Singapore has been in the news for other reasons recently, but its appearance on the world stage, however brief, may provide us with an excuse to consider the views on Islam of the founding father of Singapore, and its longest-serving Prime Minister, Lee Kuan Yew, who died in 2015. Lee Kuan Yew lived in a multicultural city, with a Chinese majority and Indian and Muslim Malay minorities. All his political life, Lee Kuan Yew was aware of the need to keep the Muslim population in check. The laws he had passed, the regulations he enforced, were directed in large part to that end. He knew about Muslim efforts to convert others, and he made sure that any convert had to immediately register with the government, so such efforts could be monitored, and then countered, by the government. A study of all the ways that Lee Kuan Yew dealt with Muslims, and took careful note of, and combated, their natural aggressiveness and political machinations in tiny Singapore, an island of mostly Unbelievers — 3/4 of whom are Chinese — in a Muslim sea, should be instructive for Western leaders, who have the same problem and as yet only timid and confused ideas as to how to solve it.
Wikileaks revealed that Lee Kuan Yew had called Islam “a venomous religion.” He made sure to limit the numbers of Muslims in Singapore’s armed forces, suggesting their religion made them a possible danger to their non-Muslim fellow soldiers. In his “The Malays in Singapore,” he wrote that “if, for instance, you put in a Malay officer who’s very religious and who has family ties in Malaysia in charge of a machine gun unit, that’s a very tricky business.” It was under his leadership that the government instituted a ban on hijabs and other Muslim headscarves in both the police forces and nursing jobs. Lee Kuan Yew also substantially reduced government funding for madrasas, while increasing support for secular education. His government carefully monitored the mosques, both for the content of the imam’s sermons, and for any foreign (especially Saudi) sources of financial support that might lead to a mosque being “radicalized.” Clearly he understood the danger of Islam.
Lee Kuan Yew had, after all, originally declared Singapore’s independence from Malaysia because the Muslim Malays rejected meritocracy, and insisted on giving economic advantage to themselves. All Malays were required to be counted as Muslims (even if some were not), and all Muslims benefited from a disguised jizyah tax on non-Muslims which is called the “Bumiputra.” Although the word means “sons of the soil,” it is not the indigenous Malaysian tribes that benefit from the “Bumiputra” policy, but Malay Muslims alone.
According to this “Bumiputra” idea, all economic undertakings, all examples of entrepreneurial flair, must have Muslim Malays as their full partners. Two Chinese who wish to open, for example, a computer consulting company, or an architectural firm, are required to take on a Muslim Malay (but not a Hindu, nor another Chinese) as a full partner, with an equal financial stake — even though he need not contribute a thing. This is simply a way to ensure that the Muslims can continue to live on the backs of non-Muslims, who fulfill part of the traditional status of dhimmi by what is in effect a jizyah payment. In his book Hard Truths to Keep Singapore Going, Lee Kuan Yew urged Muslims to be “less strict’ in their interpretation of Islam. And he also wrote in the same book that “I think we were progressing very nicely [in limiting the power of political Islam] 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.”
As we look around the world, hasn’t the same problem of the failure of Muslims to integrate into non-Muslim societies arisen everywhere? Why should it be any different from what Lee Kuan Yew observed in Singapore? For Muslims around the world read the same Qur’an and Hadith, that offers the same description of non-Muslims as “the most vile of creatures,” the same commands — more than 100 — to wage violent Jihad against them, the same instruction “not to take Christians and Jews [or any other non-Muslims] as friends, for they are friends only with each other.”
Spare a thought for modern Singapore’s creator, Lee Kuan Yew, and take the opportunity to look into his unvarnished understanding, throughout his long political career, of the menace of Islam, and the various means he deployed — diminished funding for madrasas, limits on the Muslim presence in the armed forces, strict monitoring, through reporting requirements, of Muslim conversion efforts, bans on the hijab and other head covers for police and nurses — to comprehensively hold Islam in check. And it worked. Muslim Malays today make up 14% of the population of Singapore, just about the same percentage as in 1990. The Bumiputra system, which has unsurprisingly done damage economically to Malaysia, was successfully kept out of meritocratic Singapore. The results are there for all to see:
Malaysia has exports of $227.70 billion, while Singapore,with one-sixth its population, has exports of $435.80 billion. The GDP of Malaysia is $304 billion, and of Singapore — with that much tinier population, has a GDP of $275 billion. The GDP per capita is $16,800 for Malaysia, and $60,800.00 for Singapore, an astonishing difference given that they began from roughly the same starting point, forming a single political unit at independence.
If Singapore is an economic powerhouse today, it is because Lee Kuan Yew guided it to a successful separation from overwhelmingly Muslim Malaysia, kept the Muslim Malays in Singapore from increasing their numbers by monitoring campaigns of conversion, and limited the freedom of those conducting such conversions whenever they appeared to be too successful. Further, the madrasas were kept largely free from foreign funding, while government support for them was deliberately diminished. Local Muslims knew they were being watched by a government unafraid to take them on — the government of the authoritarian, far-seeing, no-nonsense Lee Kuan Yew. Few governments in the democratic and far too tolerant West could follow his hard-headed example. But for authoritarian regimes run by secular Muslims — such as the five Islamic republics in Central Asia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan — the example of Lee Kuan Yew, who for decades was unafraid to constrain the forces of Islam in Singapore, remains relevant, useful, and even inspiring.
Krishna says
But sadly malayalsian government is exactly opposite
gravenimage says
Malaysia is Muslim supremacist.
bodega says
The fact that we seem to elect non-intellectuals and unschooled people (witness Maxine Waters) overwhelmingly to our state and national governments is one reason why we have NOT Lee Kuan Yews in our Congressional and Executive Branches, state or national. Trump is the closest individual who seems to understand the menace of Islam. Certainly my neighbors do not and, sadly only 2/3s of my kids. It makes me sick to know my friends and neighbors and most of my family do not want to know anything about jihad or how governments are dealing with it (or not).
I have a daughter in Duluth, MN and she is appalled. The Somalis have taken over. What makes Americans think Muslims are benign? Why are we acting to stupidly?
BC says
The education level if the elected reflects the education of the electors unfortunately.
infidel says
A Muslim child asks his mother, “Ammi, what is Secularism?”
Mother dressed in her Burkha says, “Well son, Secularism is a system where the Hindu tax payers who have two children work hard every day so that we producing 5 to 10 children can get all our benefits like free housing, free healthcare, free education in our Madarassas, Temple Hundi collections to build our mosques, community centres, Haj subsidy and so on. This is Secularism”.
“But Ammi don”t the Hindu tax payers get angry about that?”
“Sure they do. That”s why we call them Communal and bigots”.
(For readers of JW. .. ps replace the word Hindu with Whites and U will still get the same jist)
Raja says
+100
RichardL says
I have said it before: you Indians have a much bigger islam problem than most countries and you already gave away a lot of land to the Muslims.
Raja says
Hugh Fitzgerald is one of the best writers for counter Jihad. Here is a blueprint from a man who combated Islam of its horrors and evil mechanizations to subdue and destroy non-Muslims.
But then you have leaders from almost all corners of the globe who are unwilling to see or listen. They are the real blind of the world.
Muslim rulers/thinktank are well are of the demographics of “their land”. A case in point is Jammu Kashmir, where the Muslim majority state disallowed even pilgrims to put up temporary shelters for fear of upsetting the demographics. There was a youtube video to that effect but without English subtitles.
I have always been a admirer of Singapore viz a viz Islamic terrorism.
Raja says
Typo error:
Muslim rulers/thinktank are well aware of the demographics of “their land”.
rubiconcrest says
Thank you Hugh for the short Jihad Watch centered biography of Yew who I knew very little about. The West can learn much from the actions he took.
Kay says
+1
infidel says
If U do not mind me saying this… LEE also put a FIRM CHECK ON CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES.. esp the ones that deploy UNDERHANDED methods for conversions….
Raja says
Infidel,
Sure, there are lots of unrepented crooks that flock to Christian faith and call themselves pastors or missionaries.e.g:: evil spirit casting missionaries etc.
Since Singapore wanted to weed out all crookery in their system they did allow this nonsense I guess. Singapore is world renowned for its no-nonsense system.e.g Nick Leeson who brought down Barings Bank single handedly fought tooth and nail to move his case outside of Singapore.
Jesus condemned such dubious conversions
Matthew 23:15
.Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.
jewdog says
Malaysia had the vile Mahathir, a primitive, anti-Semitic leader who personified the hate endemic to Islamic culture. It’s hard to move your country forward when you’re a dumb ignoramus.
The Chinese are heirs to an ancient, literary culture, one that naturally clashes with sclerotic Islam. It’s no surprise that Singapore sings, while Malaysia croaks.
flo says
mahathir had always been jealous of Mr. Lee Kuan Yew. All along wanted to kill Singapore. Now he is at it again with this water issue!
Mirit says
Not good enough.
The western countries need to take a much stricter approach, because they are in a much more dangerous state today. Western countries, including Israel, should outlaw Islam, close down all mosques and deport Muslims to Muslim countries. Don’t worry, they have 57 Muslim countries to go to.
Islam should be treated like Nazism. That’s it. It is criminal to be a Muslim.
gravenimage says
In most Western nations, it is legal to be a Nazi. What is *not* legal is imposing National Socialism on us.
tim gallagher says
I agree, Mirit, that Lee’s restrictions are not good enough and that the answer is to ban Islam altogether and deport all Muslims. I’m a bit surprised that a tough leader like Lee didn’t do this, although I suppose Muslim Malaysia would have invaded tiny Singapore if he’d throw out all the Muslims. So I guess he had no choice. He probably would have loved to throw all Muslims out if he could have done so. gravenimage, of course, you’re right about the precious freedoms we have in western nations, including being a Nazi. But, we all know that if Muslims are allowed in our countries it is 100% certain that they are going to be trying to impose Islam on us. Only answer is to keep them out or, I suppose, keep their numbers so small that they dare not try to start trying to impose their barbaric crap on us. Of course, I know from reading your comments many times that you also think keeping Islam out altogether is the only way to go.
jusswonderin' says
The problem, Mirit, is that just as the arab/islamic countries take no ‘refugees’ now, they’ll refuse them always!
Carol the 1st says
Sp why should we be the “patsies” – afflicting ourselves with a proven scourge? ‘My way or the highway’ should be all that’s offered to adherents of such a creed.
Gjallarhornet says
He was a hard man, no nonsense-attiude all over him. He wanted the best for his country in every way though, something that not only justifies the authoritarian stance but even explains it: he said that if Singapore were not ruled in an authoritarian way, everything would collapse at once. I always had a lot of respect for him.
Carol the 1st says
Which brings to mind the phrase “To everything there is a season”.
Ren says
All leaders should follow Lee Kuan Yew as an example.
christianblood says
Ren posted
(…All leaders should follow Lee Kuan Yew as an example…)
Indeed! May God bless his soul!
Flavius Claudius Iulianus says
“All leaders should follow Lee Kuan Yew as an example.”
Yes, the results speak for themselves!
Opinionated says
“I’m not saying that everything I did was right, but everything I did was for an honourable purpose. I had to do some nasty things, locking fellows up without trial.”
Lee in 2010, reflecting on his legacy.” “Transcript of Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew’s interview with Seth Mydans of New York Times & IHT on 1 September 2010” (PDF). National Archives of Singapore. Retrieved 1 April 2015.
Look at who these guys are promoting? Yes he led Singapore to economic prosperity but as he said he did some nasty things. He will give an account in the hereafter. Cruel man!
gravenimage says
Muslim apologist “Opinionated” does not want to see *anyone* defending against Jihad. Bad dhimmis…
DragarOz says
It is called making the hard choices for the greater good, as opposed to being a snowflake.
Your Utopia is a pipe dream, wake up in the real world.
gravenimage says
I’m afraid “Opinionated’s” utopia is Shari’ah law. Check out his other posts at Jihad Watch. He is not a liberal wearing rose-colored glasses–he is something *much* uglier.
eduardo odraude says
Lee Kuan Yew for the most part is not an example for democratic societies.
But I agree with this statement of his and I’ve long been of this view:
“I would say, today, we can integrate all religions and races, except Islam.”
No population group besides Islam represents a totalitarian threat of remotely similar magnitude. One may object to aspects of the culture of this or that group, but those difficulties do not represent existential threats the way Islam does.
gravenimage says
Hugh Fitzgerald: A Tribute to Lee Kuan Yew
………………
Thank you, Hugh. The differences between Singapore and Malaysia are striking.
Flavius Claudius Iulianus says
Yes, thank you Hugh Fitzgerald.
This is an especially important article.
I always expand my understanding of the topic when I read your articles.
infidel says
This article on LKW is s superb one by Hugh and one of the best ever posts on JW in recent times…Thanks Robert for posting this… Of course, the MSM will NEVER feature articles like these… That is why I love JW.
Vann Boseman says
+1
Matthieu Baudin says
Excellent article Hugh. Singapore almost stands alone in it’s competent management of traditional Islam within civil society. The successful campaign to abolish polygamy, which began around the time of Singapore’s independence, is also worthy of analysis, particularly as the energy and leadership for this reform movement was community based rather than government driven. Mr Lee was exceedingly bright and devoid of humbug. I was in Singapore at the time of his death and it was evident that even his critics recognised his major achievements and felt confident that his special executive clear headedness was now widespread amongst the government leadership and Singapore’s political opposition.
Vann Boseman says
For me, the Constitution is not a suicide pact. Yew’s approach on Islam provides a blueprint for the rest of the world, even countries that recognize freedom of religion. Islam is a blight on humanity and recognizing this is simply dealing with reality. Yew’s approach would seem to make space for Christians and other proselytizing religions to recommend reading the Koran for Muslims as a partial method of conversion should they choose to do so. Yew’s approach as presented is wise on multiple levels.
Oldo says
And let’s not forget about Lee’s MONUMENTAL role in weaning China from belligerent, North Korea-style communism! During the visit of Deng Xiaoping in 1978 (just 2 years after the Red Emperor MAO’s death) he so impressed the Chinese leader with achievements of Singapore that he set up on similar reforms in China! And the rest, friends, is history. I have few pictures on the walls of my office: one of them is Lee. I’m thinking of making space for a nice portrait of Donald J. TRUMP…
Jennifer says
The founding father of Singapore was a British envoy for the English Government.
In 1819, Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles negotiated a treaty whereby Johor allowed the British to locate a trading port on the primitive island, leading to the establishment of the British colony of Singapore per se in 1824. He then developed this as a British colony and the rest is history.
gravenimage says
+1
Sharyati says
We in India started off better than Singapore post Independence with more natural resources at our command. But unfortunately due to shitty leadership from morons like Nehru, who followed a policy of appeasing the minorities especially Muslims “Till you drop” lead us down into an economic shit hole that was Socialistic BS, Poverty and artificial scarcities of resources were created. Whereas Singapore and many other South Asian economies bloomed. The Kashmir problem has grown into demonic proportions because of the stupid introduction of Article 370 by this moron, which forces the constitution to overlook every act of Muslim Jihad, including the ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri pundits.
If the Brits starved us by pillaging resources, this Nehru moron starved us through socialism and a permit/license quota system. Imagine back in the 1980’s when a simple stone age telephone fitted with a dial, took 5 years to be issued from the date of application. Also in the name of inquiry the authorities harassed you and try to collect bribes. But with due the effort of great leaders like Narashimha Rao and Subrahmaniam swamy, India literally came out of bankruptcy and has grown since then. I wish we had a strong leader like Lee Kuan at the start. But alas we were burdened with morons like Nehru, Gandhi , who by their moral Utopianism literally killed us.
Atanu Dey says
The leaders a nation gets is largely the luck of the draw. Some countries get lucky — Singapore drew an ace in Lee Kuan Yew, and India drew a couple of jokers in Nehru and Gandhi. The jokers condemned hundreds of millions to lives of desperate misery. C’est la vie.
gravenimage says
Part of it *is* luck of the draw–but it also depends on what the people support.
Anne Smith says
An absolutely excellent and very informative article. Many thanks.
This should be prescribed reading for all our MPs and especially our silly dhimmi witted PM, Theresa May.
Richard Courtemanche says
I will send this article to inspire the recipients of my email below. Thank you Lee Kuan Yew for your strong leadership.
And they keep on coming!
7/2/2018 3:19 PM
Richard Courtemanche
To John Tory Copy Justin Trudeau and 48 others
Mayor Tory,
Look like your nightmare is getting even more nightmarish in your sanctuary city with all the gangs, shootings, etc… and, you want more money. But, as they say, money doesn’t buy happiness as your gang problem will only increase regardless unless it’s for “tough love measures” taken in collaboration with other major cities and serious provincial and federal support.
The thing is, the Feds are cowardly more interested in increasing their foreign voter base than helping out with your difficult problems and ensure safe communities. Anyhow, the Libs’ record shows that they’re better at creating problems as our border situation shows.
Not to say that Nigerians are the only gang members but you did mention that they were a large part of your migrants. A variety of estimates suggests that the population of Nigeria may be roughly divided between Muslims and Christians. Now, which have you been getting? The latter, or the former that many may have been disciples of Boko Haram (Jamaatu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’Awati Wal-Jihad) founded by Muslim Brotherhood well established in Toronto and across Canada.
According to a statement from Ahmed D. Hussen, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship,, Canada’s support includes Islamic Relief Canada, which has or will receive some $ 1.5 million (which is beside another $ 119.25 million in humanitarian funding to respond to needs of crisis-affected people in Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen). It is hard to understand why the Government of Canada would see fit to fund Islamic Relief Canada when it has been repeatedly identified as funding terrorism and a variety of banks and organizations have distanced themselves from it for this reason. Irrational Trudeau and stagnant Goodale are unlikely able to explain that logically.
The 2015 Global Terrorism Index has a rating scale that list countries based on the prevailing trends of peace and terror. The top five countries listed as Iraq, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Pakistan and Syria. All of them have majority Muslim populations. These five countries alone represented 78 percent of global terrorism-related deaths. The backdrop to this is worrying. As seen in recent Toronto shootings, they are increasingly bold and violent, and growing in strength and audacity.
You simply can’t clean a tough stain with a Kleenex. So, what is a mayor of a major city in a politically-correct world and a country managed by a lame PM to do? Security authorities mostly handcuffed by inefficient policies. No one mayor can do it alone and no amount of money will help unless laws are enforced and proper policies superseding political-correctness and leftwing mentalities are established, primarily by the federal government. Laissez-faire would be irresponsible. There’s no secret formula, only sane reality.
Therefore, Mayor Tory, who’s going to form a coalition of country-wide affected leaders with the nation’ support to pressure the Trudeau gov to shape up and save the country, even though that might go against his global and theocratic agenda?
Seriously,
Atanu Dey says
Mr Hugh Fitzgerald, your piece warmed the cockles of my heart. Thank you. I am second to no one in my admiration of Mr Lee Kuan Yew. A giant of a man who made transformed Singapore from a mosquito infested swamp to a developed state. What an achievement.
Bowen G says
Singapore’s Lee: we can’t integrate Muslims
Singapore’s presiding genius, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, on the failure of Muslim integration:
In the book, Mr Lee, when asked to assess the progress of multiracialism in Singapore, said: “I have to speak candidly to be of value, but I do not wish 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, intermarriages and so on, Indians with Chinese, Chinese with Indians – than Muslims. That’s the result of the surge from the Arab states.” He added: “I would say today, we can integrate all religions and races except Islam.” He also said: “I think the Muslims socially do not cause any trouble, but they are distinct and separate.”
Not endorsing, not rejecting. Just noting.
https://www.heraldsun.com.au/blogs/andrew-bolt/singapores-lee-we-cant-integrate-muslims/news-story/f7064e21e9803db2f7139a119607c64c