From Third World to First The Singapore Story pdfdrive com

The Singapore Story
, on 16 September 1998, my 75th birthday. For
two Sundays before its launch, Singapore’s newspapers carried excerpts of my
description of events leading to Singapore’s separation from Malaysia. This
angered Malaysian leaders. A thunderous barrage of criticisms and attacks arose
from them and their media, that I was “insensitive” to their economic
difficulties, choosing a time of economic troubles to publish my memoirs. I had
also hurt the feelings of the children of the principal actors of the 1960s, in
particular Najib Abdul Razak, Tun Razak’s son who was minister for education,
and Syed Hamid Albar, Syed Ja’afar Albar’s son who was minister for defence.

---

They denied the truth of my account of events. Questioned at a press conference,
I said I had checked and verified my facts, that my words were carefully chosen,
and that I staked my reputation on the truth of what I had written. Two days after
that, on 18 September, their minister for defence banned the RSAF from flying
over their airspace with immediate effect. The Malaysians had decided to make
it difficult for our planes to reach our training areas in the South China Sea after
taking off from Singapore airfields.
The dynamics of Singapore-Malaysia relations have not changed
fundamentally since our separation on 9 August 1965. Malaysia asked us to
leave because we stood for a Malaysian Malaysia and they for a
Malaydominated Malaysia. A multiracial society of equal citizens was
unacceptable to the UMNO leaders of Malaysia in 1965 and remained
unacceptable in 1999. In May that year Malaysian opposition leader, Lim Kit
Siang, revived the concept of a Malaysian Malaysia. Mahathir reacted sharply to
say it was a threat to their (Malay) identity, because Malaysia was previously
called 
Tanah Melayu
(Malay land). Two months later (
Straits Times
, 30 July
1999) he said that if Malaysia were forced to adopt a system of meritocracy as
advocated by the West, it would terminate the process implemented by the
government to bridge the gap among the races. The government, through the
New Economic Policy, had provided assistance to Malays in the fields of
business and education, and many of them now held important positions, for
example as professors and vice-chancellors. He said, “If it is abolished, I am sure
that the Malays and the bumiputras will become manual workers and will not be
able to hold high positions they are holding today. … Many bumiputras will lose
their jobs, their children will not be able to go to universities and will not be able
to become professors and lecturers.” He also lamented that Malay students
shunned science-based courses in favour of Malay and religious studies.
Mahathir was determined to redress the economic balance between the races.
When the financial crisis struck, many Malay entrepreneurs were badly hurt
because they had over-borrowed during the boom in the stock and property
markets. Only Mahathir had the courage to tell his Malays:
“In the past, the country had wasted a lot of resources training
unqualified individuals. We had not taken into account the capabilities of
those given opportunities or exposed them to enough experiences.
Because of this, many of our efforts have failed and there was wastage.
Although there were successes, they did not meet the investments put in.

---

… In the previous two policies – the National Economic Council Policy
and New Development Policy – the focus had been to churn out local
bumiputra businessmen. Now we want to mould world-class
entrepreneurs.” (