Category: Singapuraku

Praise Of Lee Kuan Yew In Some Friday Prayer Sermons Angers Some In Malay Community

The death of the nation’s founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew has permeated into our consciousness extensively since his death on Monday morning, but some Muslims have taken issue with the case of praising his legacy during Friday sermons earlier this afternoon.

Usually delivered during Friday services before conducting their Zuhur (noon) congregation prayers, topics typically range from community, ethics, morals and generally all about being a better Muslim and human being.

According to the transcript of today’s khutbah — sermons delivered by imams to Muslims attending Friday prayers at mosques — a portion of the speech is dedicated to Lee Kuan Yew, praising the late statesman for his role in ensuring a multi-racial and multi-religious society while also encouraging attendees to reflect on their own personal legacies.

Some Muslims however have taken issue with the tribute to Lee Kuan Yew in their Friday prayers, a sort of unwelcome intrusion of state into religion.

MUIS khutbah today…for Muslims to emulate Lee Kuan Yew.They praise a man who discriminate Muslims, insulted Islam …during khutbah Jumaat.This is MUIS now. A government propaganda machinery.

Posted by Singapore Muslims for an Independent MUIS on Thursday, 26 March 2015

BrothersA lot of us are upset with MUIS referring to Lee Kuan Yew in the khutbah…which is supposed to be a sermon…

Posted by Singapore Muslims for an Independent MUIS on Thursday, 26 March 2015

Not all mosques however report the same cases of references to the late Lee Kuan Yew — some imams have left out the section concerning his passing in their sermons.
Some Muslims have also raised concerns about the inclusion of politics in places of worship, while others feel that the passing of Lee does impact the community as a whole and it would be relevant in context of current events.

Source: http://singapore.coconuts.co

March 28, 2015
Alfian Sa’at Questions Lee Kuan Yew Legacy

The arts community in Singapore has responded to the death of Mr Lee Kuan Yew by postponing new shows, observing a moment of silence before performances, creating art – and also critiquing the politician and some of the public tributes being made.

On Wednesday, playwright and poet Alfian Sa’at, 38, posted a satire on his Facebook page condemning what he viewed as exaggerated eulogies that popularise the “fishing village myth” of Singapore, the idea that Mr Lee “conjured gleaming skyscrapers out of a primordial swamp”. In later comments he said he has observed a “historical revisionism free-for-all” this week.

In his satire, he wrote: “Did you wake up today? What did you see? A ceiling? Yes, that roof over your head – Lee Kuan Yew put it there. So tomorrow, when you wake up, and look at your ceiling, the very least you can do is imagine his face on it. Looking down on you. Know that he has always looked down on all of us Singaporeans.”

He also posted from an article in New Mandala, an online journal of the Australian National University College of Asia, which alleged that Mr Lee distrusted the Malay community. Alfian has long called for greater Malay representation in Parliament and public offices and on Friday wrote in Malay on Facebook that “it is difficult for us who have always been treated like stepchildren to claim we are the children of he who is being glorified”.

Some responders to his posts suggested that it was in bad taste to share such thoughts before Mr Lee’s funeral on Sunday. He later posted that he would hold off further critiques until Monday. In the comment thread he explained further: “My stand has always been that this is a public figure and his public legacy needs to be dissected objectively without fear or favour. But I also think that within the spectacle of public mourning there are pockets of private grief that are complex and defensive and vulnerable and which will feel very hurt by some of the things I will say – even if none of it is addressed directly at them.”

He also told The Straits Times on Friday that he has since made the posts on his Facebook account private because he has been receiving “both death threats and abuse from people”.

Other members of the arts community have also been discussing Mr Lee’s legacy on social media. In response to a commentary by former Nominated Member of Parliament Calvin Cheng who criticised the view expressed in the Western media that Singapore had sacrificed certain freedoms to attain wealth and security, poet Alvin Pang wrote on Facebook that Singaporeans must acknowledge the trade-offs that were made to get it to its current position.

“Our family tongues and broad access to Malay as a regional lingua franca: gone. Much of our heritage and cultural life: sacrificed. The siblings that might have been, curtailed by hard anti-natal policies that were later lifted to no avail. Compulsory military conscription. Censorship. The list goes on,” he wrote, adding: “To be able to discuss these soberly, from different informed, constructive perspectives: that IS democracy, IS civilisation, and furthermore, does honour to his memory.”

Source: www.straitstimes.com

March 28, 2015
17 Year Old Singaporean Actor Rejoices Over Death Of Lee Kuan Yew

17 year old Amos Yee, an actor who has played minor roles in local Jack Neo’s films before, has posted a shocking video online rejoicing over Mr Lee Kuan Yew’s death.

In it, he makes several bold statements likening Mr Lee to a dictator and he invites PM Lee to sue him saying that he will “dance with him”.

He makes wide criticisms of Mr Lee Kuan Yew and he says that “Finally, he is dead” also questioning why no one else is celebrating.

A copy of the video was uploaded to Facebook page Temasek Review and it resulted in comments from both ends of the spectrum being left about the video.

Here are just some:

You can see the full video from his youtube channel here. *Warning* vulgarities and insults contained within:

https://youtu.be/dD4y3U4TfeY

What do you think of this video?

Source: www.therealsingapore.com

March 28, 2015
Allow Victims Space And Emotions Too

I am thousands of miles away but even so, I can sense the grief. The immense sadness over the passing of what is no doubt, a remarkable man. Online, there are tributes and stories of his achievements, expressions of gratitude and sorrow, even a few (badly written) poems. All this is understandable – he meant a lot to millions of my fellow Singaporeans.

But what I cannot comprehend is the condemnation that greets anyone who dares say anything negative about his rule. It is not right to speak ill of the dead. It is rude. You’re not being human. Think of the family. Allow the rest of us our grief. Shut up. Look at what he’s done for us. Stop being an asshole.

But why? Why should those who believe they’ve benefitted from his actions think they have right to silence those who feel they’ve suffered? Is gratitude the only emotion allowed at his passing? What about the people he jailed, bankrupted, persecuted, destroyed? Are they to deny themselves feelings of relief, anger, perhaps even glee?

I am not sad today. Neither do I rejoice. After all, his life was long and fruitful. He was adored, feted, handsomely rewarded. Along the way, he destroyed a few people. He undermined our fundamental liberties. He never once showed he was sorry. Maybe he did all this to bolster his own power. Maybe he was just being a politician. Maybe it was necessary. After all, look at Singapore now.

But why should we all be grateful? Why is it not patently obvious that there will be diverse reactions to this man’s death? He was controversial. He was not nice. Some of his ideas were pretty fucked up.

Yes, for most of us, life’s been good. But for some others, it’s been less than ideal. Grief does not give anyone the right to be an asshole. You believe yourself to be a beneficiary of his brilliance? Good for you. But while you wax lyrical over his achievements, allow those who see themselves as his victims their space, their emotions too.

Source: Lynn Lee

March 27, 2015
Samad Ismail: Of Friends And Foes

I read something about my late father yesterday. He was mentioned in an article written by a former Singapore Minister Othman Wok in a tribute to the republic’s first Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew who died on Monday. I reproduce it (in bold) from (excerpt) of Othman’s piece that was published in the Straits Times (Singapore).

It is a nice tribute to Singapore’s founding father. But the bit on my late dad – not so nice.

For reasons, perhaps known only to Othman who considers my father “a good friend”, he chose to repeat and publish a false allegation made decades ago against my late father – that he was a “card-carrying member” of the Malayan Communist Party. A charge my father had denied following his release in 1981 after four-and-half years in detention under the ISA.

I write, on behalf of my sisters and brothers, to say that – with due respect to Othman, we find the reference made of our father despicable and a deliberate act to malign him.

We will not be drawn into further remarks to set the record straight or to clear our father’s name for obvious reasons. Individiuals (from both sides of the causeway) responsible for the detention of our father are all dead and gone.

We will let it rest but we must register our protest and to express our regret and that we are deeply saddened by Othman’s invocation of our father’s name – by resurrecting and repeating a false accusation – a false narrative – that had been put to rest decades ago.

Below is part of Othman’s article.

“I told him my concerns were about how we were going to cope with the communist threat in an independent Singapore. He said to me: “You don’t worry. I will handle them.”

He made good on this promise, dealing firmly and deftly with the communists after Independence. Some have expressed disagreement with Kuan Yew on his subsequent actions, since many of those detained continued to insist for many years that they were not communists.
This is a misunderstanding of how the communists worked in that era. They did not admit they were communists then because communist organisations had been declared illegal from the time of the Malayan Emergency. So it became their strategy to go underground and to secretly infiltrate groups throughout society. My good friend Samad Ismail, also an Utusan Melayu newsman, did not admit to being a communist at the time, but he turned out to be a card-carrying member of the Malayan Communist Party.

Samad was detained in Malaysia in the 1970s. I have no doubt there were detainees in Singapore who, like him, were underground communist members or strong communist sympathisers who fought for the same violent cause. Kuan Yew fought the communists vigorously and Singapore is better off because of it.”

Othman Wok, 90, served in Lee Kuan Yew’s Cabinet as Social Affairs Minister from 1963 to 1977.

Nuraini A Samad

Source: http://nursamad.blogspot.sg

March 27, 2015