Freedoms restricted? Those familiar with Singapore know better

The Straits Times, April 5, 2007


MM LEE IN SYDNEY
MM challenges view of Western media that Singapore is seen as place that limits freedoms

By Lydia Lim, SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT

TALENT DRAW: MM Lee at a tea session with Singaporeans studying in Sydney during his three-week visit to Australia and New Zealand. He said yesterday that if Singapore was indeed the place it was made out to be by the Western media, it would not have been able to attract the talent it has.


SYDNEY - THE Western media paints Singapore as a place where individual freedoms are restricted, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew said here yesterday.

But businessmen and talented people know better, he told the Singapore media.

If Singapore was indeed the place it was made out to be, it would not have been able to attract the talent that it has, he said as he wrapped up a three-week visit to Australia and New Zealand.

He was asked if Singapore's drive to attract talent would be hampered by perceptions that it remained a country that restricted individual freedoms.

Last week in Canberra, a small number of academics and students from the Australian National University (ANU) protested against the award of an honorary doctorate to Mr Lee, whom they saw as a leader who suppressed political opponents and democracy.

Asked for his comments, Mr Lee said yesterday that he challenged the assumption that people viewed Singapore as a place that limits freedoms.

'This is the stereotype that the Western media purveys of Singapore. But businessmen and talented people who work for these companies are better informed; otherwise we wouldn't have attracted the talent we have.'

He said ANU, Melbourne University and London's Imperial College knew they would 'get flak' from human rights activists for choosing to bestow special honours on him.

But they went ahead because they understood the real Singapore.

Mr Lee also said that Singaporeans cannot allow others to prescribe what they should or should not be.

'If we didn't have more self-confidence in what we are doing and we listened to what is prescribed for us, we wouldn't be here.

'You cannot bring Singapore from where it was to where it now is without long periods of stable government and experienced ministers.'

He also cited the examples of Taiwan and South Korea, where transformation had taken place when there were governments in power for a long time.

This resulted in their having ministers and civil servants with the experience and expertise to improve the system.

But liberalisation has had a negative impact on Taiwan's economic growth rates, stability and future, he said.

It has led to a government that engaged in 'mass manipulation of attitudes to win votes' by deceiving the people into thinking that independence from China was a way forward when 'there is in fact no way forward', he said.

In South Korea, a younger generation had voted in a new government that was completely at variance with United States policies.

Mr Lee pointed out that without the US, Seoul would be in 'dire difficulties' with its northern neighbour.

On Australia and New Zealand, Mr Lee said both their economies were now more vibrant than when he last visited seven and eight years ago respectively.

That was due to greater integration with China and the region, and economic liberalisation which had boosted their competitiveness.

Both countries had also opened their doors to a greater diversity of migrants.

Mr Lee observed that as large countries with wide open spaces, plenty of resources and small populations, both Australia and New Zealand could also afford to be a lot more 'generous' in their immigration policies than Singapore.

They could take in lower-skilled migrants whereas Singapore had to be more selective and accept only those with the high skills it needed.