Has anyone address the political agenda with regards to the MM
Lee's interview conducted by Catherine Lim and why is it reported
in the Straits Times? Are the PAP trying to scare the general
public with an iron fist or to ensure foreign investors that their
capital will be safe in this country irrespective of political
upheavals? What does this interview really means for the normal
working citizens?
If you wish to understand the workings of LKY's mind and the intent
of his statements, you should study his famous remarks and form
your own conclusions with the events that had transpired that lead
us to this day.
"But we
either believe in democracy or we not. If we do, then, we must say
categorically, without qualification, that no restraint from the
any democratic processes, other than by the ordinary law of the
land, should be allowed... If you believe in democracy, you must
believe in it unconditionally. If you believe that men should be
free, then, they should have the right of free association, of free
speech, of free publication. Then, no law should permit those
democratic processes to be set at nought, and no excuse, whether of
security, should allow a government to be deterred from doing what
it knows to be right, and what it must know to be right... " -
Lee Kuan Yew, Legislative Assembly Debates, April 27,
1955
"If it is not
totalitarian to arrest a man and detain him, when you cannot charge
him with any offence against any written law - if that is not what
we have always cried out against in Fascist states - then what is
it?… If we are to survive as a free democracy, then we must be
prepared, in principle, to concede to our enemies - even those who
do not subscribe to our views - as much constitutional rights as
you concede yourself." - Opposition leader Lee Kuan Yew,
Legislative Assembly Debates, Sept 21, 1955
"Repression, Sir is
a habit that grows. I am told it is like making love-it is always
easier the second time! The first time there may be pangs of
conscience, a sense of guilt. But once embarked on this course with
constant repetition you get more and more brazen in the attack. All
you have to do is to dissolve organizations and societies and
banish and detain the key political workers in these societies.
Then miraculously everything is tranquil on the surface. Then an
intimidated press and the government-controlled radio together can
regularly sing your praises, and slowly and steadily the people are
made to forget the evil things that have already been done, or if
these things are referred to again they're conveniently distorted
and distorted with impunity, because there will be no opposition to
contradict." - Lee Kuan Yew as an opposition PAP member
speaking to David Marshall, Singapore Legislative Assembly,
Debates, 4 October, 1956
"If we say that we
believe in democracy, if we say that the fabric of a democratic
society is one which allows for the free play of idea...then, in
the name of all the gods, give that free play a chance to work
within the constitutional framework." - Opposition leader Lee
Kuan Yew, Singapore Legislative Assembly, Oct 4,
1956
This one is a gem comparing the quote below to what is
being said 20 years later :
"Repression can only
go up to a point. When it becomes too acute, the
instruments of repression, namely the army and the
police, have been proved time and time again
in history to have turned their guns on their
masters." - Opposition leader Lee Kuan Yew,
Straits Times, May 5, 1959
Pre-merger
"If I were
in authority in Singapore indefinitely without having to ask those
who are governed whether they like what is being done, then I would
not have the slightest doubt that I could govern much more
effectively in their interests." - Mr Lee Kuan Yew,
1962
"Let us
get down to fundamentals. Is this an open, or is this a closed
society? Is it a society where men can preach ideas - novel,
unorthodox, heresies, to established churches and established
governments - where there is a constant contest for men's hearts
and minds on the basis of what is right, of what is just, of what
is in the national interests, or is it a closed society where the
mass media - the newspapers, the journals, publications, TV, radio
- either bound by sound or by sight, or both sound and sight, men's
minds are fed with a constant drone of sycophantic support for a
particular orthodox political philosophy? I am talking of the
principle of the open society, the open debate, ideas, not
intimidation, persuasion not coercion..." - Lee Kuan Yew,
Before Singapore's independence, Malaysian Parliamentary Debates,
Dec 18, 1964
"They
(the Malay extremists) have triggered off something basic and
fundamental. Malaysia — to whom does it belong? To Malaysians. But
who are Malaysians? I hope I am, Mr Speaker, Sir. But sometimes,
sitting in this chamber, I doubt whether I am allowed to be a
Malaysian. This is the doubt that hangs over many minds, and the
next contest, if this goes on, will be on very different lines." —
Lee Kuan Yew in the Parliament of
Malaysia, 1965
[3]
"Once emotions are
set in motion, and men pitted against men along these unspoken
lines, you will have the kind of warfare that will split the nation
from top to bottom and undo Malaysia. Everybody knows it. I don't
have to say it. It is the unspoken word!" — Lee Kuan Yew in
the Parliament of
Malaysia, 1965
[4]
"According to
history, Malays began to migrate to Malaysia in noticeable numbers
only about 700 years ago. Of the 39 percent Malays in Malaysia
today, about one-third are comparatively new immigrants like the
secretary-general of UMNO, Dato' Syed Ja'afar
Albar, who came to Malaya from Indonesia
just before the war at the age of more than thirty. Therefore it is
wrong and illogical for a particular racial group to think that
they are more justified to be called Malaysians and that the others
can become Malaysian only through their favour." — Lee Kuan Yew (in
1964 or 1965), — Ye, Lin-Sheng (2003). The Chinese
Dilemma, p. 43. East West Publishing.
ISBN
0-9751646-1-9.
“For me, it is a
moment of anguish. All my life, my whole adult life, I believed in
merger and unity of the two territories.”, on August 9, 1965,
when Lee announced the separation of Singapore from
Malaysia.
“Do not
worry about Singapore. My colleagues and I are sane, rational
people even in our moments of anguish. We will weigh all possible
consequences before we make any move on the political
chessboard...”, 1965, when he responded to concerns of the
British government after Singapore's independence. London was
concerned that the young government was not able to keep things in
control and might take foolish measures.
"We must encourage
those who earn less than $200 per month an cannot afford to nurture
and educate many children never to have more than two... We will
regret the time lost if we do not now take the first tentative
steps towards correcting a trend which can leave our society with a
large number of the physically, intellecually and culturally
anaemic." - Lee Kuan Yew in 1967.
"Three women were
brought to the Singapore General Hospital, each in the same
condition and needing a blood transfusion.
The first, a
Southeast Asian was given the transfusion but died a few hours
later.
The second, a South
Asian was also given a transfusion but died a few days
later.
The third, an East
Asian, was given a transfusion and survived.
That is the X factor
in development." - Lee Kuan Yew - 27 December
1967
"In Singapore, a
society barely above the poverty line, welfarism would have broken
and impoverished us….. Since I was first saddled with
responsibility…. I have developed a deep aversion to welfarism and
social security, because I have seen it sap the dynamism of people
to work their best. What we have attempted in Singapore is asset
enhancement, not subsidies. We have attempted to give each person
enough chips to be able to play at the table of life. This has kept
the people self-reliant, keen and strong…. Most have hoarded their
growing wealth and have lived better on the interests and dividends
they earn." - Lee Kuan Yew, 1970s.
"Let us not deceive
ourselves: our talent profile is nowhere near that of, say, the
Jews or the Japanese in America. The exceptional number of Nobel
Prize winners who are Jews is no accident. It is also no accident
that a high percentage, sometimes 50%, of faculty members in the
top American universities on both the east and west coasts are
Jews. And the number of high calibre Japanese academics,
professionals, and business executives is out of all proportion to
the percentage of Japanese in the total American population." -
Lee Kuan Yew 1982
"If you don't
include your women graduates in your breeding pool and leave them
on the shelf, you would end up a more stupid society...So what
happens? There will be less bright people to support dumb people in
the next generation. That's a problem." - Lee Kuan Yew in 1983
National Day Rally
"I am often
accused of interfering in the private lives of citizens. Yes, if I
did not, had I not done that, we wouldn't be here today. And I say
without the slightest remorse, that we wouldn't be here, we would
not have made economic progress, if we had not intervened on very
personal matters - who your neighbour is, how you live, the noise
you make, how you spit, or what language you use. We decide what is
right. Never mind what the people think." - PM Lee Kuan Yew,
Straits Times, 20 April 1987
"At this rate, the
one-man, one-vote system could lead to decline and disintegration"
- after the Opposition won 2 seats
"Every election
campaign starts off on a reasonable note, then in order to get the
crowds excited, they make more and more brazen, scurrilous, wild
accusations." - Accusing the Opposition of "gutter
politics"
"The party would
withdraw services to the two opposition-held seats of Anson and
Potong Pasir" - On Potong Pasir and Anson electing non-PAP
MPs
"With few
exceptions, democracy has not brought good government to new
developing countries...What Asians value may not necessarily be
what Americans or Europeans value. Westerners value the freedoms
and liberties of the individual. As an Asian of Chinese cultural
backround, my values are for a government which is honest,
effective and efficient." - Lee Kuan Yew (educated in Cambridge
and speaks English, called Harry when young) in speech entitled
'Democracy, Human Rights and the Realities', Tokyo, Nov 10,
1992
"I have visited
(Burma) and I know that there is only one instrument of government,
and that is the army...If I were Aung San Suu Kyi, I think I'd
rather be behind a fence and be a symbol than after two or three
years, be found impotent." - SM Lee Kuan Yew, Reuters, Jun 6,
1996, which sparked a flurry of protests from Burmese
students.
"Between being loved
and being feared, I have always believed Machiavelli was right. If
nobody is afraid of me, I’m meaningless." - Lee Kuan Yew,
6.10.1997
"Mine is a very
matter-of-fact approach to the problem. If you can select a
population and they're educated and they're properly brought up,
then you don't have to use too much of the stick because they would
already have been trained. It's like with dogs. You train it in a
proper way from small. It will know that it's got to leave, go
outside to pee and to defecate. No, we are not that kind of
society. We had to train adult dogs who even today deliberately
urinate in the lifts." - Lee Kuan Yew on Singapore society, The Man
& His Ideas, 1997
"Supposing Catherine
Lim was writing about me and not the prime minister...She would not
dare, right? Because my posture, my response has been such that
nobody doubts that if you take me on, I will put on knuckle-dusters
and catch you in a cul de sac...Anybody who decides to take me on
needs to put on knuckle dusters. If you think you can hurt me more
than I can hurt you, try. There is no other way you can govern a
Chinese society." - SM Lee Kuan Yew, The Man and His Ideas,
1997
"I started off
believing all men were equal. I now know that's the most unlikely
thing ever to have been, because millions of years have passed over
evolution, people have scattered across the face of this earth,
been isolated from each other, developed independently, had
different intermixtures between races, peoples, climates, soils...
I didn't start off with that knowledge. But by observation,
reading, watching, arguing, asking, that is the conclusion I've
come to." - Lee Kuan Yew, The Man & His Ideas,
1997
"Put
it this way. As long as Jeyaretnam [Workers' Party leader] stands
for what he stands for -- a thoroughly destructive force -- we will
knock him. There are two ways of playing this. One, a you attack
the policies; two, you attack the system. Jeyaretnam was attacking
the system, he brought the Chief Justice into it. If I want to fix
you, do I need the Chief Justice to fix you? Everybody knows that
in my bag I have a hatchet, and a very sharp one. You take me on, I
take my hatchet, we meet in the cul-de-sac. That's the way I had to
survive in the past. That's the way the communists tackled me. He
brought the Chief Justice into the political arena." - SM Lee
Kuan Yew, The Man & His Ideas,
1997
"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 don't think that, and
I think even if today the Prime Minister doesn't think carefully
about this, we could have a tragedy." - SM Lee Kuan Yew,
Straits Times, September 19, 1999 on Malays in the
SAF
The following quotes are from
LKY's collection of quotes that reveals his strategic use of
bogeyman stories to scare the electorates to his
side:-
