Cut the crap!
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>Aug 8, 2008
SINGAPORE 43: NATIONAL DAY LETTERS
</TR><!-- headline one : start --><TR>Lessons for tomorrow
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->I REFER to Mr See Leong Kit's letter, 'Singapore's success not about PAP or opposition' (July 31).
He wrote: 'Put simply, had the PAP governed Timbuktu in Africa, would the outcome have been similar?'
Why Timbuktu? Why not Sri Lanka?
Mr Lee Kuan Yew and his Cabinet aspired to emulate Ceylon, as Sri Lanka was called then. Ceylon was blessed with gems, water, tea, rubber, coconuts, an English-educated population, an efficient civil service and a respected judiciary.
Sri Lankan scholars taught abroad in emerging nations.
Mr Lalith Athulathmudali, vice-dean of the University of Singapore's law faculty, taught luminaries like Professor S. Jayakumar and Professor Tommy Koh.
He revealed to me, when I was filming a documentary, 'Ceylon Yesterday: Sri Lanka Today'', that Singaporeans have much to thank the People's Action Party (PAP) Government for.
He revealed what a forward-thinking prime minister Singapore had in Mr Lee Kuan Yew.
Mr Lee asked him to assess his two former students - Prof Jayakumar and Prof Koh, whom Mr Lee was considering for high political office.
He said our Government under Mr Lee, like a grand chessmaster, was always calculating forward carefully. We were lucky, he said, to have a clean government that worked for the the people, unlike Sri Lankan politicians.
So, what happened to Sri Lanka? Athulathmudali was killed by a terrorist bomber during his ambitious run to become president of Sri Lanka.
Similarly murdered were president Ranasinge Premadasa; Gamini Dissayanake, another presidential hopeful; and many others like foreign minister Lakshman Kadirgama, who was thought of as a future prime minister.
Talented but frustrated youth were killed in the ensuing political and ethnic chaos.
Instead of Timbuktu, were the PAP to govern well-endowed Ceylon, you may well imagine how Sri Lanka would have emerged. Singapore had nothing when the PAP took over: no infrastructure, no water, no rubber or tin; not even an educated population. When armed British forces withdrew unexpectedly, the tough decisions taken by the PAP slowly but surely transformed Singapore into what it is today.
As we celebrate our 43rd National Day tomorrow, we must count our blessings that we were born here or achieved permanent residence as more people aspire for a good life, with a continuing clean and efficient government.
There are many new problems ahead. We need the best to be in government and civil service to ensure more good years.
I never cease to thank my grandparents for settling down in Singapore.
Happy National Day! Ananda Perera
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>Aug 8, 2008
SINGAPORE 43: NATIONAL DAY LETTERS
</TR><!-- headline one : start --><TR>Lessons for tomorrow
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->I REFER to Mr See Leong Kit's letter, 'Singapore's success not about PAP or opposition' (July 31).
He wrote: 'Put simply, had the PAP governed Timbuktu in Africa, would the outcome have been similar?'
Why Timbuktu? Why not Sri Lanka?
Mr Lee Kuan Yew and his Cabinet aspired to emulate Ceylon, as Sri Lanka was called then. Ceylon was blessed with gems, water, tea, rubber, coconuts, an English-educated population, an efficient civil service and a respected judiciary.
Sri Lankan scholars taught abroad in emerging nations.
Mr Lalith Athulathmudali, vice-dean of the University of Singapore's law faculty, taught luminaries like Professor S. Jayakumar and Professor Tommy Koh.
He revealed to me, when I was filming a documentary, 'Ceylon Yesterday: Sri Lanka Today'', that Singaporeans have much to thank the People's Action Party (PAP) Government for.
He revealed what a forward-thinking prime minister Singapore had in Mr Lee Kuan Yew.
Mr Lee asked him to assess his two former students - Prof Jayakumar and Prof Koh, whom Mr Lee was considering for high political office.
He said our Government under Mr Lee, like a grand chessmaster, was always calculating forward carefully. We were lucky, he said, to have a clean government that worked for the the people, unlike Sri Lankan politicians.
So, what happened to Sri Lanka? Athulathmudali was killed by a terrorist bomber during his ambitious run to become president of Sri Lanka.
Similarly murdered were president Ranasinge Premadasa; Gamini Dissayanake, another presidential hopeful; and many others like foreign minister Lakshman Kadirgama, who was thought of as a future prime minister.
Talented but frustrated youth were killed in the ensuing political and ethnic chaos.
Instead of Timbuktu, were the PAP to govern well-endowed Ceylon, you may well imagine how Sri Lanka would have emerged. Singapore had nothing when the PAP took over: no infrastructure, no water, no rubber or tin; not even an educated population. When armed British forces withdrew unexpectedly, the tough decisions taken by the PAP slowly but surely transformed Singapore into what it is today.
As we celebrate our 43rd National Day tomorrow, we must count our blessings that we were born here or achieved permanent residence as more people aspire for a good life, with a continuing clean and efficient government.
There are many new problems ahead. We need the best to be in government and civil service to ensure more good years.
I never cease to thank my grandparents for settling down in Singapore.
Happy National Day! Ananda Perera
