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Transcript of a Speech by the Prime Minister Mr. Lee Kuan

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Transcript of a Speech by the Prime Minister Mr. Lee Kuan 1 TRANSCRIPT OF A SPEECH BY THE PRIME MINISTER MR. LEE KUAN YEW AT A LUNCH-TIME RALLY HELD AT FULLERTON SQUARE ON 2ND JULY, 1965. Friends, This is a very different situation from the last Hong Lim by-elections; different because the issues have widened, and we have now got to the core of our problems. Before, we were being side-tracked. Some people were thinking that they could make a Cuba out of Singapore: you (had) Barisan Socialis. Ong Eng Guan (was) also shouting away like Barisan Sosialis, trying to compete with Barisan Sosialis as to who could be more revolutionary. But in the end, we knew that he would run out of gas because that was a one-man horse-carriage; it could not run like Barisan. We knew that. So even then, the problem was the Communists and Barisan. And so the problem will be not just this year (but) for 10 years, for 20 years. Believe me, we spend a lot of time thinking about these things. Do not believe that the Communist problem will disappear. Now they are down, yes. But you know, they are down because they are isolated publicly; identified with the Indonesians; shouting the same slogans, "Crush Malaysia!" like the Indonesians; coming back via parachute; coming back in sampans and leading Indonesian terrorists into Malaya; traitors! So, they are isolated. lky\1965\lky0702 2 So, when they go and hold their meetings, they have only got their own little clack of supporters. But do not forget: down though they may be, they are fighting; and Communists always do that. And you never know: 10 years, 15 years, we make mistakes, up they come. And we are in danger of making mistakes. Some people in Malaya believe that the Communist problem is over, and that therefore, the enemy now is PAP; not the Communists. The Communist problem is simple, solved, the enemy is PAP. Why? Because PAP (is) arousing the people on their rights on Malaysian Malaysia and so on. So, according to some of their lesser lights, you know, Mentri Besars and so on, I am enemy No. 1. But according to Tun Razak, of course, I am not an enemy since they have full trust and confidence in me and give me complete intelligence briefings and so on and so forth. But meanwhile, in Utusan they keep on pumping the line. Now, it does not matter really. Hong Lim will be decided upon whether the five thousand votes that went to Ong Eng Guan will split evenly; in which case, we win because the last time we had more votes -- 3,007 as against Barisan's 2,300 to 2,400. If Barisan wins all the 5,000, then they win. If we win all the 5,000 well, Barisan is in danger of losing some money. But that is neither here nor there. The point is what happens after. What is the problem? The problem is whether you and I have a place in this country, and your children and my lky\1965\lky0702 3 children are owners of this country; or whether they are here by leave and licence; tolerated, you know, can do business and make money, but please stay out of the management of the affairs of this country. You know, this is a very insidious campaign; very subtle. They use two microphones: one for you and me, the multi-lingual English-speaking, Chinese speaking, Tamil-speaking, they use this one. And they say, "Pears and goodwill, accommodation; let us be kind to each other; let us work together and form a united nation." But what is more important is this other one which is going into the kampong; special microphone, VHF, very high frequency in Jawi. You and I do not understand, but they do. I give you an example. You know, in today's Straits Times, you will see on the back page that UMNO youth led by Inche Senu, Minister for Broadcasting and Information went up to see Tun Razak, (and had a) long conversation. And at the end of the meeting, you (will) find in today's Straits Times, ... "Razak to UMNO youths: be calm and be prepared". I say this is (a) very funny thing to say. Now, the Tunku likes this word "relax". He says, "Let us be relaxed." Now, supposing he does say, "Be calm and be relaxed; do not worry," then I will say, "This is a good news." But the man says, "Be calm and be prepared." lky\1965\lky0702 4 So I say, "Where is Utusan? Call for Utusan." You see, I cannot read the Jawi because it is really the Arabic script, and that is not in the Constitution. It is not the official script. So I got them to type out in Rumi, in Romanised Malay what Utusan says. Do you know what it says? Tun telah ,meminta segala ahli-ahli pergerakan pemuda UMNO di- seluroh negara supaya bertenang." You know "bertenang"? The root word is "tenang", "ayer tenang": calm water. That is good. I like to hear that. "...dan berwaspada kerana masa'alah yang di-hadapi oleh Kerajaan sekarang ini ada-lah besar dan rumit". You know "ber waspada". Those of you who are learning Bahasa Kebangsaan will know that the root word is without the "ber". "Ber" means "be on"; "waspada". You know, "waspada" is a very Indonesian word. So I quickly borrowed the Indonesian dictionary. I will tell you what "waspada" means. This is the "Kamus Moderen Bahasa Indonesia," by Sutan Mohamed Zain. "Waspada": "awas". You know what "awas" means? On the signboard, fierce dog, "awas anjing"! "Awas, hati-hati, ingat-ingat”. So I looked up "awas". So we must know what is going to happen. "Awas" it says, is "Look out!" Says the Indonesian-English dictionary by Pino and Wattermans. So there you know. In English, they say, "Be Prepared", like the Boys Scouts. It sounds all right. But in the special VHF going to the kampong, they say "berwaspada"! If you read all that, you'll say, "Well, this is not a laughing matter, this". lky\1965\lky0702 5 What shall we do? Shall we also form a PAP youth movement? So that when I come back from Kuala Lumpur, a PAP youth leader, a big delegation comes to see me led by the most youthful-looking man with a bald head! All youth leaders must have bald-heads; then they can impress the youths! And lead them to see me and we will have a long talk. Then after the talk is over, I say, "Be calm, and be prepared". But in Chinese and in Indian, we say, "Watch out!" So both sides go away and sharpen their staves. You see, like boy, scouts, they will sharpen their staves. Where is all this going to lead to? We say this is our duty: every time they use this VHF, very high frequency in Jawi to the kampongs, we monitor; we listen, we translate, we put it into the other microphones; so you and I, we know what is happening. So, when we know that is happening ... For instance, from the Straits Times, you did not know what Inche Senu said, did you? But you know in Utusan: "Kata Inche Senu" ... that is the youth leader, you know, a very young man -- "Saya perchaya pergerakan pemuda UMNO akan bertenang." That is "calm"; that is a good word. "Bersedia" that is "be prepared" like the Boy Scouts; that is not so bad. "... dan berwaspada" that is the "watch out" sign; "menunggu", means "to wait" "arahan daripada Tun" "Arahan": you know, "arah" means "direction"; "arahan" means "directions"; "waiting for orders"; "berwaspada menunggu arahan"! What is all this going on? lky\1965\lky0702 6 We went there to try and reach some kind of rapport; to say, "Look, where is all this leading to?" If every day this goes on, where will it lead to? Do you know what they tell me? Particularly the MCA chaps? They say, "Do not refer to this. Why do you talk about it? If we all do not talk about it, just leave it alone, all will be peaceful." Do you think so? You know, this was going on last year: April, May, June. Most of you did not know. But I knew because I was reading the translations every morning. And do you know whose newspaper is Utusan Melayu? Let me read it to you ..... This is a private limited company so the shareholders are secret; they do not publish the shareholders; but I happened to be the legal adviser for eight years, from 1951 to 1959, until I become part of the government here, and therefore I could not work for them anymore. So, I know all the inside of Utusan Melayu, and I also know quite a number of the inner workings. Because, our present Yang di-Pertuan Negara was the founder and the Managing Director of this company until June 1959 when he left. Now, I do not want to give you any secrets which I know as a man who happened to have had some knowledge of the inner workings of the company. But I will just read to you their report on the directors. The directors' list is a fair gauge of who runs the show. No.1 Chairman, Y.B. that means Yang Berhormat - Dato Ibrahim Fikri, S.M.B.T.J.M.N.B.T.T.P.M.N.: Menteri Besar, Trengganu; Yang Berhormat Inche Abdul Ga'afar bin Baba, Chief Minister, Malacca; Yang lky\1965\lky0702 7 Berhormat Inche Abdul Samad bin Idris, Deputy Mentri Besar, Negri Sembilan ..
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