lee kuan yew's comment causes unhappiness

• lee kuan yew
• I have to speak candidly to be of value, but I do not want to offend the Muslim community... I think we were progressing very nicely until the surge of Islam came, and if you asked me for my observations, the other communities have easier integration – friends, inter-marriages and so on – than Muslims... I would say, today, we can integrate all religions and races, except Islam.
  • from his book 'Lee Kuan Yew: Hard Truths to Keep Singapore Going' (Asia One, March 08 2011 

Hard Truths was a book based on 32 hours of interviews over a period of two years. I made this one comment on the Muslims integrating with other communities probably two or three years ago. Ministers and MPs, both Malay and non-Malay, have since told me that Singapore Malays have indeed made special efforts to integrate with the other communities, especially since 9/11, and that my call is out of date. I stand corrected, but only just this instance! I hope that this trend will continue in the future.


were there protests? no
was there unhappiness amongst the muslim community ? yes
how was it resolved
= lky retracted his statement...
the opinion of one person cannot make or break a religion or cultural group

you do....

so stay calm, collected and show them you are made of finer stuff...friends...

No one community is to blame for the cracks that appear...everybody must bear responsibility and take action...

I hope our children will live in a better world than we did.