http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1066520/1/.html
Key challenge in Singapore's transformation is
public support: MM Lee
SINGAPORE : Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew has said a key
challenge in transforming Singapore from a third-world to a
first-world city is getting people to support the government's
policies.
He said it depends on the amount of discipline the people are
willing to observe to fit into a first-world structure.
Mr Lee said this at a dialogue jointly held by the World Cities
Summit and the International Water Week on Tuesday evening.
He said: "We had a very untidy city - litter, filth, people
urinating on the streets. To stop all that, to have a litter-free
country, and no vandalism, no graffiti, you need discipline.
"We had graffiti experts from England and Switzerland to try to
break our laws. Well, we caught one of them and he has to pay the
penalty. It's harsh, but that's the way to keep it as it is."
On the challenge of managing Singapore's low birth rate, Mr Lee
said the country has been absorbing immigrants from Malaysia, India
and China.
These number about 1.5 million presently, compared to the resident
population of 4 million.
He noted their children will grow up as Singaporeans, but said the
concern is they may also have one child only.
“They get into our scale, our values and they say the Singaporean
family is right - let's settle for one. And so we may have to keep
like this for years and years,” said MM Lee.
Mr Lee later presented a prize, named after him, to Spain's Bilbao
City Hall for its success in transforming the former industrial
city. The award is called the Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize.
He also presented the Lee Kuan Yew Water Prize to China's Yellow
River Conservancy Commission for its work on managing the water
supply in the river basin.
- CNA/al/ls