MM Lee's Prejudicial Comments Riled Sri Lankans

[SNAblog]

http://www.dailymirror.lk/print/index.php/editorial/106-editorial/12395.html

LKY’s prejudice

Monday, 07 June 2010 00:00

The father of modern Singapore Lee Kuan Yew is entitled to his own interpretation about individual politicians around the world just like any other person.

However how informed and knowledgeable he is to call one community in Sri Lanka brighter than the other is a big question.

Having founded the People’s Action Party (PAP) with his Jaffna born multi-talented buddy Sinnathamby Rajaratnum whom he later appointed as his Deputy Prime Minister and associated with so many eminent Sri Lankan Tamils through him, it is likely that Lee Kuan Yew has quite positive memories of the Tamil community in Sri Lanka. Even otherwise with Singapore being the home to thousands of Sri Lankan Tamils he would have got enough opportunities to cultivate contacts.

However with no such friends among other Sri Lankan communities he is certainly ill-equipped to make a sweeping racist statement like the one he has made in his latest book that “Sinhalese who are less capable are putting down a minority of Jaffna Tamils who are more capable”.

The octogenarian politician’s interpretation one may say exposes his own biases and prejudices against the communities here as the fact remains that one gets capable talented people among all communities in Sri Lanka. And even the Tamils in Sri Lanka who may find LKY’s comments quite flattering may still agree that one cannot ethnicize talent in Sri Lanka. There’s a whole host of Sri Lankan born scientists, astronomers, nuclear scientists all over the world from all communities. In sports there was Duncan White who won Silver at 400 hurdles at 1948 Olympics, Mohamed Lafir who won World Billiards Championship in 1973 and Muralitharan remains the highest wicket taker in both ODIs and Test cricket while Susanthika Jayasinghe won the silver medal in 200m at 2000 Sydney Olympics.

The Jaffna Tamil community that LKY tries to portray as the victims undoubtedly had been one of the most hardworking and focused communities here. His repeated references to Tamils here as Jaffna Tamils indicate that the legendary nation builder is clueless about the basic demographic structure of Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka is in the process of rebuilding the nation after a horrible war and there’s a responsibility by the likes of senior international politicians of the calibre of LKY to avoid making statement that would harm the reconciliation process by pitting one community against the other.

 

[Leongsam]

The octogenarian politician’s interpretation one may say exposes his own biases and prejudices against the communities

He certainly isn't alone. All chinkie sinkies make derogatory remarks about other races on a regular basis.

 

[kingrant]

Also true that the people who regularly voted for PAP think and act like mickey mouse LKYs.

He certainly isn't alone. All chinkie sinkies make derogatory remarks about other races on a regular basis.

 

[shOUTloud]

Given the amount of free scholarships we have throwing at the Sri Lankans, allow us some racism lah.

 

[Liquigas]

The ancestors of the Sinhalese are Aryans who arrived on the island around 500 BC. They are of the same stock as the North Indians.The Tamils are Dravidians from South India. Being a member of the Aryan 'race' tells us something about them.

So it is not a issue of who is smarter or more capable. The Brtiish colonial master favour the minorityTamil community leading to greater intellectual and economic accomplishment achieved by the Tamils vis-a-vis the majority Sinhalese. The tension and conflict are the result of this resentment and jealousy of one community against another ....

 

[pocoyo]

When ah lee is sprouting about others negatively, I wonder what he has in SG especially something that make him proud..wait a minute, think I recall now..a guniang son and a macho daughter-in-law..I think..

 

[singveld]

sri longkang war crimes are recently exposed to UN, they have no moral authority to complain about singapore.

 

[Jah_rastafar_I]

He certainly isn't alone. All chinkie sinkies make derogatory remarks about other races on a regular basis.

touche u racist bugger u make racist remarks about chinese ALL the time. One eg is right here. :oIo:

 

[Papsmearer]

Old goat has been going around pissing everyone off. The Malaysians, the Phillippines, Taiwan, etc. If other people from another country commented on S'pore, he will call it foreign interference in S'pore's domestic issues, and start suing left, right and centre. But when he comments on it, its ok?

 

[ahpong]

He also thought that Suzhou people are more talented than Shandong people, which gave birth to Suzhou Industrial Park. He is partially right. They are very talented in swallowing up our monies.

 

[kingrant]

Tamils from my experience are nicer and humbler people. The worst are the fairer Indians esp from the North. They look down on their poorer cousins and even the Chinese. LKY done all of us a favour - he imported the whole caste system into Singapore, and Indians will fight Indians, Chinese will fight Chinese...the best practices of the British - divvy and rule.