Mahathir blames S’pore for racism in M’sia

• QX179R

  17 Sep 10, 14:26

  A war of words has erupted between Singapore and Malaysia’s former leaders.

  Ex-Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad said yesterday that racism in Malaysia is a result of Singapore’s two-year membership there, and not because the island was “turfed out” as suggested by the Republic’s founding father Lee Kuan Yew recently.

  Rebutting recent comments made by Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, Tun Dr Mahathir wrote on his blog, “With the background of Singapore’s activities in Malaysia in the short three (sic) years of its membership, can we really believe that if it had not been ‘turfed out’, race relations would be better in Malaysia?”

  “While Kwan Yew (sic) talks about his belief that all ethnic communities should free themselves from the shackles of racial segregation in order to promote fairness and equality among races, he also said that ‘once we are by ourselves (out of Malaysia) the ‘Chinese become the majority’.”

  His remarks were in response to comments Mr Lee made in an interview with The New York Times in which he compared how Singapore and Malaysia handle race relations.

  Mr Lee had expressed that Malaysia would have achieved much of what Singapore had accomplished if it had accepted a multi-racial base, and described Malaysia as being  in a “most unhappy situation”.

  “I think if the Tunku had kept us together, what we did in Singapore — had Malaysia accepted a multi-racial base for their society– much of what we’ve achieved in Singapore would have been achieved in Malaysia. But not as much because it’s a much broader base. We would have improved inter-racial relations and an improved holistic situation,” Mr Lee said in the NYT interview, referring to Tunku Abdul Rahman.

  The 85-year-old Dr Mahathir rejected the view, claiming it was “not supported by facts of history”.

  “Before Singapore joined the Peninsular, Sabah and Sarawak to form Malaysia, there was less racial politics in the Federation of Malaysia,” he wrote.

  Dr Mahathir claimed that after Singapore became a part of Malaysia in 1963, Mr Lee reneged on a promise that the People’s Action Party (PAP) would not participate in Peninsular, Sabah and Sarawak politics and attempted to displace the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) in the Alliance by appealing to Chinese sentiments in the Peninsular.

  “Of course the slogan was ‘Malaysian Malaysia’, which implied that the Chinese were not having equal rights with Malays. If this appeal to Chinese sentiments against the Malays was not racial, I do not know what is racial,” Dr Mahathir said.

  Instead, he took aim at Singapore politics, claiming “whether the PAP admits it or not, the party has always been led and dominated by ethnic Chinese and has won elections principally because of Chinese votes. The others are not even icing on the cake,” he said.

  “Amnesia is permissible, but trying to claim it is because Singapore had been ‘turfed out’ for the present racial politics in Malaysia is simply not supported by facts of history,” he added.

  In Malaysia, opinions were mixed in response to both leaders’ remarks.

  The Straits Times reported that Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin said on Monday that Mr Lee’s comments were “ill-informed and coloured with historical bias.”

  On the other hand, Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim felt that Mr Lee’s comments were a “historical statement”. Selangor executive councillor and opposition politician Teresa Kok agreed, saying Singapore is ahead of Malaysia because it placed merit above race considerations.

  MCA president Chua Soi Lek admitted that race relations are not as good as they should be. But he told Bernama it would be unfair “to say that Malay leaders always harp on Malay superiority”.

  Tan Sri Khalid said both Dr Mahathir and Mr Lee had the right to express their opinions on the issue.

  “You can’t say Singapore has progressed while Malaysia has not. Malaysia’s progress is subject to several constraints, and so is Singapore’s,” he told The Malaysian Insider.

  “The future is not about that, it’s about how we can work together,” he adds.

  -- Yahoo! News

• Vote PAP OUT to Save SG

  17 Sep 10, 22:00

  MALAYSIA ACCORDING TO LKY

  By 

  Dr. Mahathir Mohamad 

  on September 14, 2010 6:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (145) | TrackBacks (0)

  

  1. Mr Lee Kwan Yew, the Minister Mentor of Singapore is three years my senior. That means he and I practically grew up in the same period of time. That also means that I have been able to watch the progress of Mr Lee, and in fact to interact with him on various occasions.
  
  2. His assertion in his interview with the New York Times that "Race relations (would be) better if Singapore (had) not (been) "turfed out" (of Malaysia) is worth studying. Is it true or is it fantasy?
  
  3. Before Singapore joined the Peninsular, Sabah and Sarawak to form Malaysia, there was less racial politics in the Federation of Malaysia. In 1955 the Malays who made up 80 per cent of the citizens gave a large number of their constituencies to the few Chinese and Indian citizens and ensured they won with strong Malay support. As a result the Alliance won 51 of the 52 seats contested.
  
  

  4. The Tunku then rewarded this willingness of the Chinese and Indian citizens to support the coalition concept by giving them one million unconditional citizenship. This reduced Malay majority to 60 per cent.
  
  5. In the 1959 elections the Alliance of UMNO, MCA and MIC won easily though Kelantan was lost. PAS with only Malays as members was rejected. Racialism even when implied failed.
  
  6. In 1963 Singapore became a part of Malaysia. Despite having promised that the PAP will not participate in Peninsular, Sabah and Sarawak politics, Kwan Yew reneged and the PAP tried to displace the MCA in the Alliance by appealing to Chinese sentiments in the Peninsular. Of course the slogan was "Malaysian Malaysia" which implied that the Chinese were not having equal rights with the Malays. If this appeal to Chinese sentiments against the Malays was not racial, I do not know what is racial.
  
  7. But the Peninsular Chinese favoured working with the Malays in UMNO. They totally rejected PAP in 1964.
  
  8. Following the Malaysian Malaysia campaign a few UMNO leaders tried to rouse Singapore Malay sentiments. There were demonstrations in Singapore where before there were none. Kwan Yew accused Jaafar Albar for instigating the Singapore Malays. Although I never went to Singapore, nor met the Malays there, I was labelled a Malay-ultra by Kwan Yew himself.
  
  9. By 1965 racism had taken hold and the Tunku was forced to end Singapore's membership of Malaysia. But the seed of Chinese racialism had been sown, so that even after the PAP left, the "Malaysian Malaysia" war cry was picked up by the DAP, an offspring of the PAP.
  
  10. With the background of Singapore's activities in Malaysia in the short three years of its membership, can we really believe that if it had not been "turfed out" race relations would be better in Malaysia?
  
  11. But proof of what would have happened was shown by the politics leading up to the 1969 Election. The MCA began to criticise the Sino/Malay cooperation especially on so-called special rights and demanded for a Chinese University. UMNO then began to clamour for a greater share of the economy of the country. The UMNO/MCA conflict resulted in the Alliance faring very badly in the 1969 Elections.
  
  12. DAP and Gerakan, a new party largely made up of MCA dissidents made gains. The Alliance were shocked and rattled.
  
  13. Then the Gerakan and DAP held their victory parade near the Malay settlement of Kampung Baru, hurling racist insults at the Malays. The result was the 13th May race riots.
  
  14. Till today the racist slogan "Malaysian Malaysia" is the war-cry of the DAP. Racism in Malaysia is clearly the result of Singapore's membership of the country for just three years. Can we really believe that if Singapore had not been "turfed out" Malaysia would have no racial problem.
  
  15. While Kwan Yew talks about his belief that all ethnic communities should free themselves from the shackles of racial segregation in order to promote fairness and equality among the races, he also said that "once we are by ourselves (out of Malaysia) the Chinese become the majority".
  
  16. Singapore's population is made up of 75 per cent Chinese and they own 95 per cent of the economy. It is therefore not a truly multi-racial country but a Chinese country with minority racial groups who are additionally much poorer.
  
  17. In Singapore dissent is not allowed, People who contest against the PAP would be hauled up in court for libel and if they win elections would not be allowed to take their places in Parliament. Whereas in Malaysia opposition parties invariably win seats in Parliament and even set up State Governments (today five out of the 13 States are ruled by the opposition parties) the PAP in Singapore has to appoint PAP members to represent the opposition.
  
  18. Whether the PAP admits it or not, the party has always been led and dominated by ethnic Chinese and have won elections principally because of Chinese votes. The others are not even icing on the cake.
  
  19. If Singapore is a part of Malaysia the PAP can certainly reproduce the Singapore kind of non-racial politics because together with the Malaysian Chinese, the PAP will ethnically dominate and control Malaysian politics. No dissent would be allowed and certainly no one would dare say anything about who really runs the country.
  
  20. Amnesia is permissible but trying to claim that it is because Singapore had been "turfed out" for the present racist politics in Malaysia is simply not supported by facts of history. 
  
  21. Lee Kwan Yew and I saw the same things and know the reasons why.

  
  

  http://chedet.co.cc/chedetblog/2010/09/malaysia-according-to-lky.html

• Vote PAP OUT to Save SG

  17 Sep 10, 22:03

  18. Whether the PAP admits it or not, the party has always been led and dominated by ethnic Chinese and have won elections principally because of Chinese votes. The others are not even icing on the cake.

   

  PAP is not dominated by ethnic chinese. This is completely wrong.

  PAP after the split in 1961, has been dominated by peranakan babas.

  That is the reason why dialects are suppressed in state media, dialects being destroyed, chinese schools all destroyed and weakening of chinese culture and anglicisation of Singapore society.

   

• Vote PAP OUT to Save SG

  17 Sep 10, 22:05

  Singapore's unequal racial policies shoud ignite the Malays

  Ladies and Gentlemen,
  
  Singapore state controlled newspaper Straits Times online edition of Sept 17, 2010 has the story "No push to woo Malay migrants. Govt will rely on scholarships and jobs, says DPM Wong". In it, the Singapore Minister claims that "Singapore will not actively woo ethnic Malay immigrants". He says "What we cannot do is to go overseas and target specific ethnic groups to come to Singapore". 
  
  The Minister is not surprisingly lying again through his teeth, but in a country like Singapore where the entire media is state owned like the former Soviet Union or present day Communist China, he can of course get away with it. Except for the Internet, you can't really challenge him on it. Just as you couldn't in former Soviet Russia. 
  
  But unless we are blind, we can all see the truth, which is, the government favors Chinese immigration over Malays and Indians. And the truth is that Singapore does actively woo Chinese immigrants from Communist China with Singapore government agencies all over China advertising for immigrants. Through these advertisements in China, Singapore continues to attract all manner of Chinese in the hundreds of thousands to work in Singapore at all levels from dishwasher to Geylang independent contractor prostitutes. This active recruitment of Chinese nationals has been going on for decades. Only difference now is the recruitment effort has been heightened to bring in even larger numbers. You can see if you have eyes that Singapore is awash with Chinese faces, all recent immigrants from China though the extensive advertising which the Singapore government does to attract them. It did not happen by itself. 
  
  As for the Indians, a much smaller number is brought mainly to work as computer engineers in which they are skilled. But Indians are not brought in for the trade of dishwashers or freelance prostitutes or other menial non technical work like the Chinese. It is much harder for an Indian to immigrate into Singapore. 
  
  The race of people almost neglected by the government are the Malays. Even though the Malays have more children that the Chinese, no matter how big their families are, Lee Kuan Yew is determined to counter them by even larger Chinese human imports. With the present policy of this government, the Malay race is doomed. They are what the World Wildlife Organization calls "endangered species" when referring to animals. 
  
  I was reading yesterday that even though Malays do not emigrate in as large numbers as the Chinese and despite the fact that they have larger families, their numbers are in fact shrinking. In 2007, they were 15% of the population. Today they are 13%. This only happens with Lee Kuan Yew bringing in planeloads of riff raff from China, from waitresses who moonlight as prostitutes to Chinese hawkers in Chinatown. 
  
  Come on guys, this is not fair. In Singapore all races are supposed to be equal. Chinese are no more equal to others. Like the pigs in George Orwell's 1984 had said " Four legs are good but two legs are better". You see the pigs decided to walk on the hind legs! This is exactly what is happening there. The Chinese suddenly have got preferential treatment since Lee Kuan Yew is Chinese, just like the pigs in Orwell's 1984; so the Chinese get the bread and the Malays get the crumbs. 
  
  If there is any Malay out there reading this, no violence please, because that is wrong. Violence did not achieve anything. But if you were so enraged as to boil with rage, there is not a single decent two legged human who would not understand. Please remember, your quarrel is not with your fellow Chinese Singaporeans because it is not their fault. Your anger should be directed to Lee Kuan Yew and his government who take your country away from you. Remember it is yours as much as it is Chinese. Don't stand for it. 
  
  Cry foul to High Heavens and demand your rights. Don't stand for it like you have done so far. 
  
  Salaam. 

  
  Gopalan Nair

  http://singaporedissident.blogspot.com/2010/09/singapore-uequal-racial-policies-shoud.html

• Vote PAP OUT to Save SG

  17 Sep 10, 22:07

  The Chinese suddenly have got preferential treatment since Lee Kuan Yew is Chinese, just like the pigs in Orwell's 1984; so the Chinese get the bread and the Malays get the crumbs. 

  Again this is completely and totally untrue.

  Lee Kuan Yew is not a chinese at all. He is a peranakan baba.

  It is totally wrong to say that Lee Kuan Yew is chinese.

   

   

• Vote PAP OUT to Save SG

  17 Sep 10, 22:09

   

  THE BABAS OF SINGAPORE

  What makes Singapore different? The majority of Singapore's population is ethnically Chinese, but Singapore is largely free of corruption, has sound institutions and the rule of law dominates. It's nothing like China. The answer lies in a historical division in Singapore's Chinese community between the babas and the sinkeh. The sinkeh, comprising the majority of the city-state's population, were the recent immigrants from China, or whose parents were born in China. They spoke Chinese, lived like Chinese and considered themselves overseas Chinese. In Indonesia, such Chinese were called the totok.

  The babas, on the other hand, also known as Straits Chinese, were Chinese more in name than practice. They were the descendants of the very early Chinese immigrants (Hokkiens from the Fujian province) to the straits settlements of Malaya (Penang, Singapore and Malacca). They assimilated with both the local Malays and the colonising British, whom they especially admired. The babas developed their own culture, cuisine and language - Malay liberally sprinkled with Hokkien.

  The sinkeh were the traders, the coolies and the shophouse owners. The babas became the lawyers, the civil servants and the politicians; they attended the local English-language schools run in the tradition of the UK's public schools, and Oxford and Cambridge. If the sinkeh received an overseas education at all, it was in Nanking or another university in China. Although the sinkeh dominated Singapore's population, it was the babas who dominated public decision-making. In effect, a baba minority captured sinkeh Singapore, and that minority's attitudes were more those of Victorian England than China.

  It was the babas who were the framers of Singapore's rules and institutions. Many of Singapore's most prominent Chinese have had baba backgrounds. Lee Kuan Yew, who became prime minister of Singapore aged just 35, is the most obvious example. He claims a Hakka heritage, although his upbringing was that of a baba: at home, he spoke English with his parents and baba Malay to his grandparents. "Mandarin was totally alien to me and unconnected with my life," Lee said of his childhood.

  For Lee, Chineseness was an acquired skill and later a political necessity. He was not brought up as a Chinese with a focus on China, but as a baba who looked to England. He followed the conventional career path of a baba and went to London to study law. And so Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore became Harry Lee of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge. His father had given him and two of his brothers English, as well as Chinese, names. Did Lee run Singapore as a piece of Asia mired in Chinese ways? No. He ran it in a manner to which a British colonial administrator would have aspired.

  That other great framer of Singapore's institutions, Goh Keng Swee, who rose to become finance minister and deputy prime minister, is the epitome of the baba elite. Goh was born in 1918 in Malacca, the epicentre of baba culture, into a baba family. His parents were English-oriented Chinese Methodists.

  The baba influence is now more subtle, but still there. Singapore's current prime minister Lee Hsien Loong has the strongest baba pedigree of any of the country's leaders.

  http://www.managementtoday.co.uk/news/648273/