This must be the best piece from LKY's archive of speeches :
"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 right, and what it must know to be right... "- Lee
Kuan Yew, Legislative Assembly Debates April 27,
1955
This was said in 1955, a period in LKY's memoirs which he
claimed were turbulent times, with riots, buses burning, racism
rearing its ugly head - yet he believe in the same political space
that CSJ is crying out now - 50 years on in the 21st
Century.
Again, the same was said in the Federal Pariament of Malaysia,
when Singapore was part of the Federation in 1963.
"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 newspapaers, 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? That is the first question we asked
ourselves.
I would like to see minds stimulated and debate
provoked, and truth refined and crystallized out of the conflict of
different evidence and views. I, therefore, welcome every and any
opportunity of a chance to agree, or to dissent, in order that out
of thesis comes synthesis - thesis, anti-major premise,
anti-premise, synthesis, so we progress... I welcome every
opportunity to meet members of the opposition, and so do members of
my party, over the radio, over the television, university forums,
public rallies. W
e never run away from the open encounter. If your
ideas, your views cannot stand the challenge of criticism then they
are too fragile and not sturdy enough to last. I am talking of the
principle of the open society, the open debate, ideas, not
intimidation, persuasion not coercion...
Sir, the basic
fundamentals we asked ourselves...is whether the duties of the
Minister of Information and Broadcasting are to produce closed
minds or open minds, because these instruments - the mass media,
the TV, the radio - can produce either the open minds receptive to
ideas and ideals, a democratic system of life, or closed and
limited.
But I know that the open debate is a
painful process for closed minds...
But let me make this point: that 5 million adult
minds in Malaysia cannot be closed - definitely not in the lifetime
of the people in authority.
It is not possible because whatever the faults of the
colonial system, and there are
many...they generated the open mind,
the inquiring mind." - Lee Kuan Yew Dec
18, 1964 Malaysian Parliamentary Debates
This speech by LKY was made on 18 December 1964, when laws were
passed to clamp down on political activities after the May 13, 1964
racial riots.
If LKY can still cry out for freedom even during the period
after the racial riots in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore - why is he
clamping down on political space in an independent Singapore that
is supposed to have seen racial tension eased, and a larger portion
of the population being educated, and with the minority ethnic
groups largely well looked after and their poitical interests
protected ?
It is ironical that he ended his speech by stating that
''whatever the faults of the colonial systems - and there are many
- they generated the open mind, the inquiring mind".
With a closed society that is tightly controlled in all
political, economic, social, cultural, spheres
- why should LKY lament the lack of talent in
Singapore - which depends on an open society that generate
the open mind - the inquiring mind of the talented ?
Singaporeans should be more political
concious and hold LKY responsible for the monolithic
state of affairs that is intolerant and resistant towards
alternative ways, which has even led a retired Senior Civil Servant
to become publicly vocal in voicing his concern for Singapore's
future.