Rhetoric Versus Reality

The Rhetoric

"We all are one family."
- PM Goh Chok Tong, August 9, 2001

The Reality

Between 1998 and 1999, the average household monthly income of the poorest 10 percent of the population decreased by nearly 50 percent from $258 to $133. In the same period, the incomes of the richest 10 percent increased by 2.6 percent from $15,053 to $15,451.

The following year, the average household income of the poorest 10 percent fell by another 54 percent from $133 a month to $61. In the same period, the incomes of the richest 10 percent increased by another 8.8 percent.

The Rhetoric

"I urge Singaporeans to stop shopping in Johor Baru. They should shop in Singapore. Shopping may costs a little more, but if we don't support our neighbourhood shops ... the shops will have to close down."
- MP Ong Ah Heng, Straits Times, Apr 05, 2002. Mr Ong is also an assistant secretary general of the NTUC

The Reality

"Who do we cater for? Fifty shopkeepers or four million people? ... in terms of volume and price strength, we will win."
- NTUC Fairprice Chairman Chandra Das, on how NTUC's megamart in Ang Mo Kio will compete with small shops

"Many still flocking to JB to shop."
- Straits Times, Apr 15, 2002

The Rhetoric

"Jump in confidence over economy: ST Poll"
- Straits Times, Apr 15 2002

The Reality

"Key exports down 17% in March."
- Straits Times, Apr 18 2002

"SPH lays off 65 staff to cut costs."
- Straits Times, Apr 20, 2002

The Rhetoric

"Three of DBS Group Holdings executive directors - Mr John OLds, Mr Philippe Pailart and Mr Jackson Tai - were paid a total of between $16 million and $17 million last year. Almost three quarters of the trio's total remuneration came from bonuses."
- Straits Times, Apr 10 2002

The Reality

"DBS Group Holdings recorded a 28 per cent fall in net profit to $999.1 million last year."
- last sentence of the same above article

The Rhetoric

"Call Singapore a Connected Island ... the city state is aiming to become Asia's "working laboratory" which will incubate, research and develop new infocomm ideas and technologies as part of its ambition to be a connected isalnd."
- Straits Times, Mar 29, 2002

The Reality

"The role of ISD in the 1990s invariably includes the challenges of the IT revolution. ISD is one of the key national agencies at the forefront of IT security. ISD is a major participant in the Government's continuing process of establishing the national framework and policies to address the challenges of the new cyberspace domain."
- ISD Webpage www.mha.gov.sg/isd_earlyyears.html

The Rhetoric

"SINGTEL president and chief executive officer (CEO) Lee Hsien Yang snapped up 200,000 shares in the telecommunications giant on the open market yesterday, a move which could spark a rally in the counter."
- Straits Times, Apr 4, 2002

The Reality

On Friday Apr 26 2002, SingTel shares slumped to an ALL-TIME LOW of $1.49.

The Rhetoric

"I have three sons. I'm prepared to send my children, all sons, to fight for Singapore, to die if necessary."
- MP Dr Wang Kai Yuen, Straits Times, Apr 5, 2002

The Reality

"For decades, young Singaporeans have been venturing overseas for further studies. But unlike previous generatons, more and more young Singaporeans these days are opting to stay abroad."
- Straits Times, Apr 15, 2002

The Rhetoric

"... it did somewhat baffle me that, while we went out to seek a mandate from the people very quickly, it took almost five months for Parliament to be convened for the representatives of the people to meet and discuss issues that are so crucial to Singaporeans and our future ... "
- Former Speaker Tan Soo Khoon, Starits Times, Apr 4, 2002

The Reality

"...Parliament did not sit until 26th May this year, almost five months after Parliament was elected by the electorate. And in the meantime, during that period of five months, the opportunity was taken to increase the university fees, transport fares, fares for buses, MRT, taxis, and to increase the fees for the collection of waste disposal from homes and finally to increase the prices of water."
- JB Jeyeratnam in Parliament,1998, from his book Make It Right For Singapore

The Rhetoric

"To the pragmatic Singaporeans who have postponed their marriage plans, I advise them to act fast. The timing is good now to get a choice flat to start a family."
- PM Goh Chok Tong, Straits Times, Apr 6, 2002

The Reality

"Desperation is forcing some people to ask for personal loans on the internet ... they are asking strangers for anything between $500 and $30,000."
- Straits Times, Apr 14, 2002

The Rhetoric

"Your worries are mine too."
- PM Goh Chok Tong, Aug 2001

The Reality

"One man, Daniel, who lost $50,000 on the stock market in 1998, and another $20,000 when his business failed, said he could not turn to his parents as they were bankrupts. ...'I took a lift up to the 11th storey of my block, intending to jump down. But when I saw how high it was, I thought it was too painful to end my life like that'."
- Straits Times, Apr 14, 2002, article entitled "More pleas online for personal loans.

The Rhetoric

"Otherwise it just becomes a handout - 'Whether I do well or don't do well, I just get pocket money from The Straits Times'."
- PM Goh Chok Tong, insisting that only those poor children who perform well in school should receive pocket money from charity, Straits Times, March 18 2002

The Reality

"The bonus payments made by DBS to its directors in 2000 caused an uproar among its minority shareholders, the reason being that the DBS executives were paid one third more than the directors of HSBC even though HSBC made 10 times more money than DBS that year. At the annual general meeting of another company, shareholders pummelled the directors for a record 13 hours about the $1.63 million payout the directors gave themselves while the company posted a net loss of $13.5 million in the year 2000."
- International Herald Tribune, May 12, 2001 and Straits Times, June 1, 2001.

The Rhetoric

"GLCs added only 12.9% to the Singapore economy, says BG Yeo. Smaller companies need not worry about being edged out."
- Straits Times, February 24, 2001

"...there is a perception that GLCs dominate our economy...This is not correct."
- MTI Minister George Yeo, Straits Times, Feb 24 2001

The Reality

"The government external economy constituted more than 50% of the total external economy in 1998. If one takes into account the GLC-owned external economy, then the government share balloons to some 60%. Foreign MNCs accounted for 29% whereas the local private sector (excluding GLCs) owned 11%. It is therefore clear that if the government and GLCs fail to secure a good return on their external economy, the performance of the economy overall would be adversely affected."
- Morgan Stanley report "Singapore's Investment Abroad 1997-1998"

"GLCs have evolved into major economic institutions that account for over 60 percent of Singapore's GDP."
- US Embassy in Singapore economic report Sept 2000

"GLCs estimated contribution to GDP in 1998 of 12.9 per cent was not insignificant."
- Singapore Department of Statistics, March 2001

The Rhetoric

"...the ministry (MITA) aims to cultivate a more creative and adventurous spirit among Singaporeans through the arts."
- Straits Times, Mar 29, 2002

The Reality

"...everything in society is reduced to a technocratic problem ... 'creativity', too, became a government project, when it was suggested that Singaporean students were dull. Committees of PAP cadres drew up plans to make them more "creative". The plans, which do not allow for non-conformity, have yet to bear fruit. No wonder Lee (Kuan Yew) once spoke of his citizens as 'digits'. And the digits are perfectly comfortable, until one of them decides to be less dull and question the authorities; then, like the proverbial nail that sticks out, it will be hammered down with great force."
- Ian Buruma, author of Bad Elements: Chinese Rebels from Los Angeles to Beijing.

The Rhetoric

"There is no policy too sensitive to question, and no subject so taboo that you cannot even mention it."
- DPM Lee Hsien Loong, Straits Times, 17 Jan 2000

"Whether Singaporeans fully agree with the Government's point of view is less critical than whether people are following the issues at all."
- Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at the Singapore 21 Conference, July 2001

"There will be no sacred cows...there will have to be a systematic willingness to go through all policies and programmes we're about to embark on."
- Dr Vivian Balakrishnan on Remaking Singapore, Straits Times Feb 15 2002

The Reality

"The police will be commencing investigation since a contravention of the Speakers' Corner conditions had been committed."
- Singapore Police Force statement on Dr Chee Soon Juan for criticising the government's banning of four Muslim schoolgirls from school for wearing headscarves, February 2002

The Rhetoric

"We don't ill treat people. We don't beat people."
- Mr Lee Hsien Loong, Far Eastern Economic Review, April 28, 1988 on those detained by the ISD in 1987

"We don't do these thing in Singapore."
- Mr S. Jayakumar, Asiaweek, September 13, 1987 on those detained in the 1987 arrests

The Reality

"We were subjected to harsh and intensive interrogation, deprived of sleep and rest, some of us for as long as 70 hours inside a freezing cold rooms...most of us were hit hard in the face, some of us for not less than 50 times, while others were assaulted on other parts of the body, during the first three days of interrogation."
- Statement by nine ex-detainess of the 1987 ISA arrests, Apr 18, 1988. The next day when the statement was published, eight of them were re-arrested

"one of the interrogators slapped me across my left cheek, not with a flick of his wrist but with the full force of his body ... every time I went to the lavatory, I vomited and I felt even colder when I returned ...this was the first time in public that I was bra-less and I stooped whenever I walked so as to hide my breasts ... I could not stop the trembling. I vomited countless times, and by the morning of the third day I had my period and I stained the prison pants."
- Tang Fong Har, August 1989, who escaped re-arrest by the ISD because she was overseas at the time and has remained in exile

The Rhetoric

"The reason why the US got into the predominant position (in the world economy) is because it was prepared to allow a whole host of citizens to try, experiment, to do it yourself."
- SM Lee Kuan Yew, Asian Wall Street Journal, June 19 2001.

The Reality

"I am often accused of interfering in the private lives of citizens. Yes, if I did not, had I not done that, we wouldn't be here today. And I say without the slightest remorse, that we wouldn't be here, we would not have made economic progress, if we had not intervene on very personal matters - who your neigbour is, how you live, the noise you make, how you spit, or what language you use. We decide what is right. Never mind what people think."
- Lee Kuan Yew, Straits Times, Apr 20 1987

"Singapore does not let professional firms such as those in engineering, architecture or law, operate freely. For example, Singapore law firms in the US now enjoy a key privilege that US firms in Singapore do not enjoy - the ability to practise local law."
- Straits Times 23 Mar 2002 report addressing one of the six "sticking points" raised by US Ambassador Franklin Lavin on the FTA.

The Rhetoric

"A worker in Singapore will cost $1000 per month or more, but there is a bountiful stream of workers in China who will gladly work for $100 per month ... that is why we should lower our wage costs."
- Labour chief Lim Boon Heng, Straits Times, June 17 2002

The Reality

"Singapore ninth most expensive city in the world."
- Economic Intelligence Unit, Jan 2001

The Rhetoric

"In the past we were quite careful about criticism. Now, it doesn't matter, we are big enough but don't go overboard...Now, if Singaporeans [criticise] the government, so be it. But if you do something which can cause social disorder, that's a different matter. [Nevertheless] we will loosen up further."
- PM Goh Chok Tong, The Nation, May 8 2002

"There is no need for anyone to go underground or hide behind the cloak of anonymity."
- Singapore Broadcasting Authority on the New SIntercom website

The Reality

On 16th Nov 2001, Robert Ho Chang, 51, was arrested for "allegedly posting inflammatory articles on the internet during the General Elections." On 2nd July 2002, the police again raided Ho's home and confiscated his computer. On the same night, social activist Zulfikar Mohd also had his computer carted away by the police. Both men are now being investigated for criminal defamation.

"..controls have been so successful that it is fair to say that in some ways, the state of Singapore civil society is worse than it was 10 years ago."
- Koh Buck Song, Straits Times, Apr 27 2002

The Rhetoric

"PM wants to boost Singaporeans' morale."
- Straits Times, May 20, 2002

"PM to people : Snap out of gloom"
- Straits Times, July 22, 2002

"PM shores up spirit of young."
- Straits Times, Nov 28, 2002

The Reality

"Gone forever: 42,000 jobs in Singapore. Why: high costs here; the recession; business restructuring."
- Straits Times, June 17 2002

"Thousands of tertiary students here are graduating in the midst of an economic downturn."
- Straits Times, Nov 1, 2002

"By year end, unemployment should rise to 5.5 per cent ... a recent MOM survey says that three in 10 of the jobless are sole breadwinners which means more than 30,000 families could be living off retrenchment benefits, savings and any odd jobs they can snag."
- Straits Times, Nov 23, 2002

The Rhetoric

"I think we're fortunate to live in a country where children are focused on their studies and exams, and not on their parents dying. I have no doubt that if we live a war-torn country...children will be more worried about their parents dying everyday rather than about schools."
- Education Minister Rear Admiral (NS) Teo Chee Hean replying to a survey which showed that more children in Singapore feared failing exams than their parents dying, Straits Times, May 22, 2002

The Reality

"An SPH survey reveals that every third child surveyed has thought that life is not worth living."
- Straits Times, Nov 21, 2000

The Rhetoric

"Put employees first, not shareholders...employees are our colleagues, we don't want to to give them a sense that they are expendable digits, to be treated like commodities."
- Union leader and Minister in the Prime Minister's Office, Lim Boon Heng, Straits Times, Jan 23 2002

The Reality

"This this not a theoretical risk, it's a real problem. Germany, which has the toughest laws for firing workers...has the highest unemployment rates. And it's not a coincidence. It is because employers make their calculations - too hard to drop, better don't hire."
- DPM Lee Hsien Loong on why the government must make it easier for firms to lay off staff in bad times, Straits Times, Apr 5, 2002

The Rhetoric

"The difficulties we are facing is temporary. They are due to external circumstances over which we have no control."
- PM Goh Chok Tong, Straits Times, Nov 15, 2002

The Reality

"PAP's policies have reduced Singapore's economy to a mere service economy, the fate of which is totally dependent on the calculations and whims of the multinationals."
- Walden Bello and Stephanie Rosenfeld, economists and authors of 'Dragons in Distress'

"The days in which Singapore can continue to sustain accumulation driven growth are clearly numbered."
- Alwyn Young, economics professor at MIT

The Rhetoric

"This stingy government of ours is paying me only RM16,000 a month to do two jobs."
- Malaysia's Prime Minister and Finance Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Straits Times, 25 Nov, 2002

"A million dollars for a minister seems a lot when compared with the salary of a worker. But $34 million for all the ministers and political office-holders is a tiny drop compared with the increase in GDP that a good government can produce."
- PM Goh Chok Tong, Straits Times, July 1, 2000

The Reality

"Malaysia's economy expanded by by 5.6 per cent in the third quarter."
- Straits Times, Nov 28, 2002

"Singapore may face its second recession in two years."
- Straits Times, Nov 19, 2002

The Rhetoric

"Our workers are the "David Beckhams" of this competition. They must score the goals or set up the moves to get the goals. They had done it before ... it is time for us to go to the next level and we can do this with a new mindset. First, the belief in lifetime employment is a thing of the past."
-Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng at the convention of the National Transport Workers' Union, July 3, 2002

The Reality

If Singaporean workers are really the David Beckhams of our industries, then why are they paid Third World wages? Of 59 countries surveyed, the Global Competitiveness Report 1999 revealed that the median wage of an office cleaner or driver, adjusted for productivity, "is among the lowest in 59 countries."

The Rhetoric

The decisions made are important, so better speak up now because this is a time when people are more willing to listen than they have ever been before.
- Minister of State, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan , Straits Times, May 8, 2002

The Reality

Last week, 5023 votes, or 80 per cent of the total votes cast, felt strongly that the Government was not willing to listen and consider differing views.
- Straits Times, June 19 2002, on a Remaking Singapore online poll

I hope the Government does not take Singaporeans for fools. I am beginning to see a standard formula in how the Government listens to the people: Decide, inform, pretend to listen, pretend to take their words into consideration and then stick to the original decision.
- Lee Kah Hui, Straits Times forum, May 22 2002

The Rhetoric

"Each of us as leaders in Singapore was offered a personal way out, a safe and comfortable future, if only we had agreed to leave politics and concentrate on making a good life instead of challenging an unfair political system. We did not cop out. We fought for our rights as a people and were expelled from Malaysia...Do you have the guts and gumption... to make Singapore succeed, or face the humiliation of failure, wishing we had never been ousted from Malaysia?''
- SM Lee Kuan Yew, in a speech to university students, urging committment to Singapore , Straits Times, Feb 19, 2003

The Reality

"Youths scared to speak : Pre-U seminar students attribute passitivity to fear of government reprisals."
- Straits Times, May 31, 2002

"If nobody is afraid of me, I'm meaningless."
- SM Lee Kuan Yew, 'The Man And His Ideas', 1997

"Supposing I had been born in a different era, in '73 or '74 in Singapore, and I'm now 21, 22, what would I do? I would not be absorbed in wanting to change life in Singapore. I'm not responsible for Singapore."
- SM Lee Kuan Yew, 'The Man And His Ideas', 1997

SDP NewsWatch: Read the article 'To stay or not to stay? That is the quitter'. http://www.singaporedemocrat.org/news_display.php?id=157

The Rhetoric

"I have developed a deep aversion to welfarism and social security...What we have attempted in Singapore is asset enhancement, not subsidies. This has kept the people self-reliant, keen and strong...Most have hoarded their growing wealth and have lived better on the interests and dividends they earn."
- SM Lee Kuan Yew, 'The Man and His Ideas', 1997

The Reality

"I don't even have enough money for the water bill. I'm very scared the PUB will cut the water next year."
- Mdm Mathiah Rajamani, 48, on not having $50 to top up her CPF account to qualify for ERS cash handouts, Straits Times, Dec 14, 2002

"...The average Singaporean worker would have a staggering 75% of his assets locked in housing upon retirement, compared with only 20% in the U.S. By the age of 62, the average Singapore worker would be classically cash-poor and asset-rich. His CPF savings would generate a paltry income worth a quarter of his pre-retirement pay, barely enough to cover subsistence."
- Straits Times, Feb 5, 2003

The Rhetoric

"I would single out three important ingredients which have enabled Singapore to achieve today's standard of living. One is the principle of meritocracy. That allows Singaporeans to strive, to compete and to be rewarded in accordance with their performance."
- PM Goh Chok Tong, Asiaweek, 1996

"Temasek supports, in principle, a performance-linked compensation plan to align management to shareholders' interest."
- Temasek Holdings, press release, May 2002

The Reality

"Pay linked to performance? You have got to be kidding: One in every two companies making less money now than earlier have actually upped their pay to executive directors. And not by any small amount, but by a staggering 59 per cent."
- Straits Times, Apr 3 2003

"A Straits Times report asserted that there was no clear link between performance and remuneration. It singled out ST Assembly Test Services (Stats) and Chartered Semiconductor as two badly performing companies which nonethesless paid their CEOs, Mr Tan Bock Seng and Mr Barry Waite, 1.32 million and 7.2 million, respectively."
- Streats, Oct 23, 2002

"CapitaLand, which likes to bill itself as South-east Asia's biggest property player, made a miserly $8.7 million for shareholders in the years 2001 and 2002. It gave almost as much in cash and share options to its directors ...CapitaLand shareholders take a risk in putting money into the company. Its directors face no such risk. "
- Lee Han Shih, Business Times, Apr 1, 2003

The Rhetoric

"This time, it was very clear throughout that the young, the old, Indians, Malays, Chinese, Eurasians - they all backed the PAP across the board ...It's a very strong signal. Their concern was jobs, jobs, jobs. And they trust us, they believe we can deliver a solution for them."
- PM Goh Chok Tong, Election victory speech, Straits Times, Nov 4, 2001

The Reality

"It's beyond our control. We can't turn this economy around unless the American economy turns around. What we can do is to find palliatives, play for time.
- SM Lee Kuan Yew, Straits Times, Nov 2 2001

The Rhetoric

"The PAP will not let you down. We have the resources and the experience to see you through this bad patch."
- PM Goh Chok Tong, Straits Times, Oct 28, 2001

The Reality

"The difficulties we are facing...are due to external circumstances over which we have no control."
- PM Goh Chok Tong, Straits Times, Nov 15, 2002

The Rhetoric

"I will tell you from my 40-plus years of experience, that the one factor that made Singapore succeed was confidence. The people have confidence in the Government and foreign investors have confidence, knowing that the people have confidence and was backing the Government. It's as simple as that."
- SM Lee Kuan Yew, Straits Times, Nov 2, 2001

The Reality

"A half-yearly survey by Mastercard International, of consumers in 13 countries in the Asia-Pacific region, has found Singaporeans to be among the most pessimistic about prospects in the next half year."
- Straits Times, Jan 29, 2003

The Rhetoric

"Will you keep your job? Can your families cope with school expenses, medical bills, rent and utilities charges? I understand your worries."
- PM Goh Chok Tong, Straits Times, Oct 28, 2001

The Reality

"Power supply is not a welfare organisation."
- DPM Lee Hsien Loong (Straits Times, Mar 13, 2002) is quoted as saying even as Straits Times reports that "Thousands can't pay utility bills, many face power cut." (Apr 12, 2003)

The Rhetoric

"The diverse views reflected in the letter pages of newspapers here prove there is freedom of expression."
- Mr David Lim, outgoing Acting Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts, Straits Times, Mar 21, 2003.

The Reality

"The Constitution provides for freedom of speech and freedom of expression but permits official restrictions on these rights, and in practice the Government significantly restricted freedom of speech and freedom of the press. The government's authoritarian style fostered an atmosphere inimical to free speech and a free press. Government intimidation and pressure to conform resulted in the practice of self-censorship among journalists."
- US State Department Human Rights report on Singapore, 2003

The Rhetoric

"There are four million people in Singapore, one million are foreigners. You get rid of that one million foreigners, you will be unemployed. Many of you will not find jobs."
-SM Lee Kuan Yew, Straits Times, Feb 19, 2003

The Reality

"Poorly educated S'poreans can no longer look to construction work as foreign workers, who are willing to work longer hours and accept lower pay, have taken these jobs. Some workers suspect that they were laid off because their firms wanted to replace them with foreigners, who cost less to employ."
-Straits Times, Mar 13, 2003

"If we did not have some foreign workers to average down the wage cost for the employers, are you sure the employers can survive in Singapore?"
-DPM Lee Hsien Loong, Straits Times, Oct 29, 2001

The Rhetoric

"When we have to take bitter medicine. We have to start at the top."
- DPM Lee Hsien Loong on ministers taking a pay cut, Business Times, May 2, 2003

The Reality

"When asked how the pay cut would affect him, Mr Goh admitted candidly that it would have little impact as his children were grown up and his house paid for, "I do not speculate on the property market. I do not have any oustanding loans. I don't owe anybody anything. So what I have, I don't spend very much."
- Straits Times, on how the 10% ministerial pay cut would affect PM Goh Chok Tong, Mar 23, 2003

The Rhetoric

"I should point out, though, that in the movie (I Not Stupid) the student wanted to commit suicide not because he could not cope with his schoolwork but because he could not live up to his mother's unrealisitic expectations."
- Outgoing education minister Teo Chee Hean blaming parents for their "unrealistic expectations", Straits Times, May 22, 2002

The Reality

"Lysher Loh, a top pupil at Bedok West Primary School, was found dead at the foot of the block at about 6.10 am, dressed in her school T-shirt and shorts ... the 10-year old committed suicide because she was stressed out with schoolwork, a coroner inquiry heard yesterday."
- Straits Times, Aug 22, 2001

"Last year, about 14,000 children were seen by psychiatrists at the Institute of Mental Health, of which 2,233 were new cases ... these figures have stayed relatively consistent over the last five years."
- Straits Times, Apr 10, 2002

The Rhetoric

"If there are no retrenchments at all, then I worry for Singapore."
- PM Goh Chok Tong in Straits Times report, Mar 22, 2003

The Reality

"Hit by slowdown, young working adults are vulnerable to suicidal thoughts. More are calling SOS hotline for help...there were 361 suicides last year, nearly 17% more than 1999."
- Straits Times, June 15, 2003

The Rhetoric

"There is a certain reason why the rules are like this. We want the kids to be in the same uniform, to identify together...and integrate with one another."
- DPM Lee Hsien Loong on why schools disallow tudung, Straits Times, Jan 28, 2002

The Reality

"Pupils aren't mixing, study finds. Study of 4,400 neigbourhood school pupils shows that most children prefer to stick with friends of the same race."
- Straits Times, July 26, 2003

"What evidence is there to show that schoolgirls wearing tudung will cause racial disharmony? On the contrary, allowing students to wear their headscarves to schools will expose schoolchildren to diverse cultural practices at a young age. We can teach them that differences in our clothes and religion and language are good things, and that they should be embraced. This is what will enhance racial harmony."
- Dr Chee Soon Juan at the Speakers' Corner on Feb 15, 2002. He was fined $3000 and subsequently barred from the next election.

The Rhetoric

"We are open and transparent...We cannot hide what goes on in Singapore."
- Minister for Home Affairs Wong Kan Seng, Straits Times, May 18, 2003

The Reality

"...it is a well-known fact that the MOM considers foreign worker figures and some employment data official seccrets."
- Straits Times, Aug 2, 2003

"In Singapore, the government routinely holds back all manner of data... And secrecy and control over the economy helps the government maintain its political control."
- Asian Wall Street Journal, Aug 8, 2003

The Rhetoric

"Ne Win was once given a chance to run Burma and he made sense out of it. There is no doubt about it. He was not interested in being popular...So he was successful. And he is there to stay."
- SM Lee Kuan Yew, The Man And His Ideas, 1997

The Reality

"Once a hero of the independence movement, Ne Win died in disgrace, detested by many for turning prosperous Myanmar into a basket-case economy. The former dictator died while under house arrest."
- Straits Times, Dec 7, 2002

The Rhetoric

"If the author of the book were here and had assets, I would sue him. But he is an Australian and is out of jurisdiction."
-DPM Lee Hsien Loong on why he is not suing author Ross Worthington for the latter's claim that Lee had slapped former minister S. Dhanabalan in 1990, Straits Times, Oct 12, 2003

The Reality

"Lee [Kuan Yew] is [suing] Canada's leading newspaper and former Singapore President Devan Nair."
-Far East Economic Review, May 2, 2002

"Political opponents...if they've defamed us, we have to sue them - because if we don't, our own integrity will be suspect. We have an understanding that if a minister is defamed and he does not sue, he must leave cabinet."
-PM Goh Chok Tong, Asiaweek, Dec 3, 1999

The Rhetoric

"We in the PAP have never tried to be overpowering or oppressive. No big party headquarters, no party branches pestering small businesses for donations. We made it a virtue to be modest but effective in reaching out to people. That is the way we have to remain."
- SM Lee Kuan Yew, Straits Times, Sept 23, 2003

The Reality

"I make no apologies that the PAP is the Government and the Government is the PAP."
- Lee Kuan Yew, 1982, Petir (in 'Parties and Politics,' Husin Mutalib)

The Rhetoric

"Singapore's future lies in maintaining an edge over other countries, so that it can continue being a 'First World oasis in a Second World region', Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew said yesterday."
- Straits Times, Jun 03, 2003

The Reality

"Given the absence of unemployment benefits and a lack of welfare aid, and nothing in their wallets, a growing number of Singaporeans are being forced to give up their homes and seek alternative accommodation - in parks, under bridges and vacant areas...Most are among the country's more than 100,000 residents who are currently unemployed. Also hit are those in the income bracket of S$400 a month. Their numbers, according to government data, stand at 180,650 workers or about nine per cent of the workforce."
- New Straits Times, Oct 11, 2003

"Homeless Singaporeans prefer to stay unseen and unheard...The ministry has a destitute-persons team combing the streets 12 to 16 times a month. An average of 142 vagrants have been found each year in the last four years."
- Straits Times, Oct 6, 2003

The Rhetoric

"I never duck an issue even if it will cost me some votes.
- PM Goh Chok Tong, Straits Times, Sep 3, 2003

The Reality

"Don't get distracted by this issue of ministers pay. It's an emotional issue. It is not a problem."
- PM Goh Chok Tong, Straits Times, Sep 10, 2003

The Rhetoric

"I let the results speak for themselves."
- PM Goh Chok Tong, Straits Times, Sep 3, 2003

The Reality

"Singapore unemployment hits 17-year high."
- Financial Times, Oct 31, 2003

"In 2001, Singapore gained the dubious honour of being dubbed by Reuters 'Asia's hub of depression' after a survey of 5,300 people in seven Asian countries found that Singaporeans were those most likely to suffer from depression, stress and fatigue."
- Straits Times, Oct 25, 2003

The Rhetoric

"I am not saying: 'No, let us be celibate. I am not even asking that all be faithful to our wives. Let us have no divorces. I do not ask that. All I ask is, please do not misbehave yourself. Anybody who has a paternity suit against him, he is out and there will be a by-election."
- Lee Kuan Yew in 1977, quoted by Straits Times INSIGHT on opposition NCMP Steve Chia, Dec 27, 2003

The Reality

"...apart from the one in the Prime Minister's Marine Parade constituency in 1992, no by-election has been called in Singapore since 1981, when the then Workers' Party chief J.B. Jeyaretnam broke the PAP's monopoly in Parliament by winning the Anson seat. Once bitten twice shy, the PAP Government refused to hold one in Jalan Besar GRC a few years ago, despite the fact that one of the MPs in the four-member team, Mr Choo Wee Khiang, had to vacate his seat after being convicted on criminal charges."
- Chua Lee Hoong, Straits Times, Oct 27, 2001

The Rhetoric

"The Government has no hand in the hiring and firing, or remuneration of foreign top executives in government-linked companies (GLCs), said Second Finance Minister Lim Hng Kiang (in Parliament) yesterday."
- Straits Times, Nov 12, 2003

The Reality

"I was instrumental in getting John Olds and I defend every single cent that we paid him."
- SM Lee Kuan Yew on why DBS paid a reported $10.9m in total to ex-CEO John Olds and ex-President Ng Kee Choo in 2000, Straits Times, May 23, 2001

The Rhetoric

"Some people are afraid to speak up for fear of saying the wrong thing, or being taken to task. But for debate to be fruitful, it has to be rigorous and not held back out of concern for egos and sensitivities."
- DPM Lee Hsien Loong's speech at Harvard Club, Straits Times, Jan 7, 2004

The Reality

"The police yesterday rejected an application by the Open Singapore Centre to hold a forum titled, 'Freeing Myanmar - How Can Asians Help?'. Police spokesmen Stanley Norbert said the application was turned down because 'the proposed event is likely to be contrary to the public interest.'"
- Straits Times, Dec 7 2003

The Rhetoric

"If there is any theme that describes the Budget, it is: Preserving jobs, creating jobs."
- Minister and labour chief Lim Boon Heng on the 2003 Budget, Straits Times, Mar 8, 2003

The Reality

"Singapore's unemployment rate hit a 17-year high in the third quarter, with the seasonally-adjusted jobless rate rising to 5.9 per cent...analysts warn that Singapore's unemployment figure is likely to remain high unless economic recovery becomes more broad-based."
- Financial Times, Oct 31, 2003

The Rhetoric

"We will not succeed if we produce young Singaporeans who are too regular, or too much of the same mould. That's always the danger in a small country - that we become a closed system, reinforcing itself and gradually becoming irrelevant. We need Singaporeans with different talents and different ways of thinking, willing to test ideas and new approaches off each other, and with people from around the world, who will be part of what defines Singapore. We have to nurture more Singaporeans who want to do something exceptional and stand out from the crowd. If I had to boil it down, I would say, first, we have to nurture young Singaporeans who are more willing to question as they learn, to think in original ways, and to try out new ways of doing things."
-Acting Education Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Straits Times, Mar 7, 2004

The Reality

"(SIA) Pilots believe they are special, they got huge egos, I am told...I can assure you that in Singapore, when we decide that they are breaking the rules of the game, the unspoken rules as to how we survive, how we have prospered, then either their head is broken or our bones are broken."
- SM Lee Kuan Yew issuing warning to SIA pilots at the World Brand Forum, CNA, Dec 2, 2003

The Rhetoric

"We must always remember that workers are not simply factors of production or economic digits. Workers are human beings."
-DPM Tony Tan, Straits Times, Aug 4 2003

The Reality

"Be like a monkey. When things happen, you have to be nimble. Take advantage of opportunities, don't be cast down, but rise to the challenge if it does occur."
- DPM Tony Tan in report "Singaporeans urged to act like monkeys", AP, 26 Jan 2004

The Rhetoric

"...deterministic hierarchy will probably be the first casualty of Remaking Singapore. There will be a higher decibel level of national debate."
- Columnist Chua Lee Hoong, Straits Times, Jun 18, 2003

The Reality

"...when it comes to politics, the Government has a vested interest in maintaining the status quo...The silence on political issues will surely lead critics to ask if Singapore is to be remade in all aspects of society - except in the realm of electoral politics."
- Columnist Chua Mui Hoong on Remaking Singapore, Straits Times, Apr 17, 2004

The Rhetoric

"(Liberal democracy) will lead to indiscipline and disorderly conduct which are inimical to development."
- SM Lee Kuan Yew, The Economist, Aug 27, 1994

The Reality

"The US has a very active citizenry, always ready to organise themselves and solve their own problems, without waiting for the government... Singaporeans who have worked and studied in the US pick up some of these values and norms...Singaporeans are less active in organising ourselves than Americans."
- DPM Lee Hsien Loong's speech at Harvard Club, Straits Times, Jan 7, 2004

The Rhetoric

"I see Singaporeans growing up. They have skills, they should be able to exercise more independent judgement and we should allow them to do more and more for themselves."
- PM Goh Chok Tong, ChannelNewsAsia, Oct 26, 2003

The Reality

"[Singaporeans] have itchy fingers. They have the money, and they will spend it - and then seek the MPs for assistance."
- PM Goh Chok Tong on disallowing Singaporeans to withdraw their CPF money during tough times, Today, Sep 9, 2003

The Rhetoric

"MPs back 'people first' promise. Members of Parliament yesterday supported the government's promise to put people first..."
- Straits Times, Oct 12, 1999

The Reality

"With GST rising to 5 per cent on Jan 1 2004, Singaporeans have an additional burden to bear of $1.32 billion a year, forever. The government has also refused to restore CPF cuts...
- The mirror of opinion, BigO, 2003

In the meantime...

"Ministers' salary cuts to be restored in two phases"
- Straits Times, June 17, 2004

The Rhetoric

"Unlike some other countries, Singaporeans trust their government. This trust lies not just in proven performance but it also comes from being consistently upfront with the people. Almost to a fault, the Government makes it a point to tell it like it is."
- Minister Raymond Lim, Straits Times, Jan 12, 2004.

The Reality

"You'll find it very difficult to read us because in many other or some other places, there is a lot of exciting teeter-totter and gossip which leaks out and then you wonder at whose throat. But it doesn't happen here."
- DPM Lee Hsien Loong, CNBC, Jan 10, 2001

"The Government governs as it judges wise and best...It does not stand up and say, 'Here are all the things, here are all the data, here are my national secrets, here are my defence secrets, here are my foreign policy moves, and here are my inner most reserves.' No government in the world does that."
- DPM Lee Hsien Loong in reply to JB Jeyeratnam's query on the national reserves, Parliament, May 16, 2001

The Rhetoric

"One man, his attitude, his approach, his philosophy of development. He wasn't interested in building an empire...He was serious. It has to do with belief in God, democracy, justice and amongst other things, development. That's what he wanted. And because of that, Asean has prospered."
- Lee Kuan Yew on Indonesia's President Suharto, National Day Rally, 1990

The Reality

"..the stink of nepotism and corruption around the Suharto government grew as he began promoting avaricious relatives and business cronies to the cabinet. It was the economic collapse of 1997 which sealed the president's fate...On 21 May 1998, President Suharto resigned, just two months after he had been re-elected for a seventh term by the country's rubber-stamp legislature."
- BBC, Sept 28, 2000

The Rhetoric

"I feel sanguine enough to say that there has never been a better set of conditions for open democratic politics because there is no need for united front politics...There is nothing to forbid anybody from nailing his colours to the mast...defend it and say, 'This is my flag, this is what I believe in. I believe in open debate, arguments, persuasion, I hope to win by votes.'"
- Lee Kuan Yew, National Day Rally, 1990

The Reality

"A criticism that scores political points and undermines the Government's standing is another matter altogether...For example, when the opposition criticises an action or policy, the purpose is usually to show that the government is not providing good leadership or making good policy. They are fully entitled to do so, but the Government has to rebut or even demolish them, or lose its moral authority."
- Lee Hsien Loong, under headlines "DPM Lee promises a more open S'pore", Straits Times, Jan 7, 2004

The Rhetoric

"I see Singaporeans growing up. They have skills, they should be able to exercise more independent judgement and we should allow them to do more and more for themselves."
- Goh Chok Tong, ChannelNewsAsia, Oct 26, 2003

We will continue to expand the space which Singaporeans have to live, to laugh, to grow and to be ourselves. Our people should feel free to express diverse views, pursue unconventional ideas, or simply be different. "
- PM Lee Hsien Loong, Inauguration Speech, Aug 12, 2004

The Reality

"They say people can think for themselves? Do you honestly believe that the chap who can't pass primary six knows the consequence of his choice when he answers a question viscerally, on language, culture and religion? But we knew the consequences. We would starve, we would have race riots. We would disintegrate."
- Lee Kuan Yew, The Man & His Ideas, 1997

The Rhetoric

"Once in a while, Think Centre says they want to go to the Speakers' Corner and they want to plant 100 flowers there, let the 100 flowers bloom...It's a signal speak, speak your voice, be heard.
- PM Lee Hsien Loong, National Day Rally, 2004

The Reality

"We do ourselves a great disservice if we import unthinkingly and wholesale fashionable and hollow abstractions. So do not believe those few Singaporeans who tell you that with democracy, human rights and press freedom a hundred flowers will bloom and Singapore will prosper."
- Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng, Sydney Morning Herald, Aug 1, 2001

The Rhetoric

"I had anticipated in the 1980s that sometime inevitably, somewhere, somebody is going to come up with a compelling reason why we should use up our reserves...I tell you what will happen, we'll all kick the bucket."
- Lee Kuan Yew rejecting a suggestion to use reserves to care for the elderly, Straits Times, Jan 2001

The Reality

"The new provisions make it possible for the Government to transfer its reserves to selected statutory boards and Government companies, without such transfers being regarded as a draw on past reserves... 'The Government thus has a carte blanche to bail out its ailing companies without the need for Presidential approval.'"
- TODAY on the Constitutional Amendment to allow reserves to be transferred to stat boards and GLCs, May 2004

The Rhetoric

"Every Singaporean who owns a flat can double his value in today's terms within the next 15 to 20 years. In other words, in the next 20 years, we can make everybody worth twice as much, at least."
- PM Lee Kuan Yew, National Day Rally, 1990

The Reality

"Wealth of Singaporeans shrank by $26b in 2001. Falling property prices and stock prices were the main culprits."
- Straits Times, Aug 28, 2003

"The average Singaporean worker would have a staggering 75 per cent of his assets locked in housing upon retirement. By the age of 62, he would be classically cash-poor and asset rich. His CPF savings would generate a paltry income, barely enough to cover subsistence."
- Susan Long, Straits Times, Feb 5, 2003

The Rhetoric

"There is no need to worry that HDB flats are getting too expensive for your children."
- Ex-PM Goh Chok Tong, National Day Rally, 1996

The Reality

"The latest Housing Board statistics show that, as of the end of last year, 37,823 households could not afford to buy their own flats or rent homes in the open market and occupied heavily subsidised one-and two-room HDB rental flats under the Public Rental Scheme."
- Straits Times Jan 29, 2005

The Rhetoric

"US-S'pore trade pact could create 50,000 jobs...US$110 million a year in savings for local exporters, hundreds, perhaps thousands, of American companies clamouring to do business here."
- Straits Times headlines, Mar 23, 2002

The Reality

"Singapore's jobless rate may climb from 3.7 percent as Maxtor and other companies shift production out of Singapore to take advantage of lower costs elsewhere in Asia...Singapore's unemployment rate may rise to about 5 percent."
- IHT quoting PM Lee Hsien Loong, Mar 7, 2005

The Rhetoric

"There is nothing to prevent you from pushing your propaganda, to push your programme out to the students or with the public at large...and if you can carry the ground, if you are right, you win. That's democracy."
- MM Lee Kuan Yew telling students to form political parties, Straits Times, Feb 1, 2005

The Reality

"If you are a troublemaker...it's our job to politically destroy you. Put it this way. As long as JB Jeyaratnam stands for what he stands for - a thoroughly destructive force - we will knock him. Everybody knows that in my bag I have a hatchet, and a very sharp one. You take me on, I take my hatchet, we meet in the cul-de-sac."
- Lee Kuan Yew, The Man And His Ideas, 1997

The Rhetoric

"What is the consequence of saying something that is challenged? Is the consequence being locked up in jail, disappearing in the middle of the night and you don't come back? Get real. Come on, we live in the real world in Singapore."
- Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng, May 27, 2005

The Reality

"In 2002, police seized the computers of two men as part of a formal investigation into whether their Internet postings the previous month had constituted criminal defamation. One of the men, Zulfikar Mohamad Shariff, later left the country for Australia...The other man, Robert Ho, complained that, 2 weeks after seizure of his computer, authorities had compelled him to stay in a mental facility for more than a week."
- US State Department Human Rights Report on Singapore, 2003