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From: rajeev@sftri.UUCP (S.Rajeev)
Newsgroups: net.nlang.india
Subject: Lee Kuan Yew on Singapore and Indians
Message-ID: <398@sftri.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 11-Apr-85 18:00:23 EST
Article-I.D.: sftri.398
Posted: Thu Apr 11 18:00:23 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 13-Apr-85 03:26:58 EST
Distribution: net
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Summit N.J.
Lines: 37


From an article in the New York Times, April 11, about "The Politics of
Ruling and Romance in Singapore"

Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew has mad politics interesting again in
Singapore, though probably not in a way he intended.

...<The article goes on about how the recent elections, where two Opposition
members won seats, and how this is viewed Mr. Lee as a defeat for his party.
Frankly, 79 out of 81 doesn't sound that bad!>...

To quote again:

Mr. Lee recently added fuel to the debate on Singapore's future with a sustained
attack in Parliament on "Western" values, under whose umbrella he lumped
birth-control pills, American libel suits and Indian political practices.

The Prime Minister .... has drawn close in recent public statements to a 
strong belief in traditional Chinese values. In March ... he told Parliament
that Singapore's political success had been a success because its people
were overwhelmingly ethnic Chinese.

"Had the mix in Singapore been different", the Prime Minister said, "had it
been 75 % Indians,  15 % Malays and the rest Chinese, it would not have
worked."

<And so on......>

Now this bothers me because I had always felt that Singapore would be a
good place for Indians to do business in, partly because of the (10% ?)
Indian population. Do Lee's statements portend some sort of anti-Indian
policy or a sons-of-the-soil attitude? I'd appreciate any comments by
people in the know.
-- 
...ihnp4!attunix!rajeev   -- usenet
ihnp4!attunix!rajeev@BERKELEY   -- arpanet
Sri Rajeev, SF 1-342, Bell Labs, Summit, NJ 07901. (201)-522-6330.