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PM Lee is worried about 2 disturbing trends in Singapore
By Leslie Koh
4th April, 2012
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Wednesday identified two societal trends that worries him: A 'self-centred' Not-In-My-Backyard syndrome that has been increasingly seen among some vocal Singaporeans, and what appears to be a growing gap between Singaporeans and new immigrants.
In an interview at the end of the 20th Asean Summit in Phnom Penh, he raised his concerns about these two trends, and cited the example of angry reactions to Chinese student Sun Xu who has apologised for derogatory comments about Singaporeans.
While he acknowledged that the student's remarks were uncalled for, he urged Singaporeans to maintain 'a certain balance and not get worked up every time someone misspeaks'.
Said Mr Lee: 'He shouldn't have made that blog post. He did. He has been chastised, he has been disciplined, he has expressed his contrition, he's sorry about it. We should have been able to move on from that and deal with it as one person who misspoke. We should not, because of one incident, make that into an issue, (to say) all immigrants are like that.'
By Leslie Koh
4th April, 2012
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Wednesday identified two societal trends that worries him: A 'self-centred' Not-In-My-Backyard syndrome that has been increasingly seen among some vocal Singaporeans, and what appears to be a growing gap between Singaporeans and new immigrants.
In an interview at the end of the 20th Asean Summit in Phnom Penh, he raised his concerns about these two trends, and cited the example of angry reactions to Chinese student Sun Xu who has apologised for derogatory comments about Singaporeans.
While he acknowledged that the student's remarks were uncalled for, he urged Singaporeans to maintain 'a certain balance and not get worked up every time someone misspeaks'.
Said Mr Lee: 'He shouldn't have made that blog post. He did. He has been chastised, he has been disciplined, he has expressed his contrition, he's sorry about it. We should have been able to move on from that and deal with it as one person who misspoke. We should not, because of one incident, make that into an issue, (to say) all immigrants are like that.'