Lee Kuan Yew, a companion to the Tamils!

COMMENT Lee Kuan Yew. He is THE man who curbed ethnic chauvinism to bring about racial and religious equality in Singapore.

He was a friend of Tamils in Sri Lanka. When C N Annadurai, a former chief minister of Tamilnadu who is widely known as Arignar Anna, visited Singapore in 1965, Lee apparently enjoyed the speech by him.

Lee had no qualms about criticising the Sinhalese domination of Tamils and said, on more than one occasion, that whatever the military might of the dominant race, the thirst of the Tamils for freedom and dignity from oppression cannot be stalled.

He went on to call upon the Sri Lankan Sinhalese community and leaders to respect the rights and contributions of Tamils in Sri Lanka.

When there was a necessity, Lee did not mince his words. He openly criticised the leadership of Mahinda Rajapakse for masterminding the massacre of Tamils in north of Sri Lanka in May 2009.

Lee said, on many occasions, that the Sinhalese leadership must embrace the path of moderation to resolve the problems of the Tamils. He remarked that continued oppression by the majority would not extinguish the move towards secession!

Southern Indian Ocean theory on MH370 ‘fabricated’

KUALA LUMPUR: Military aviation technology expert, Andre Milne, has written to the Australian government to debunk its theory that missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 is lying in the southern Indian Ocean.

In a letter exclusively obtained by IBTimes UK addressed to Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop and Defence Minister David Johnston, Milne alleged the country’s claims that MH370 crashed into the Southern Indian Ocean were false and amounted to a “criminal act of fabrication of evidence”.

He outlined five highly technical facts, all based on a lack of corroborative evidence, that he alleged puts in doubt the current theory that the plane was in the Southern Indian Ocean.

In conclusion, his letter stated: “Failure to refute and disqualify my submission validates my allegation that your claim MH370 exited Malaysian airspace to crash in the Indian Ocean is not only an Artificial Incursion Theory but a criminal act of fabrication of evidence.”

Milne, on behalf of the victims’ families, is calling for additional answers by the Australian government to help fill in the gaps and prove its “seventh arc” theory that the Boeing 777, which had 239 passengers on board, is located in the Indian Ocean. He states the theory lacks “corroborative evidence”.

As Lee Kuan Yew era ends, S'pore braces for change

If Lee Kuan Yew represented the Singapore of yesteryear, his death this week raises the question of whether the generation of leaders in waiting will reshape the mould that transformed the city-state from a colonial backwater to a haven of prosperity.

While Lee had long retired from active leadership, his son, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, is still the standard-bearer of a free-market model that relied on efficiency, low taxes, zero
tolerance for corruption and a distaste for the welfare state.

Like his father, he has continued to curb free speech and use defamation laws to muzzle critics and political opponents.

But Lee (right) has said he will hand over power by 2020 and speculation over his successor has swelled since he was treated for prostate cancer last month. That, along with a decline in the popularity of the long-dominant People's Action Party (PAP), has brought an unfamiliar whiff of uncertainty to Singapore.

Years of galloping growth have led to income inequality, resentment over immigration, overcrowded trains and expensive housing, issues that knocked the PAP’s share of the vote down to 60 percent from 67 percent in elections four years ago.

Since then, the PAP has faced calls to abandon what one senior party member dubbed a policy of “growth at all costs”.

“Some of our young were starting to doubt about their future in Singapore as they saw housing and cars beyond their reach because of the rapid rise in prices,” said Inderjit Singh, a sitting member of parliament for nearly 20 years.

The party must address these and other challenges, he said. “Failing to do so will see an erosion of support.”

BAM legal team ready for Chong Wei’s hearing

NEW DELHI: The defence team of Lee Chong Wei will be relying on the argument that the Malaysian national shuttler unknowingly took the banned substance dexamethasone at the hearing of the doping case on April 11 in Amsterdam.

Malaysian counsel B. Jadadish Chandra said lead counsel Mike Morgan, a specialist on sports law based in London hired by the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM), and his legal team were also ready to put forward the argument that dexamethasone was not a performance-enhancing drug.

He said the drug was used to relieve muscle pain and that during his 12-year professional career, Chong Wei had his blood screened 124 times.

“We are also going to put forward the argument that Chong Wei is at the tail-end of his professional career and no way would he want to mar his reputation by taking the banned substance,” Jadadish Chandra told Bernama in an interview here.

Jadadish Chandra, who is also a BAM council member, is the team manager for the Malaysian shuttlers taking part in the Indian Open starting today in the capital city here.

The lawyer said he would accompany Chong Wei, along with BAM general manager Kenny Goh and another BAM official, and would stop over in London for few days before the hearing to finalise their submissions and strategies with the law firm.

London-based lawyer Morgan had represented Manchester City footballer Yaya Toure and few other sport personalities from the United States in doping hearings.

Jadadish Chandra revealed that the legal team would use the views of experts and the other medical reports of Chong Wei to support their arguments in Amsterdam.

Asked for the team’s strategy, he said he was not at liberty to disclose the details.

“Let the panel hear us first rather than we disclose (details) to the press,” he said.

Chong Wei, who is currently serving a suspension for a doping violation at the World Championships in Copenhagen last August, faces a ban of up to two years if found guilty.

Effective January 1 this year, the Badminton World Federation (BWF) had amended its doping regulation to provide for the imposition of a four-year suspension on those confirmed to have taken banned drugs.

Jadadish Chandra pointed out that if the three-member panel found him guilty and imposed the maximum (two-year) penalty, it will effectively end Chong Wei’s career as he had already announced he would retire after the Rio Olympics in July next year.

He said the panel would deliver its decision on the same day or two to three days after the hearing.

He also said April 11 would not likely see the end of the proceedings as either party (the BAM or BWF) could appeal against the decision of the panel to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Zurich.

“We are seeking an order to lift the ban for his (Chong Wei’s) immediate return to international tournaments,” said Jadadish Chandra, who confirmed that Chong Wei had been training as usual under the supervision of his coach Tey Seu Bock.

Source – BERNAMA

My encounter with a legend - Lee Kuan Yew

COMMENT With sadness I write to express my deepest condolence to the family members of Lee Kuan Yew, the first prime minister of Singapore, who died in the wee hours of Monday morning, March 23, 2015.

At the time of his death, Lee was 91. His political life spanned a few decades, and he steered through, with purpose and vision in mind, a period of political and ideological turbulence.

He was admired by his friends, including world leaders, but at the same time his enemies condemned him for his ruthless ways.

Lee never wavered from his commitment and took on his enemies head-on. He built up Singapore into what it is today. He transformed Singapore from a mere Third World trading post into a glittering metropolis that attracted the attention of international business and commerce.

I had the opportunity to meet Lee when he visited Malaysia about two decades ago. I found him to be sharp, his questions often very probing in nature and quite argumentative. He was never  satisfied with  simple answers.

I met him the second time when I was a senior visiting fellow at the Institute of South-East Asian studies (Iseas) in Singapore. During a function he called me to discuss a few things about Malaysia.

Gallery Of Lee Kuan Yew

English as lingua franca gives Singapore a fighting chance

SINGAPORE, March 23 — Few might have realised the significance at that time, but in making English Singapore’s lingua franca, a decision he made within only a few weeks of separation from Malaysia in 1965, Lee Kuan Yew gave the Republic a fighting chance of overcoming the formidable crises post-Independence.

Adopting the international language of business, diplomacy, and science and technology was about the only way this resource-less tiny island could guarantee its survival after losing its economic hinterland in Malaysia. Unemployment was at 14 per cent and rising.


Lee captured the move’s criticality in his memoirs: “Without it, we would not have many of the world’s multinationals and over 200 of the world’s top banks in Singapore. Nor would our people have taken so readily to computers and the Internet.”

Just as importantly, picking this race-neutral language demonstrated his government’s anti-communalistic stance, helping to keep the peace in a newborn nation made up of a polyglot-settler populace who had struggled for years with racial and religious strife.