PM Lee: Don’t take racial and religious harmony for granted
Written by Our Correspondent
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong reminded Singaporeans not to take racial and religious harmony for granted in a speech made at the official opening of the Singapore Buddhist Federation’s new building in Geylang.
He also praised Buddhists and Taoists for helping to maintain Singapore’s racial and religious harmony for 40 years.
“Buddhists and Taoists are among the largest religious groups in Singapore. They have always shown tolerance, setting the basic tone for our society and the general mood of tolerance and understanding among the different communities,” he said.
Though he did not make any explicit mention of the Aware saga where a group of Christians tried to steeplejack a secular women NGO, PM Lee emphasized that Singaporeans of all religions should keep religion separate from politics and to uphold a secular government, a call echoed previously by senior leaders during the protracted saga in May this year.
While Singaporeans from various races and faiths here have been living in harmony for more than 40 years, the country’s demographics is changed radically lately by the relentless influx of foreigners especially from China and India.
Many of the newcomers have different culture and habits from the locals and tend to congregate among themselves.
In response to this, the Singapore government has set up a $10 million Community Integration Fund to help them integrate into Singapore society which includes free language courses.
Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong mused lately if Singapore should allow immigration “enclaves” to emerge in the HDB heartland.
In an earlier speech, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong exhorted Singaporeans to “embrace” foreigners as they work in industries which are shunned by citizens.
His father, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew followed up by imploring Singaporeans to “bear” with the tide of immigration to boost Singapore’s flagging birth rates.
36 per cent of Singapore’s population are foreigners. It is not known if the rapid pace of immigration will have a detrimental impact on Singapore’s racial and religious harmony in the future.
Loading ...
DunBearWithPAP on Sat, 21st Nov 2009 11:57 am
It’s not about bearing with foreigners now.
It’s having to bear with PAP’s pro-foreigner policy to reach a target of 6.5 MILLION POPULATION. Population in singapore is already 4.8 MILLION and we are already feeling the crowd.
VOTE AGAINST PAP THIS COMING ELECTION OR MORE FOREIGN TRASH WILL BE LET IN TO DEPRESS YOUR WAGES AND TAKE UP PRECIOUS SPACE.
XIIIblackcat on Sat, 21st Nov 2009 12:13 pm
Who is taking racial and religion harmony for granted? Please don’t treat us like a kid. Every Singaporean child has grown up making friends with a person of different race or religion. While some insensitive comments are make during this process, it is often just make out of pure fun with no intended harm.
However not all Singaporean grew up with foreigners in the equation. That is the difference! We are able to accept Singaporean of the same race and religion but not foreigners of the same race and religion! This two are completely different situation.
No, I’m not saying all foreigners are bad, I’m just saying that our current demographic of foreigners is TOO MUCH!
someone sad for singapore on Sat, 21st Nov 2009 12:41 pm
Dragon prince, please don’t take your ’stupid’ citizens for granted.
Hum on Sat, 21st Nov 2009 1:07 pm
no politician, ruling or opposition should ever take singaporeans for granted.
fair and square on Sat, 21st Nov 2009 1:10 pm
It’s not merely about religious harmony.
of course,to be fair,it’s important.
what is eually imporatnt is “socio-economic” harmony and it’s
not measured by that great GDP or PER CAPITA INCOME GROWTH.
JOBS,if cannot be created,must not be destryoyed in the name of
cost-savings…how come CEOs are paid a ton for doing a stupid
stunt?!!! Shareholders(greedy people),if you wanna have cost-cutting by labour,use the office-cleaner’s services,,,they are cheaper! you don’t have to pay that idiot-no-idea of a CEO a ton of money to do that work!
i am no social scientist but i do remember from some basic courses,spiritual comes after basic needs like food and shelter or i am blur?!!!…it’s a new wolrd order they say!
feed the masses,then talk religions!..that way,they would be
more receptive!!!!…so many examples,even in 1997 from our neighbours?
LHL on Sat, 21st Nov 2009 3:16 pm
PM Lee,
Please also don’t take us for granted with your nonsense immigration policy!!!
Seriously on Sat, 21st Nov 2009 5:03 pm
It is a cheap political ploy of mourning the same old rubbish in distraction of public attention to what is troubling ALL sections of citizenry – the Government’s failed policies have badly damaged our well-being and society.
New Strategy Needed on Sat, 21st Nov 2009 10:39 pm
The Government’s failed policies have badly damaged the trust of most Singaporeans, especially the lower and middle rungs.
There will come a time when feelings and emotions cannot be restrained any more. The breaking point seems to be just around the corner.
That is why LHL is again using the race and religion cards as an excuse to subtly threaten the populace into subservient and submissive behaviours.
In his National Day Rally speech, he spent so much time elaborating about these racial and religious issues, instead of addressing the severe economic downturn. There must be a motive. He disguised it as a call for cooperation from the masses.
Yes, we should all cooperate for the good of our country. But cooperate not for the selfish interests of the PAP elites.
Since it is quite obvious that the Opposition will not be able to form the government even if many of them are elected into Parliament, Singaporeans should try a new strategy.
Singaporeans should cooperate by not electing the PM and his father. In this way, PAP will have no choice but to change leadership. The new leadership will have to take into consideration this new development. It is very likely they will listen more to the people’s voices then.
Cooperate and vote the Father and Son out to force a change in the PAP’s leadership, style of governance, attitude, behaviour, and the elite uncaring faces.
Say NO to total control!
Say NO to absolute power!
Say NO to despotism!
Say NO to nepotism!
Say NO to one man controlling the whole of Singapore!
Mikhail on Sat, 21st Nov 2009 11:14 pm
i find it amazing that government has to spend money to help immigrant to integrate with local.it should be the immigrant who should make the effort to integrate with the community.
sometimes it is not the local who do not want to integrate with new citizens,as mostly they have their own enclaves and are not interested to interact with the local.it takes two hands to clap.they should also be receptive.
we should sent a strong signal to the ruling party in the next election.let’s come forward and help the opposition in their cause.
they too need us to support them.
if not, just spread the words to your friends and kins about the opposition.they are much well prepared and better now
Affirm them constantly that there is nothing to fear in voting the opposition.
the silent majority must stand up.
Rainnix on Sun, 22nd Nov 2009 3:09 am
@fair and square,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is also predetermined in order of importance.[5] It is often depicted as a pyramid consisting of five levels: the lowest level is associated with physiological needs, while the uppermost level is associated with self-actualization needs, particularly those related to identity and purpose. The higher needs in this hierarchy only come into focus when the lower needs in the pyramid are met. Once an individual has moved upwards to the next level, needs in the lower level will no longer be prioritized. If a lower set of needs is no longer being met, the individual will temporarily re-prioritize those needs by focusing attention on the unfulfilled needs, but will not permanently regress to the lower level.
(From lowest to highest in the pyramid)
Physiological needs
Safety needs
Social needs
Esteem
Self-actualization
The govt has been putting a huge number of Singaporean under the lower physiological needs so that they don’t have time to seek or place a lower priority on higher self-actualization thus political apathy.
Old Guy 2 on Sun, 22nd Nov 2009 3:40 pm
This See Hum Clown Prince is speaking through his Arse.
He should be directing his message to the PRs / FTs which
he brings in by the ship loads, not to Singaporeans.
I cannot think of anything good he has done for Singaporeans since taking office.