What does MM Lee mean when he urged Muslims in Singapore to be "less strict" to aid integration and nation building?

Update 7 February 2011:


A good response from a Malay who had lived in Singapore for 30 years now residing in the UK. Read: HMV (His Mentor's Voice) excerpts:

"There is nothing as depressing as watching a man way past his use-by date trying to revive the old glory days, strutting his opinionated  versions of what should be"

update 30 January 2011, finally the silence from the Singapore Government has been broken, PM Junior Lee has spoken:

Singapore PM defends island’s Muslim community

Still no reply fromm MM Lee though.


Original Post:


Blogger HL posted a report "Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew urges Muslims to 'be less strict'" . excerpts:

"Singapore's founding father Lee Kuan Yew has urged local Muslims to "be less strict on Islamic observances" to aid integration and the city-state's nation-building process.

Singapore has a predominantly Chinese population, with minority races including Muslim Malays and Indians, and Lee has always stressed the importance of racial harmony.

"I would say today, we can integrate all religions and races except Islam," he said in "Lee Kuan Yew: Hard Truths to Keep Singapore Going," a new book containing his typically frank views on the city-state and its future.

"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..." he stated.

"I think the Muslims socially do not cause any trouble, but they are distinct and separate," Lee added, calling on the community to "be less strict on Islamic observances."

During the book's launch on Friday, the self-described "pragmatist" warned Singaporeans against complacency, saying the largely ethnic Chinese republic was still a nation in the making.

Describing Singapore in the book as an "80-storey building on marshy land," Lee said it must contend with hostility from larger Muslim neighbours.

"We've got friendly neighbours? Grow up... There is this drive to put us down because we are interlopers," he said, citing alleged Malaysian and Indonesian efforts to undermine Singapore's crucial port business."

My thoughts are:

1. The Singapore General Elections are around the corner so its the normal divide and reign routine by the PAP stalwart.

2. Normally MM Lee bashes Malaysia, but since he went round the country in 2008 and make many friends  and admirers he cannot do that, so he settled by naming Malaysia and Indonesia as unfriendly Muslims neighbors. Sure is rich coming from MM Lee when Singapore which is basically a service provider hub which depends on the progress and prosperity of its "unfriendly neighbors".

3. MM Lee is profiling a race? Obviously the Malays are the predominant Muslims in Singapore, so is MM Lee a racist?

4. So by telling the Muslims in Singapore that they are different, isn't that magnifying the difference.

5. What does MM Lee meant by urging "Muslims to be less strict" to aid integration and nation building. This is a "ayat tergantung" unfinished sentence, not good as it invite a lot of speculations and you can't hardly blame them. Does MM Lee mean that Muslims should eat non halal food, pork or food cooked with lard? or should have sex before marriage, have many partners before get married? or should drink liquor? or should gamble? or should throw away the tudung perhaps dress sexily show some boobs? what, what exactly does Harry Lee meant by "urging Muslims to be less strict" many of us across the causeway are dying to know.

Anyway this was the politician who demanded a Malaysian Malaysia before the learned Tunku Abdul Rahman ousted little Singapore from Malaysia in 1967. 

Forty three years down the road, the wisdom of the the late Tunku's move can be clearly seen. The political divide and rule strategy of Harry Lee would have destroyed a multi racial and multi religious Malaysia.

Just wondering what Tok Guru Nik Aziz thinks of En. Lee now, would it still be a thumbs up sign?