志异 Draft by Drama box July 2014 (english) | Page 19

I can no longer recall the precise
content of those speeches, but the
impression is that they inevitably
touched on the issues affecting
Singapore’s survival, whether
from the macro-perspective of
geopolitics or individual aspects
such as politics, economics and
defence. Lee, with clear logic,
unambiguous language and no
patience for flowery rhetoric,
gave a down-to-earth analysis of
Singapore’s future and survival.
These were profound lessons in
politics during our secondary school
years. Towards the end of high
school, I also acquired collections
of Lee Kuan Yew’s speeches at book
fairs—both the Chinese translated
versions yellow with age and the
English ones with their smooth
glossy pages. Even after moving
to Taiwan many years later, I still
paid attention to Lee Kuan Yew’s
analyses of international politics. It
was then when I gradually realised
that he was a skilled messenger
for Mainland China, Hong Kong
and Taiwan. For instance, in the
late 1980s, he had advised Lee
Teng-hui to hasten talks with the
Communist Party of China. That
was when Taiwan was still basking
in the glory of its status as one of

Asia’s ‘four dragons’. Its economy
was booming, and it was wealthy
and confident. But Lee Kuan Yew
warned that Taiwan’s advantage
would only last for two decades
and beyond that, it would lose its
bargaining power. True enough, a
Taiwan that has fiercely guarded
its native identity and not sought
integration with the Mainland
has seen its economy come to a
standstill in the past decade or so.
At the same time, its fear of big
powers has grown. Its mournful
hopes of the Americans and
Japanese coming to its aid are in
vain. In the meantime, China has
morphed from an ailing cat to a
mighty tiger. It is now their turn to
be ‘flush with cash’. They do not only
have their sights on Asia but also on
Africa.
Lee’s criticisms of Malaysian
politics in his speeches gave us a
deeper understanding of the reality
of racial politics. The outflow of
Malaysian Chinese talent under
the bumiputra policy is a recurring
theme in his speeches, as he
exhorts them to come to Singapore
if Malaysia does not want them.
That is at least of some consolation.
Hordes of Malaysians cross the

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