MM Lee: Singapore will not become a “satellite” of China
December 30th, 2009 | 
Author: Written by Our Correspondent
In his latest public speech, Singapore’s “forecaster extraordinarie” MM Lee Kuan Yew predicted that China “may become an advanced world power in 50 years’ time.”
He added that for Singapore to be an effective player on the world stage, it must retain its point of view, and not become a satellite of bigger economies like the US, Japan or China:
“We are a little red dot but we are a special red dot. We are connected with the world, we play a special role. And we are not going to be in anybody’s pocket. And if we lose that status, we are meaningless. Because of our status as independent actors, independent observers of situation, when we say something, they say yes that is a Singapore point of view and very often a realistic point of view.”
A former Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee now jets around the world to dispense his “pearls of wisdom” to leaders of other countries. His last lecture was to the Japanese to emulate Singapore’s example and open its doors to immigration.
Contrary to Lee’s claims, Singapore may have already become a satellite of China in another sense. The small island state has seen a relentless influx of foreigners in recent years especially from China.
Mainland Chinese are allowed to come to Singapore to study, work and live with few restrictions. PRs and citizenships are given freely even to construction workers, cleaners and masseurs.
As many of them are unable to speak English, the ruling party has generously offered free English language classes to them, courtesy of a $10 million Community Integration Fund sponsored fully by Singapore taxpayers to make the new citizens and PRs feel “welcomed” in Singapore.
In a recent interview with the National Geographic magazine, Lee admitted that it is a “good thing that the nation has welcomed so many Chinese immigrants” as they are more “hard-driving and hard-striving” than locals.
Lee’s remarks sparked a massive outcry in cyberspace with many netizens condemning him for it, but was not reported by the mainstream media. A Facebook was even set up demanding him apologize to Singaporeans.
With China becoming more affluent and influential, it is doubtful if it will be interested to listen to Singapore’s “point of view” again, again and again in the future.
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29 Responses to “MM Lee: Singapore will not become a “satellite” of China”
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Actually, MM Lee is correct. Singapore will never become a satellite of China the way Puerto Rico is a satellite of the US. That’s because Singapore is ALREADY a de facto PROVINCE of China.
of course he doesn’t want that… else how is his grand son and great grand son continue to receive million dollar salaries as a minister.
Deng Xiao Ping only got 300 US dollars as leader.
How can his great grandson live on that?
While not exactly the same, in many aspects, sg is similar to china already.
sad.
He said sg will not be a satellite of china.
But who is going to there in 20, 30 , 40, 50 years’ time to still say the same?
simply clear , right?
What do you think about a person who keep saying you are the best of the best, you are my hero, my idol and so ? Do you think he thinks better of you ? maybe for a while, he will be “shoik” and give you some “sweets” like a dog wagging its tail. The famous “idol” always treat his “fans” without much respect (only to rip them as much as possible). I think you need some gut if you dare to reason with a big powerful & rich guy if it is against your own interest. We are a very small country but we are not afraid to say what we think is best for Singapore & Singaporean. Do not pride about such comments but at least inside we know we have some “backbone”.
Predict?? If he could predict, we would all be Millionaires, not just his famiLee.
All i gather from these comments is that they are self-praising.i suspect the “we”-when referring to singapore- does
not in any manner refer to the nation as a whole-but only the PAPies.When it comes to giving reasons for any national setback,we,the citizens,are solely responsible for the
mistakes the same highly paid elites committed?
sometimes,it makes me wonder whether we have already overtaken
Switzerland…their folks seem to shy away from making their
“swiss-standard” comments…
mm i think the party need a major surgery in all facets in order to gel with the people once again. those that openly supported your party will disappear once the carrot is removed. they go where the grass are greener just like the animals. this is call survival.
“Lee admitted that it is a “good thing that the nation has welcomed so many Chinese immigrants” as they are more “hard-driving and hard-striving” than locals.”
Old Man was never a good judge of character, and has a history of finding duds. History is repeating itself again, as all this riff-raffs and floatsam flooding our shores are all 2nd rate at best. The best have already gone to the West or been induced to stay behind by generous Chinese govt perks. So the people who could not compete in China are the ones robbing our rice bowls.
No singapore will be invaded one day by china and these fifth column will betray us.
I will never trust them. fifth columns are always fifth columns who will be more than willing to backstab us at the first salvo.
I suspect the govt knows that, hence we are doing NS, so that we can continue to prop them up.
They give us a choice at the end, support us or the fifth columns. The devil or satan.
Old Man just wants to flood the place with PRCs and Indians to prevent it from becoming too Malay, because the Malays are the ones reproducing fastest and mostest. In Malaysia, already the Chinese percentage has dropped drastically due to overtaking of Malay births and the low birth rate and exodus of the Chinese. Why does he care? Old Man’s ego so strong he cannot accept that his legacy would not survive him. Merger in 1963 was a quickie marriage that not surprisingly crashed on the rocks because the couple did not take enough time to get to know each other, and in its wake, spoiled the future for generations of Malaysians and Singaporeans.
MM Lee & Mahathir are the same breed.. just different mothers. Politicians, period.
to paraphrase Warren buffett
“The only value of political forecasters is to make fortune-tellers look good”
Old Fart doesn’t want his farts to become meaningless.
Singapore is already a satellite of China. An example would be Zhang Yuan Yuan who obtains citizenship and returns to China. MM Lee is senile period.
老人 无法预测准确。
由于不少的新加坡在中国工作，经商。问题来了
Wah ! why is this joker teaching and telling China how to rule their country again ?
lee kuan yew ! do more good deeds for yourself and children…..there maybe plenty of retribution waiting for you.
There he goes a Farting again.Why dont he spent his last few years doing some good or voluntary work instead of whatever he does now is just to swell his big fat ego.
If he is such a good forecaster why does he needs to consult the late abbot of Kong Meng San Por Ka Si when the former was still alive.
The old man is fooling himself again. He wants to preserve the Singaporean point of view! For what? What utter rubbish! The basic rule of international politics is that nations will accept your point of view only if it is to their national interest. Does he think that he can influence America, China, the EU and India if it is not to their national interest? See what happens when they only want to do things their way in the aftermath of Copenhagen. Our LHL can only mouth the obvious “water is wet, heat is hot” statements that nobody listens to.
The only reason the old man wants to present the Singaporean point of view is that it gives him political mileage locally, it gives him a chance to travel widely and constantly on tax payers’ expense and it justifies his multi-million dollar salary.
Hey, old man, wake up! The world’s leaders are only humoring you. Come up with the solution to the banking and housing crisis in America and Obama will listen to you. Better still why not get your daughter in law to bail out all the banks in the US with TH’s money. I am sure you will get the instant attention and adulation of the President, Congress and Senate in the US.
However, he wants to save the world and yet Singaporeans are living hand to mouth, worry about their jobs, worry about putting food on the table and the incessant onslaught of foreigners determined to displace Singaporeans in every sector of life.
You want a prediction? I’ll give you a prediction. I predict that LKY’s bloated ego will eventually be the millstone that sinks Singapore. His constant need for international recognition, his protection of the incompetence of his family, his inability to admit and set right his mistakes, his utter dislike for anyone who questions his decisions and his inability to let go his stranglehold on Singapore’s political and social institutions is going to be the downfall of Singapore. I wonder how many of us he is going to drag along with him to his grave. This will be his legacy to Singapore. He built and organized the nation such that it cannot survive without him, forgetting that he was not immortal. His succession plan was to replace himself with his son as the kings of old used to do. What a pity! What a bloody damn pity!
haha lky was talking about ways in which singapore can compete with china…hahahahah laughed my ass off
we cannot even compete with one province in china much less than whole of china hahaha
goliath vs david. superpower vs pee sai island.
i really enjoy reading these news report, always give me a good laugh.
as for the rise of china, haha, history has shown those communists always manages to screw things up. maybe in 2010 their leader decide to make another “great leap forward” or “cultural revolution” and start killing their own people again haha.
when the current chinese leaders announced the “harmonious society” it ended up with the internet being filtered lol. even bbc , youtube all are blocked.
dictatorships are always very unstable.
At the rate China is going about doing its businesses,any
secondary schoolboy can also predict that Chins will become
a super power house in 50 years’time.But it will take a younger brain with better eyesight, to forecast the destiny of Singapore!
In less than 10 years’ time, with the rate of green house gases generated into the atmosphere by the developing countries, the Artic and Antartic ice sheets will slowing disappeared.The Northern shipping route will be formed, ferrying goods,oil, and all essencials from the American and European markets to the East and vice-versa.When this
happens all the ships will bypass Singapore!So in 20 years’ time, the scenario of Singapore will be the exact duplicate
of the City of Venice today!
Today, the City of Venice is a sleepy place,the citizens
survive only on tourists’dollars!
The world goes around,Venice was once a very prosperous
city,just like what Singapore it is today!
How effective a player will Singapore in 20,30 years’time
will depend on how much chips we have on the table! When your chips are down,you don’t get to call the shots!!
Is this the senile old man’s way of subtly telling China that I will hold you responsible for the failure of Tianjin Eco City if it fails miserably just like Suzhou. Perhaps, someone from high up the food chain in PAP has leaked out about the difficulty of getting Tianjin project off the ground to the ST journalist who thought that she had a news scoop of her career!
In order to prevent Tianjin Eco City from falling into ruins comparable to Suzhou, better leak it out earlier so that the Beijing govt will be embarrassed by 3rd party leakage, like this, no need to point hands at PAP or LKY.
Back to LKY saying that this little red dot bo chap China’s political sensitivities as Spore is an independent sovereign state. Well, he ought to tell that to his PM son for angering China when he visited Taiwan as his 1st foreign country upon his appointment as PM. Talk big only, if you senile old man really dare to defy China, you would not have let your PM son accede to China’s request for a formal apology as a knee jerk reaction to China acting on its threats to cancel projects & official visits scheduled at that time of the incident.
Money talks, old senile man. Eat your words soon.
There’s really no use in complaining anymore. All Singaporeans are responsible for helping to putting him in power and keeping him in power for so long that he thinks he’s next to god. It is up to Singaporeans to bring the party down to earth. But over the years, the party has made it so dammn hard, how many post 65s have voted before? I know I havn’t because in every GE there’s a walkover in my constituency. With the influx of immigrant from China, India, etc you can bet who they will vote for. They know they can count on the old man to keep their door open for their relatives to come.
The best ordinary native Singporeans can counter this is stop patronising shops, hawkers, any businesses owned by them. If they are not successful than fewer of them will invade our shores, the rate of increase in HDB prices will perhaps be more normal, etc.
I agree that Singapore is already a province of China. With one and a half million PRCs already here, and millions more to come, I don’t see how we can continue remain a sovereign nation.
Time for change.
Hey Old Fart that we dont need you to forecast,even an Idiot will know already.
Anyway what business is of yours whether when China will become a super power.I am sure you will not live to see that happen.
With a flood of PRC immigrants and PRs here, it won’t be long when they constitute more than 40% of our population. Even Pedra Branca is not safe of being a territorial part of China.
Agree with inflaTABLE boat, maybe someone with good resources can start to build up a list of shops, hawkers or any businesses that owned by these immigrants. The rest of us can contribute as well.
Singapore will not become a “satellite” of China because MM Lee cannot speak Chinese hahahaha