikes: 42 cases in 2 months” Too bad, it happened in SafeCity Singapore not Johor!
80+Granny advises: ” Mai Tua Kung, Mail Hao Lian, there’s always payback time!”
The crying shame is his sycophants are following his style. I still cannot get over Ng Eng Hen’s insulting speech in Parliament recently on CPF when he said of S’porean men having trysts, “having a fling here and a fling there” after getting the CPF at 55.
Do they honestly think they are clever talking like that?
As much as it’s dangerous to play leapfrog with unicorn, most S’poreans are showing their true feelings of what they feel about LKY and the MIW. With blogs and internet, it’s about time too!
Thank you for sharing.
Hmmm insightful I think not. Remember that someone once mentioned that Denmark mp should get more salary to prevent corruption but ends up they ranked higher than us in anti corruption practices. MALAYSIA have their own set of problems but I really felt it is because there is a nostalgic feeling that We are after all kicked out by that nation.Maybe that why huge amount of money is shored up somewhere in someone’s wife pocket? Maybe, just maybe….
A reunion would be a bad thing, due to the fact that Malaysia is such a screwed up country, with its proud-of-minor-achievements citizens.
Imagine living with those malaysians and being brothers with them. It would be hell.
And LKY’s comments on Johor being a crime-city, its too true..
Salaam hormat,
Saya orang Sabah, di Malaysia Timur. (Most of the time, people tend to forget that Sabah and Sarawak are Malaysian states also.)
Saya rasa lebih baik isu penggabungan semula Malaysia & Singapura dibiarkan dahulu, sementara menunggu masa dan waktu dan sesuai.
Walaupun para pemimpin negara-negara kita bertikam lidah, membazirkan air liur dengan pertandingan “siapa besar”, kita tidak dapat nafikan bahawa orang Malaysia dan orang Singapura, sedikit sebanyak, pada dasarnya sama. Come on la, kita ni bersaudara.
Pada pandangan saya, para pemimpin kita ni “syok sendiri” sebenarnya.
Singaporeans and Malaysians get along just fine.Heck, we enjoy the same things apa, korang makan nasi lemak, kami makan nasi lemak. korang minum teh tarik, kami minum teh tarik. Hari Raya, Chinese New Year, Deepavali, kita semua celebrate kan??? Buat apa nak gaduh gaduh?
Even kalau di UK, Australia, NZ, US… bila ada masalah dengan orang putih, Singaporeans and Malaysians always back one another up. (Kinda like how Sabahans and Sarawakians always band together in Malaya). Kenapa la pemimpin kita asyik nak cari pasal je? Pelik betul aku juga kenapa pemimpin kita ni mau menimbulkan ketegangan.