Prologue
In an article titled “The centre must hold” published in the Straits Times Review today (page 22), Singapore’s Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew told an international audience comprising 200 diplomats and academics at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London that Singapore was able to have a stable, peaceful society largely because of his policy of treating every race equally.
He next cite the example of Malaysia as having a divided society now because of a race-based education system catering to the needs of individual races instead of a unified system in Singapore where all Singaporeans attend national schools together from the primary to tertiary level irregardless of race and religion.
This is what MM Lee said:
“We also got everybody mixed up in the (housing estates), no longer in enclaves. Every constituency has its quota of the less successful. Everybody has the same chances in education and we choose a neutral language - English.
Malaysia threw out English and went with Malay. The Chinese and the Indians decided to have their own schools. Now they have got a divided society.”
We now asked our panel of 3 writers what they think of MM Lee’s remarks. Fang Zhi Yuan and Mohammad Fairuz are Singaporeans while Lim Siow Kuan is a Malaysian citizen and a Singapore PR now working in Singapore.
In addition, we have also invited a prominent Singapore blogger and social activist, Mr Ng E Jay who runs the popular sgpolitics.net and a Malaysian Miss Renee Lim to join the panel. We thank E Jay and Renee for their time and efforts to participate in this very interesting discussion.
Read the discussion here:
http://wayangparty.wordpress.com/20...pores-due-to-differences-in-education-system/
In an article titled “The centre must hold” published in the Straits Times Review today (page 22), Singapore’s Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew told an international audience comprising 200 diplomats and academics at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London that Singapore was able to have a stable, peaceful society largely because of his policy of treating every race equally.
He next cite the example of Malaysia as having a divided society now because of a race-based education system catering to the needs of individual races instead of a unified system in Singapore where all Singaporeans attend national schools together from the primary to tertiary level irregardless of race and religion.
This is what MM Lee said:
“We also got everybody mixed up in the (housing estates), no longer in enclaves. Every constituency has its quota of the less successful. Everybody has the same chances in education and we choose a neutral language - English.
Malaysia threw out English and went with Malay. The Chinese and the Indians decided to have their own schools. Now they have got a divided society.”
We now asked our panel of 3 writers what they think of MM Lee’s remarks. Fang Zhi Yuan and Mohammad Fairuz are Singaporeans while Lim Siow Kuan is a Malaysian citizen and a Singapore PR now working in Singapore.
In addition, we have also invited a prominent Singapore blogger and social activist, Mr Ng E Jay who runs the popular sgpolitics.net and a Malaysian Miss Renee Lim to join the panel. We thank E Jay and Renee for their time and efforts to participate in this very interesting discussion.
Read the discussion here:
http://wayangparty.wordpress.com/20...pores-due-to-differences-in-education-system/
