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Monday, January 24, 2011 15:12 pm
SINGAPORE, KOMPAS.com - Singapore's founding father, Lee Kuan Yew, urged local Muslims to become a moderate Islamic people to help the process of integration and nation building in the city-state.
Singapore's predominantly ethnic Chinese population, with racial Muslim Malays and Indians as minorities, and Lee always stressed the importance of racial harmony. "I say now that we can integrate all religions and races except Islam," he said in "Lee Kuan Yew: Singapore Truths to Keep Going," a new book that contains a concise view of the city-state and the future. "I think we are growing very well until the wave of Islam to come and if you ask me about my observation, other people have an easier integration, friendship, marriage (inter-religion) and so on ..." he said.
"I think Muslims are socially not cause any problems, but they are distinct and separate," added Lee. He called on the local Muslim community to become more moderate. When launching the book, last Friday, Lee, who describes himself as a pragmatist, has warned Singaporeans against complacency. He said the republic is largely ethnic Chinese population that still is a nation that is in the process of establishing identity (a nation in the making).
In the book, Lee describes Singapore as "the building 80 floors in the marshy land." He said the country must compete in a state of hostilities with neighboring countries is greater. "We have a friendly neighbor? Give me a break!" he said.
Singapore removed from the Malaysian Federation in 1965, largely because of policies that tend to defend the Kuala Lumpur Malay ethnicity, and since those countries are building the most modern military in Southeast Asia to deter foreign aggression.
Turning to local politics, Lee said, the People's Action Party (PAP) in power, who have been ditampuk power since 1959 when Singapore's gain political autonomy from colonial Britain, on one day will lose his grip on power. "There will come a time when the public finally will say, look, let's try the other side, either because the PAP has decreased the quality and because the opposition has had a team that is the same (quality) with the PAP. That day will come. In 10 to 20 years ahead, I do not think it will happen. After that, I can not say. "
Lee said, although a survey indicates otherwise, he believed Singapore was not ready to have a prime minister who is not from the ethnic Chinese. "A poll states that 90 percent of ethnic Chinese in Singapore would choose people from non-Chinese ethnic groups as Prime Minister. Yes, it's ideal. You believe the poll? Was completely rubbish. They revealed what is politically correct," he said.
He also defended policies that promote marriage among highly educated Singaporeans, a policy that is seen by critics as a form of social engineering, and dismissed the notion of love at first sight. "The people are educated, intelligent people appear, they are married couples who are equally educated. The result is that their children may be smarter than the children of the gardener," he said. "It's a fact of life. You get a good horse, you certainly do not want a useless horse mating with your horse good with it. You get a bad foal." He went on, people are attracted by the physical characteristics may be regretted.
Lee also revealed that he has donated all his income (10 million U.S. dollars) since resigned as prime minister in 1990, after 31 years in power. Singapore's cabinet ministers to obtain the highest paid in the world as part of a strategy to prevent corruption and attract talented people from the private sector.
Lee, who holds the title of Minister Mentor particular, now serves as adviser to his son, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, in power since 2004. Amid all the talk that loud tone, Lee showed his soft side when asked about the deceased's wife, Kwa Geok Choo, who died at the age of 89 in October. "That means more banya solitude. No talking when friends come home from work," Lee said in the book, which is the result of exclusive interviews with the country's leading newspaper journalist, Straits Times.
Source: AFP
Author: Egidius Patnistik
Editor: Egidius Patnistik
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