Analytical Skills 101 - Twisting statements to your own warped agenda
Aussies Will Make S'pore Fail, Says Lee Kuan Yew
MELBOURNE, March 28 (Bernama) -- Singapore would hit rock bottom if it was run by Australians, former Singapore Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew said on Wednesday.
Lee, 83, in Australia to receive an honorary doctorate from the Australian National University in Canberra, made the comments to reporters after the ceremony.
A handful of protesters waved placards outside the award ceremony, saying Lee was an opponent of democracy and the rule of law, the Australian Associated Press said in a report from Canberra.
Lee said he was accustomed to hostile receptions on overseas visits.
"It's not going to change me and I'm not going to change you," he said.
Lee said both Australia and Singapore prospered under their own style of government but Australia's method would fail in Singapore.
"We're going to prosper, you're going to prosper, if I allow you to run my country, it will spiral downwards and hit rock bottom," he told reporters.
Lee also defended the comments he made years ago in which he described Australians as "the poor white trash of Asia."
He said he made the comments in the heat of an argument but said at that time they were probably warranted.
"Perhaps, at that time it was warranted," he added.
-- BERNAMA
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Compare the crap above to this more objective article...
Hostile welcome for Lee Kuan Yew
Protesters and a fiery exchange with reporters marred a ceremony honouring Singapore's founding prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew, at the Australian University in Canberra today.
The university stirred up controversy by bestowing an honorary law doctorate on Mr Lee, who governed the tiny city state for decades with an iron hand, delivering prosperity but restricting civil liberities.
Mr Lee led Singapore to independence and served as its first prime minister, being regularly re-elected until 1990.
About 150 protesters chanted anti-Lee slogans and waved placards that described him as a "dictator''.
A group of law students said they had also briefed a senior barrister to mount a court challenge against the awarding of the doctorate on the ground that the ANU's own procedures weren't followed.
During the cermony inside ANU's University House, Mr Lee was praised for bringing financial success and stability to Singapore.
However, many seats in the auditorium were vacant because of a boycott by some university staff.
Wearing an academic cap and red gown, Mr Lee, 83, delivered a speech in which he declared that Australia and Singapore shared a common strategic outlook.
Later, Mr Lee had a hostile encounter with waiting reporters.
"If I allowed you to run my country, we would spiral down to rock bottom,'' a defiant Mr Lee told the journalists.
Many years ago Mr Lee once warned Australians that they were risk of becoming "white trash'' in Asia.
Questioned about this today he said he had made the comment at different time in Australia's history.
"Now you have changed,'' he said pointing to Australia's former discriminatory immigration policies which were still in place in the 1960s.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer this week acknowledged there had been international concern about human rights issues in Singapore but he praised Mr Lee as a "great regional leader".
"The fact is in the overall sense, Singapore has been a spectacular success," Mr Downer said.
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For a more pro-Singapore stance, one can always read Today (which I consider a better expression of independent journalistic opinion as compared to the Staid Times)
Labels: Politics
posted by Ryan Bob @ 10:26 AM
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