TR EMERITUS

Written by Our Correspondent In his latest public speech, Singapore's "forecaster extraordinarie" MM Lee Kuan Yew predicted that China "may become an advanced world power in 50 years' time." He added that for Singapore to be an effective player on the world stage, it must retain its point of view, and not become a satellite of bigger economies like the US, Japan or China: "We are a little red dot but we are a special red dot. We are connected with the world, we play a special role. And we are not going to be in anybody's pocket. And if we lose that status, we are meaningless. Because of our status as independent actors, independent observers of situation, when we say something, they say yes that is a Singapore point of view and very often a realistic point of view." A former Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee now jets around the world to dispense his "pearls of wisdom" to leaders of other countries. His last lecture was to the Japanese to emulate Singapore's example and open its doors to immigration. Contrary to Lee's claims, Singapore may have already become a satellite of China in another sense. The small island state has seen a relentless influx of foreigners in recent years especially from China. Mainland Chinese are allowed to come to Singapore to study, work and live with few restrictions. PRs and citizenships are given freely even to construction workers, cleaners and masseurs. As many of them are unable to speak English, the ruling party has generously offered free English language classes to them, courtesy of a $10 million Community Integration Fund sponsored fully by Singapore taxpayers to make the new citizens and PRs feel "welcomed" in Singapore. In a recent interview with the National Geographic magazine, Lee admitted that it is a "good thing that the nation has welcomed so many Chinese immigrants" as they are more "hard-driving and hard-striving" than locals. Lee's remarks sparked a massive outcry in cyberspace with many netizens condemning him for it, but was not reported by the mainstream media. A Facebook was even set up demanding him apologize to Singaporeans. With China becoming more affluent and influential, it is doubtful if it will be interested to listen to Singapore's "point of view" again, again and again in the future.  Read More →

Written by Our Correspondent A grassroots organization from Hong Kah GRC has started free English classes - "Let's learn English together", funded entirely by Singapore taxpayers for new citizens and PRs two months ago. The three-month course is catered mainly to new citizens and PRs from China, Myanmar and Vietnam and is held every Monday at Choa Chu Kang Way Blk 785 Yew Tee Zone '9" Residents' Committee office. Singapore is the only country in the world known to conduct free English courses for immigrants and even PRs. In other countries like Australia, Canada and United States, foreigners who cannot speak English are not even qualified to find work there in the first place. Due to its declining birth rates, the ruling party of Singapore has opened its door to immigration in recent years. Foreigners now make up 36 per cent of the population, up from 14 per cent in 1990. According to the Home Affairs Ministry, there were over 20,000 new citizens and 90,000 PRs last year. Two out of every three PR applicants are successful, an astonishingly high acceptance rate for a small country like Singapore. Unlike other first world countries who are very selective about who they accept as PRs, it appears to be relatively easy for foreigners to get PRs in Singapore especially if they come from certain countries. Even construction workers, cleaners and masseurs are given Singapore PR and citizenship, much to the chagrin of the local populace. Despite widespread resentment and anger on the ground at the ruling party's pro-foreigner policy, its leaders continue to insist that immigration is "essential" to Singapore's continued growth and development. In a frank interview with journalist Mark Jacobson from the National Geographic magazine, Singapore's geriatrician leader Lee Kuan Yew spoke about the ruling party’s liberal immigration and pro-foreigner policies as if he was their principal architect. Though Lee said he was aware of the fact that “many Singaporeans are unhappy with the influx of immigrants”, he continued to insist that it is for “good” of the nation: “Over time, Singaporeans have become less hard-driving and hard-striving. This is why it is a good thing that the nation has welcomed so many Chinese immigrants.” Lee was quoted saying. Lee described the country’s new subjects as “hungry,” with parents who “pushed the children very hard.” “If native Singaporeans are falling behind because the spurs are not stuck into the hide, that is their problem,” he quipped. It is obvious that Singapore's ruling party does not care how the locals are coping with the relentless influx of foreigners. In fact, it is more than happy to welcome more newcomers to increase its support base for future elections since new citizens will tend to support the ruling party. The ruling party has been going all out of its way to woo the new citizens and PRs such as organizing free parties, buffets and language classes for them. They are also roped in to "serve" as grassroots leaders. The language course organized by Yew Tee Zone "9" RC for the new citizens and PRs is probably funded by the $10 million Community Integration Fund unveiled by Minister of Community, Youth and Sports Dr Vivian Balakrishnan lately to make the newcomers feel "welcomed" in Singapore. While the ruling party has no qualms splurging on the new citizens using public monies, it has blatantly refused to do more to help needy Singaporeans in financial distress. After all, there is no political pressure for it to do so since there is no opposition in parliament and it is guaranteed to win the next election hands down again.  Read More →

By Ben Bland from Asian Correspondent The interview with Singapore's founding father Lee Kuan Yew in the January edition of National Geographic is a pretty soft piece of journalism that takes a few perfunctory swipes at the Lee Kuan Yew/Singapore Story while buying into its key myths in a rather unquestioning fashion. For example, the author of the piece, Mark Jacobson, states that few living leaders have "dominated their homeland's national narrative the way Lee Kuan Yew has". That's true but partly down to the fact that LKY and his supporters have controlled the historical narrative in Singapore using the education system and restrictions on free speech, in much the same way as Suharto did in Indonesia (more of which in an upcoming post). Jacobson does talk about repression in Singapore but doesn't really seem to understand how it has been used to subvert the historical record. Given that the author seems totally enamoured by his encounter with the great leader, it is perhaps unsurprising that he has not opted for a deeper examination. Cloyingly, Jacobson describes LKY as looking "like a flint-eyed Asian Clint Eastwood circa Gran Torino", while suggesting that telling a Singaporean you're off to interview LKY is like informing "a resident of the Emerald City that you're late for an appointment with the Wizard of Oz". Time to reach for the sick bag. Perhaps the most interesting part of the interview is LKY's restatement of his Social Darwinistic views. "I have always thought that humanity was animal-like," he says. "The Confucian theory was man could be improved, but I'm not sure he can be. He can be trained, he can be disciplined." Warm words to inspire a nation, don't you think?  Read rest of the article here  Read More →