I am not a Singaphile but it doesn’t hurt to learn from someone who 45 years ago was sensible enuf to know what is good for Malaysia. Now 50 yrs after Merdeka, our Malysian politicians still wallow in the mud. Buffalos don’t change their habits, do they? Read this. It sheds some sense.
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TRANSCRIPT OF A SPEECH MADE BY THE PRIME MINISTER,
MR. LEE KUAN YEW, AT THE SREE NARAYANA MISSION IN
SEMBAWANG ON 12TH SEPTEMBER, 1965.
Mr. Chairman, friends,
I want to say how delighted I am this morning to be able to join you in
presenting these scholarships to 10 students, $100/- each, and not only to Indian
students. The money probably came all from Indians because they are members
of your Mission but the scholarships are also being given to Malays and to
Chinese too.
It is these little gestures which make for harmony and understanding.
I remember reading not so long ago about some special scholarships they
were going to name after one of their leaders in Malaya, and they were going to
get everybody to contribute, but the scholarships were only for one group. It
makes life a rather difficult and trying business. But that is now no longer our
business: we cannot interfere. We mind our own affairs.
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But I say, neverthless, as Dr. Ismail has said in Canberra — and he is a
honest man who said that one day these two territories will come back again, but
under very different circumstances and different conditions. And he was an
honest man to say that if Singapore remained in Malaysia, there would be
language and race riots in 1967. He said that — I did not say that. He said that
and it was reported in Canberra. I got the newspapers sent back to me. Because
Singapore was setting the example in tolerance, multi-lingualism, multi-racialism;
a multi-regligious, multi-cultural society. And there are some people whose
grasp of history is somewhat limited and they are the people who shout these
slogans: ” One race, one language, one religion”
It worries me. I think they ought to see the optician and put on their
glasses. Then they will know there are many races, racial groups, but one
nationality. I think they ought to see the ear specialist because obviously, their
ears are not hearing properly. Or, they will know that we speak many languages.
And they will know that today Sunday, Christians go to church: Friday, Malays
go to their mosques: Indians have Thaipusam, Deepavali and their ceremonial
occasions; so with Buddhists, so with Seventh Day Adventists, on a Saturday.
And what is wrong about that?
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We will set the example. This country belongs to all of us. We made this
country from nothing, from mud-flats. It is man, human skill, human effort which
made this possible. You came, you worked — for yourselves, yes. But in the
process, your forefathers and my forefathers who came here: we built this
civilization.
It is one of the few cities in Asia where you can get anything you want.
You pick up the telephone: it works; and it not only works internally. You can
pick up the telephone and speak to Delhi, London, Tokyo, Canberra —anywhere
you want. Do you think you can do that just by shouting slogans? You can get
the best in any of the hotels in meal. European food? You can get the best in
any one of the hotels in town. Chinese food? What kind do you like? There is
Cantonese, Hokkien and Teochew. Indian food? There are South Indian, North
Indian: anything you like. Malay food? You like Sumatran food, nasi padang?
Where else in the world can you get this?
And I say, we will progress. I was sad not because Singapore was going
to suffer: No. I was sad because by this separation, we could not help millions
of our own people, our own countrymen in Malaya, in Sabah and Sarawak to
progress with us. That was why I was sad. We could not help them any more.
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They have now got to help themselves. They have got to throw up their own
leaders and they have got to take a stand. We cannot interfere.
Here in Singapore, in ten years, Geyland Serai will be another and better
Queens town all the shacks will be demolished. I say that for Singapore because
I do not think Singapore is boasting when it says it can do it. It will do it. But do
you think in ten years, the kampongs in Malaya will have Queens towns? I do
not think so.
If you want that, then you must have the thrust, the ideas, the dynamism,
the push, the tolerance of each other. That is why I was sad for them who are
our people. Not just Chinese and Chinese, Indians and Indians. They are many
Malays here.
Half of our police force comes from Malaya. Their familes are left behind
there. They will be quartered; they will live in modern civilised conditions.
Their families will come down here and they will want to stay with them, and we
will have to say “No” because there is a limit to what we can absorb. We have
only got 214 square miles. It is a cruel thing to do this. But it has to be done,
some people wanted it this way. We could have helped them emerge, but it was
not be to be.
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But I say to you : Here we make the model multi-racial society. This is
not a country that belongs to any single community: it belongs to all of us. You
helped built it; your fathers, your grandfathers helped build this, There was no
naval base here, and it is not the British who built it. It was your labour, your
father’s labour which built that.. My (great) grandfather come here and built.
Yes, he came here looking for his fortune, but he stayed — my grandfather was
born here.
Over 100 years ago, this was a mud-flat, swamp. Today, this a modern
city. Ten years from now, this will be a metropolis. Never fear.
Some people think that just because we are a small place, they can put the
screws on us. It is not so easy. We are a small place in size, and geography.
But in the quality of the men, the administration, the organisation, the mettle in a
people, the fibre therefore, don’t try. That is why we got booted out. If they
could have just squeezed us like an orange and squeezed the juice out, I think the
juice would have been squeezed out of us, and all the goodness would have been
sucked away. But it was a bit harder, wasn’t it? It was more like the durian.
You try and squeeze it, your hand gets hurt. And so they say, “Right, throw out
the durain.” But inside the durian is a very useful ingredient, high protein. And
we will progress.
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40 percent more than 40 percent of the purchasing power of the whole of
Malaysia is in Singapore. We may be 20% of the population of Malaysia, but
purchasing power, the capacity to buy goods like microphone, clocks, drinks,
fans, lights, television, transistors: the money is here because here they work.
And if people do not want that 40% — 44% market — well, that is their business.
We want to open the market with them, buy if they do not want it we will make
our own soap … We are buying soap from Petaling Jaya: Lux. You know, it is
always advertised on TV: Lever Brothers. It is no harm, we buy the soap: It is
good for them; it is good for us. We can make motor-cars together for the whole
of Malaysia. And never forget, if it came to the point then Lever brothers may
have to set up a soap factory here, because after all, nearly half the sales are in
Singapore.
You ask the Straits Times: what percentage of their newspaper is sold in
Singapore? True, we are only two-million. But we have the highest literacy rate
in the whole of Asia. Nearly half of Straits Times, if not more, is sold here.
Here, everybody buys a copy. There, may be one kampong buys one copy and
everybody looks at it. It is true. We are talking now in terms of hard cash; the
hard facts of life. And if people wants to be hard to us, then we have got it
survive. And we can keep this market to ourselves. But this is all shortsighted.
Let us throw our eyes over the horizon into the future. What does our Dr. Ismail
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say: This will come back again. But under very different circumstances and
different conditions.
You know and I know that anybody who says, “Go back to Malaysia on
the same circumstances”. Will be called a lunatic; isn’t it? We were patient; we
were tolerant. We put with it hoping that they would see the light. But we had
to be firm. We could not give in. So, as a result we are out.
History is a long process of attrition. It will go on. And one day, it will
come back together. You see, this is not like a map and you can take a pair of
scissors and cut off Singapore and then take it and paste it in the South Pacific
and forget about it. It is not possible. This is part of the mainland of the
continent of Asia. And that Causeway …. You know, the Japanese blew it up;
it was still rebuilt. It is part of history; and you are part of history. You are part
of this place as much as I am; as much as Inche Othman Wok, my colleague, is;
and I say that is the way it will be in the end.
Finally, may I congratulate you for having made progress since I last
visited your mission in 1963, and especially commend you for having made a
symbolic gesture in giving scholarships not just to Indians. But Indians who
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contributed to the Narayana Mission took this money and gave it to Malay and
Chinese students as well. In that way, we must prosper.
And I guarantee you this: there will be a Constitution which we will get
re-drawn in which minority rights …. You know, it is very easy in Singapore for
people to stand up and if you talk, “One race, one language, one religion,” there
will be a lot trouble, you know. We do not want that sort of thing. That is
stupidity. So we are going to get the Chief Justice of India, Australia, New
Zealand and a few others together with our own Chief Justice and a few of our
eminent lawyers to draft “entrenched” clauses …. You know, “entrenched”: no
government can just cancel the clauses. Entrenched, and enforcible.
If anybody thinks he is being discriminated against either for a flat or a
scholarship or a job or for social welfare relief because of race, or language or
religion, he can go to the court, take out a writ; and if he proves that it was
because of discrimination on the ground of race, language, religion, culture, then
the court will have to enforce the Constitution and ensure minority rights.
We are an equal society. You are equal to me; I am equal to you. Nobody
is more equal than others. In some places, they say, “we are all equal.” But what
they mean is they are more equal, you see — which makes life very difficult. But
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here, when we say “equal”, we really mean it. We do not have to do it in
Singapore. But we are thinking in terms of 100, 200 years, 1,000 years. You
must help them emerge. And there is only one way: education and economist
thrust.
And with those words, I wish you all peace, prosperity in Singapore.
Thank you.