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Quotes
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ON POLITICS
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'To straddle the middle ground and win elections, we have to be in charge of the political agenda. This can only be done by not being beaten in the argument by our critics. They complain that I come down too hard on their arguments. But wrong ideas have to be challenged before they influence public opinion and make for problems. Those who try to be clever at the expense of the government should not complain if my replies are as sharp as their criticisms.' (On the opposition, From Third World to First, The Singapore Story: 1965-2000, Lee Kuan Yew. 2000) |
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'You know, the cure for all this talk is really a good dose of incompetent government. You get that alternative and you'll never put Singapore together again: Humpty Dumpty cannot be put together again...and your asset values will be in peril, your security will be at risk and our women will become maids in other people's countries, foreign workers.' (Justifying pay hikes for Singapore ministers, The Straits Times, 5 April 2007) |
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ON THE ECONOMY
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'On our island of 224 square miles were two million people. We inherited what was the capital of the British Empire in Southeast Asia, but dismembered from the hinterland which was the empire. The question was how to make a living? How to survive? This was not a theoretical problem in the economics of development. It was a matter of life and death for two million people. The realities of the world of 1965 had to be faced. The sole objective was survival. How this was to be achieved, by socialism or free enterprise, was a secondary matter. The answer turned out to be free enterprise, tempered with the socialist philosophy of equal opportunities for education, jobs, health, housing.' (Speech at the 26th World Congress of the International Chamber of Commerce, October 5 1978) |
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'In fact, we were part of the process that disproved the theory of the development economics school, that this was exploitation. We were in no position to be fussy about high-minded principles. We had to make a living and this was a way to make a living.' (On Singapore's strategy of attracting multinational investors, at a time when this was viewed as exploitative of the local economy. From Lee Kuan Yew: The Man & His Ideas, Han Fook Kwang, Warren Fernandez, Sumiko Tan. 1998) |
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'Political reform need not go hand in hand with economic liberalisation. I do not believe that if you are libertarian, full of diverse opinions, full of competing ideas in the market place, full of sound and fury, therefore you will succeed.' (Quoted in The Straits Times, Aug 17 2004) |
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'Before you discuss your future, remember how we got here - the past. You have a role to play in transforming a dependent under-developed community to an independent industrial society. It depends upon how successfully we can mobilize internal and international capital and expertise, get people to learn the skills and crafts, and acquire the managerial and marketing know-how. Only then can we produce goods and services efficiently and competitively for international customers. So whilst throwing your eyes towards the far horizon, do not forget the harsh realities of today. Let us first negotiate and overcome these immediate hazards.' (Speech at NTUC's seminar, November 16 1969) |
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'A faint hearted people would have given up long ago. We never gave in, never mind giving up. For that alone, we deserve to succeed. If we press on, in twenty years we shall build a great metropolis, worthy of a hardy, resilient and stout-hearted people.' (National Day Speech, August 8 1972) |
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'Geography and history decided this for us. Whilst we have no vast hinterland to open up for plantations or mines, we have the location, the social and economic infrastructure, the discipline and skills to keep us competitive. Singapore has always had to face competition in a tough world. Our young are ambitious and energetic. They must also acquire those qualities which enabled their parents to make Singapore what is it today - the grit and determination to stay the course, the strength and stamina to ride over rough patches. We must take in our stride today's upsets, making adjustments as conditions change, whilst keeping our eyes on targets for next year, for the years after, working and planning into the next decade and beyond.' (Speech at the 23rd World Assembly of the World Confederation of Organisations of the teaching profession, July 31 1974) |
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'In the early years any factory was welcome. For example, when I was in London in January 1968 to discuss the British withdrawal, Marcus Sieff, the chairman of Marks & Spencer's, met me at my London hotel. He had seen me on BBC television. He suggested that as Chinese had nimble fingers, Singapore could go into making fish-hooks and lures for trout fishing. This was high-value work because the feathers had to be skilfully attached to the hooks. There were other such products which did not require much capital but created many jobs. His retail network could help market the goods. I must have looked forlorn on television for him to have taken time to see me. I thanked him but nothing came of it. Not long after, a Norwegian manufacturer of fish-hooks, Mustad, set up a factory in Singapore, employing several hundred workers to make millions of fish-hooks of all shapes and sizes, though not with feathers for trout fishing.' (Recounting in his memoirs the desperation of the early years to get investments into Singapore, From Third World to First, The Singapore Story: 1965-2000, 2000) |
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ON THE FUTURE
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'If we maximise our opportunities in this golden period, in five years we will have a more vibrant cosmopolitan Singapore, not only clean, green and safe, but also a city, fun to work and live in for Singaporeans and for the many foreign professionals and their families.' (Speech at Tanjong Pagar GRC Orchard Fiesta at Civic Plaza, Ngee Ann City Building, 7 July 2007) |
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'If you ask me, the future is really shining for us...We will survive; this is a red dot, which we can make redder and brighter.' (On the economy, quoted in The Straits Times, November 5 2006) |
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ON THE PAST AND PIONEERS
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'For me, it is a moment of anguish. All my life, my whole adult life, I believed in merger and unity of the two territories.' (Press Conference, then PM Lee announcing the separation of Singapore from the Federation of Malaysia, August 9 1965) |
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'Many are too young to remember how bad things were. They take for granted Singapore's orderly progress and continuing prosperity as the natural order of things. Those who do remember know that our present stability and prosperity have been built upon the cohesion, the determination and the planning of a small band of men.' (Speech at a seminar on communism and democracy, April 28 1971) |
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'I make no apologies for collecting the most talented team I could find. Without them, none of you would be enjoying life today in Singapore, including the reporters up there. I say this without any compunction. Who pays for all this? A Singapore economy which has been so finely tuned that it is able to take advantage of every opportunity that comes our way.' (Debate on the White Paper on ministerial salaries, November 1 1994) |
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'My generation of political leaders have become dinosaurs, an extinct breed of men who went into politics because of the passion of their convictions.' (Debate on the White Paper on ministerial salaries, November 1 1994) |
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'It is the same society, the same old guards who sacrificed. Some of them literally took their lives into their hands when they decided to stay with the PAP and not move over to Barisan in this House in 1961. But for several of them, the history of Singapore would be different and I would not be meeting and talking to you here. We may be in a completely different age and a different world.' (Debate on the White Paper on ministerial salaries, November 1 1994) |
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DID HE REALLY SAY THAT?
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'Even from my sick bed, even if you are going to lower me into the grave and I feel something is going wrong, I will get up.' (1988 National Day Rally, when he discussed the leadership transition to Goh Chok Tong in 1990) |
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'If Singapore is a nanny state, then I am proud to have fostered one.' (Lee Kuan Yew, in a wry aside to critics who have accused him of governing Singapore like a nanny state, From Third World to First, The Singapore Story: 1965-2000, Lee Kuan Yew. 2000) |
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'Everybody knows that in my bag, I have a hatchet, and a very sharp one. You take me on, I take my hatchet, we meet in the cul-de-sac.' (On how he deals with political opponents, Lee Kuan Yew: The Man & His Ideas, Han Fook Kwang, Warren Fernandez, Sumiko Tan. 1998.) |
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'If you don't include your women graduates in your breeding pool and leave them on the shelf, you would end up a more stupid society. The men don't believe me. Every year, I produce them the results. You marry that kind of a wife, you get this kind of a result. They close their minds. I think we are not going to become as good a society as we were with each generation...This is the basic stock of success. If you don't have this, you can have the best human resources programme, but your human resource is poor.' (On improving Singapore?s gene pool by getting graduate women married - 1983 National Day Rally) |
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'I am often accused of interfering in the private lives of citizens...Had I not done that, we wouldn't be here today. And I say without the slightest remorse: that we wouldn't be here, we would not have made economic progress, if we had not intervened on very personal matters - who your neighbour is, how you live, the noise you make, how you spit, or what language you use. We decide what is right. Never mind what the people think.' (Lee Kuan Yew, Straits Times, 20 April 1987) |
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THE LEE KUAN YEW THEY KNOW: WHAT OTHER LEADERS SAY
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'In office, I read and analysed every speech of Harry's. He had a way of penetrating the fog of propoganda and expressing with unique clarity the issues of our times and the way to tackle them. He was never wrong. (Margaret Thatcher, former British Prime Minister, 1998) |
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'Mr. Lee Kuan Yew has gathered around himself the most brilliant minds, transforming the most exacting standards into a system of government. Under his leadership, the primacy of the general interest, the cult of education, work and saving, the capacity to foresee the needs of the city have enabled Singapore to take what I call 'shortcuts to progress'.' (Jacques Chirac, former President of France, 1998) |
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'Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew is one of the brightest, ablest men I have ever met.' (George Bush (Senior), former President of USA, 1998) |
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'He always commands an attentive audience amongst Western leaders.' (James Callaghan, former British Prime Minister, 1998) |
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'Combining what is best in the Chinese and British traditions, his penetrating intellect gives political pragmatism a unique edge which has made the city state of Singapore a model far beyond Asia.' (Denis Healey, former British Chancellor of the Exchequer, 1998) |
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'He and Dr Kissinger are probably the only two world statesmen who, after leaving office, find an open door to every head of state and government anywhere in the world.' (Lord Carrington, former British Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, 1998) |
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'Whenever I met Mr Lee Kuan Yew, I was deeply impressed by his intellect, his vision and the depth of his understanding on history and society.' (Kim Dae Jung, former President of the Republic of Korea, 2000) |
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'Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew is one of the pivotal figures in the modern history of Southeast Asia. His actions have shaped the course of events in this region.' (Prem Tinsulanonda, former Thai Prime Minister, 2000) |
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