Best Offer from LKY: Rejoin Malaysia, We have to Accept it ... Options

[DrGieL3]

I believe that we can easily accept 2 (two) pre-conditions for re-joining Singapore to Malaysia ... and also we have to say thank you to LKY for his "objective" observation to our country ... BolehLand ...

Go.... Go....Go ...... I believe Pak Dollah and UMNO can change our "constitution" as requested by Singapore ....

Kuan Yew criticizes Malaysia for affirmative action policy
Yahoo News

Malaysia can "do better" than Singapore if only it would treat its minority Chinese and Indian populations fairly, the city-state's founding leader has said in unexpectedly blunt comments about the rival neighbor.

Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew's comments are likely to touch a raw nerve in Malaysia where ethnic tensions are never far below the surface over minority complaints about discrimination by the Malay Muslim dominated government.

Lee even suggested that Singapore wouldn't mind rejoining Malaysia if the latter accepted meritocracy instead of sticking to an affirmative action policy favoring the Malay majority.

"If they would just educate the Chinese and Indians, use them and treat them as their citizens, they can equal us and even do better than us and we would be happy to rejoin them," Lee told two academics in a recent interview.

"We are a standing indictment of all the things that they can be doing differently," he said.

Singapore, led by Lee, split from the Malay federation in 1965, after a short-lived merger that soured amid concerns that Lee's Chinese-dominated party would influence politics in Malay Muslim dominated Malaysia.

Lee was the city state's prime minister until 1990 and now occupies an advisory position in the Cabinet, and is still believed to wield considerable influence over the government.

His comments about rejoining Malaysia, however, were rhetorical. There is zero chance of the two countries merging principally because neither government would want it, given the immense differences between the two countries and their cultures.

Malaysia's 26 million population is about 60 percent Malay, who control the government and many government-linked companies. Chinese are about 25 percent and Indians 10 percent. In Singapore, Chinese form 77 percent of its 4 million population while Malays are 14 percent and Indians 8 percent.

Singapore's economy _ driven by manufacturing, financial services and a growing biotechnology sector _ also is far more developed than Malaysia's, which is largely dependent on manufacturing and commodities exports such as palm oil and rubber.

Lee's interview was conducted Sept. 27 by Tom Plate of the University of California's Los Angeles Media Center and Jeffrey Cole of the University of Southern California's Annenberg Center.

See here for more detail: http://www.asiamedia.ucla.e...

This post has been edited by DrGieL3: Oct 12 2007, 04:25 AM

[Betong]

Don't agree. Sorry. We already divorced with Singapore. Remember

[dragonaga]

as usual there is something fishy about his suggestions...... hmmmm......

[Crystallised Dre...]

Uhuh.

[DrGieL3]

name='Betong' date='Oct 12 2007, 08:15 AM' post='3263090']


Don't agree. Sorry. We already divorced with Singapore. Remember

Hahahaha... How can you "ignore" the offer from this "wise" man ?
If not, our UMNO gov't can appoint this "old" guy as "senior advisor" ...... To assist our "goblok" gov't to be a "civilised" country.....

SPEECH BY MR LEE KUAN YEW,MINISTER MENTOR, AT THE OPENING OF INTERNATIONAL BAR ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE, 14 OCTOBER 2007, 6.45 PM AT SUNTEC CONVENTION CENTRE

Intro: Why Singapore is what it now is

To understand Singapore, you have to know how we were suddenly thrown out of the Federation of Malaysia in 1965 and became an independent state. Peninsular Malaya had been Singapore’s hinterland ever since the British founded Singapore in 1819.

We faced a bleak future. We had no natural resources. A small island-nation in the middle of newly independent and nationalistic countries of Indonesia and Malaysia, each determined to cut Singapore off as the middleman. To survive, we had to create a Singapore different from our neighbours – clean, more efficient, more secure, with quality infrastructure, and good living conditions. We sought to provide an environment that our neighbours did not provide - first world standards of reliability and predictability. Important for investors and economic growth, is the rule of law, implemented through an independent judiciary, an honest and efficient police force, and effective law enforcement agencies. Had we not differentiated Singapore in this way, it would have languished and perished as a shrinking trading centre instead of becoming the thriving business,banking,shipping and aviation hub it is today.

I studied law in the Cambridge Law School and am a barrister of Middle Temple, an English Inn of Court. I had practised law for a decade before I first took office in 1959 as Prime Minister of self-governing Singapore. Therefore I knew that the rule of law would give Singapore an advantage in the centre of Southeast Asia where the law was often what was decided by the leader, whether a President or Prime Minister, often an ex-military man.

The Singapore Approach to the Fundamentals

· Singapore inherited a sound legal system from the British.

o Clear laws, easy access to justice and an efficient legal system provide the basis for citizens to compete equally in the market and to grow the economy.

o A stable and predictable legal environment facilitates the enforcement of contractual rights and protection of property rights.

o The common law heritage and its developed contract law are known to and have helped attract investors. Our laws relating to financial services are similar to the laws of leading financial centres in other common law jurisdictions such as London and New York. As these are the two leading financial centres in the world, their laws govern the majority of financial transactions worldwide. They are used freely in Singapore.

· Since 1959 we had adopted English as our working language.

· While we have kept key English legal principles; after the UK joined the EU, it adopted EU laws and doctrines. We have not followed them. Instead we have amended our laws to fit our needs and circumstances.

o The independence of our courts is protected by the constitution that prevents removal of judges from office by the executive. We established our own final Court of Appeal in place of the Privy Council as our courts would be more familiar with our own legislation and local conditions and culture.

· We still look to English precedents and examples, but increasingly we look also to those of US, Australia, New Zealand and other Commonwealth countries. Even civil law countries have given us useful concepts and ideas, especially those adopted and incorporated as part of UNCITRAL trade laws.

· We have special legislation to meet our needs:

o A multi-racial and multi-religious society is prone to conflicts. Race, language and religion in Singapore have to be handled sensitively, especially during elections. We have enacted the Religious Harmony Act, and set up the Presidential Council for Minority Rights. We created Group Representation Constituencies to ensure minority representation in Parliament.

o For good industrial relations, we enacted the Employment Act and Industrial Relations Act to provide the framework for our tripartite system of industrial relations, a system for collective bargaining, and an Industrial Arbitration Court to resolve industrial disputes.

o For law and order, we have strong deterrent sentences for offences like drug trafficking, kidnapping, unlawful possession of firearms.

o The Immigration Act provides for caning sentences to deter illegal immigrants and overstayers.

o For national security, the Internal Security Act allows for preventive detention, an effective response to terrorists.

Benefits of a sound legal framework

· By the 1980s the system of courts we inherited from the British could not cope with the increasing volume of work. It needed to be modernised and to make use of IT. This also needed a Chief Justice who is not only legally qualified, but also has managerial and administrative experience to reform the system.

· It was Chief Justice Yong Pung How (1990 to 2006) who had practiced law for over two decades before he became a merchant banker and finally Chairman of Singapore’s largest bank. He restructured the system, instituted new procedures, used IT in the courts, increased the number of judges and courts and selected the most able and balanced of those at the Bar to become judges. The World Bank, in a report published in 2007 entitled “Judiciary led reforms in Singapore – framework strategies and lessons”, stated: “Over the past 15 years, Singapore’s judicial system has been transformed from one that many viewed as characterized by inefficiencies, delays, and inadequate administrative capacity to one widely seen as among the most efficient and effective in the world.” The Attorney General, Chan Sek Keong, who has since become Chief Justice, will maintain these standards.

· Good governance, a sound legal framework and judiciary have resulted in stability and economic growth resulting in an increasing demand for good lawyers and legal services.

Transparent administration of justice

· Our emphasis is on meritocracy, the building blocks of sound governance and integrity in our judiciary and legal system. The integrity of our financial systems withstood the turbulence in the 1997 Asian financial crisis that caused several of our neighbours’ banking systems to collapse. Singapore’s firm regulatory framework has facilitated economic progress.

· Corruption, endemic in parts of the world, was seeping into Singapore in the 1950’s when elections had introduced elected ministers in the transition to internal self-government. In 1959 when we took office in the first fully elected government, we moved swiftly to rid ourselves of corruption before it could become endemic.

o “Transparency International”, a civil society organisation against corruption based in Berlin, has repeatedly listed Singapore in the first top five of 163 countries. And the only one from Asia in the first 5.

o Our system does not tolerate corruption and we have avoided the problems of widespread corruption that have plagued Asia. Our Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) annually tabulates the cases brought against officers and executives from the public and private sectors. In two cases, it led to the conviction and prison sentence of a junior Minister. Another, a cabinet Minister, committed suicide after being investigated for corruption.

o Three factors enabled Singapore to escape the poverty that plagued the region: first, clean and efficient government; second, the character and capabilities of the leadership in charge; third, an industrious people, eager and quick to learn to be productive and gainfully employed.

Defamation

· Political leaders in Singapore take action against opponents who make statements against them that impute dishonesty and lack of integrity. Situated in a region where ‘money politics’ is part of the political culture and an accepted way of life, any allegation of corruption in Singapore must be taken seriously. It leads to an investigation by the CPIB, and/or an action for defamation against the person making the allegation to clear any doubts on the integrity of the government.

o As a result people in Singapore do not equate their political leaders with second-hand car salesmen.

Economic competitiveness

· International surveys of economic competitiveness of countries always include the legal framework and the administration of justice as key criteria in ranking such countries.

o The Political and Risk Consultancy, World Economic Forum and other polls show that both foreigners and Singaporeans believe that we have good judicial and legal systems, and fair administration of justice.

o The Institute For Management Development (IMD) World Competitiveness Yearbook has consistently ranked Singapore in the top 2 positions since 1997 under the Legal Framework component. (This category examines if the legal and regulatory framework encourages the competitiveness of enterprises.)

o The World Bank released its study Doing Business Report 2007 in September 2006. Singapore fared better in 2006 as compared to the previous year, and has replaced New Zealand at the top spot.

Globalisation and how our legal infrastructure must transform

· Despite these endorsements, we cannot be complacent. We have to respond to new challenges that technology and globalisation have brought upon us.

· With technology increasingly sophisticated in a world that is increasingly borderless, crime has become multi-facetted, and multi-jurisdictional. Our legislative mechanisms have responded to meet these challenges. Many legal issues today require an international co-operation for solutions.

· Law firms are also taking advantage of new global business opportunities and technologies. US and British law firms are able to venture aggressively into new markets, following their clients’ multi-jurisdictional businesses. Businesses span many countries and lawyers must meet the needs of their multi-national clientele.

Conclusion

· We need to maintain Singapore’s position as a city par excellence, with an environment that is clean, safe and vibrant to work in and live in. We try to retain our best, and we attract the best to come, settle and raise their families here.

This post has been edited by DrGieL3: Oct 16 2007, 07:51 PM

[ricochet]

Don't agree. Sorry. We already divorced with Singapore. Remember

Dr Betong ....you have a potential patient. Already allocated him at woodbridge juz in case your TR Hosp is fully booked with Indonesia Rasa Sayange syndrome

[Betong]

^Bro I have patient for you. The simpton was called "Malaysian Wannabe"...... Send to Tanjung Rambutan or not ????

[triplex]

Dr Betong ....you have a potential patient. Already allocated him at woodbridge juz in case your TR Hosp is fully booked with Indonesia Rasa Sayange syndrome

indonesia rasa sayange sydrome - thats funny..

[fadlee]

lee kuan yew in his desperate attempt to rejoin singapore with malaysia.. lol pathetic old man.. as what ive been predicted singapore cant even survived for another 30 years due to their economic and social instability.. and that old man knew tht.. but were too ego to accept the fact.

Sorry lee kuan yew.. we wont accept singapore to be part of malaysia.. :P

[maldini]

lee kuan yew in his desperate attempt to rejoin singapore with malaysia.. lol pathetic old man.. as what ive been predicted singapore cant even survived for another 30 years due to their economic and social instability.. and that old man knew tht.. but were too ego to accept the fact.

Sorry lee kuan yew.. we wont accept singapore to be part of malaysia.. :P

wow! wat a very bold prediction... how u come up with the prediction? lol

[fadlee]

wow! wat a very bold prediction... how u come up with the prediction? lol

i would rather make it more dramatic.. lol lky predicted in 50 - 100 years.. but that is just too long until we ran out of oil, the global warming, the U.S recession and the limited space to grow which contributed to social n economic instability.. they wud beg instead of brag wit malaysia.. :P

[DandyBo]

That's utter bull $hit. Ok, yeah, probably in a decade, when the cost of oil per barrel reaches beyond US$150. But, think again, US is not our only trading partner. We are great friends with China and India, the fastest growing economies, and soon to be super powers of the world. Are you friends with these soon to be GIANTS? You're not even in good terms with the natives of respective countries in your country. Okay, maybe Singapore today has probably reached it's boiling point as it's pretty obvious that our level of development has reached it's maximum. What about merger with Indonesia? Or probably as far as China? My friend, please have some concrete basis before stating your point. That being said, I'm not saying that merger with Malaysia is a bad idea, it is one that could help both parties and expand further. That however, does not mean that Singapore has no other alternatives. There's still such thing as ASEAN, which pretty much look like it is modeled after European Union.

[fadlee]

That's utter bull $hit. Ok, yeah, probably in a decade, when the cost of oil per barrel reaches beyond US$150. But, think again, US is not our only trading partner. We are great friends with China and India, the fastest growing economies, and soon to be super powers of the world. Are you friends with these soon to be GIANTS? You're not even in good terms with the natives of respective countries in your country. Okay, maybe Singapore today has probably reached it's boiling point as it's pretty obvious that our level of development has reached it's maximum. What about merger with Indonesia? Or probably as far as China? My friend, please have some concrete basis before stating your point. That being said, I'm not saying that merger with Malaysia is a bad idea, it is one that could help both parties and expand further. That however, does not mean that Singapore has no other alternatives. There's still such thing as ASEAN, which pretty much look like it is modeled after European Union.

Are you comparing malaysia with your country?? LOLLLL

china need to have a good relationship with malaysia as we are a great friends with the oil rich countries and the muslim world..

lol if u want to merge with china or indonesia just do it.. we dont need singapore on the world map.. :P

[wadthehell2]

Are you comparing malaysia with your country?? LOLLLL

china need to have a good relationship with malaysia as we are a great friends with the oil rich countries and the muslim world..

lol if u want to merge with china or indonesia just do it.. we dont need singapore on the world map.. :P

As usual, Malaysians think too highly of themselves. China do not need you to deal with the Muslim world, they can do it themselves. And the Arabs can't be bothered with your country too. Just as the Korean wave in Japan will not make Koreans like the Japanese better, trying to imitate Arab culture is not going to make them hold your country of any importance. Sorry for the hard truth

Maybe you are jealous or angry but the fact is, Malaysia needs Singapore just as Singapore needs Malaysia.

[ricochet]

As usual, Malaysians think too highly of themselves. China do not need you to deal with the Muslim world, they can do it themselves. And the Arabs can't be bothered with your country too. Just as the Korean wave in Japan will not make Koreans like the Japanese better, trying to imitate Arab culture is not going to make them hold your country of any importance. Sorry for the hard truth

Maybe you are jealous or angry but the fact is, Malaysia needs Singapore just as Singapore needs Malaysia.

I think Singapore needs Malaysia more than the other way round

[singapak2]

^ yup.. but i dont like the racial discrimination happening in Malaysia.. atleast the discrimination against the minorities in Singapore is not that bad as compared to Malaysia.. the Malays here can go to the Universities, the only problem is employment.. Mandarin Speaking for no reason.

[ricochet]

^ yup.. but i dont like the racial discrimination happening in Malaysia.. atleast the discrimination against the minorities in Singapore is not that bad as compared to Malaysia.. the Malays here can go to the Universities, the only problem is employment.. Mandarin Speaking for no reason.

come to my line of work bro....construction ...we dun see the colour of skin.....

or go to all the ang moh companies like glaxo, pfizer, haliburton, etc....dun you dare put race or religion in your cv. I dun really understanding with everyone's preoccupation in putting race and religion in their cv. I am a recruiter for my company myself and I see many of these things happening. I have help in editing my frens CV all this years and I usually remove these 2 things....so far all get jobs they wanted

job market is really good these days bro....its hard to fish for good workers

[malaccan]

Singapore was the New York of Malaysia, KL was just to be its Washington. When Tunku let Singapore go, it let go its crown jewel. LKY didn't think that Tunku would make such an economically detrimental decision, but he failed to apprehend then, as he does now, the Malay psyche which lead Tunku to make that decision.

That's utter bull $hit. Ok, yeah, probably in a decade, when the cost of oil per barrel reaches beyond US$150. But, think again, US is not our only trading partner. We are great friends with China and India, the fastest growing economies, and soon to be super powers of the world. Are you friends with these soon to be GIANTS? You're not even in good terms with the natives of respective countries in your country. Okay, maybe Singapore today has probably reached it's boiling point as it's pretty obvious that our level of development has reached it's maximum. What about merger with Indonesia? Or probably as far as China? My friend, please have some concrete basis before stating your point. That being said, I'm not saying that merger with Malaysia is a bad idea, it is one that could help both parties and expand further. That however, does not mean that Singapore has no other alternatives. There's still such thing as ASEAN, which pretty much look like it is modeled after European Union.

As usual, Malaysians think too highly of themselves. China do not need you to deal with the Muslim world, they can do it themselves. And the Arabs can't be bothered with your country too. Just as the Korean wave in Japan will not make Koreans like the Japanese better, trying to imitate Arab culture is not going to make them hold your country of any importance. Sorry for the hard truth

Maybe you are jealous or angry but the fact is, Malaysia needs Singapore just as Singapore needs Malaysia.

There are things that Malaysia can learn from Singapore, and I sincerely hope that it does. Malaysia unfortunately is not just a city-state, it's a country proper which is infinitely more complex on so many different levels. It would've been nice had our countries stayed together and indeed that was the wish of LKY and many Malaysian leaders but alas that's not to be.

Both Malaysia and Singapore are well-placed to deal with China, India and the Middle East. So much more can be achieved by working together instead of competing with each other. Both countries are doing well independently, but why not work together? If there is to be greater co-operation between ASEAN countries, the two countries would be the first two to integrate.

Remerger is not a bad thing. There is too much baggage with Johor, canvasing should start with Malacaa and Penang.

It's not going to happen until the political structure of Malaysian politics changes. It's going to be suicide for any politican to champion the cause. I can just see the havoc caused at the UMNO General Assembly!

[Protoculture]

Y'know, SG & MY unification will only occurs when hell freezes over. We kicked 'em outta the MY Federation, remember?

In all plausibility, the unification is more likely a wet dream of an aging 'ol man ... nothing more, nothing less.

[tangawizi]

Malaccan, as usual, u made a wise post and not the usual drivel.

Singapore was the New York of Malaysia, KL was just to be its Washington. When Tunku let Singapore go, it let go its crown jewel. LKY didn't think that Tunku would make such an economically detrimental decision, but he failed to apprehend then, as he does now, the Malay psyche which lead Tunku to make that decision.

the Malay psyche is interesting! Can u detail that more what lead Tunku to make that decision without checking with his cabinet? somehow, i don't know much abt history of Tunku and his government, but was he acting like a feudal (sultan) capacity when he decided that SG should leave the Malayan Federation? I know LKY acted like that in that he never discussed the matter with his cabinet members in order not to give opportunity for dissent and fear to set in.

There are things that Malaysia can learn from Singapore, and I sincerely hope that it does. Malaysia unfortunately is not just a city-state, it's a country proper which is infinitely more complex on so many different levels. It would've been nice had our countries stayed together and indeed that was the wish of LKY and many Malaysian leaders but alas that's not to be.

That's true, SG is an artificial country, although it's a tiny city state, what amazes me is how over the decades, MY politicians have never ceased to treat SG more than juz a chilli pepper up their backsides! hee...

Both Malaysia and Singapore are well-placed to deal with China, India and the Middle East. So much more can be achieved by working together instead of competing with each other. Both countries are doing well independently, but why not work together? If there is to be greater co-operation between ASEAN countries, the two countries would be the first two to integrate.

Actually, I think Malaysia has more relationship with oil rich arab states than SG. I know for one the MY Trade Commissioner is here in East Africa trying to nail contracts for the Sudan oil pipelines and futures contracts. SG is trying to sell itself differently to the arab states, it tries to come across as a biz consultant to arab govts on strategies for building an infrastructure hub and creation of investment arms with global reach. Whereas MY has always been a trader, contractor, supply and demand....kinda down to earth approach rather than management blah blah blah...jargon. Know what i mean?

Remerger is not a bad thing. There is too much baggage with Johor, canvasing should start with Malacaa and Penang.

It's not going to happen until the political structure of Malaysian politics changes. It's going to be suicide for any politican to champion the cause. I can just see the havoc caused at the UMNO General Assembly!

Remerger should be wider than SG and MY. Indonesia's Riau could become part of the economic triangle too, rite?

I do believe this is not some wet-dream of an ageing SG politician, but rather a sincere coaxing to the MY population to choose their new leadership wisely in the upcoming elections in March 2008. One that doesn't use SG as a bogeyman for their pork barrel tactics. But rather consider SG as a partner in the future.