REACTIONS to HARRY Lee’s Marginalized Comment: Abdullah: Clarification needed; Najib: Mischievous; MAHATHIR: Arrogant; DAP: LEE GUAN ENG: Very TRUE

It was unfortunate, Harry Lee, Singapore’s Minister Mentor “off the cuff” remarks were made are all influenced by his beliefs. It was an automatic response in the discussion forum that was motivated by his beliefs and he seemed unaware of the influence of his beliefs; and was not paying attention to what he was saying in relation to the subjects that deemed to be significant or important.
In all these actions, he was NOT incorporating thought to think what he said might be hurtful to others – no tact you might say or insensitive. He was not thinking concerning all of these automatic actions (remarks) — he was doing. He might be thinking but not paying attention to the doing.

We must pay attention to what we do and you pay attention to our emotional communications and to our translations of thoughts, but within our world most individuals do not.
And when isolated and taken out of context, he was accused of making “statements” to that effect. Of course his beliefs are not absolute truth.

Many of your TRUTHS— all of your TRUTHS— are mere BELIEFS

The belief systems that are strongest to us individually, we would call that a truth. You express it each day within your focuses. You associate with it continuously. Many of your automatic responses are associated within yourselves as truth.
This particular belief system may be one of the most insidious and one of the most difficult to identify and to notice. All of those automatic responses that you do not notice and you identify them as merely truths. Therefore, they are entirely unquestioned.

But your beliefs become reality. What you believe in and become real in your experience. There are no other answers. There is no area in your life to which this does not apply.
And the problem comes when he starts to ARGUE and FIGHT over philosophical differences in solving the nation’s perceived problems in his eyes.

When other information comes which are more correct and more helpful, you will find leaders still holding to old beliefs, reject or doubt them because their ideas or theory seem contradictory to the new data.

And this is one of the problems we encounter in our lives and in the world that has produced or given birth to many things, such as hatred, discrimination and conflicts between nations, between neighbors and between people.

Datuk Seri Abdullah: "I will write to him to seek clarification why he had said it,"

Abdullah Wants Kuan Yew To Clarify On Malaysian Chinese Issue ; September 23, 2006 20:09 PM

SEPANG, Sept 23 (Bernama) -- Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said Saturday he will write to Singapore's Minister Mentor, Lee Kuan Yew, to ask for clarification on his statement concerning the Chinese community in Malaysia.
The Prime Minister said he wished to know the reasons why Lee had made such a statement. "I will write to him to seek clarification why he had said it," Abdullah told reporters upon arrival from a working visit abroad at the Bunga Raya Kompleks, KL International Airport.

Lee was reported to have said that Malaysia's and Indonesia's attitude towards Singapore was formed by the way they treated the ethnic Chinese minority in their respective countries.

Lee had claimed that Malaysia and Indonesia had problems with their respective Chinese communities because they were successful and worked hard and thus they were systematically marginalised.
Abdullah said he failed to see any justification for Lee to make such a statement.

"I concur with the statement made by (Deputy Prime Minister) Datuk Seri Najib (Tun Razak). It is a mischievous statement and can instigate the Malaysian Chinese," he said.

Abdullah, who pointed out that such a statement should not have been made by a neighbouring country, said Singapore would also be affected if there was instability in Malaysia. Furthermore, he said, Singapore too was facing internal problems with regard to its communities.

"We know that they too have problems, it's not 100 per cent smooth sailing," the Prime Minister said.

On Thursday, the Deputy Prime Minister had also commented on the matter, describing Lee's statement as mischievous.

Kuan Yew's comments misleading, says Najib

22 Sep 2006 Hamidah Atan

BANGI: Malaysia yesterday ticked off Singapore's Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew for saying that Malaysian Chinese were being marginalised systemically.

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak described the statement as naughty, adding: "I do not know his real motive but his comment is something that should not have been made in the first place. It is a comment that we can do without and is not appreciated at all. It is not accurate, has political impact and is very misleading."

Lee told a forum in Singapore last Friday that it was vital for Singapore to stand up to its bigger neighbours, Indonesia and Malaysia. "We need a government that will have the gumption and skill to say no to our neighbours in a very quiet and polite way that does not provoke them into doing something silly."

Lee was also quoted as saying that the attitude of neighbouring Malaysia and Indonesia towards Singapore was shaped by the way they treat their own ethnic Chinese minorities.

"Our neighbours both have problems with their Chinese. They are successful. They are hardworking and, therefore, they are systematically marginalised."

Indonesia and Malaysia "want Singapore, to put it simply, to be like their Chinese - compliant", Lee said. Najib said the government had no intention to sideline or marginalise non-Bumiputeras.

The government, he added, had never adopted a policy which aimed at hindering the progress of the non-Bumiputeras as all it wanted was nothing but fairness and equal distribution of wealth for all races.

He said it would be up to the Cabinet to make a stand on the matter.

Najib was speaking to reporters after handing over Amanah Saham Bumiputera (ASB) Sejahtera account books to 245 hardcore poor from the rural areas.

Malaysian Backbenchers Want Kuan Yew To Apologise ; September 23, 2006 18:02 PM

TAIPING, Sept 23 (Bernama) -- The Backbenchers Club (BBC) wants Singapore Minister-Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, who accused Malaysia and Indonesia of systematically marginalising their ethnic Chinese, to apologise openly to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and his government.

"He (Lee) has no right to make such accusation (to say that Malaysia and Indonesia systematically marginalised their ethnic Chinese population). Our political culture is different from Singapore. We never get involved in Singapore's internal affairs.

"Singapore has gone overboard ... very often, its leaders say things that hurt the feelings of its neighbours. But we are wise and mature. We do not want to react when Singapore deliberately provokes us," BBC acting chairman Datuk Raja Ahmad Zainuddin Raja Omar told reporters, here Saturday.

Raja Ahmad also said Singapore's Ambassador to Malaysia must give a written explanation to the Malaysian government on why Lee made the statement so that the diplomatic tension between the two neighbours would ease up.

Last weekend Lee, who is Singapore's founding Prime Minister, told reporters on the sideline of the IMF meeting that Malaysia and Indonesia's negative attitude towards Singapore was shaped by the way both countries mistreated and systematically marginalised their Chinese ethnic communities.

Raja Ahmad argued that the Chinese in Malaysia were better off than the Malays in Singapore.

"In Malaysia, Penang State is ruled by Gerakan (a Chinese-based party). There are so many Chinese in the Malaysian cabinet, the military and the police force. Can we say the same about the fate of the Malays in Singapore?"

Singapore and Malaysia are often engaged in testy diplomatic rows since the tiny island republic of about 4 million people broke away from the Federation of Malaysia in 1965.

http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v3/news.php?id=221408

Mahathir Slams Kuan Yew As Arrogant
September 22, 2006 20:13 PM

KUALA TERENGGANU, Sept 22 (Bernama) -- Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad Friday slammed Singapore's Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew for his insulting remarks about Malaysia and Indonesia's treatment of their Chinese minorities, describing him as arrogant and disrespectful of neighbouring countries.

The former premier said Lee was arrogant because he felt he was in a strong
position.
"He's not bothered with his neighbours. That is why he deliberately raised something he knew to be sensitive in our country," he told reporters after launching the building fund of the Kemaman branch of the Ex-Servicemen's Association and the district Warriors Day Campaign at Awana Kijal, Beach and Spa Resort in Kijal.

Lee on Friday told a forum held in conjunction with the International Monetary Fund conference in Singapore that Malaysia and Indonesia had problems with their Chinese minorities because they were successful and hardworking and therefore they were systemically marginalised.

He was reported to have said that the attitude of Malaysia and Indonesia towards Singapore was shaped by the way they treated their own Chinese minorities.

They "want Singapore, to put it simply, to be like their Chinese -- compliant", he claimed.

Dr Mahathir said Malaysia could question Singapore's marginalisation of its Malay minority.

"We could ask about the status of the Malays in Singapore, why they are not allowed to bear arms in the military or train to handle weapons. Why is it that the Malays in Malaysia are so capable in the military field but the Malays in Singapore cannot hold high posts (in the military)?

"Why is it that the Malays in Singapore are marginalised to the extent that they have no status at all? This is done deliberately by Singapore. There is no other country that does it like them," he said.

Dr Mahathir said Lee's allegation about the Chinese in Malaysia being marginalised was untrue because there are Chinese holding high posts, for example in the armed forces.

"The Chinese in Malaysia can join the military and rise to become general, major general and so on. But what is the per capita income of the Malays in comparison with the Chinese in Singapore?

"We should have an independent investigation on why the Malays are left behind in Singapore. It is not because they are lacking compared to the Malays in Malaysia but because they are pressured, marginalised and oppressed. That is the kind of government founded on the views of Lee Kuan Yew," he said.

In his speech earlier, Dr Mahathir told Lee not to feel smug about what he had said. "You should just guard your own rice bowl. You are not that clever. In a small group, perhaps you seem clever.

"But when he goes to China, the Chinese there don't want to listen to him. The Chinese in China don't think much of him and it is a fact that he is marginalised by Chinese in the world," he said.

From Malaysiakini; http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/57226
DAP agrees with LKY, slams BN leaders
Sep 23, 06 5:11pm

Politics of denial!

This is how opposition party DAP views the objection raised by Barisan Nasional (BN) leaders to Singapore Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew's claim that Chinese Malaysians are marginalised.

DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng expressed 'disgust' with MCA president
Ong Ka Ting and Gerakan top leaders Dr Lim Keng Yaik and Dr Koh Tsu Koon for denying an 'obvious fact'.

"... The Chinese and other non-Chinese have been systematically marginalised by discriminatory government policies that only favour the rich and politically connected," he said in a statement today.

"Such politics of denial is dishonest as BN leaders themselves have stated that discriminatory policies such as quotas and the New Economic Policy (NEP) are necessary for racial harmony and national stability," he added.

He said as long as BN leaders, including former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad, cannot rely on reason, facts and logic to disprove Lee's claim, then "their emotional denials are like empty vessels making the most noise to cover up the politics of Umno dominance and discrimination."

Perverse logic

The DAP leader also took Koh to task for saying that the minister mentor did not understand and appreciate the challenges in administering a country bigger, more complicated and diverse than Singapore.

"This is perverse logic. If so, then can we support the apartheid policies of South Africa in the 1980s just because South Africa is bigger, more diverse and complicated than Malaysia?


"How can Koh (who is also Penang chief minister) be so thick skin to say the Chinese are not compliant when he was compliant towards Umno by not daring to even respond to the attacks by Penang Umno Youth leaders who humiliated him publicly with demonstrations and banners?" he asked.

Lim then trained his crosshairs on the MCA president, who argued that it was unfair and subjective to say the Chinese in Malaysia are marginalized because any injustices will be resolved by MCA.
MCA president, Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting

"If that is the case, why is it that in cabinet, four MCA ministers could not convince but had to submit and bow to one Education Minister Hishammuddin Hussein?" he asked.

He was referring to Hishammuddin's public admonishing of Deputy Higher Education Minister and MCA vice-president Ong Tee Keat over a disclosure that Education Ministry officials had allegedly pocketed funds meant for vernacular schools.

Tee Keat was also reprimanded by the cabinet for his action.

"(What is) worse, Ong has not explained why he supported the Ninth Malaysia Plan's refusal to build a single Chinese or Tamil school out of the 180 new primary schools proposed," he added.

'Selfish acts'

As for Keng Yaik's statement that the "Chinese here will not follow and listen to what he says", Lim said it reflected how out of touch BN leaders are with the feelings of ordinary Malaysians.

At a press conference yesterday, Keng Yaik, who is Gerakan president, urged journalists to report that what Lee had said "was wrong, wrong."

Meanwhile, Lim described the 'false denials' by BN's Chinese leaders as 'selfish and politically motivated' to enable them to cling on to their government posts.

Lee ruffled feathers recently when he said that the Chinese in Malaysia and Indonesia have been systematically marginalised.

He said this was because Malaysia and Indonesia had problems with the Chinese because the community was successful through their hard work.

"In fact, Lee is half right in that it is not only the Chinese who are marginalised. The Indians and poor Malays are also marginalised," said the DAP secretary-general.

Mind your own business, Gerakan tells Kuan Yew
Alwin Yap Sep 22, 06 6:23pm [extract]

Gerakan today ticked off Singapore's Mentor Minister Lee Kuan Yew over his remarks that Chinese Malaysians had been "systematically marginalised"
because they were successful and hardworking.

Party president Lim Keng Yaik and his deputy, Koh Tsu Koon, both lambasted Lee for making comments without having the full facts and accused him of causing racial tensions here.

Lim, who is also the minister of energy, water and telecommunications, said
the former Singapore premier had a habit of making statements which infuriate Malaysians over the last 40 years.

When asked to speculate as to Lee's reason for the latest remark, a visibly
upset Lim said: "You go ask him-lah!".

He said Lee was wrong in making such statements, and he urged reporters to
report that Lee "was wrong, wrong."

BACKGROUND to remarks

At 83, Kuan Yew Still Has Fire In The Belly; September 23, 2006 18:11 PM

A News Focus By Jackson Sawatan
SINGAPORE, Sept 23 (Bernama) -- On Sept 16, Singapore's founding father Lee Kuan Yew turned 83.

A day earlier he appeared as the speaker at the Raffles Forum held in conjunction with the World Bank/International Monetary Fund meetings here where he spoke about good governance and recounting how it had contributed to Singapore's success story.

He told them what good governance was all about.
"What every citizen wants is a good life, security, good health, good housing, good education and a future for their children. That's good governance," he said.

When former US Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers asked him what he hoped for Singapore, 40 years from now, Lee had said: "My hope is that there will be a government that is equal to the job, as the PAP (the ruling People's Action Party) was".

The Minister Mentor, who was Singapore Prime Minister from 1959 to 1990, had also stressed the importance of preserving a government system that works like the one Singapore has.

"We have structured a system such that the competent group that gets in will find a machine that works...don't tinker with it. Run the system properly on the basis of merit, not nepotism and you'll always find a way out of a problem.

"My ambition is not to preserve the PAP. My ambition, having created this Singapore, is to preserve the system that produces the answers that we must have as a society to survive," he told the forum attended by some 250 participants.

Then along came the comments which drew the irk from across the causeway.

Lee stressed the need for Singapore to have a government that is "firm but polite" -- one that is able to deal with difficult neighbours "who want to pressure us to build pretty bridges without giving us commensurate benefits", according to a report by The New Paper.

"You need a government that will be able to not only have the gumption but the skill to say no in a very quiet, polite way that doesn't provoke them into doing something silly," he said.
Lee was also quoted as saying that the attitude of neighbouring Malaysia and Indonesia towards Singapore was shaped by the way they treated their own ethnic Chinese minorities.

"Our neighbours both have problems with their Chinese. They are successful. They are hardworking and therefore they are systematically marginalised...and they want Singapore, to put it simply, to be like their Chinese, compliant," he said.

The remark did not go down well in Malaysia, with Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak calling it "naughty."
"It's a comment that we can do without and it is not appreciated at all," he said.

Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad also chided Lee, saying "he's not bothered with his neighbours. That is why he deliberately raised something he knew to be sensitive in our country".
In a tit-for-tat remark, Dr Mahathir said Malaysia could also question Singapore's marginalisation of its Malay minority -- a remark carried at length by The Straits Times today.

Reactions continue to pour in today with the latest coming from Malaysia's Barisan Nasional Backbenchers Club demanding that Lee apologise to the Malaysian Government and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi for what it called as "interfering in Malaysia's internal affairs."

There have been no counter-reactions so far here to the Malaysian reactions but the latest chapter in the "prickly" Malaysia-Singapore relations has the Internet ablaze with debates over the issue.
The forum section of the website of the Young PAP (www.youngpap.org.sg) -- the youth wing of the ruling party -- was no exception, with forumers posting opinions in support or against Lee's remarks.???????????Nothing there

Similarly in Malaysia, forumers and bloggers also have their field day discussing the issue.

This showed at 83, Lee, a fiery orator in his younger days, still has that fire in the belly.

===============================================

& a pertinent and insightful Letter from: "kim quek" <kimquek@hotmail.com>
Sent: Sunday, September 24, 2006 3:43 PM;
BETTER TO CALL A SPADE A SPADE

appearing on Singapore's

In the chorus of angry protests against Singapore Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew's recent remark that Chinese Malaysians have been marginalized, can these angry protesters answer one simple question: “If there has been no racial marginalization, why has the word meritocracy been a taboo in Malaysian politics ever since the racial riot of May 13, 1969 - the only country in the world doing that?”

A few more simple questions:

1. Why have there been massive and unrelenting brain drains ever since the infamous debacle in 1969, resulting in countless Chinese Malaysians excelling in many fields in foreign lands?
2. Why has there been a virtual monopoly by one race - numerically as a whole as well as the top hierarchy - in the entire spectrum of the public sector, namely, the army, the police, the civil service, the judiciary, public universities, semi and quasi government bodies, government controlled financial institutions and enterprises?
3. Why have there been, year after year, the specters of top Chinese Malaysian students being barred from universities, only to be admitted later (only for some) upon begging by Chinese ministers in the Cabinet?

No doubt Lee Kuan Yew may be faulted for lacking diplomatic niceties in his remarks, but he has spoken the truth. And I think every Malaysian irrespective of race knows that, at least in the deepest part of his heart if not outwardly.
Yes, we have been practicing racial discrimination, and that is a zero sum game. When race A is barred so that race B can get in, it is one side's loss to another side's gain, as simple as that. It is sheer dishonesty and hypocrisy to deny that any race has suffered a disadvantage as a result of this policy.

But the real question is: is such policy justified?

To answer that question, we have to go back to where such policy started - the New Economic Policy (NEP), formulated after the racial riots in 1969.

It is necessary to refresh our memory over the original concept of this NEP, since it has almost become a dirty word now, having been hijacked by politicians for self-gain and for perpetuating political hegemony.

The prime objective of NEP was to achieve national unity, and the strategy to achieve that was two-pronged: to eradicate poverty irrespective of race, and to restructure society so as to eliminate the identification of race with economic function.

There is nothing wrong with such an affirmative action policy, but the tragedy is that over the years, through racial hegemony, it has been transformed into a policy synonymous with racial privileges, totally forgetting the over-arching objective of national unity and eliminating poverty across racial lines. Through two decades of dictatorial rule by
former premier Mahathir Mohamad, the NEP had been blatantly abused to justify uncontrolled corruption, cronyism and nepotism, which have continued to rage unabated under the present prime minister.

There is no question that in spite of these abuses, the NEP has achieved its limited objective of having elevated the status of Malays in the economic and educational fields to a respectable level, compared to those of other races. But the fallout of such abuses is devastating indeed, which is nothing less than the drastic plunge of the ethos of the Malaysian society tantamount to a virtual breakdown of morality and law and order.

The chief setbacks of the abuses of NEP are rampant corruption and cronyism, worsening racial polarization, unrelenting brain drains, warped educational system, thwarted economic competitiveness, ineffectual bureaucracy, retarded economic growth and perverted social values.

Such anachronistic and regressive policy has no place in the present globalizing world, and for that matter, in any civilized society. As it is, the pressure to dismantle such policy does not come from within the country - as the deprived races seem powerless to redress this wrong - but from the whole wide world who are our trading partners. Our trade negotiators should be able to testify how tough the going is when it comes to negotiating free trade agreements with foreign parties whether it is regional marketing pacts (Afta, WTO) or bi-lateral agreements such as those involving Japan, US, Australia, China and India (through Asean), etc due to the presence of Malaysia's race-based protectionist policies. Invariably, these NEP inspired policies stand as stumbling blocks to the opening of a wider window for two-way trades and investments for this country.

World trade liberalization is a one way road, and there is no turning back, whether we like it or not. So, for how long can Malaysia buck the world trend without causing unacceptable damage to its own economy?
Even worse than the anticipated trade frictions is the loss of Malaysia's economic competitiveness in the face of heightening competition from abroad. Our prime minister has correctly diagnosed this malaise as the prevalence of our third world mentality, but he has done nothing to correct our uncompetitive culture or to stamp the worsening racial and religious dissension within the country. In fact, he has done the opposite by intensifying the imprint of the perverted NEP philosophy on our economic plans, and prohibiting inter-religious and inter-racial discourse which would otherwise have contributed to greater understanding and harmony among the races.

Lee Kuan Yew's comments have understandably riled many Malaysian leaders particularly those in the ruling coalition, but he should also have struck resonance among many who have silently put up with these unjust policies all these years.
As for the great silent majority in this country, they should now ponder what would serve their interests best: to save face by angrily rebutting Lee Kuan Yew or to stare at the ugly truth bravely and institute changes that will put the nation on the right path?

I think we have reached a stage in our history critical enough to warrant caution in putting too much trust in the incumbent leaders. The people of Malaysia have traditionally placed much trust in the ruling power, perhaps more than they should, as evident from the fragrant abuses of government authorities. The fact that we have scraped through as a nation in the past despite such serious misrule does not guarantee that we will be similarly lucky in the future. This is due to the fact that both internal and external circumstances have so radically altered that we can no longer commit such major errors in policies and in the choice of leadership without putting our future in peril.
Looking from this perspective, Lee Kuan Yew's bitter medicine may yet work to our advantage if we are humble and brave enough to take this as a challenge to do some serious introspection that may eventually lead to our common good.

Kim Quek

see related previous posting

HARRY Lee’s Vision for SINGAPORE – FITTEST Rules - a NATION of ROBOTS – Controlled & Fenced up-No INDIVIDUALITY; No SPONTANIETY; Living in FEARS

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